Trade and the Flag 5 l 



older I'esprit colonial always develops, and less and less regard 

 is given to the origin of goods and more attention is paid to the 

 adaptability of goods to needs. While the original settlers in a 

 colony may be supplied by the mother country, succeeding genera- 

 tions are born in the new country and the sentiment which turns 

 trade to one's native land is now lacking between mother country 

 and colony. " When colonies were peopled by emigrants from 

 home there was no occasion to create sentiments on imperial lines, 

 the colonist was an Englishman and had no more need to pro- 

 claim the fact than the man in Cornwall. His descendants, how- 

 ever, are not Englishmen, they are Australians, Canadians, South 

 Africans, or whatever the colony may be, with essentially different 

 interests. A stream of fresh emigrants serves to preserve some- 

 thing of the Old Country sentiment, but the native-born Aus- 

 tralian is Australian, reared under a different climate and differ- 

 ent conditions." 1TT 



If colonies are successful, a disadvantage may arise in the com- 

 petition between the mother country and her possessions, for 

 every new area developed means either a new market for goods or 

 a new competitor in the field. The French colonies have been 

 greatly antagonized by the French protectionists whenever the 

 colonies have begun to compete with France. A few years ago 

 the Indo-China bank assisted in establishing spinning and weaving 

 mills in Pondicherry, Indo-China. The sentiment of at least a 

 part of the French people was voiced by a journal, the Republique 

 Francaisc, thus: "We place the prosperity of France above that 

 of Pondicherry. If France has sacrificed so many men and so 

 much money in the conquest of Indo-China and Madagascar it 

 was not to procure a market for yarns and stuffs manufactured 

 at Pondicherry." 178 France has therefore adopted custom house 

 measures to tax French products manufactured in Indo-China 

 and Madagascar. 179 French agriculturists are also bitter against 



177 Jane, Heresies of Sea Poivcr, 1S1. 



178 Cited by Economist (London), 1898, p. 1659. 



179 Cf. Lebon, " The Situation of France in International Commerce," in 

 International Monthly, 3: 269. 



227 



