-ENGINEERING 



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instances at least (viz. cables and lamps), the Associations have thoroughly 

 established and well maintained the quality of their wares, and the trading 

 profit has been such as to enable the makers to spend very large sums upon 

 development and research, and to support generously such undertakings 

 as the Electrical Research Association. That the profits are at least 

 adequate is shown not only by the large sums placed to reserve, but also 

 by the declared dividends and the market price of the shares. This is 

 illustrated by the following table relating to four leading cable companies. 

 The prices are for July 1936. 



From these results, it might be argued that the Association had achieved 

 rather more than its object in one direction, and had not yet begun to 

 pass on the benefit to the buyer. This view is emphasised by the fact 

 that most electrical firms ardently support the Electrical Development 

 Association, whose aim is the furtherance of every application of electricity. 

 It is clearly difficult to strike a balance between the desire to achieve those 

 ends and the opportunity to benefit by the elimination of competition and 

 the helplessness of the buyer, who has no remedy but by a question in the 

 House of Commons. 



There is, however, another side to the activities of some of these 

 Associations, which from the national point of view is perhaps more 

 disquieting. I mean the discrimination against the home market in 

 favour of the foreigner. In some instances, it is theoretically possible 

 for an agent abroad to import British goods, re-export them to Britain and 

 sell them there at a good profit against similar goods that have not made 

 the double journey. I heard of an Egyptian who played this cunning 

 game until his supplies were stopped. What offence has the poor Briton 

 committed that he should be so heavily penalised by his compatriots ? 

 Heaven forbid that I should do anything to fan the flame of economic 

 nationalism, but it does seem reasonable to ask that an Englishman at 

 home should be allowed to buy from an English firm at as low a price as a 

 foreigner abroad. Do not manufacturers always owe something to the 

 country in which their industry is carried on, and will they not in return 

 resist the temptation to squeeze the inhabitants of the very state which, 

 by its protective tariffs, has rendered their monopoly possible ? 



