The Law and Charity

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　You say: "There are persons who have no money," and you turn tothe law. But the law is not a breast that fills itself with milk.Nor are the lacteal veins of the law supplied with milk from a sourceoutside the society. Nothing can enter the public treasury for thebenefit of one citizen or one class unless other citizens and otherclasses have been forced to send it in. If every person draws fromthe treasury the amount that he has put in it, it is true that the lawthen plunders nobody. But this procedure does nothing for the personswho have no money. It does not promote equality of income. The lawcan be an instrument of equalization only as it takes from somepersons and gives to other persons. When the law does this, it is aninstrument of plunder.

　　With this in mind, examine the protective tariffs, subsidies,guaranteed profits, guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes,public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works.You will find that they are always based on legal plunder, organizedinjustice.