Page:Karl Marx - The Poverty of Philosophy - (tr. Harry Quelch) - 1913.djvu/233

 226 APPENDIX

itself about commerce, had planted neither sugar-cane

nor coffee trees there. And it may be that in less than half a century you will find there neither coffee nor

sugar, for the East Indies, by means of cheaper produc- tion, have already successfully broken down this so- called natural destiny of the West Indies.

And the West Indies, with their natural wealth, are as heavy a burden for England as the weavers of Dacca, who also were destined from the beginning of time to weave by hand.

One other circumstance must not be forgotten, namely, that, just as everything has become a monopoly, there are also nowadays some branches of industry which prevail over all others, and secure to the nations which especially foster them the command of the world market. Thus in the commerce of the world cotton alone has much greater commercial importance than all the other Taw materials used in the manufacture of clothing. It is indeed ridiculous for the Free Traders to refer to the few specialities in each branch of industry, throwing them into the scales against the products used in every~ day consumption, and produced most cheaply in those countries in which manufacture is most highly developed.

If the Free Traders cannot understand how one nation can grow rich at the expense of another, we need not wonder, since these same gentlemen also refuse to under- stand how in the same country one class can enrich itself at the expense of another. an

Do not imagine, gentlemen, that in criticising freedom of commerce we have the least intention of defen Protection.

One may be opposed to constitutionalism without be- ing in favor of absolutism.

Moreover, the Protective system is nothing but a