Page:The Bank of England and the State, 1905.djvu/70

 of protection. Danish farmers certainly have resisted all attempts to impose a protective system, and have found a solution in cooperation and economy in bringing their produce to the market, a policy under which they appear to be thriving.

The danger of all protective systems, as far as we can learn from experience, is that, once established, it is most difficult to get away from them, and that they have a constant tendency to grow. The result must be to lead to higher prices all round, and, consequently, to general loss, and higher prices must mean diminution in our exports, which we wish to increase. What protection means, further, is the bringing of commercial questions into the political arena, of tariffs and bounties being made the battle-cries of contending parties, of instability and insecurity in all commercial transactions, and rapid fluctuations and variations in prices, bringing loss to the many and large gains to the few, of the growth of Kartels, and trusts, of which modern industrial life in protected countries affords so many illustrations. Germany and the United States are pointed out as countries which have prospered under a system of protection. Go to Germany or to the United States and talk with the best informed and you may hear a different tale; look at the condition of life of the working classes in Germany, and not only of the working classes, but of the vast number of people with moderate incomes, and you will find lower wages, lower salaries, longer hours of work, dearer food, dearer house-rent, and you will then have your explanation of the vast increase in the socialist vote apparent at every election. I hear from a prominent German banker that Germany is watching our discussion over this fiscal question with intentional silence on the part of the Press, but with secret joy, and hope that a change in our fiscal system will take place, and that as soon as we put restrictions and impediments in the way of trade they will secure a large slice of it, and will be able to compete with us in neutral markets with all the more success. In Germany there are many who would be only too glad to reduce all these restrictions, and to relieve the people from the burdens