Putnam's Popular 1\^ANUALS ^\'^^^'\'^<^"\\^^. t> ' MMUUMmH =j UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES .,..,. J rV» * ' SOPHISMS OF PROTECTION BY THE LATE M. FREDERIC BASTIAT, Afetnber of the Institute of France. Part I. Sophisms of Protection First Series. Part II. Sophisms of Protection Second Series. Part III. Spohation and Law Part IV. Capital and Interest. Translated from, the J^aris Coition of 1863. WITH PREFACE BY f^ORACE WHITE. NEW-YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1888. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1869, by THE WESTERN NEWS COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of Illinois. 1 7 IS PEEFAOE. A PREVIOUS edition of this work has been published under tlie title of "Essays on Political Economy, by the late M. ^^ ^ Frederic Bastiat. " When it became necessary to issue a tv CE second edition, the Free-Trade League oflfered to buy the stereotype plates and the copyright, with a view to the pub- lication of the book on a large scale and at a very low price. O The primary object of the League is to educate public j2 ec opinion ; to convince the people of the United States of the 2 folly and wrongfulness of the Protective system. Tlie ul methods adopted by tlie League for the purpose have been ■^ the holding of public meetings and the publication of books, CO •s pamphlets, and tracts, some of which are for sale at the cost u. of publication, and others given away gratuitously. O |_ In publishing this book, the League feels that it is offer- ee ing the most elfective and most popular work on political economy that has as yet been written. M. Bastiat not only enlivens a dull subject with his wit, but also reduces the propositions of the Protectionists to absurdities. 4S2B87 H P R K F A C E . Free-Traders can do no better service in the cause of truth, justice, and humanity, than l)y circulating this little book among tlieir friends. It is ollered you at what it costs to print it. Will not every Free-Trader put a copy of the book into the hands of his Protectionist friends? It would not be proper to close this short preface without an expression on the part of the League of its obligation to the able translator of the work from the French, Mr. Horace White, of Chicago. Office of The American Free-Tkade League, 38 Burling Slip, New-T'o^'k- June, 1870. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. This compilation, from the works of the late M. Bastiat, is given to the public in the belief that the time has now come when the people, relieved from the absorbing anxi- eties of the war, and the subsequent strife on reconstruc- tion, are prepared to give a more earnest and thoughtful attention to economical questions than was possible during the previous ten years. That we have retrograded in economical science during this period, while making great strides in moral and political advancement by the abolition of slavery and the enfranchisement of the freedmen, seems to me incontestable. Professor Perry has described very concisely the steps taken by the manufacturers in 1861, after the Southern members had left their seats in (Con- gress, to reverse the policy of the government in reference to foreign trade.* lie has noticed, but has not laid so much stress :i3 he might, on the fact that while there was * Elements of Political Economy, p. 4G1. IV P K E F A C E . no considerable public opinion to favor thcni, there was none at all to oppose them. Not only was the attention of the people diverted from the tariflE by the dangers theii impending, but the Republican party, which then came into power, had, in its National Convention, offered a bribe to the State of Pennsylvania for its vote in the Presidential election, which bribe was set forth in the fol- lowing words : " Resolved, That while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy' requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole coun- try ; and we commend that jiolicy of national exchanges which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remu- nerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence." — Chicago Convention Platform, 1860. It is true that this resolution did not commit anybody to the doctrine that the industrial interests of the whole country are promoted by taxes levied upon imported property, however "' adjusted," but it was understood, by the Pennsylvanians at least, to be a promise that if the Kepublican party were successful in the coming election, the doctrine of protection, which had been overthrown in 1846, and had been in an extremely languishing state ever since, should be put upon its legs again. I am far from asserting tliat this overture was needed to secure the P K E F A C E . V vote of Pennsylvania for Mr. Lincoln in 1860, or tliat that Slate was governed by less worthy motives in her political action than otlier States. I only remark that her delegates in the convention thought such a resolution would be extremely useful, and such was the anxiety to secure her vote in the election that a much stronger reso- lution might have been conceded if it had been required. I affirm, however, that there was no agitation on the tariff question in any other quarter. New England had united in passing the tariff of 1857, which lowered the duties imposed by the act of 1846 about fifty per cent., i.e., one half of the previously existing scale. The Western States had not petitioned Congress or the convention to disturb the tariff ; nor had New York done so, although