broken arms? Do
not they form a part of his sad destiny? His misfortune is to have lost
his arms, and not to have been cured of leprosy. He would be much more
to be pitied if he was both maimed and a leper."

_Post hoc, ergo propter hoc_; do not trust this sophism.

IX.

ROBBERY BY BOUNTIES.

They find my little book of _Sophisms_ too theoretical, scientific, and
metaphysical. Very well. Let us try a trivial, commonplace, and, if
necessary, coarse style. Convinced that the public is _duped_ in the
matter of protection, I have desired to prove it. But the public wishes
to be shouted at. Then let us cry out:

"Midas, King Midas, has asses' ears!"

An outburst of frankness often accomplishes more than the politest
circumlocution.

To tell the truth, my good people, _they are robbing you_. It is harsh,
but it is true.

The words _robbery_, _to rob_, _robber_, will seem in very bad taste to
many people. I say to them as Harpagon did to Elise, Is it the _word_ or
the _thing_ that alarms you?

Whoever has fraudulently taken that which does not belong to him, is
guilty of robbery. (_Penal Code, Art. 379._)

_To rob_: To take furtively, or by force. (_Dictionary of the Academy._)

_Robber_: He who takes more than his due. (_The same._)

Now, does not the monopolist, who, by a law of his own making, obliges
me to pay him twenty francs for an article which I can get elsewhere for
fifteen, take from me fraudulently five francs, which belong to me?

Does he not take it furtively, or by force?

Does he not require of me more than his due?

He carries off, he takes, he demands, they will say, but not _furtively_
or _by force_, which are the characteristics of robbery.

When our tax levy is burdened with five francs for the bounty which this
monopolist carries off, takes, or demands, what can be more _furtive_,
since so few of us suspect it? And for those who are not deceived, what
can be more _forced_, since, at the first refusal to pay, the officer is
at our doors?

Still, let the monopolists reassure themselves. These robberies, by
means of bounties or tariffs, even if they do violate equity as much as
robbery, do not break the law; on the contrary, they are perpetrated
through the law. They are all the worse for this, but they have nothing
to do with _criminal justice_.

Besides, willy-nilly, we are all _robbers_ and _robbed_ in the business.
Though the author of this book cries _stop thief_, when he