1804.] 
Exhibition in London . 
655 
supplant British manufactures at home and abroad is one of 
their chief objects, and every step taken in that direction is 
the subject of no little jubilation. If anyone doubts this he 
need merely glance over the American papers representing 
the paper trade, the chemical, textile, iron, and glass manu- 
factures, &c. 
At the same time, curiously enough, what is sauce for the 
goose is not accepted as a legitimate sauce for the gander. 
It is all right and proper for European products to be 
excluded from the American market, but legislation for the 
exclusion of American bacon and hams from the European 
continent on account of the alleged presence of trichinae 
gave rise to much ill-feeling in the United States. 
Still such inconsistency is a part of human nature in all 
countries. I once met with a Midland farmer who was 
indignant that French butters should be sold in England as 
“ genuine Aylesbury.” At the same time he could see 
nothing objectionable in condensed “ Swiss milk ” manufac- 
tured at Aylesbury. 
With reference to this threatened exhibition, it should 
always be borne in mind that in these great advertising 
displays all nations do not stand on an equal footing. A 
free-trading people is heavily handicapped in comparison 
with a protectionist rival. The protectionist, if he sees 
anything desirable in a foreign display, does not seek to 
import it, for his tariff laws may make that commercially 
impracticable. He seeks, instead, to introduce its manu- 
facture into his own country. On the contrary, if he can 
show anything desirable to free traders they are willing and 
able to buy it. Hence a free-trading country has much to 
lose and little to gain by exhibitions, especially if it makes 
a display not merely of finished goods but of the machinery 
and the processes by which they are produced. 
There is another inequality between the free-trader and 
the proteCtionist which, at an exhibition, tells heavily 
against the former. He has to produce his goods — say 
printed calico — “ at a price,” as the trade expression runs. 
Hence he is often debarred from using the best materials 
and employing the greatest skill. He is sometimes even 
debarred from experimenting by the same condition. On 
the contrary, the proteCtionist can get his own price, can 
thus afford to employ superior materials and a higher class 
of labour. 
These incidental drawbacks of free trade in connection 
with exhibitions have not, I believe, received the attention 
of economists. But they are, in my opinion, sufficient to 
