TARIFF REFORM S3 



in his business, he does not employ labour as 

 freely as he would do if his profits were greater. 

 Therefore, when trade is no longer free, a factor 

 is introduced that tells very heavily against the 

 foreign trade, when compared with the home 

 trade, as an employer of labour. 



What then is the remedy ? Whether justly 

 or unjustly, the British manufacturer has the 

 character, outside Great Britain, of being very 

 difficult to move from his own line of business 

 and his own methods. It would be, perhaps, 

 natural if men whose predecessors were for three 

 generations cocks of the foreign trade-walk 

 hesitated to change either the line or the method ; 

 and therefore it is almost certain it will not be 

 sufficient to offer to employers all the arguments 

 and persuasions that invite to reinstating the 

 home trade. It will come to a stronger measure, 

 the partial closing of the door against foreign 

 manufactured goods. That implies a reform of 

 the tariff; there seems to be no other way. 



Tariff Reform, as it would be a very serious 

 matter, cannot be introduced until the people of 

 Great Britain are quite ready for it and desire 

 the introduction. As to this necessary delay 

 there need, however, be no anxiety ; for a reform 

 of the tariff cannot be prepared, cannot be drawn 

 up in the absence of full information about the 

 home trade. The only way in which that in- 

 formation can be obtained is by the collection 

 and periodical publication of detailed home-trade 

 statistics, exactly as is now done in the case of 

 the foreign trade. 



