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Page 2
I do not espouse Free Trade because it is British, as some suppose it
to be. Independent of other things, that would rather set me against
it than otherwise, because generally those things which best fit
European society ill befit our society--the structure of each being so
different. Free Trade is no more British than any other kind of
freedom: indeed, Great Britain has only followed quite older examples
in adopting it, as for instance the republics of Venice and Holland,
both of which countries owed their extraordinary prosperity to the
fact of their having set the example of relaxing certain absurd
though time-honored restrictions on commerce. I espouse Free Trade
because it is just, it is unselfish, and it is profitable.
For these reasons have I, a Worker, deeply interested in the welfare
of the fellow-workers who are my countrymen, lent to Truth and Justice
what little aid I could, by adapting Bastiat's keen and cogent Essay
to the wants of readers on this side of the Atlantic.
EMILE WALTER, _the Worker_.
NEW YORK, 1866.
WHAT IS FREE TRADE?
CHAPTER I.
PLENTY AND SCARCITY.
Which is better for man and for society--abundance or scarcity?
What! Can such a question be asked? Has it ever been pretended, is it
possible to maintain, that scarcity is better than plenty?
Yes: not only has it been maintained, but it is still maintained.
Congress says so; many of the newspapers (now happily diminishing in
number) say so; a large portion of the public say so; indeed, the
_city theory_ is by far the more popular one of the two.
Has not Congress passed laws which prohibit the importation of foreign
productions by the maintenance of excessive duties? Does not the
_Tribune_ maintain that it is advantageous to limit the supply of iron
manufactures and cotton fabrics, by restraining any one from bringing
them to market, but the manufacturers in New England and Pennsylvania?
Do we not hear it complained every day: Our importations are too
large; We are buying too much from abroad? Is there not an
Association of Ladies, who, though they have not kept their promise,
still, promised each other not to wear any clothing which was
manufactured in other countries?
Now tariffs can only raise prices by diminishing the quantity of goods
offered for sale. Therefore, statesmen, editors, and the public
generally, believe that scarcity is better than abundance.
But why is this; why should men be so blind as to maintain that
scarcity is better than plenty?
Because they look at _price_, but forget _quantity_.
But let us see.
A man becomes rich in proportion to the remunerative nature of his
labor; that is to say, _in proportion as he sells his produce at a
high price_. The price of his produce is high in proportion to its
scarcity. It is plain, then, that, so far as regards him at least,
scarcity enriches him. Applying, in turn, this manner of reasoning to
each class of laborers individually, the _scarcity theory_ is deduced
from it. To put this theory into practice, and in order to favor each
class of labor, an artificial scarcity is produced in every kind of
produce by prohibitory tariffs, by restrictive laws, by monopolies,
and by other analogous measures.
In the same manner it is observed that when an article is abundant, it
brings a small price. The gains of the producer are, of course, less.
If this is the case with all produce, all producers are then poor.
Abundance, then, ruins society; and as any strong conviction will
always seek to force itself into practice, we see the laws of the
country struggling to prevent abundance.
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