338 BRITAIN FOPx THE BRITON 



has tauglit U3 that bricks can be made without straw now- 

 adays, but even science cannot show us how to make them 

 without clay ; nor can economical science teach us how to 

 render a people self-supporting and prosperous by depriving 

 them of the means of support and, therefore, of all chances of 

 becoming i)rosperous. It is clearly against the canons of 

 common-sense, and therefore— impossible. 



Britain the Laughing-stock of Europe 



This is the problem before the British i)eople to-day. They 

 have been forced into a position which is the laughing-stock of 

 all civilised peoples, and which is as full of incongi'uities as it 

 is of fatal intluences ; and, instead of seeking directly for the 

 simple truth which underlies this question, they prefer the 

 devious course which leads them directly away from it. 



Six Famous Fallacies 



Pieduced to a concrete form, which alone is likely to appeal 

 to the ordinary mind, the chief fallacies to be remembered in 

 the passage quoted at the head of this chapter are — 



Fallacy 1. "In no circumstances Jcnow/i at 2^'>'(^sent could this 

 country feed her cnornions j^opulaiioii of 40,000,000 people 

 at their existing standard of subsistence." 



'Fallacy 2. " To he self-sufficing as regards food, a 'portion of the 

 population looidd need, to emigrate, and of the remainder, 

 the majority must betake themselves to agricultural pursuits, 

 . . . to p)rovidc a hare subsistence from a niggardly soil, 

 and a vast army of unemployed artisans now receiving high 

 ivagcs would, he driven to agricidttire." 



Fallacy 3. " Since all imp)orts of corn 7Could now cease, the 

 exports of cloth, machinery, etc., by which they are at 2'>yesffnt 

 piLrchascd, luould cease also, and the industries which s^ipiply 

 them U'O'idd decline . . . sldphnilding and other subsidiary 

 industries . . . would colla2^se." 



Fallacy 4. " Onr dependence wpon other countries has a counter- 

 part ; if we take food from them, they tahe from us manu- 

 factured goods ; they seek our 2Ji'oducts as eagerly as we seek 

 their grain." 



Fallacy 5. " Other countries are for the most p)(^i't self-swpport- 

 ing as regards food ; in this respect the case of Great Britain 

 is exceptional y 



Fallacy 6. ''For good or for evil Great Britain has become 

 dependent upon imported wheai to the extent of more than 



