74 HOME TRADE AND FOREIGN TRADE 



imports, in each case, is that of the correspond- 

 ing exports, with the cost of shipping transport 

 added. But as, in this case, the cost of shipping 

 transport has to be paid over to a third country, 

 the remaining value of the imports, after paying 

 the cost of transport, is just the same as the 

 value of the exports. Each country appears 

 neither to gain nor lose by the trade. For 

 though all sorts of ups and downs occur, and 

 some merchants make far better bargains than 

 others, it may be supposed that, on the average, 

 goods of a certain value sent from one country 

 will cause goods of about equal value to be sent 

 from the other. 



If, in such a trade, neither country gains nor 

 loses, where is the profit of that trade ? It is 

 already in the goods when they become exports. 

 Viewing the transaction by itself, it is just as 

 profitable to the manufacturer to make goods 

 that are to go abroad as to make goods that are 

 to be sold at home. 



But we must not view the transaction quite by 

 itself. Each trade deal is one of a number of 

 deals, and the more rapidly the deals succeed 

 each other, the quicker the profits come in, and 

 therefore the more labour these profits can set 

 to work. Some ports are near together, and 

 then there is little loss of time in the foreign as 

 compared with the home trade, but other ports 

 are widely separated and, even now, when the 

 means of communication of all kinds are so 

 greatly improved, there is comparative delay in 

 the completion of orders. In these cases the 



