If Work Were Wealth
Translated by Dean Russell from Oeuvres Completes de Frederic Bastiat, Vol. II. Paris: Guillaumin, 1862.
In France in 1846, a chief argument of the protectionists was that tariffs created more work, and that this was good for the workers. The leader of the free traders, Frederic Bastiat, answered as follows:
In my village, there was a carpenter who worked six hours a day…. One day he went blind. But being a man of character and energy, he continued at his trade, even though it took him twelve hours to do what he had formerly done in six.
One of his neighbors consoled him with these words: Before you went blind, you worked only a half day. Now you work all day. Your cataracts are a blessing because Saint-Cricq [Minister of Commerce] has told us that work is wealth.
