"Frederick Bastiat - That Which Is Seen-That Which Is Not" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bastiat Frederick)

But what revolts the economical part of my conscience, and
makes me blush for the intellectual resources of my country, is when
this absurd relic of feudalism is brought forward, which it constantly
is, and it is favourably received too:-

"Besides, the luxury of great Government officers encourages
the arts, industry, and labour. The head of the State and his
ministers cannot give banquets and soirees without causing life to
circulate through all the veins of the social body. To reduce their
means, would starve Parisian industry, and consequently that of the
whole nation."

I must beg you, gentlemen, to pay some little regard to
arithmetic, at least; and not to say before the National Assembly in
France, lest to its shame it should agree with you, that an addition
gives a different sum, according to whether it is added up from the
bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom of the column.

For instance, I want to agree with a drainer to make a trench
in my field for a hundred sous. Just as we have concluded our
arrangement, the tax-gatherer comes, takes my hundred sous, and
sends them to the Minister of the Interior; my bargain is at end,
but the Minister will have another dish added to his table. Upon
what ground will you dare to affirm that this official expense helps
the national industry? Do you not see, that in this there is only a
reversing of satisfaction and labour? A Minister has his table
better covered, it is true, but it is just as true that an
agriculturist has his field worse drained. A Parisian tavern-keeper
has gained a hundred sous,I grant you; but then you must grant me that
a drainer has been prevented from gaining five francs. It all comes to
this, -that the official and the tavern-keeper being satisfied, is
that which is seen; the field undrained, and the drainer deprived of
his job, is that which is not seen. Dear me! how much trouble there is
in proving that two and two make four; and if you succeed in proving
it, it is said, "the thing is so plain it is quite tiresome," and they
vote as if you had proved nothing at all.

IV. -THEATRES AND FINE ARTS
Ought the State to support the arts?

There is certainly much to be said on both sides of this
question. It may be said, in favor of the system of voting supplies
for this purpose, that the arts enlarge, elevate, and harmonize the
soul of a nation; that they divert it from too great an absorption
in material occupations, encourage in it a love for the beautiful, and
thus act favourably on its manners, customs, morals, and even on its
-industry. It may be asked, what would become of music in France
without her Italian theatre and her Conservatoire; of the dramatic
art. without her Theatre-Francais; of painting and sculpture,