196 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



taxing country and upon an article not pro- 

 duced within the country. In the latter case, 

 it is fair to presume, usually, that the full 

 amount of the tariff duty will be added to the 

 cost to the consumer. It is so in the case of 

 the tea tax in Great Britain. But when a 

 tariff impost is placed upon an article which 

 can be freely produced within the boundaries 

 of the taxing country, it does not follow at all 

 that there will be any tax paid by the consumer. 

 In the ideal case the tariff excludes the foreign 

 product wholly, and local producers, competing 

 for the local market, establish a fair range of 

 prices founded on the local cost of production 

 — a range not necessarily higher than the old 

 Free Trade rates. Dealing with British agri- 

 cultural protection, however, there is usually a 

 more complicated case to be considered, where it 

 is desirable to attempt to encourage a greater 

 local production, but at present impossible to 

 aim at full local production. I fall back for 

 illustration on my old arbitrary example of 

 wheat. Suppose at a steady 35s. a quarter 

 wheat growing becomes so profitable in Eng- 

 land that enough land would be brought back 



