CHAPTER V 



FOREIGN TRADING THEN AND NOW 



Discussion is now resumed of the third proposi- 

 tion, respecting the probable necessity of a careful 

 reform of the tariff. The conduct of this dis- 

 cussion becomes easier when the third proposi- 

 tion is replaced by three further propositions. 



Fourth proposition. — The conditions under which 

 the foreign trade of Great Britain is now con- 

 ducted are absolutely different from the conditions 

 under which the trade was conducted sixty to 

 a hundred years ago. 



The great industrial object of the nation is 

 to keep its labour-capital fully and wisely em- 

 ployed,- by means of a due proportion of the 

 capital that sets labour to work and of invest- 

 ment capital ; investment capital being partly the 

 capital that sets labour to work, but arranged 

 for easy transfer from owner to owner, in the 

 form of stocks and shares, and partly what was 

 once the capital that sets labour to work, but 

 is, for the most part, in that capacity, now 

 dissipated, and is represented by the credit of 

 different nations, corporations, etc., or promise, 

 more or less reliable, to pay periodically to the 



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