what little aid I could, by adapting Bastiat's keen and cogent Essay
to the wants of readers on this side of the Atlantic.

EMILE WALTER, _the Worker_.

NEW YORK, 1866.




WHAT IS FREE TRADE?




CHAPTER I.

PLENTY AND SCARCITY.


Which is better for man and for society--abundance or scarcity?

What! Can such a question be asked? Has it ever been pretended, is it
possible to maintain, that scarcity is better than plenty?

Yes: not only has it been maintained, but it is still maintained.
Congress says so; many of the newspapers (now happily diminishing in
number) say so; a large portion of the public say so; indeed, the
_city theory_ is by far the more popular one of the two.