(Q.): That we need protection to get ready for war.

135. We have no army, or navy, or fortifications Edition: current; Page: [143] worth mentioning. We are wasting more by protective taxes in a year than would be necessary to build a first-class navy and fortify our whole seacoast. It is said that, in some way, the taxes get us ready for war, and yet in fact we are not ready for war. It is plain that this argument is only a pretense put forward to try to cover the real motives of protection. If we prefer to go without army, navy, and fortifications, as we now do, then the best way to get ready for war, consistently with that policy, is to get as rich as we can. Then we can count on buying any thing in the world which any body else has got, which we need. Protection, then, which lessens our wealth, is only diminishing our power for war.