Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/841

 NOTES AND MEMORANDA 819 statistical survey of the commerce between the United Kingdom and British possessions. In the article on Tariffs and International Com- merce (Geographical Magazine, September, 1891), Professor Nicholson gives a striking picture of the chaos formed by the inextricable and purposeless differences between the tariffs in different parts of the empire. ' Some colonies in regard to manufactnres tax every- thing not specially enumerated as free, whilst others make a list of one or two hundred for taxation and leave the rest free. A silnilar variety of treatment is accorded to minerals and metals ..... Can any one give a rational answer to the question why guano and books should be almost universally free, but almost everything else liable somewhere or other to be hit with a tax ? Guano is economically the simplest of raw materials, while books are the most complicated of manufactures.' Referring to Sir Rawson Rawson's admirable synopsis of the tariffs and trade of the British Empire, Professor Nicholson does not re-echo the disparaging tone in which Sir Rawson had written of the ' few .enthusiasts'who have hoped for a common British tariff. Professor Nicholson remarks, ' Testimonia non numeranda sed londeranda sunt, and one of the few enthusiasts is Adam Smith.' Professor Nicholson dwells on the authority of Adam Smith, who 'propounded the most definite and most practicable schene ever yet published of Imperial Federation.' Of the fiscal union between Great Britain and the Colonies, which Professor Nicholson defends by such weighty authority and reasons, protection against the foreigner would not be feature. He recognizes, indeed, with most eminent economists, the theoretical possibility that a country may benefit itself at the expense of the foreigner. ' For practical purposes, however, so far as the British Empire is concerned, these exceptions are simply part of the casuistry of economics'; they are like the discussions of moral philosophers con- cerning the justification of occasional mendacity. ' Free trade, like honesty, still reniains the best policy.' One argument against protection that its administration, in order to be beneficial, would require the ' wise despot' is strengthened by Professor Nicholson's particularly lucid exposition of the incidence of export and import duties. This subject is so difficult, that 'one of the strongest arguments in fayour of a very simple system of customs duties is to be found in the uncertain and indeterminate effects to which, especially indirectly, all taxes on commodities give rise.' A VIOLENT interference with the course of free trade has been made by the Russian Government's prohibition of the export of grain. The edict of August 10th, prohibiting the export of rye, has been followed up by a further edict on November 1st prohibiting the export of all the remaining cereals except wheat, and a third on November 22nd prohibiting the export of wheat also, although 32