Frédéric Bastiat：Economic Sophisms, Excerpt 54

In this, as in other cases, we shall find protectionist theorists viewing their subject from the producer's stand-point, whilst we advocate the cause of the unfortunate consumers, whose interests they studiously keep out of sight. They institute a comparison between the field of industry and the _turf_. But as regards the latter, the race is at once the _means_ and the _end_. The public feels no interest in the competition beyond the competition itself. When you start your horses, your _end_, your object, is to find out which is the swiftest runner, and I see your reason for equalizing the weights. But if your _end_, your object, were to secure the arrival of some important and urgent news at the winning-post, could you, without inconsistency, throw obstacles in the way of any one who should offer you the best means of expediting your message? This is what you do in commercial affairs. You forget the end, the object sought to be attained, which is material prosperity; you disregard it, you sacrifice it to a veritable _petitio principii_; in plain language, you are begging the question.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44145
Locator：Excerpt 54 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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