FREE WHEEL 



3337 



FREE WILL BAPTISTS 



in comparison with the internal 

 trade of their continent. Conse- 

 quently, if that external trade is 

 subject to protective duties, the 

 effect on the general body of the 

 people is relatively unimportant. 



Britain and Free Trade 

 In the case of Great Britain the 

 situation is entirely different. The 

 country is not very large ; its 

 natural resources, except in the 

 matter of coal and good pasturage, 

 are extremely limited. If the 

 people of Great Britain attempted 

 to "keep themselves to themselves" 

 they would have a very poor 

 life indeed. 



England's success in the world 

 had its origin in the sea-going 

 instinct of the English race which 

 a long, indented coast-line further 

 developed. To-day the industrial 

 energies of Great Britain are 

 devoted largely to the production 

 of goods for export. But if a 

 country is to carry on successfully 

 a very large export trade against 

 the competition of other countries, 

 and often against the handicap 

 of hostile tariffs, it must produce 

 cheaply. One of the most im- 

 portant elements in cheap pro- 

 duction is the cheapness of the 

 materials and of the instruments 

 employed in the processes of manu- 

 facture. Any tariff that is im- 

 posed to give protection to pro- 

 ducers for home consumption 

 almost inevitably injures pro- 

 ducers for export. If, for example, 

 a duty be imposed on imported 

 steel bars in order to give protec- 

 tion to the producers of steel, it will 

 injure the shipbuilding industry, 

 the locomotive industry, and al- 

 most every branch of engineering. 



These illustrations show that in 

 a country with a highly developed 

 and complicated export trade it 

 does not suffice to exempt from 

 taxation what are sometimes called 

 raw materials, for that term cer- 

 tainly could not be applied to such 

 highly manufactured articles as 

 steel bars or cotton yarn. Almost 

 every important manufactured 

 article is indeed itself the material 

 for some further manufacturing or 

 industrial process. If a tariff were 

 confined to those imported articles, 

 say French motor-cars or Austrian 

 gloves, which were ready for imme- 

 diate use by the ultimate consumer, 

 it would protect very few industries 

 and would indeed more appro- 

 priately be described as a luxury 

 tax than a protective tariff In 

 fact, in the United Kingdom pro- 

 tection cannot be given by means 

 of a tariff to any of the great staple 

 industries without injuring others 

 which may be of equal or even 

 greater importance. 



It is, of course, arguable that an 



all-wise government, by picking 

 out the more important industries 

 for encouragement and the less im- 

 portant for discouragement, might 

 add to the economic strength of the 

 nation. But even if it were quite 

 easy to discover an all-wise govern- 

 ment, it still would be difficult to 

 see on what principle such a govern- 

 ment would proceed. Among the 

 most important industries of the 

 United Kingdom are cotton manu- 

 facture, coalmining, andship-build- 

 ing. They account together for a 

 very large amount of well-paid em- 

 ployment and for the production 

 of a great volume of wealth. They 

 cannot be benefited by any kind of 

 tariff ; they would be injured by al- 

 most any duties imposed to benefit 

 other industries. Would an all-wise 

 government select these great in- 

 dustries for discouragement and 

 some other industries forencourage- 

 ment ? and if so, what other indus- 

 tries and for what reasons ? 

 Agriculture and Protection 



There is indeed one industry 

 which on national grounds can 

 put forward a plausible case for 

 protection, namely agriculture. 

 The practical difficulty is that, 

 if the tariff on imported agricultural 

 produce were low, it would make 

 very little difference to our home 

 agriculture ; while if the proposed 

 tariff were high, the urban popu- 

 lation would resist its imposition, 

 and as against the urban vote the 

 friends of agriculture are politically 

 powerless. It is important, too, to 

 remember that agriculture itself is 

 not one industry, but many. The 

 interests of the dairy-farmer and 

 of the pig-breeder are by no means 

 identical with those of the wheat 

 grower. 



These are examples of the con- 

 siderations which lead the free 

 trader to argue that it is better for 

 the Government not to interfere in 

 matters of trade between man and 

 man, between one industry and 

 another. Doubtless private enter- 

 prise may sometimes go astray. 

 The search for individual profit 

 does not necessarily lead to the 

 highest national advantage. But in 

 the main private enterprise can 

 only succeed by developing those 

 industries which are best suited to 

 the character of the people and to 

 the natural resources of the island. 

 Where blunders are made by private 

 enterprise they are quickly cor- 

 rected, for to persist in an economic 

 blunder means bankruptcy. On 

 the other hand, the State in inter- 

 fering with the course of trade is 

 not necessarily guided at all by any 

 sound economic motive ; it may be 

 compelled to action solely by politi- 

 cal corruption. Moreover, even if 

 the intentions of a government are 



honest, there is no means by which 

 it can constantly test the wisdom of 

 its policy. It may blunder along, 

 hampering where it intended to 

 help, pulling down instead of build- 

 ing up, continuing the mischief un- 

 checked for decades, until n-u 

 political forces have grown RtnuiL' 

 enough to sweep away the who I- 

 policy. That is why the free trader 

 asks that, in matters of trade, politi- 

 cians should leave the individual 

 free to do his own blundering at 

 his own expense, and free alpo to 

 achieve success for himself and in- 

 cidentally for the nation by his own 

 unhampered methods. 



liibliography. The Commerce of 

 Nations, C. F. Bastable, 1892; I 

 Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith ; \ 

 Free Trade Movement and its Re- ; 

 suits, G. Armitage-Smith, 1903 ; The 

 Life of Richard Co bden, John Mor- 

 ley, 1903. The Return to Protec- 

 tion, William Smart, 2nd ed., 1906; 

 A Project of Empire, J. Shield 

 Nicholson, 1909. 



Free Wheel. Term given to a | 

 gear or pulley wheel which is pro- 

 vided with a clutch or detent in 

 such a manner that the wheel may 

 either turn with the axle on which 

 it is placed or rest idle on the axle, 

 while the latter turns. In the 

 former case the wheel is working, 

 in the latter idl?. A now familiar 

 example is provided by the com- 

 mon bicycle and another by cer- 

 tain forms of lawn-mowers in 

 which the wheel "works" when 

 the mower is moved forward, but is 

 idle while the machine is moved 

 backwards. Many other varieties 

 are found in mechanics. See Cycling. 



Free Will. Psychologically, the 

 theory that men's actions are not 

 dependent on any external force, 

 but are the result of conscious mo- 

 tives operating from within. Meta- 

 physically, free will is the power 

 of acting independently of any 

 cause whatever, external or inter- 

 nal the capacity of willing or not 

 willing the same thing at the same 

 time. The question of its existence 

 cannot be settled metaphysically 

 by self -examination. The conscious- 

 ness that we might have acted 

 differently, had we so willed it, is 

 beside the point, which is, could we 

 have so willed ? " It is certain 

 that I can act as I will, but to say 

 that I can will as I will is senseless " 

 (Hobbes). The existence of free 

 will (metaphysically) is denied by 

 determinism (q.v.), affirmed by in- 

 determinism. See Calvinism. 



Free Will Baptists. Arminian 

 section of the Baptist denomi- 

 nation in America, corresponding 

 to the General Baptists in Great 

 Britain. Originating about 1780 

 through the preaching of Benjamin 

 Randall, one of Whitefield's con- 

 verts who joined the Baptists, they 



