Were I disposed to enter into controversy with them, I would
say: Why direct your tariffs principally against England, a country
more overloaded with taxes than any in the world? Have I not a right
to look upon your argument as a mere pretext? But I am not of the
number of those who believe that prohibitionists are guided by
interest, and not by conviction. The doctrine of Protection is too
popular not to be sincere. If the majority could believe in freedom,
we would be free. Without doubt it is individual interest which weighs
us down with tariffs; but it acts upon conviction. "The will (said
Pascal) is one of the principal organs of belief." But belief does not
the less exist because it is rooted in the will and in the secret
inspirations of egotism.
We will return to the Sophism drawn from internal taxes.
The government may make either a good or a bad use of taxes; it makes
a good use of them when it renders to the public services equivalent
to the value received from them; it makes a bad use of them when it
expends this value, giving nothing in return.
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