148 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION F. 
we are each burdened with the support of a family. Even if we 
could manage for ourselves, what is to become of our families in 
the meantime ? 
Theorist: I admit this ditticulty, but is there not plenty of 
work open to you in this country where you could turn your 
labour to account, where no special skill is required, or, at any 
rate, where bone and muscle is all that is necessary. 
Shoemaker : True, in time some of us might obtain work as 
labourers in the fields among farmers, or on public works or mines, 
but the failure in our own industry in such a thinly-populated 
country causes a depression in nearly all local occupations ; 
for it must be admitted a considerable portion of the products of 
other trades and industries have been directly affected by our 
distress and our lessened consumption, due to lack of purchasing 
power. Besides, I have been told by farmers that they have 
themselves long struggled with adverse circumstances in com- 
peting against more favoured agriculturists in America, who 
are able to sell in European markets at prices which tend to 
become lower year by year, and if a local market is not soon 
established, many of them will have to give in. If other trades 
are crushed by foreign competition as we have been, what hope 
have the farmers of holding on, let alone the outlook for their 
own children, where every branch of industry seems to be 
already overstocked, even in this rich and extensive country 
with a sparse population. In addition to what I have stated, 
I am informed by those who have given much attention to 
agriculture that there is only a limited amount of land where 
agriculture might be successfully carried on ; but this form of 
industry will not admit of the employment of more than 35 
persons to the square mile of land in cultivation, and if this be 
so, and if farmers cannot exchange products of the same kind 
with each other, how can a local market become a possibility in 
the absence of a local community of trades and manufacturers ? 
Theorist : 1 admit that the home trader and home workman 
may femporarily suffer loss from the competition of foreign traders 
and workmen in the same branch of industry, but it must be 
remembered that everyéhing will again be adjusted, because 
capital is constantly exerting a tendency to smooth down any 
temporary inequality in the profits of different trades. Even if 
you suffer from foreign importations, the Government is not 
bound to protect you; for there can be no right which has a 
juster claim than that every individual of the community should 
be freely permitted to obtain commodities where he can buy 
them on the cheapest terms, and to sell them where he can 
realise the highest price. 
Shoemaker : It is easy for theorists to write such things. I 
am unable to understand exactly what you mean by suffering a 
temporary loss, or what the process may be which you euphoniously 
