A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TRADE PRINCIPLES 351 



order of things which is destined to liavc a far-reacliing 

 beneficial effect on tlic British people : and certainly not that 

 grievous consequence to British shipping wliich the writer of 

 " The Free-trade Movement " would have us su])pose. 



Tlie immediate effect of producing in our own country 

 £170,000,000 worth of agricultural produce would be the 

 creation of a widespread agricultural population, which would 

 be numljered in millions, and whose purchasing power would 

 obviously be enormous. This prosperous community, inter- 

 spersed throughout the length and l)readth of the land, demand- 

 ing from our manufacturers, and others, at least £170,000,000 

 worth of goods annually in exchange for their agricultural 

 produce, would manifestly launch into being a veritable host of 

 subsidiary industries wliich certainly do not exist to-day. 

 Seedsmen, chemical manure makers, agricultural im])lement 

 makers, cartwrights, harness makers, horse breeders, builders, 

 carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, grocers, bakers, clothiers, 

 bootmakers, drapers, haberdashers, stationers, booksellers, agri- 

 cultural labourers, and many other wage-earners too numerous 

 to mention, would grow out of a widespread, prosperous, agri- 

 cultural industry as naturally as good wheat grows on a fruitful 

 soil. The collective purchasing powers of these subsidiary 

 industries would form no inconsiderable factor in the industrial 

 question of the day, as they would be sure to invigorate our 

 numufactures and trades, and to leave them out of calculation 

 is to commit an elementary error in economics. 



AgHICULTUKAL PllOFITS LOST TO THE COUNTRY 



Another highly important factor in the situation which it 

 pleases Free-trade economists to ignore is the question of — 

 ■profits and tlicir destination. 



To carry on an annual trade in food-stuffs of £170,000,000 

 annually, there must be profits, and considerable profits too. 

 What becomes of them ? The Indian ryot hoards them ; that 

 is to say, any surplus cash he may have at the end of his year's 

 work, he either literally buries in the ground, or he melts his 

 rupees down into bangles for his women. The liussian peasant 

 is not particularly enterprising in the investment of such 

 profits as he may make; while it is certain that the wheat 

 growers of the United States, Canada, Argentina, or the farmers 

 of other foreign States from which we draw our food supplies, 

 do not invest their profits in this country. 



It may be contended by these economists that they do 

 invest their profits in this country inasmuch as the sale price 



