Original text in French: <a href="http://bastiat.org/fr/petition.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://bastiat.org/fr/petition.html</a>
> to check as you do the importation of coal, iron, cheese, and goods of foreign manufacture, merely because and even in proportion as their price approaches zero, while at the same time you freely admit, and without limitation, the light of the sun, whose price is during the whole day at zero<p>But if something is cheap (the price approaches zero) but is widely used, it might still contribute to a large capital transfer. If something is free, that won't happen, as there's no benefiting party.
The point is not to reject this "demi-gratuity", but to ensure everyone benefits from that, not just some select countries.