THE HOME MARKET 291 



But during the period of five years, twenty years 

 later, that is 1892-7, Mr. Harris reckons the gross value 

 of the produce sold from the same farms to average 

 ;[^ 1 75,308,400 (instead of ^249,148,000) per annum, 

 or a falling off of no less than ^73,839,600 per 

 annum.^ The figures show, therefore, that during 

 the five years named the total decline was about 

 369 millions sterling, which may be held mainly to 

 be the loss to British trade during the five years. 



What consternation there would be among the com- 

 mercial classes, if our foreign exports should show a 

 falling off during the next few years of an average of 

 74 millions sterling per annum, with every prospect 

 of the decline continuing ! 



But it is difficult to understand why there is such 

 virtue attached to the word " exports." Why are 

 sales (call them exports) to East Anglia, Devonshire, 

 Northumbria, etc., of less importance to the manu- 

 facturer than the sales to Germany, Belgium, or the 

 United States? A steam-engine or a plough is not 

 less profitable to the maker if sold to a farmer in 

 England, who pays for it out of the produce of the 

 land, than if sent to a farmer in Argentina. Yet the 



the capital employed in the agriculture of any society "must always 

 reside within that society." These statements directly support the argu- 

 ments used in these pages. If the 12 millions sterling named in the 

 Land Purchase Bill were spent by the State (society) in the improvement 

 of agriculture, any gains from that outlay would reside at home, but 

 under our present system would reside with a few persons, the landlords. 

 Under a system of occupying ownerships these gains would be widely 

 distributed among the inhabitants of the country, whose revenue would 

 be " in proportion to the value of the annual produce of their land and 

 labour." (See "Wealth of Nations," Vol. II book ii.) In these argu- 

 ments of Adam Smith the functions of a true political economy are 

 seen, which are to deal with the distribution of wealth instead of with 

 its aggregation, to which that so-called science is so often confined. 

 ^ Mr. TurnbuU estimates this falling off at 80 millions per annum. 



