Translated by Dean Russel

When a reviewer wishes to give special recognition to a book, he predicts that it will still be read “a hundred years from now.” The Law, first published as a pamphlet in June of 1850, is already more than a hundred years old. And because its truths are eternal, it will still be read when another century has passed.

The Law is relevant today because the same situation exists in America now as in France of 1848. The same socialist-communist plans and ideas that were adopted in France are now sweeping America, notwithstanding the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. The explanation and arguments then advanced against socialism by Mr. Bastiat are, word for word, equally valid today. His ideas deserve a serious hearing.