64 THE DECENTRALISATION 



extent on the profits derived from the foreigners 

 who visit her lakes and glaciers. A good " sea- 

 son " means an influx of from 1,000,000 to 

 2,000,000 of money imported by the tourists, 

 and a bad " season " has the effects of a bad 

 crop in an agricultural country : a general im- 

 poverishment follows. So it is also with a 

 country which manufactures for export. If the 

 " season " is bad, and the exported goods cannot 

 be sold abroad for twice their value at home, the 

 country which lives chiefly on these bargains 

 suffers. Low profits for the innkeepers of the 

 Alps mean narrowed circumstances in large 

 parts of Switzerland ; and low profits for the 

 Lancashire and Scotch manufacturers, and the 

 wholesale exporters, mean narrowed circum- 

 stances in Great Britain. The cause-is the same 

 in both cases. 



For many decades past we had not seen such 

 a cheapness of wheat and manufactured goods 

 as we saw in 1883-1884, and yet in 1886 the 

 country was suffering from a terrible crisis. 

 People said, of course, that the cause of the crisis 

 was over-production. But over-production is a 

 word utterly devoid of sense if it does not mean 

 that those who are in need of all kinds of produce 

 have not the means for buying them with their 

 low wages. Nobody would dare to affirm that 

 there is too much furniture in the crippled cot- 



