170 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 
A century and a third before, Alexander Hamilton had thought it 
necessary to refer to a like fear of competition with the home producer : 
“It is not impossible that there may be persons disposed to look with a 
jealous eye on the introduction of foreign capital, as if it were an instru- 
ment to deprive our own citizens of the profits of our own industry.’ 
His own view was different: ‘Instead of being viewed as a rival, it 
ought to be considered as a most valuable auxiliary ; conducing to put in 
motion a greater quantity of productive labour and a greater portion of 
human enterprise than could exist without it.’ 74 
The Government of the Irish Free State seems more inclined to follow 
Hamilton’s lead than to be deterred by the prophecy of its Tariff Com- 
mission ; for the Minister in charge of the measure which has lately been 
introduced into the Dail for ‘a limited . . . experiment in the use of a 
tariff for the stimulation of Irish industry’ "> expressly mentioned the 
expectation of attracting capital from outside as one of the motives 
justifying the new departure. Here, again, I had better safeguard myself : 
as to whether a tariff on the particular commodities proposed is wise for 
Ireland I am not in a position to have an opinion; nor do I know how 
much non-Irish capital is likely to be attracted in these particular cases. 
I refer to this instance of Ireland simply as showing that not only the 
Trish Government but also its Committee of Economists are of opinion 
that legislation can have some influence on the amount of capital 
employed within the country. 
I shall pass to more controversial ground if I refer to recent events 
in Great Britain itself. But it ought to be possible to state what, as far 
as one can make out, are assured facts without implying necessarily any 
opinion as to the policy with which they are associated. One is that the 
Swiss Chemical interests have been encouraged to enlarge considerably 
their plant in England since the Dyestuffs (Import Regulation) Act 
became operative in January 1921. The other is that the McKenna 
Duties have led some of the largest foreign manufacturers of motor-cars 
to establish works in Great Britain. They have usually begun with the 
importation of parts, and with merely assembling and finishing in Great 
Britain ; yet even for that purpose large factories and many workpeople 
are necessary. In one important instance, manufacture has become 
almost entirely British. That the British preference on imports from the 
Dominions has had the effect of causing a certain transfer of American 
capital to this Dominion is, of course, well known to the Canadians in 
my audience.7® 
Perhaps some countries may be the better without imported capital 
and others without exporting it: perhaps the Governmental measures 
which influence the movement in either direction are ill advised, and we 
74 Report on Manufactures, p. 39. 
6 Dail Kireann: Parliamentary Debates, April 25, 1924, p. 42 (tobacco, boots, 
confectionery); 70 (jam), cf. the utterances of other Deputies; 127 (boots); 130 
(tobacco) ; 155 (soap). 
76 As lately as 1887 Lord Farrar will be found arguing that the increase in wages 
paid and persons employed in Canada under its protective policy must have been 
due to ‘a compulsory and artificial transfer of the labour and capital of Canadians 
from the industries in which they can produce more, to,’ ete.: Fair Trade v. Free 
Trade (4th ed., 1887, p. 63). The investment of foreign capital, especially American, 
in Canada, awaits, I think, its historian. 
