NATURE 



125 



THURSDAY, APRIL i, 1920. 



The Anti-dumping Bill. 



THE Bill to prevent dumping- and to establish 

 a Special Industries Council to advise as 

 ihe promotion and assistance of special indus- 

 I'les has just been introduced into the House of 

 Lords by Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and, as might 

 ive been anticipated, met with a somewhat 

 bious reception from certain noble Lords who, 

 laiihful among the faithless, still bow the knee to 

 the old gods of Manchester. Autres temps, autres 

 nueurs. We seem to remember a time when the 

 present sponsor of the Bill made the " happy 

 -patch " rather than obey the behest of the chief 



I)Ostle of Tariff Reform and Imperial Preference 

 rfoUow the path he is now treading. But we live 

 ■changeful times, and events are apt to play 

 I'cc with principles. Lord Balfour of Burleigh 

 ■lot by any means the only citizen who recog"- 

 Ks that the altered economic conditions of the 

 mpire and of the world are nowadays inconsis- 

 tent with the credenda of the Cobden School. 



It cannot be said, however, of the new de- 

 parture that the Bill, after all, deals with a 

 measure of any very great magnitude. Even if 

 it becomes law it is not likely to have any im- 

 mediate or world-wide consequence. As regards 

 dumping, it is primarily aimed, of course, at 

 our late chief adversary. The Germans, no doubt, 

 would dump again if they could, or saw any 

 advantage in so doing. But from all accounts 

 they are not now in a position to consign any 

 class or kind of goods at prices at which goods 

 of the same class or kind are sold by them at home 

 in the ordinary course of business. It is, therefore, 

 in the highest degree unlikely that the Board of 

 Trade would be called upon for many months, 

 or even years, to come to prohibit their importa- 

 tion from Germany under the powers of the 

 Customs Consolidation Act of 1876. 



The present political and economic condition of 

 that prostrate nation forbids any hope that she 

 can for a long time yet, if ever, resume her 

 old position as a great trading community. Her 

 proletariat has now tasted power as never before, 

 and conditions of production are altogether 

 changed. It is certain that in the case of some 

 commodities, sugar, for example, there is nothing 

 to dump, arrd the prospect that there ever will 

 be is very remote. But it must never be 

 forgotten that Germany is not the only nation that 

 might conceivably resort to dumping in the future,. 

 NO. 2631, VOL. 105] 



and after our bitter experience we cannot afford 

 to let the future take care of itself. 



The provisions of the Bill are very elastic, and 

 the Board of Trade is to be entrusted with a 

 fairly wide discretion as regards prohibition of 

 entry. If the imported goods are shown to be 

 necessary in the national interest they may be 

 admitted under such conditions as the Board may 

 order, and any such order must be brought to 

 the notice of both Houses of Parliament. This 

 would not preclude the Board from taking prompt 

 action when necessary ; but the Minister would of 

 course be responsible ultimately to Parliament. 

 As an interference with freedom of trade, even 

 the reasonable safeguards involved in this measure 

 .will no doubt be fiercely opposed ; and it remains 

 to be seen what power the doctrinaires of the old 

 school still retain. The plain man will find it 

 difficult to see the snake in the grass. 



The sections of the Bill dealing with the estab- 

 lishment of the Special Industries Council for 

 the promotion and assistance of special industries 

 are, however, of immediate and pressing imp6rt- 

 ance, and it is to be hoped that, whatever may be 

 the fate of the clauses directed to the prevention 

 of dumping, this portion of the measure will not 

 be sacrificed. It is concerned with matters which 

 may be said to have originated out of and in 

 consequence of the war, and to have been forced 

 upon us in great measure by the action of our late 

 enemies. It is notorious that for years prior to 

 the outbreak of war Germany had by divers arts 

 and cunning contrivance sought to hamper and 

 restrain the development of our industries and to 

 thwart the expansion of our commerce. Her 

 methods at times, especially in foreign markets, 

 had violated every principle of fair trading. Her 

 practices were part of h'er policy of world-wide 

 aggression — Deutschland iiber alles — no matter 

 at what cost or at what sacrifice of commercial 

 rectitude. It was that policy which produced, and 

 probably precipitated, a war which practically 

 every element of German nationality had con- 

 spired for a generation past to bring about. It 

 was only on its outbreak that the extent and 

 character of that, conspiracy were realised, and 

 that this country fully recognised - how it had 

 been tricked, and with what subtlety one 

 after another of the things that count in the 

 struggle which was contemplated had been 

 "cornered" and impropriated. Chagrined as 

 Germany was by our entrance into the war, it 

 was untrue to say, as she alleged, that jealousy 

 of her impending commercial supremacy was at 



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