A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TRADE PRINCIPLES 327 



It can be so treated as to make it clear to Free-traders, at all 

 events, that the loss to the l^ritish woollen trade, for example, 

 is really a gain to the British people ; that a decrease in 

 exports is compensated by an increase in imports ; that the 

 aggregate increase in both imports and exports spells trade 

 prosperity, and that the balance of trade is still in favour of 

 Great Britain. Indeed, Free-trade economists can so turn and 

 twist this particular case into so many shapes, and so befog 

 the minds of those who happen to be innocent of the intricacies 

 of economics, that they will hardly know whether they arc 

 standing on their heads or on their heels. 



This economic " science," not being in the nature of an 

 "exact" science, as before pointed out, is subject to extra- 

 ordinary vagaries, and there is hardly anything it cannot do in 

 national or domestic economy — on paper. The woman who 

 makes her flannel petticoat at home, instead of buying it at 

 the nearest store, is an imbecile ; the man who paints his own 

 front gate and fencing instead of employing a painter is an ass — 

 economically ; and the man who cultivates his field so that it 

 may employ labour and produce food, instead of employing 

 foreigners to grow it for him in their own country, is entirely 

 beyond the economical pale and is hopelessly lost. Economic 

 " science " not only teaches this and much more, but what is 

 worse it has persuaded the people to do all these things, and — ■ 

 they have done them. ]\Iany things that they could do far 

 better for themselves they employ foreigners, or others, to do 

 for them, and an inevitable result of this is that the people have 

 lost that handiyicsti which formerly characterised them, and 

 they have become helpless and dependent upon others to such 

 an extent that both the United States and Canada now regard 

 many of the English immigrants as toiidesirables f 



What History Tells 



History tells the tale that those countries which threw 

 away their self-support and relied upon outside aid always 

 came to grief in the long run, and history has an unpleasant 

 habit of repeating itself. The United Kingdom is becoming 

 daily more dependent upon the nations for many things she 

 requires. We encourage foreigners to manufacture for us, and 

 we ask them to grow three-fourths of our food, and as sure as 

 the stars come nightly to the skies so will the fate of our own 

 folly overtake us sooner or later. 



That we may no longer be obfuscated with all this farrago 



about economic " science," let us reduce this case to a simple 



concrete example. 



