If, then, it is needful to protect national labor against the
competition of foreign labor, it is not less so, to protect human
labor against the rivalry of mechanical labor.
So, he who adheres to the protective policy, if he has but a small
amount of logic in his brain, must not stop when he has prohibited
foreign products; he must farther proscribe the shuttle and the
plough.
And that is the reason why we prefer the logic of those men who,
declaiming against the invasion of exotic merchandise, have, at least,
the courage to declaim as well against the excess of production due to
the inventive power of the human mind.
Hear such a Conservative:--"One of the strongest arguments against
liberty of commerce, and the too great employment of machines, is,
that very many workmen are deprived of work, either by foreign
competition, which is destructive to their manufactures, or by
machines, which take the place of men in the workshops."
This gentleman perfectly sees the analogy, or rather, let us say, the
identity, existing between importations and machines; that is the
reason he proscribes both: and truly there is some pleasure in having
to do with reasonings, which, even in error, pursue an argument to the
end.
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