328 BRITAIN FOi; TUE BRITON 



The Caepet Trade a Conceete Case 



Years ago we had an extensive foreign carpet trade; we 

 grew our oVn wool, imi)orted some from our Colonies, and 

 made our carpets on British soil by British workmen. Our 

 Axminster and Brussels were in considerable repute abroad, 

 and we shipped our productions largely to foreign countries. 



Twenty years ago we sent away an average of 7,400,000 

 yards of carpet of various sorts; to-day we export to those 

 countries just half that quantUi/. 



Twenty years ago we exported to foreign countries 

 £15,000,000 worth of our woollen and worsted manufac- 

 tures ; to-day, despite the natural growth of the world's trade 

 and the larger demand consequent therefrom, we send them 

 some £1,500,000 worth short of that amount. Then, in the 

 "eighties," we imported an average of £6,480,000 worth of 

 woollen goods from foreign countries; to-day wo import over 

 £9,000,000 worth, or an increase of nearly £2,600,000. These 

 two instances will furnish the example we are seeking for, for 

 although many others might be cited, the question before us 

 is this — " Is our trade injured hij foreign covq^ctitmi } " The 

 answer is — " Ccrtainln it is." 



This is how the proposition is demonstrated. If we grow 

 our own wool, import some from outside sources, make our 

 carpets and other articles of wool, and then export a consider- 

 able part of our manufactures to foreign countries, we have 

 established industrial conditions which imply employment 

 and prosperity to a certain number of people, and a certain 

 increase in national wealth. 



The conditions of trade change. We export less of our own 

 woollen manufactures and import more. In the process our 

 manufactures must decline while those of foreign countries 

 must proportionately expand. 



To put it another way. If our exports of manufactured 

 woollen goods to foreign states fall off by £2,000,00_0_ annually, 

 and our imports increase by a similar amount, British manu- 

 factures are displaced to the extent of four millions annually, 

 and British labour and British trade proportionately suffer. 



This is a perfectly simple illustration of what is happening 

 to our industries in many directions, and one that is readily 

 understandable by most people, but it is just here that we 

 should stop, otherwise we shall surely sink in the shoals and 

 quicksands of economics. British trade, both home and 

 foreign, is being seriously injured by foreign competition, 



