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 III.

No doubt the colonists throughout the Empire were at first annoyed by the abolition of Preference, but soon they began to suit themselves to the new and healthier conditions, and it is not too much to say that they owe their commercial prosperity to the abolition of Preference. The effects are so well summed up by Professor Davidson in his admirable little book, 'Commercial Federation and Trade Policy,' that I cannot do better than quote his words:

'The repeal was probably what the Colonies needed most. It threw them on their own resources, and made them realize the duties as well as the privileges of responsible government. The ruin that was imminent did not come, because they set to work to avert it; and the threat of ruin was ultimately the industrial salvation of the Colonies. When they (the colonists) found that their appeals and protests were disregarded, and that the English market was no longer to be their preserve, they began to set their house in order and to accommodate their business methods to the new conditions. The possession of Preference had encouraged unbusinesslike ways and a spirit of dependence on Government. Henceforth they talked less politics and devoted themselves to trade.'

All this is still true. The readoption of Preference would bring back unbusinesslike ways, and recall a spirit of dependence on Governments. Indeed, as Professor Davidson says, 'the whole history of the preferential duties is one long warning against an attempt to give an artificial direction to industry.'

But bad as were the commercial results of Preference, the political results were even worse. The colonists, instead of trying to develop their industries by improving them, were always trying to get better, preferential treatment, and when they could not get it, naturally grumbled, and thought they were not sufficiently considered. Also, strange as it may seem, though they apparently benefited by having Britain as a kind of tied house, the Colonies were not nearly so loyal under