Mr. Greeley, then, as now, was invoking, more or less fre- quently, the shade of Henry Clay to help re-establish what is deftly styled the " American System." The protective policy was restored, after its fifteen years' sleep, under the auspices of Mr. Morrill, a Repre- sentative (now a Senator) from Vermont. Latterly I have noticed in the speeches and votes of this gentleman (who is, I think, one of the most conscientious, as he is one of the most amiable, men in public life), a reluctance to follow to their logical conclusion the principles em- bodied in the " Morrill tariff " of 1861. His remarks upon the copper bill, during the recent session of Congress, VI P It E F A C E . indicate that, in his opinion, those branches of American industry which are engaged in producing articles sent abroad in exchange for the products of foreign nations, are entitled to some consideration. This is an important admission, but not so important as another, which he made in his speech on the national finances, January 24, 1867, in which, referring to the hank-note circulation existing in the year 1860, he said : " And that was a year of as large production and as much general prosperity as any, jjerhaps^ in our history.'''' * If the year imme- diately preceding tlie enactment of the Morrill tarifE was a year of as large production and as much general pros- perity as any in our history, of what use has the Moirill tariff been ? AVe have seen that it was not demanded by any public agitation. "We now see that it has been of no public utility. In combating, by arguments and illustrations adapted to the comprehension of the mass of mankind, the errors and sophisms with which protectionists deceive themselves and others, M. Bastiat is the most lucid and pointed of all writers on economical science with whose works I have any acquaintance. It is not necessary to accord to him a place among the architects of the science of political economy, although some of his admirers rank him among * Congressional Globe, Second Session Thirty-ninth Congress, Part I. p. 124. PKEF AC E . VU the highest.* It is enouglito count him among the great- est of its expounders and demonstrators. His death, which occurred at Pisa, Italy, on the 24th of December, 1850, at the age of 49, was a serious loss to France and to the world. His works, though for the most part frag- mentary, and given to the public from time to time through the columns of the Journal des Economistes, the Journal des Débats, and the Libre Echange, remain a mon- ument of a noble intellect guided by a noble soul. They have been collected and published (including i\\Q Harmo- nies Economiques, which the author left in manuscript) bv Guillaumin & Co., the proprietors of the Journal des Economistes, in two editions of six volumes each, 8vo and 12mo. When we reflect that these six volumes were produced between April, 1844, and December, 1850, by a young man of feeble constitution, who commenced life as a clerk in a mercantile establishment, and who spent much of his time during these six years in delivering public lectures, and laboring in the National Assembly, to which he was chosen in 1848, our admiration for such industry is only moditled by the thought that if he had •Mr. Macleod (Dictionnry of Political Econonnj,\o\. i. p. 240) speaks ofBas'tiat's detinition of Value as " the greatest revolution that has been effected in any science since the daj's of Galileo." See also Professor Perry's pamphlet, Recent Phases of Thmight in Political Economy, read before the American Social Science Association, October, 1808, in which, it appe;irs to me, that Bastiflfs theory of Rent, in announcing which he was anticipated by Mr. Carey, is too highly praised. VIU PREFACE. been more saving of his strength, lie might have rendered even greater services to his country and to mankind. The Sophismes économiques, which fill the larger portion of this volume, Avere not expected by their author to out- last the fallacies which they sought to overthrow. But these fallacies have lived longer and have spread over more of the earth's surface than any one a priori could have belived possible. It is sometimes useful, in oppos- ing doctrines which people have been taught to believe are peculiar to their own country and time, to show that the same doctrines have been maintained in other countries and times, and have been exploded in other lan- guages. By what misuse of words the doctrine of Pro- tection came to be denominated the " American System," I could never understand. It prevailed in Engbmd nearly two hundred years before our separation from the mother country. Adam Smith directed the first formidable attack against it in the very year that our independence was declared. It held its ground in England until it had starved and ruined almost every branch of industry — agri- culture, manufactures, and commerce alike.