1896.] boo [Dudley. 



It will be seen that for the last ten years the English people have im- 

 ported from Russia more than double what they exported to Russia, and 

 during the last twenty-six years there has not been a single year but what 

 the imports have exceeded the exports, and during this whole time they 

 have been more than double. 



The figures for the last twenty-six years are as follows : 



Imports £474,080,882 



Exports 213, 144, 167 



Excess of imports over exports £260,936,715 



From China, during the last ten years, the imports have amounted to 

 £119,440,038, while the exports to have only been £49,091,938; the imports 

 being very much more than double the exports. 



From Egypt, during the last ten years, the imports were £94,528,335, 

 and the exports to only £28,243,538, not one -third the amount of the im- 

 ports. 



From Peru, for the past ten years, the imports from were £35,692,075, 

 and the exports to £11,536,330 ; the imports being three times in excess of 

 the exports. 



In all the above instances in the trade between England and the nations 

 mentioned, the export has not followed the import, but England has 

 bought, each and every year, largely in excess of what these nations have 

 bought of her. 



The people of these nations, in their dealings, have followed the usual 

 course of business, each taking from the other what they required and 

 nothing more, and that without regard to the balance of trade or the im- 

 port from or export to, proving fully the untruthfulness of the doctrine 

 that an export always follows an import. In the case of Russia, where 

 the excess of the imports over the exports has been going on for so many 

 years, this excess of imports has been made up, in almost every instance, 

 of agricultural products. 



England has been buying breadstuffs and other agricultural products of 

 Russia without any regard to what Russia bought of her. And as long as 

 the Russian farmer can sell his wheat cheaper than it can be bought in the 

 United States or India, so long will the English corn merchant continue 

 to buy it of Russia, and that without regard to whether the Russian mer- 

 chant buys his woolen goods or hardware of the English merchant or not. 

 And what has been said with regard to wheat applies with equal force to 

 every other commodity that enters into the trade or dealings between man 

 and man in every civilized nation of the world. A man may trade a 

 handsaw for a jackknife, and no doubt this is sometimes done, but it is 

 not the ordinary course of business between merchants ; as a rule they 

 buy what they require and pay for it in cash, and sell it to others in the 

 same manner for cash. If we examine our own trade reports, or those of 

 France, Germany or any other civilized country, we will find the same 



