A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TRADE PRINCIPLES 311 



come our way and adopt Free-trade ; there is no wonder then 

 that ho ihiiig abroad his proud ])oast — 



" There will not bo a tariff in Juiropc that will not be changed in 

 less than live years to follow your example." 



The nations liave not altered their tariffs to follow ours. 

 Why ? Free -trade writers have offered volumes of clearly 

 reasoned matter in explanation of the extraordinarily perverse 

 and wrong-headed attitude assumed by all the great civilised 

 States of the world who have now become our keenest com- 

 petitors in the great commercial and industrial campaign which 

 is being waged against us in all the world's markets ; but the 

 strong reaction which has now set in against Free-trade in our 

 own country, even among Free-traders themselves, proves that 

 Free-trade defenders have convinced nobody but the more 

 conservative section of their own followers. 



Dealing with another phase of the question, the following 

 extract will very briefly indicate the attitude assumed in 

 respect hereto by at least one Free-trade economist, 



"Nor must we forget the nature of the trade of otlier countries. 

 Great Britain is unable to provide herself with sufficient food ; raw 

 materials and food-stulfs together account for nearly 75 per cent, of 

 her imports, while manufactured goods are about 75 per cent, of 

 her total exports. This is the case with no other country. It is 

 true that France and Germany both import some corn, but their 

 chief imports, and almost the entire imports of most other protective 

 countries, consist of manufactures, materials for manufactures, and 

 luxuries, on which the pressure of duties is less severely felt than 

 would be the case if they were levied upon the immediate necessaries 

 of life. "While, then, different circumstances have fostered the pro- 

 tective prineii)le in Europe, the United States, and the Colonies, in 

 all of them the facility for collecting revenue by the customary 

 method of duties on imports gave it an easy footing ; and in all 

 it has been maintained by the sentiment of supporting home 

 industry, and the fallacy that more employment is found for 

 labour in the country by excluding foreign competition." * 



A Statement of Many Inaccukacies 



This passage is remarkable for many things. 



It contains the statement that Crreat Britain is unable to 

 provide herself with sufficient food, whicli no nuin outside the 

 narrow circle of Free-trade economists will for a moment admit. 

 Great Britain does not grow her own food to-day for the excellent 

 reason the country is now acquainted with, but that she can 

 and will grow every (quarter of wheat and every pound of bacon 

 ♦ " The Free-trade Movement," p. 14G. 



