THE FREE TRADE SHAM EXPOSED 187 

 people, can only be effected by these means, and we are 

 at last determined to see the thing carried through. 



Germany and the United States (our two most for- 

 midable competitors) are not" free traders," and never 

 have been, and yet their relative progress is greater than 

 our own, while their prosperity, instead of being indi- 

 vidual, as with us, is national. What we want is the 

 prosperity of the people and not that of a few already 

 rich individuals, who continue to make a good thing out 

 of free trade. 



We are called a " nation of shopkeepers." Good! Let Nation of 

 us deserve the name : let us do that which foreign nations ^^ eepers 

 are now doing for us. We import yearly ;^i5o, 000,000 

 worth of manufactured goods from foreign countries. 

 Let us make practically all these goods ourselves and 

 employ our own people instead of those who put up im- 

 possible barriers against a single pound's worth of our 

 manufactures ever finding their way into their country. 



We import £36,000,000 worth of iron and other metal 

 goods for example, but is there a country on earth that, 

 given the same opportunities other States possess, can 

 turn out metal wares to surpass our own? 



Then we buy £16,000,000 worth of chemicals, dyes, 

 etc. Why? Chemicals and dyes are largely made from 

 by-products of mines and gasworks ; yet what country 

 can beat us in this direction? 



Cutlery and hardware account for nearly £4,000,000 

 annually^ and yet no country in the world can produce 

 these goods equal to our own. 



Nearly £4,500,000 are sent abroad every year for 



