DUMPLNG.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13131, 2 June 1908, Page 9

DUMPLNG.

TO TB_ -EDITOR OF "THB PR-ESS." _.6ir, —How sweet th© word protection sonr-ds, protection from th© cold •"■"lth clothes, protection from robbers by polio©. But protection in political ©conomy mea*nts somet-Wnt-*; very differon* indeed. It means, as GHadstone said, robbery; that is, boncnting some to tbe inju-ry of others. It will not benefit unless it injures. The injury don© eq-unls th© ben-eiit rccoived by the protected. Benefit and injury, or profit and loss, are simply convertible terms app-ied to two opposin_- parties. This is an axiom as ire© from dispute as that in E-iclid. viz., that the lengths of *ny two sides of a tr-irand© or© together gro--!*>_-T than tho third -yd©. Let mc ilh:s-trnt.e it. Draper A has a dumping sale, which draper B states is an in-jury to him, as it is causing a 'depreciation in h'u stock, and ho wants it stopped, .i p!o,id* th** he is ac.t_a.-lv making a -rift to tiho public of so much •raj-oy in s'.'lHn--; his stock at slnng-rter prices, and that- they appcee'rat© his conduot by crowding into his shop Protection to B would th-mxfere injure the public. Then- in tho case of the hops Uie Galifornkm f-rrower also affirms that h© is maki-ie: tiie English consiuner a present of &o many Bovw©ign_ by dumping 'his hops on the j-iarks. _t _aif tho market price. Pro-

tection to the Enc-Uh grower means injury to the English consumer. It y.ouicl be <a waste of your space to cite iurtbrt-r lasvs, th<*y are monotonously the same, emphasising the fact that protect ion can oniy mean benefit to tho protected, end injury to tho nonprotected. In our pLnnot the seasons vary in different parts; rain and plenty in ono, drought a-sd rw-<-i— r •- -~. other. The ovii is romedkd by facility oi exclxin-go, and prou-cu.-.' l_ l. it does not stop this. There is S-... an.cthr-r aspect in which the quest ion may be viewed. Protection means the roonova-I of the pro-«**r-.t<-d out of conflict, with tiie natural penalty of atrophy of parte t-l_rou_h want of 1 use. and -tins', too. bo acoornplished by the impoyeri.>h-m«.i!.t. of the rewt of the commnnity. so that wo have thus two forces of deoa-y at work at thtt? same time. There is great anxiety felt amongs-t the thona'.htful at pr«*orat, as to the probable survival of this, tho greatest Empire the word haa ovct seen. The «-bilrt-y to fight, in evecy sense, is the only ti.t!<* we oan present for the position we have taken-. The very idea of making us unfit for the conflict by coddling and protection must ue dismissed. —Yours, etc., JOSHUA LITTLE.