226 FIELDS, FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. 



the fabrication of textiles. For cotton spinning she had 

 153 establishments, with 2,392,360 spindles, employing 33,815 

 work-people, while for cotton weaving she had 194 estab- 

 lishments, with 47,902 power-looms. 



The imports of raw cotton attained, in 1894, the respect- 

 able sum of ,4,333,000 (cotton yarn, ,1,375,000); of wool, 

 .3,000,000 (woollen yarn, ;i,775> oo ) ; of silk ;i56o,ooo; 

 while her exports of woollen goods quite balanced the im- 

 ports of the same. 



G. MR. GIFFEN'S AND MR. FLUX'S FIGURES CONCERNING 



THE POSITION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM IN INTER- 

 NATIONAL TRADE. 



A few remarks concerning these figures may be of some 

 avail. 



When a sudden fall in the British and Irish exports took 

 place in the years 1882-6, and the alarmists took advantage 

 of the bad times to raise the never-forgotten war-cry of pro- 

 tection, especially insisting on the damages made to British 

 trade by " German competition," Mr. Giffen analysed the 

 figures of international trade in his " Finance Essays " and 

 in a report read in 1888 before the Board of Trade Commis- 

 sion. Subsequently, Mr. A. W. Flux analysed again the same 

 figures, extending them to a later period. He confirmed 

 Mr. Giffen's conclusions and endeavoured to prove that the 

 famous " German competition " is a fallacy. 



Mr. Giffen's conclusions, quoted by Mr. A. W. Flux (" The 

 Commercial Supremacy of Great Britain," in Economical 

 Journal, 1894, iv., p. 457), were as follows: 



" On the whole, the figures are not such as to indicate any 

 great and overwhelming advance in German exports in com- 

 parison with those of the United Kingdom. There is greater 

 progress in certain directions, but, taken altogether, no great 

 disproportionate advance, and in many important markets 

 for the United Kingdom Germany hardly appears at all." 



In this subdued form, with regard to German competition 

 alone and due allowance being made for figures in which 



