Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1925. EFFECT ON FOREIGN TARIFFS.

Western Star, 8 May 1925, Page 2

Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1925. EFFECT ON FOREIGN TARIFFS.

Eighty-two years ago Thomas Carlyle published liis “Past and Present.” The work was produced at a. time when-the complicated evils of modern industrialism were forcing, themselves dramatic cally for the first time on the attention of Britain. “The condition of England,” he wrote, “is one of the most ominous, and with all one of the strangest, ever seen in this world. England is full of wealth, of multifarious produce, supply for human 'want in every kind; yet England is dying of inanition. The land waves with yellow harvests; it is thickly studded with workshops; it has fifteen million workers, the strongest, the cifnningest, and the willingest our earth has ever had. Yet behold, some baleful fiat lias gone forth, saying, ‘Touch it not, ye workers, ye master workers, yo master idlers; no man of you shall be the b&tter of it; this is enchanted fruit.” And those words can bo applied to the condition of Britain -to-day. Eightyseven years ago the Anti-Corn-Law League was formed, and eight years afterwards, through the activities of Cohben and John Bright, the League had won the abolition of the Lorn Laws. Britain had discarded protection, and henceforth all nations were going to follow suit,- wars Wo old cease, and prosperity would smile on the land as it had never smiled ueforc. Freet-rade became a fetish, and two or three political parties in Britain hold to it to-day as strongly as the pioneer stalwarts of the 'Forties. Theoretically Freetrade is tli© ideal Under it each country would manufacture or produce that for which, it was best adapted by Nature, and international trade would be carried on in accordance with the maxim—Buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest marked. Like all other theories, in practice the predicted results do not follow. Just as all individuals cannot see eye to eye, so nations differ on their' viewpoint. Cohden was altogether wrong when-he anticipated that other nations would follow the example of Britain, and claimed for too much knowledge of mankind when lie do 10-ea tint!, i-mew.-, ing t-lie adoption of the same fiscal" policy, wars would gradually cease. Facts are all against him, and were he alive to-day he would have to admit that the policy of every nation ,is one which places its own welfare, first, oven if the promotion of 'that welfare means the ruination-of,"a neighboring nation. Individuals ai'e actuated by altruistic • .principles, hut nations competing.internationally rarely or never. In Cobden’s day Germany was a poor agricultural country, getting her iron and steel, her cloth and hardware from England. At the outbreak of thci Great War, Germany Was producing twice the output of iron and steel of Great Britain with castings and i forgings, sugar and manufactured) goods far in excess of British goods]

sent to Germany, whilst her agriculture' had grown far beyond the British in productive power. The Great War further revealed the fact that she had penetrated some of Britain’s vital industries and controlled them with the unseen hand, and German shipping was rapidly overtaking British. It is patent that if Germany, instead of creating the World War after a long period of military worship, had been content to continue her peaceful penetration 'methods, the bulk of world wealth would have been under her control; .•within twenty years. from that date. Germany, instead of adopting Britain’s trade policy, went in fo.* protection So did the United States |pf America. And even after the ex periencc of the Great War, Germany has no intention of changing its policy. For proof take the cable received from Berlin this week. This states that in order. to further cheapen the cost of German shipbuilding the state railway authorities announces a reduction in freights on iron and steel from Worth, Alsace-Lorraine, to the shipbuilding yards, h,v from 30 to 35 per cent. The point to be noted, however, is'that iron and steel from foreign countries are to be excluded from this preference. Neither will it apply to the output from the Saar. And these reductions are being made in -defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. The world’s greatest need to-day is the assurance of peace. Great Britain is about the only nation that is genuinely in favour of disarmament, but if it .disbanded its Navy and Army to-morrow would the 'Other nations follow suit? They would no more do so than they would adopt its policy or Freetrade. We dare not, the world being •what it is, disband our Navy and our Army, and it would appear that Britain cannot remain unarmed and unprotected • commercially in a world of tariffs. That way lies social turmoil. To-day in a million British homes the breadwinner is out of work, whilst in I'ranee, Italy, and the United States-all high]y protected countries—unemployment hardlv exists. Speaking of America a, British statesman said, shortly after returning from a visit to that country, that prosperity abounded, and that instead of three men for every .job, there were three jobs for every mini.. Thousands to-day are receiving the'unemployment dole in Britain, and so fai the only cure for the condition of things that is urged is emv;-.t There is hot much statesmanship m , that. Britain’s condition is of the utmost importance to us.. We supply • it with foodstuffs .of; all kinds. When ’ industry is slack and there is great 1 unemployment, there is neither the demand nor the price that would obtain were the condition of things such as they are in the United States. Probably thp time lias arrived when the British Empire should a new policy—Freetrade within the Empire and protection against the world.”