The French economist Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) is remembered for his wit and capacity to point out absurdities in the arguments of his opponents. In the following passage, he satirizes appeals to government for special benefits at someone else’s expense, or what today we call "rent-seeking." His message is timeless: When rent-seekers succeed, it is often at the expense of the general interest. When, unfortunately, one has regard to the interest of the producer, and not to that of the consumer, it is impossible to avoid running counter to the general interest, because the demand of the producer, as such, is only for efforts, wants, and obstacles. I find a remarkable illustration of this in a Bordeaux newspaper. M. Simiot proposes this question: Should the proposed railway from Paris to Madrid offer a solution of continuity at Bordeaux? [Mr. Simiot argues that] the railway from Paris to Bayonne should have a break at Bordeaux, for if goods and passengers are forced to stop at that town, profits will accrue to bargemen, pedlars, commissionaires, hotel-keepers, etc. Here we have clearly the interest of labour put before the interest of consumers. But if Bordeaux has a right to profit by a gap in the line of railway, and if such profit is consistent with the public interest, then Angoulême, Poitiers, Tours, Orleans, nay, more, all the intermediate places, Ruffec, Châtellerault, etc., should also demand gaps, as being for the general interest, and, of course, for the interest of national industry; for the more these breaks in the line are multiplied, the greater will be the increase of consignments, commissions, transhipments, etc., along the whole extent of the railway. In this way, we shall succeed in having a line of railway composed of successive gaps, and which may be denominated a Negative Railway. The principle of restriction is the very same as the principle of gaps; the sacrifice of the consumer’s interest to that of the producer, in other words, the sacrifice of the ends to the means. (1) Frédéric Bastiat, Economic Sophisms (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, Ltd., 1873), pp. 80-81, abridged.

Photograph courtesy of: (c) Edmond Van Hoorick/Photodisc #TR005603;