ithout the consent of those whom this law is to govern, the public
cannot be robbed without being first deceived. Our ignorance is the
"raw material" of all extortion which is practised upon us, and we may
be sure in advance that every sophism is the forerunner of a
spoliation. Good public, when you see a sophism, clap your hand on
your pocket; for that is certainly the point at which it aims. What
was the secret thought which the shipowners of Bordeaux and of Havre,
and the manufacturers of Lyons, conceived in this distinction between
agricultural products and manufactured articles?

"It is principally in this first class (that which comprehends raw
material _unmodified by human labor_)," said the Raw-Materialists of
Bordeaux, "that the chief aliment of our merchant marine is found. At
the outset, a wise economy would require that this class should not
be taxed. The second (articles which have received some preparation)
may be charged; the third (articles on which no more work has to be
done) we consider the most taxable."

"Consider," said those of Havre, "that it is indispensable to reduce
all raw materials one after another to the lowest rate, in order that
industry may successively bring into operation the naval forces which
will furnish to it its first and indispensable means of labor." The
manufacturers could not in exchange of politeness be behind the
ship-owners; so the petition from Lyons demanded the free introduction
of raw material, "in order to prove," said they, "that the interests
of manufacturing towns are not always opposed to those of maritime
ones!"

True; but it must be said that both interests were, understood as the
petitioners understood them, terribly opposed to the interests of the
country, of agriculture, and of consumers.

See, then, where you would come out! See the end of these subtle
economical distinctions! You would legislate against allowing
_perfected_ produce to traverse the ocean, in order that the much more
expensive transportation of rough materials, dirty, loaded with waste
matter, may offer more employment to our merchant service, and put our
naval force into wider operation. This is what these petitioners
termed _a wise economy_. Why did they not demand that the firs of
Russia should be brought to them with their branches, bark, and roots;
the gold of California in its mineral state, and the hides from Buenos
Ayres still attached to the bones of the tainted skeleton?

Indu