368 BrJTAIN FOR THE DRITON 



County Council advertised for tenders for £100,000 worth of steel 

 rails, aud Belgium secured the order for £00,000, the London County 

 Council would be saving £10,000, which they could spend on other 

 goods, and it A\ouId be a clear profit to London and the country 

 to the value of £10,000.' I put questions to Mr. Smith, and the 

 following are the questions and replies : — 



" 3[r. Sansome : ' Do you agree with the estimate of the Blue Book 

 that there is quite 60 per cent, wages paid on steel rails made in 

 England ? ' 



" Mr. Smith : ' Yes, I agree with that estimate.' 



" 3Ir. Sansome : ' Then does it not follow that England lost 

 £60,000 wages ? ' 



" Mr. Smith : ' You forget that we should send £100,000 worth 

 of soft goods to Belgium.' 



" Mr. Sansome : ' How can that be so, when as a matter of fact, 

 Belgium is sending us an increased quantity of goods year by year, 

 and we are sending Belgium less goods each year ? ' — No answer. 



" Mr. Sansome : ' I am not done with the loss yet. Would it be 

 true if I were to say that the £60,000 wages, if paid to English 

 workers, would have been paid over to the shop-keepers and trades- 

 men of the district in which the rails were made ? ' 



" A gentleman in the audience said : ' You are making a loss of 

 £120,000 if the order were given to Belgium.' 



" Mr. Sansome : ' Yes, that is just what I am contending and 

 proving.' 



" Mr. Sansome further contended that, if we had protection, the 

 greater part of £60,000 paid over to the tradesmen would be by 

 them paid over to Lancashire and Yorkshire, and other home 

 producers. 



" Professor Smith hurriedly collected his papers, and Lord 

 Welby quickly closed the meeting." 



" Science " versus Sense 



Here we find the writer of "The Free-trade Movement" con- 

 tinuing in the Lecture Hall and in the Club the same " scientific 

 spirit of inquiry " which led him to give to the world the 

 inferences, deductions, beliefs, and conclusions arrived at in its 

 pages some years before, and the British people have now to 

 determine for themselves between "Science" and common- 

 sense. " Science " tells the people that Great Britain cannot 

 grow her own corn, that her fields must therefore remain 

 sterile, and her population emigrate, and that if we attempt 

 to make ourselves " self-stistaining " the nation " must jnit hack 

 its progress." Common-sense replies in common parlance — 

 " bunkum " ; we can grow all our own corn and other food- 

 stuffs just as well as any nation in the world, and better 



