Chapter VI. Of An Interference Of Government Grounded On Erroneous Theories.
§ 1. The doctrine of Protection to Native Industry.
We proceed to the functions of government which belong to what I have termed, for want of a better designation, the optional class; those which are sometimes assumed by governments and sometimes not, and which it is not unanimously admitted that they ought to exercise. We will begin by passing in review false theories which have from time to time formed the ground of acts of government more or less economically injurious.
Of these false theories, the most