Part 1 (1/2)
Sophisms of the Protectionists
by Frederic Bastiat
PREFACE
A previous edition of this work has been published under the title of ”Essays on Political Economy, by the late M Frederic Bastiat” When it becaue offered to buy the stereotype plates and the copyright, with a view to the publication of the book on a large scale and at a very low price
The priue is to educate public opinion; to convince the people of the United States of the folly and wrongfulness of the Protective systeue for the purpose have been the holding of public s and the publication of books, pamphlets, and tracts, some of which are for sale at the cost of publication, and others given away gratuitously
In publishi+ng this book the League feels that it is offering the most effective 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
Free-Traders can do no better service in the cause of truth, justice, and hu their friends
It is offered 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 froo
OFFICE OF THE AMERICAN FREE-TRADE LEAGUE, 9 Nassau Street, New-York, June, 1870
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
This coiven to the public in the belief that the ti anxieties of the war, and the subsequent strife on reconstruction, are prepared to give a htful attention to econo the previous ten years That we have retrograded in econoreat 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 ress, to reverse the policy of the governn trade[1] He has noticed but has not laid so ht on the fact that while there was no considerable public opinion to favor them, there was none at all to oppose them Not only was the attention of the people diverted fro, 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 folloords:
”_Resolved_, That while providing revenue for the support of the General Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjuste the development of the industrial interests of the whole country; and we coes which secures to the workingriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate reward for their skill, labor and enterprise, and to the nation coo Convention Platform_, 1860
[Footnote 1: Elements of Political Economy, p 461]
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 Republican party were successful in the co election, the doctrine of protection, which had been overthrown in 1846, and had been in an extre state ever since, should be put upon its legs again I a that this overture was needed to secure the vote of Pennsylvania for Mr Lincoln in 1860, or that that State was governed by less worthy motives in her political action than other States I only reht such a resolution would be extremely useful, and such was the anxiety to secure her vote in the election that a ht have been conceded if it had been required I affiritation 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, ie, 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 noas invoking, more or less frequently, 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 Representative (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, ical conclusion the principles embodied in the ”Morrill tariff”
of 1861 His reress, indicate that, in his opinion, those branches of A 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 bank note circulation existing in the year 1860, he said: ”_And that was a year of as large production and as eneral prosperity as any, perhaps, in our history_”[2] If the year i the enacte production and as eneral prosperity as any in our history, of what use has the Morrill tariff been? We have seen that it was not deitation We now see that it has been of no public utility
[Footnote 2: Congressional Globe, Second Session Thirty-ninth Congress, p 724]
In couments and illustrations adapted to the comprehension of the mass of mankind, the errors and sophisms hich protectionists deceive themselves and others, M Bastiat is the most lucid and pointed of all writers on economical science hose works I have any acquaintance It is not necessary to accord to hi the architects of the science of political econohest[3] It is enough to count hireatest of its expounders and demonstrators His death, which occurred at Pisa, Italy, on the 24th Decee of 49, was a serious loss to France and to the world His works, though for the iven to the public froh the columns of the _Journal des Econoe_, reuided by a noble soul They have been collected and published (including the _Harmonies Economiques_, which the author left in manuscript) by 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 Dece man of feeble constitution, who commenced life as a clerk in a mercantile establish these six years in delivering public lectures, and laboring in the National assembly, to which he was chosen in 1848, our adht that if he had been reater services to his country and to mankind
[Footnote 3: Mr Macleod (_Dictionary of Political Economy_, vol I, p
246) speaks of Bastiat's definition of Value as ”the greatest revolution that has been effected in any science since the days of Galileo”
See also Professor Perry's paht in Political Economy_, read before the American Social Science association, October, 1868, in which, it appears towhich he was anticipated by Mr Carey, is too highly praised]
The _Sophiser portion of this volume, were not expected by their author to outlast 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 believed possible It is so 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 ties
By what misuse of words the doctrine of Protection came to be denominated the ”Aland nearly two hundred years before our separation from the mother country Adaainst it in the very year that our independence was declared It held its ground in England until it had starved and ruined alriculture, manufactures, and commerce alike[4] It was not wholly overthrown until 1846, the same year that witnessed its discomfiture in the United States, as already shown It still exists in a subdued and declining way in France, despite the powerful and brilliant attacks of Say, Bastiat, and Chevalier, but its end cannot be far distant in that country The Cobden-Chevalier treaty with England has been attended by consequences so totally at variance with the theories and prophecies of the protectionists that it must soon succumb
[Footnote 4: It is so often affirmed by protectionists that the superiority of Great Britain in manufactures was attained by means of protection, that it is worth while to dispel that 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 but a year or two imen to have precipitated the country into a bloody revolution I quote a paragraph froland from 1816 to 1854,” Book VI, Chapter 5: