A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF FREE-TllADE rillNCU'LES 361 



Fallacy 6. " For good or for evil Great Brilcdii has become 

 dejieadad upon imjiortcd lohcat to the extent of more than 

 70 2^0' ^'Oit. of her eo7isumj)t ion. . . . In the nation prepcLred 

 to pjiit hack its 2yi'ogrcHs and revert to that position in order 

 that it may he self-sustaining ? " 



is the question that is gravely asked in the sixth and last item 

 in the group of fallacies we are considering in this chajiter. 



A MoNSTiious Fallacy 



The statement, in other words, amounts to this. To produce 

 our own food would he to imt hack the nation's progress. 



Tliis is tantamount to saying that to cherish the body is to 

 retard its development — to water the plant is to stop its growth, 

 a proposition that is neither demonstrable by any known 

 " scientific " formula, nor determinable by any common-sense 

 method of reasoning known to the human race to-day. Then 

 it may be truly said that to advance a proposition is not to 

 demonstrate it, and to ask a riddle is not to expound it. 



The uttci-cr of this remarkable dictum was no doubt honest 

 in his convictions, and sincere in his ])eliefs, or he would not 

 have given them to a cold, calculating, and unbelieving world, 

 but to be sincere in our beliefs is not always the best proof 

 of their verity. 



It is said that Torquemada was most devout, most sincere in 

 his beliefs, and convinced of the righteousness of his cause 

 when he provided his royal master and " Most Catholic King " 

 with those constant autos da fe which were as sweet -smelling 

 incense to the nostrils of that most Christian monarch ; but the 

 hapless victims who fed those terrible fires knew better. Later 

 judgments not only confirmed this, but pronounced these con- 

 victions and devout beliefs to be mere pretexts to enable Torque- 

 mada to remove from his path all those who were bold enough 

 to disagree with the bloody tyranny of the Inijuisition. 



How THE POWEK OF StEAM WAS DERIDED YeAKS AgO 



A later and more practical illustration of how dangerous it 

 is to trust in one's beliefs is found in the pessimism of those 

 who, in the years that are gone, derided the possibility of aj>ply- 

 ing steam to sea-going vessels. 



In those days, when the steam-engine was in the experi- 

 mental stage, an Englishman, well known in the scientific 

 circles of the day, wrote a pamphlet proving entirely to his own 



