144 COMMERCE AND EXCHANGE 



berlain's utterances at Welbeck that " the effect of free trade on 

 the laborers of this country has been disastrous." The programme 

 put forward each time is characterized as provisional and subject 

 to modification. That part of it, however, which seems to be most 

 widely accepted and which develops most directly from the objects 

 which those who have advanced it have in view, is of vital interest 

 to the United States. The main object of Mr. Chamberlain's pro- 

 posed policy seems to be to cement a closer union of the Empire 

 and to draw the colonies nearer to the mother country, thus strength- 

 ening the Empire for national or imperial defense. If this object is to 

 be attained by preferential tariff legislation in favor of the colonies, 

 it cannot but seriously affect a number of important American indus- 

 tries. And if, as seems almost inevitable, the more general scheme 

 be entered upon and compensatory duties should be allowed British 

 manufacturers, it will involve a considerable amount of actual pro- 

 tection. In the programme outlined by Mr. Chamberlain in his 

 speech at Glasgow, on October 7, 1903, he proposed tentatively to 

 lay a tax of two shillings a quarter upon all foreign grain excepting 

 maize. Joined as this proposal is with a distinct purpose to build 

 up wheat-farming in the colonies, and especially in Canada and 

 Australia, by special exemptions and concessions which shall insure 

 them a market in England for all their surplus grain, it constitutes 

 a certain menace to American agricultural interests. For, although 

 the importations of food-products into Great Britain from the United 

 States fluctuate from year to year with the changes in the crops in 

 different parts of the world, yet, roughly speaking, Great Britain 

 still takes about fifty per cent of her necessary food - - wheat, flour, 

 and meats - - from the United States, and any curtailment of this 

 market, which, even at the present time, takes about one sixth of 

 the American output, cannot but be a matter of serious concern to 

 the United States. 



Wheat-growing in the United States is still so important an indus- 

 try that its prosperity or the reverse may well-nigh be said to mark 

 the prosperity or depression of all industries throughout the United 

 States. The predominance of wheat-growing is not so great as it 

 was a few years ago, but, nevertheless, any disturbance of that 

 industry would be felt the length and breadth of the country. The 

 wheat-growing industry has already suffered a series of setbacks, 

 especially through the competition of the Argentine Republic, and 

 lately through an increased acreage and output from Russia. Any 

 further curtailment of the market for the surplus wheat of the United 

 States will be felt immediately. These considerations are, however, 

 offset by certain others which may have considerable weight. In the 

 first place, there has been a marked increase in the home demand 

 for wheat and flour products, an increase in the Asiatic demand, and 



