HOW AGRICULTURE MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED 19 



that there are two sides to the great question of what is the 

 best ecouomical policy for Great Britain, as there are to every 

 question in this world, yet so enamoured have they become of 

 their own policy that they now stand charged even with 

 dishonesty and disloyalty to their fellow-countrymen. Anti- 

 Free-traders hold that the appalling poverty, the constant and 

 ever-growing unemployment of the people, and th(^, many evils 

 which beset them, are the direct and inevitable result of 

 running tlie fiscal arrangements of the country for 62 years 

 along the lines laid down by Cobden. That great reformer's 

 followers ignore these misfortunes as being connected with 

 the movement with which they arc inseparably associated, 

 but their adversaries point to tlie indubitable fact that the 

 widespread evils that have overtaken the British people, and 

 which have been spared to other countries, must necessarily 

 be an outcome of the system with which Free-traders are 

 indissolubly bouml, and which has dominated this country 

 since 18-46, for the simple reason — that the coimtry has known 

 no other system. 



The anti-Feee-teade Paety desceibed 



Before dealing specifically with the views of those who 

 are opposed to Free-trade, let it be made clear what this great 

 party is. Free-traders dub all those who are opposed to their 

 policy as " Protectionists," but this term is altogether too bald 

 and incomprehensive to describe a great movement which 

 includes all classes outside the narrow and ever decreasing 

 circle of Free-traders. Tariff-reformers, Land-reformers, Fair- 

 traders, Keciprocity advocates, those who favour the lex talionis 

 principle in trade, the great mass of agriculturists, and that 

 vaster mass of loyal and patriotic section of the British people 

 who prefer to see the fiscal and economic systems of their 

 country run along lines tliat would offer the freest possible 

 facilities for the successful conduct of all British industries, 

 instead of the present destructive policy which favours the 

 few at the expense of the many, are included in this great 

 anti-Free-trade party. Many manufacturers too, discerning 

 that Free-trade has wrought considerable havoc with their 

 interests, have at length joined the crusade, and as the re- 

 actionary movement is gaining strength daily in proportion 

 to the enlightenment of the people, the near future will 

 doubtless witness many interesting encounters between the 

 opposing forces. 



