[Sophisms of the Protectionists by Frederic Bastiat]@TWC D-Link book
Sophisms of the Protectionists

PART IV
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They would sympathize with every measure which tends to the rapid formation of capitals.

They would be enthusiastic promoters of peace, liberty, order, security, the union of classes and peoples, economy, moderation in public expenses, simplicity in the machinery of Government; for it is under the sway of all these circumstances that saving does its work, brings plenty within the reach of the masses, invites those persons to become the formers of capital who were formerly under the necessity of borrowing upon hard conditions.

They would repel with energy the warlike spirit, which diverts from its true course so large a part of human labor; the monopolizing spirit, which deranges the equitable distribution of riches, in the way by which liberty alone can realize it; the multitude of public services, which attack our purses only to check our liberty; and, in short, those subversive, hateful, thoughtless doctrines, which alarm capital, prevent its formation, oblige it to flee, and finally to raise its price, to the special disadvantage of the workers, who bring it into operation.

Well, and in this respect is not the revolution of February a hard lesson?
Is it not evident, that the insecurity it has thrown into the world of business, on the one hand; and, on the other, the advancement of the fatal theories to which I have alluded, and which, from the clubs, have almost penetrated into the regions of the Legislature, have everywhere raised the rate of interest?
Is it not evident, that from that time the "proletaires" have found greater difficulty in procuring those materials, instruments, and provisions, without which labor is impossible?
Is it not that which has caused stoppages; and do not stoppages, in their turn, lower wages?
Thus there is a deficiency of labor to the "proletaires," from the same cause which loads the objects they consume with an increase of price, in consequence of the rise of interest.

High interest, low wages, means in other words that the same article preserves its price, but that the part of the capitalist has invaded, without profiting himself, that of the workman.
A friend of mine, commissioned to make inquiry into Parisian industry, has assured me that the manufacturers have revealed to him a very striking fact, which proves, better than any reasoning can, how much insecurity and uncertainty injure the formation of capital.


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