176 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap 



the term, but against two totally distinct things — 

 "retaliation" towards such foreign countries as tax our 

 products, and renewed " protection " of our domestic 

 industries — both of which are clearly proved by him, and 

 are freely admitted by me, to be useless or injurious to 

 ourselves. Thus at p. 68 he says : " If we desire to 

 retaliate with effect upon America for the injury which, by 

 her tariff, she inflicts on our commerce ; " — and on the 

 same page, " If, therefore, we desire to make the American 

 people suffer some of the same loss and inconvenience 

 which they inflict on our commerce ; " — and again, at p. 

 162, he speaks of the objection "against imposing a duty 

 on some article of French manufacture, with the view 

 oi punishing the French for refusing to renew the Com- 

 mercial Treaty." Surely such expressions as these which 

 I have italicised, are unworthy of an argumentative work 

 on political economy and of Professor Fawcett's high 

 reputation. The desire of our manufacturers and work- 

 men to enjoy the legitimate benefits of free trade, and to 

 be guarded against the injury admitted to be done to 

 them by the arbitrary and uncertain departures from its 

 principle by other nations, is a very different thing from 

 " retaliation " or a revengeful wish to make others suffer. 



The late Professor Fawcett further argued, as it appears 

 to me very unsoundly, that because the import of goods 

 which compete with our manufactures is often compara- 

 tively small, therefore the injury done or the distress 

 caused is proportionately of small amount. Surely he 

 must know that there is often a very narrow margin 

 between profit and loss in manufactures, and that the 

 importation of a comparatively small quantity may deter- 

 mine the price at which a much larger quantity must be 

 sold. It is a well known fact that the increased economy 

 in working to the full power of a factory is such that the 

 surplus so produced may be advantageously sold abroad at 

 less than the actual cost, owing to the increased profit on 

 the bulk of the goods manufactured at a lower average 

 cost. Foreign manufacturers, protected by import duties 

 against competition by us, enjoy practically a monopoly in 

 their own countries, and can secure such a profit on the 



