--Your account is--you gain five francs on salt, five on postage, and
ten on cloth.

--Total, twenty francs. This is satisfactory enough. But what becomes of
the poor cloth manufacturer?

--Oh, I have thought of him. I have secured compensation for him by
means of the tax reductions which are so profitable to the Treasury.
What I have done for you as regards cloth, I do for him in regard to
wool, coal, machinery, etc., so that he can lower his price without
loss.

--But are you sure that will be an equivalent?

--The balance will be in his favor. The twenty francs that you gain on
the cloth will be multiplied by those which I will save for you on
grain, meat, fuel, etc. This will amount to a large sum, and each one of
your 35,000,000 fellow-citizens will save the same way. There will be
enough to consume the cloths of both Belgium and France. The nation will
be better clothed; that is all.

--I will think on this, for it is somewhat confused in my head.

--After all, as far as clothes go, the main thing is to be clothed. Your
limbs are your own, and not the manufacturer's. To shield them from cold
is your business and not his. If the law takes sides for him against
you, the law is unjust, and you allowed me to reason on the hypothesis
that what is unjust is hurtful.

--Perhaps I admitted too much; but go on and explain your financial
plan.

--Then I will make a tariff.

--In two folio volumes?

--No, in two sections.

--Then they will no longer say that this famous axiom "No one is
supposed to be ignorant of the law" is a fiction. Let us see your
tariff.

--Here it is: Section First. All imports shall pay an _ad valorem_ tax
of five per cent.

--Even _raw materials_?

--Unless they are _worthless_.

--But they all have value, much or little.

--Then they will pay much or little.

--How can our manufactories compete with foreign ones which have these
_raw materials_ free?

--The expenses of the State being certain, if we close this source of
revenue, we must open another; this will not diminish the relative
inferiority of our manufactories, and there will be one bureau more to
organize and pay.

--That is true; I reasoned as if the tax was to be annulled, not
changed. I will reflect on this. What is your second section?

--Section Second. All exports shall pay an _ad valorem_ tax of five per
cent.

--Merciful Heavens, Mr. Utopist! You will certainly be stoned, and, if
it comes to that,