* It was not * It is so often afEimed by protectionists that the superiority of Great Britain in manufactures was attained by means of protection, that it is wortli while to dispel Unit illusion. The facts are precisely the reverse. Protection had brought Great Britain in the year 1842 to the last stages of penury and decay, and it wanted buta year or two more of the same regimen to have precipitated the country into a bloody revolution. I quote a paragraph from Miss Martiueau's " History of England from 1816 to 1854," Book vi. chapter 5. PREFACE wholly overthrown until 1846, the same year that wit- nessed its discomfiture in the United States, as already shown. It still exists in a subdued and declining way in " Serious a« was the task of the Minister (Sir R. Peel) in every view, the ino!it iinmediaie sympathy was felt for him on account of the learful state of the ijcople. The distress had now so deepened in the mannfactiirins: districts as to render it clearly inevitable that many must die, and a multitude be lowered to a state of sickness and irritability from want of food ; wliile there seemed no chance of any member of the niannfaciuring classes coming out of the struggle at last with a vestige of property where- with to begin the world again. The pressure had long extendid beyonil the interests lirst affected, and when the new Ministry came into power, there seetncd to 1)6 no class that was not threatened with ruin. In Carlisle, the Committee of Inquiry leiiorted that a fourth of the population was in a state bordering on starvation — actually certain to die of famine, unless re- lieved by extraordinary exertions. In the woollen districts of \\iltshire, the allowance to the independent laborer was not two thirds of the mini- mum in the workhou-^e, and the large existing population consnmei only a fourth of the brearl and meat require! by tlie much smaller popnlition of 1820. In Stockport, mare than half the master spinners had failed be- fore the close of ISW ; dwelling-houses to the number of 3000 were shut up; and the occui)ier.s of manv hundreds more were unable to pay rates at all. Five thousand persons were walking the streets in comjjulsory idle- ness, and the Burnley guardians wrote to the Secretary of State that the distress was f ir beyond their management; so that a government commis- sioner and government Innds were sent down without delay. At a meet- ing in Manclies or. where humble shopkeepers were tlie speakers, anecdotes were related which told inoj-e than declamation. Rent collectors were afraid to meet tlieir principals, as no money could be collected. Provision dealers were subject lo incursions from a wolfish man prowlingfor food for his cliildroii. or fro n a half-frantic wman. with her dying haby at her Ijreast ; or from parties of ten or a dozen desperate wretches wlio were levy- ing contril)utions along the street. The linen draper told how new clothes had become out of the question with bis customers, and they bought only remnants and patches, to mend the old oms. The baker was more and more surprised at the ininiber of people who bought half-pennyworlhs of bread. A provi-iion dealer used to throw away outside scraps ; but now respecable cu-toinors of twenty years' standing bought them in pennyworths to moisten their potatoes. The-p ^hopkcenel■s contemplated nothing but rnin from the impoverished cr)ndilioii of their custnmers. While poor-rates were increasing beyond all precedent, their trade was only one half, or one third, or even one tenth what it had l)cen three years before. In that neighborhood, a gentleman, who had retired from business in 1633. leaving a property worth £60,000 to his sons, and who had, early in the distress. become security for thetn, was showing the works for the benefit of the creditors, at a ealary of £1 a week. la families where the father had h-therto earned £i per week, and laid by a portion weekly, and wher<^ all was now gone but the sacks of shavings they slept on, exertions were made to get ' blue milk' for children to moisten their oatmeal with ; but soon they could have it only on alternate days ; and soon water must. do. At Leed-" the pauper stone-heap amounted to TôO.OOO tons ; and the ginirdians offered the paupers (is. per week for doing nothing, rather Ilian 7s. fid. per week for stone-lireakinçr. The millwriirlits and other trades were offering a premium on emigration, to induce their hands to go away. At Hinckley, X . PREFACE. Franco, despite the powerful and brilliant attacks of Say, Bastiat, and Chevalier, but its end cannot be far distant in that country. The Cobdcn-Chevalier treaty with England has been attended by consequences so totally at variance with the theories and prophecies of the protec- tionists that it must soon succumb. As these pages are going through the press, a telegram announces that the French Government has abolished the discriminating duties levied upon goods imported in for- eign bottoms, and has asked our government to abolish the like discrimination which our laws have created. Com- one third of the inhabitants were paupers ; more than a fifth of the houses stood empty ; and there was not work enough in the place to employ properly one third of the weavers. In Dorsetshire a man and his wife had for wages 2s. 6(i. i)er week, and three loaves ; and the ablest laborer had 6s. or 7s. lu Sviltshire, the poor peasants held open-air meeiings after work — which was necessarily after dark. There, by the light of one or two flariiig tallow candles, tlie man or the woman who had a story to tell siood on a chair, and related how their children were fed and clothed in old times— poorly enoiitfh, Ijut so as to keep borjy and soul together ; and now. how they could nohow manage to do it. The bare details of the ages of their children, and what the little things could do, and the prices of bacon and bread, and calico and coals, had more pathos in them than any oratory heard elsewhere." "But all this came from the Corn Laws," is the ready reply of the American protectionist. The Corn Laws were the doctrine of protection applied to breadstuffs, farm products, " raw materials" But it was not