Finance 67 



In the same way as Lord Kitchener asked for 100,000 

 and then 500,000 men to fight our enemies with sword and 

 bayonet, the Board of Trade should appeal for suitable 

 men to go and push our trade and interests in all parts of 

 the world overseas, both near the coast and up-country. 

 The question of language need deter no one ; it can be 

 picked up by anyone who means to get on whilst he is 

 learning tlie general business routine. I say this as no 

 war can be carried on without soldiers of all ranks, and 

 our trade soldiers are at present lacking for want of leaders 

 and absence of prospects, for at present tliose who make 

 the start must, more or less, compete against existing 

 British interests, anci these, instead of collaborating with 

 the newcomers, will fight them, not join forces with them 

 to fight the common enemy. We want to change all that. 

 The Board of Trade should appoint a general and the 

 staff necessary to finance and guide this new army, and 

 render them independent of the old guard and their old- 

 fashioned ideas, and then we should soon see the rank and 

 file flow in to help. The fall in the price of rubber in the 

 Tropics has cut many men adrift, experienced ones as well 

 as just " creepers " ; these should at once be eligible. 

 Again, when the War is over thousands of young men vAU 

 be only too glad to enter any channel of trade, and many 

 of these would also be very suitable for training as traders 

 overseas. 



The first thing to do, however, is to finance these 

 soldiers. Nothing can be done without money, cash or 

 credit, and, unlike our competitors, this has been lacking 

 to the English trade-adventurer, and until it is forthcoming 

 nothing can be done, for the making of machinery and 

 other goods is easy enough ; it is the selling of them at a 

 profit and to get in the money that is so difficult, and yet 

 those who do the first get financial assistance far more 

 easily than even the big trader. There are, however, 

 many thousands of the smaller manufacturers in London 

 and elsewhere who could increase England's trade to an 

 unprecedented extent if a little help along the lines 

 indicated was forthcoming. The big, old-established houses 

 may object to this competition, but it would be a mistake 

 to do so ; properly managed, if they helped form the banks 

 it would increase their revenues and duninish their risks. 

 Besides, for the good of the country and of those who have 

 turned out to fight, the interests of the few whose trade is 

 being protected without their having to go out to fight 

 must not be considered when the advantage of the many is 



