A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TUADE PRINCIPLES 313 



class of goods on ivhich the ^presence of duty is lens severely felt 

 than would he the case if they were levied upon the immediate 

 necessaries of life, such a coudition iiiust necessarily be superior 

 to our own, wliich, in spite of " Free "-trade, finds the necessity 

 of levying considerable duties on many of our Food imports on 

 whicli the duty is severely felt. 



Then again, if the *' Protective " principle offers free and 

 easier facilities for collecting revenue from duties on goods 

 which can bear them without being felt so severely by the 

 people than if tliey were levied on foods, why in the name of 

 common-sense do wc not adopt a system of the kind so as to 

 give 02ir people a chance ? 



But the most remarkable portion of this remarkable excerpt 

 is that the " Protective " principle has been maintained in all 

 countries— whether our competitors or not — 



" By the sentiment of supporting home industry, and the fallacy 

 that more employmcat is found for labour in the country by excJudiny 

 foreign competition.'''' 



Now, if the question of " supporting home industries " is 

 nothing but a mere — Sentiment ; in other words, if the vital 

 question of whether we shall or shall not employ, support and 

 feed our own people is nothing but a fancy, a gnomic utterance, 

 a sentiment : then we have been deceived. Tlie world at larcce, 

 however, regards the food and employment of the people as of 

 paramount importance, as, indeed, the most important item in 

 that interminable list of economic questions which arise out of, 

 and are involved in, that vast subject wliicli men call Sociology. 

 You cannot get food without ernployuKmt, therefore it 

 becomes a necessity to fintl employment. Yuu cannot have 

 employment without industries, therefore it becomes necessary 

 to establish and maintain them. If you establish industries in 

 a country and then by the laxity of your fiscal laws permit 

 other countries to compete with you at all points, practically 

 without restriction, you are bound to lose some of your trade, 

 and if you do this you deprive your people of employment and 

 — food. A people deprived of food and employment means 

 Starvation ! This is precisely the condition of masses of the 

 British people to-day ; many are reduced to dire poverty and 

 are standing on the very brink of that abyss which engulfs so 

 many of our unfortunate countrymen and women. 



There is nothing fanciful, hysterical or sentimental about 

 Starvation. 



In regard to the last line of the paragraph, few people 

 nowadays, even Free-trading manufacturers themselves, are 

 foolish enough to believe — " that more emjjloijmcnt is found foi' 



