Page:The Bank of England and the State, 1905.djvu/69

 narrower channels, having regard to our great shipping industry, which carries so much of the trade of the world? Our shipping would indeed be doubly hit; through taxes which would raise the cost of living the cost of ship-building would be materially increased, and, owing to protective tariffs, there would be fewer goods to carry. It must be remembered that foreign countries are still our best customers, and I found it to be a surprise to many that, according to the figures of the Blue Book, our exports of manufactures to Germany last year still exceeded our imports of manufactures from that country by £1,000,000.

Are the Colonies willing, are they in a position to give us as wide a market as we have now, and as we can hope to attain, if only a proper effort be made, in the many markets that are open to us on equal terms with other nations? I can only refer incidentally to the difficulties of putting the preferential scheme into operation—American corn is shipped viâ Canada during certain seasons of the year, and Canadian corn is shipped through the United States when Canadian ports are closed—and also to the loss of freedom it would cause in making commercial treaties, both to the Colonies themselves and to the United Kingdom, as well as to the difficulty in differentiating between the various Colonies and treating them all fairly. Is it not possible that the Imperial tie would be loosened rather than strengthened through a constant bargaining over duties and tariffs? Then the effect on the British exchequer will also have to be considered, for the effect on the British taxpayer must be greater than the gain to the exchequer, and the more effective the scheme becomes, the smaller the gain to the exchequer.

Our own agricultural interest at home is one with which we must all feel the deepest sympathy, both from the point of view of the 'economic loss caused by land being absolutely unproductive, and of the population being driven from the land into the towns; but the latter is a symptom which occurs under modern conditions, even in the most protected countries, and opinions vary greatly amongst agriculturists themselves, whether they would not lose much more than gain under a system