Holman W. Jenkins Jr.'s ambivalent portrait of the Wal-Mart of Mexico bribery scandal in his April 25 Business World column "Wal-Mart Innocents Abroad" overlooks the fact that bribery is not a victimless crime. If the allegations are true, Wal-Mart was bribing local government bureaucrats to skirt environmental regulations, rewrite zoning laws and intentionally expand itself faster than any of its competitors could possibly, legally, match.

Such behavior has tangible harms. Environmental regulations exist for many reasons—to...