CHAPTER VIII.

FREE TRADE HAS NOT EFFECTED WHAT COBDEN PREDICTED OF

HAS

-

IT — (a) IT

NOT BECOME UNIVERSAL; (b) IT HAS

CEASED TO BE A GOOD THING FOR US, IF EVER IT HAS

BEEN SO.

19. Fluctuations in price of corn not adverse to manufacture:

tendency to lower prices under protection

20. Free trade does not induce equality of surrounding con-

ditions

176

189

CHAPTER IX.

THE NATURE OF THE CORN LAW, AND THE OPPOSITE CONDITIONS

AFFECTING OUR AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURE.

21. The Corn Law necessary to preserve a fixed portion of the

22. The question of repeal not an economical, but made a social

and political question-why?

203

213

CHAPTER X.

BECAUSE SOME INDIRECT TAXATION IN COURSE OF TIME BECOMES

INJURIOUS, ALL INDIRECT TAXATION IS NOT ALWAYS IN-

JURIOUS.

23. Importance of the preservation of independent judgment,

and of the treatment of each problem by itself, without

being implicated with others with which it has no real

24. "Capital diverted from less to more remunerative sources,"

in free-trade argument refers to commercial operations of

the whole world. It does not apply, except injuriously,

to one nation, when other nations pursue a different

commercial policy

221

226

CHAPTER XI.

UNIVERSAL FREE TRADE AND BRITISH MANUFACTURING SUPRE-

MACY-THE IDEAL PICTURE: PARTIAL FREE TRADE AND

BRITISH MANUFACTURING DISTRESS-THE ACTUAL FACT.

25. The extension of manufacture not resident in causes put

forward by free-traders-viz., foreign demand for corn.

Sir Robert Peel shows that this cause is not powerful

enough to produce desired effect

26. Remote consequences of remission of duties not considered

by free-traders, who remain content with immediate

effects

233

239

27. The central force controlling our trade and commerce aban-

doned by the free-traders. Cobden's so-called “natural

regulator" has broken down

246

CHAPTER XII.

THE

-

ONE SIDED FREE TRADERS

AND INCREASING IMPORTS:

66 NEW DOCTRINES TO SUIT FRESH CONDITIONS."

28. Free trade does not tend to induce commercial equality

among nations whose original surroundings are unequal

29. Free trade does not tend to carry off supplies in the best and

cheapest fashion, as Cobden foretold. It allows whole

markets to become acquired by our rivals

CHAPTER XIII.

251

260

FREE TRADE AND THE PRODUCTIVE SOURCES OF THE NATION:

THE SUPPOSED CONFLICT BETWEEN

MANUFACTURE

AND

AGRICULTURE HAS BEEN TURNED INTO A STRUGGLE BETWEEN

CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION.

30. So far as our internal trade is concerned, free trade has only

exchanged one monopoly for another

269

31. Free trade, as practised by this country, tends to approxi-

mate the "market" to the "natural" rate of wages,

33. Some events have fallen out according to Cobden's predic-

but not at the specified time, nor in the anticipated

tion;

34. Ricardo's theory of international trade criticised

35. "Free trade to remove source of wars arising from com-

mercial frictions." In reality, wars are due to impulse of

acquisition, and have reference, in the first place, to polit-

ical objects

285

293

296

36. Comparison between reciprocity and unequal free trade

(Cobden's "ideal reciprocity")

302

CHAPTER XV.

FREE TRADE AND THE LABOURING CLASSES: THE POLITICAL

POSITION OF THE INCOME-TAX-PAYING CLASSES.

37. The bimetallists and the cause of depression

314

38. The construction of a "political power" out of monopoly

39. It is more important for the labourer to regard himself as a

producer than as a consumer

328

INDEX

334

FREE TRADE UNDER PROTECTION.

CHAPTER I.

THE CAUSATION OF PROSPERITY AND THE ANALYSIS

OF DISTRESS.

"What in me is dark

Illumine, what is low raise and support."-MILTON.

ALL PROSPERITY NOT CAUSED BY FREE-TRADE PRINCIPLE-THE OTHER FORCES IN OPERATION, RAILWAY EXTENSION AND THE GOLD DISCOVERIES-THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEW BANK CHARTER ACT

(1844) UPON THE PRICE OF CORN-THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF FREE

TRADE IN CREATING AN ARTIFICIAL DEMAND-THE EXPORT TRADE OF THE COUNTRY UNDER PROTECTION INCREASED IN PROPORTION TO THE INCREASE IN POPULATION-ALL COMPETITION NOT BENEFICIAL-IT WAS NOT SO IN THE INSTANCE OF THE CURRENCYCOMPETITION TO BE SUCCESSFUL MUST BE PROPERLY LIMITEDCOBDEN'S DOCTRINE FALSE "THAT BREAD IS RAISED IN PRICE IN ORDER THAT RENTS MAY BE INCREASED "THE MEANS COBDEN USED TO EFFECT A FREE-TRADE POLICY "EVIL," BUT THE END HE PROPOSED WAS GOOD"-COBDEN DID NOT INCLUDE ALL FACTORS IN DETERMINATION OF DISTRESS.

§ 1. The causation of prosperity.—Let it be conceded, then, that under protection there was throughout an equal advance in our trade, and that free trade in con

A