A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TKADE PIllNCIPLES 321 



This plain statement of facts exactly describes Great 

 Britain's position in the great race for the world's trade supre- 

 macy, and althout^h it tells its own tale plainly enough, a little 

 embellishment will accentuate the position. 



In the last chapter "The Free-trade Movement" told us 

 that — 



"raw material and food-stuffs together account for nearly 7u per 

 cent, of her (Great Britain's) imports " ; 



and once we take in the real meaning of this, its significance 

 becomes alarming. 



First, we have to import almost countless millions worth of 

 food-stuffs, and then — since all imports are paid for in exports 

 — import raw materials, work them up into manufactured 

 goods, and re-export them to pay for the food that foreigners 

 grow for us. 



Under so topsy-turvy a system the incidence of imports per 

 head of the population is necessarily bound to range high ; but 

 the fact, rightly understood, is a tremendous indictment of our 

 economic policy. If we grow our own food-stuffs — as we ought 

 to do in accordance with the economic usage of the other great 

 civilised countries of the world — this high incidence would 

 happily disappear, and, instead of paying foreign food growers 

 for our imported food in our own manufactures, we should simplij 

 'pcuj our oivn agrlculturids. This plain economical fact is at 

 length being borne in upon the minds of parliamentary voters, 

 and, when it is generally understood, the old order will yield 

 place to the new. 



Commenting on the progress of other countries with Great 

 Britain, we find the following passage on pages 134 and 135 : — 



" To compare their progress in some respects with that of Great 

 Britain would be to compare the growth of the child witli that of 

 the man. Taking note of like circumstances, no country has made 

 the same relative progress as Great Britain during the past fifty 

 years." 



This was true for a time; but the above statement con- 

 clusively proves that whatever we gained in the earlier part of 

 the fifty years referred to, we are rapidly losing now. 



The work from which this table has been compiled pro- 

 claims that the information is drawn from an unimpeachable 

 source, while it is, moreover, of a nature that would render 

 further indifference on the part of the British people not only 

 foolish, but positively suicidal. 



Y 



