220 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



protect the interests of the consumers and of 

 the producers (that is, the employers and workers 

 producing). A good example of the ' New 

 Protection " was the legislation introduced in 

 1906 to attempt to deal with American com- 

 petition with Australian agricultural machinery. 

 The machinery manufacturers claimed a high 

 tariff to keep out the American product. Against 

 this demand some strong objections were put 

 forward. It was urged that to raise the tariff 

 would enable the agricultural machinery makers 

 of Australia to create a Trust among themselves, 

 and, having a monopoly by grace of the pro- 

 hibitive tariff, to raise the price of their machines 

 against the farmer. Agricultural machinery, it 

 was insisted, was the raw material of the farmer. 

 High protection on it would raise prices hugely, 

 make the farmer's life harder, and the bread of 

 the people dearer. There was another objection 

 to an increase in the tariff on agricultural 

 machinery, that the manufacturers did not pay 

 their workers good wages, and therefore the 

 industry was not a public-benefit one, and there- 

 fore not entitled to sympathy. 



The position was met by legislation, which 



