UC-NRLF B 3 llfl b^fl One Shilling' net IMPERIAL UNION AND TARIFF REFORM Speeches Delivered from May 1 5 to Nov. 4, 1 903 By The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. With an Introduction London Grant RicharHs ^r°'*?f ^ %\ IMPERIAL UNION AND TARIFF REFORM I Publisher's Announcement MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S PROPOSALS What they Mean and What We Shall Gain by Them By C. A. VINCE, M.A. General Secretary of the Imperial Tariff Committee With a Preface by THE RT. HON. TOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M.P. SIXTIETH THOUSAND Detny 8to, paper boards, is. net LONDON I GRANT RICHARDS IMPERIAL UNION AND TARIFF REFORM Speeches Delivered from May 1 5 to Nov. 4, 1 903 By The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. With an Introduction London Grant Richards 1903 v^v ^ .^l** *? '?^»^ IL CONTENTS I'AGE Introduction . . . . . . . ' . vii I. A Demand for Inquiry .... . i II. The Case for Tariff Reform and Mr. Chamber- lain's Proposals ig III. Retaliation 45 IV. An Answer to some Objections . . 71 V. How THE Policy Affects Working Men . . 97 VI. Results of the New Policy. What the Colonies will Do 105 VII. The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects Trade Unionism and Shipping . . ... 134 VIII. The Question of Employment .... 150 V IX. A Reply to Lord Goschen . . . . . 162 \ X. The Changed Conditions since the Repeal of the Corn Laws . . .... 176 Index .... . . . 205 INTRODUCTION I HAVE assented to the republication of the following speeches the more readily because, notwithstanding the perfection of modem stenography, I find that, owing partly to the difficulties connected with telegraphic transmission and partly, no doubt, to the fault of the speaker, many errors, and some of them of serious importance, have crept into the original newspaper reports. But besides what I may call mechanical errors, there are also cases in which the argument was presented in a form which, although it might have been sufficiently appreciated by the audience at the time, would not be easily intelligible to a reader afterwards ; and there are, on the other hand, many instances of repetition, not unusual in oral discussion but indefensible in the written word. I have endeavoured, as far as the time at my disposal has permitted, to correct these faults and, while preserving the popular character of the addresses in which they occur, I have been glad at the same time to modify a few expres- sions, introduced on the spur of the moment, to which exception has been taken as suggesting a personal or party bias which it has been my earnest desire to avoid in what is essentially a National, and not a purely party, discussion. As they are now presented to the public they^^describe fairly, and with sufficient fulness, the objects which Tariff vu Introduction Reformers have in view, and the means by which they beUeve that these objects can be attained. They have already been, and will in the future be further, supplemented by statistics and details which would have been unsuitable for great popular audiences, but which it is the function of the Tariff Reform League and the Imperial Tariff Committee to supply in their publications. The issues raised are few and easy to understand. The changes that have taken place, since the adoption of Free Trade nearly sixty years ago, in the conditions of inter- national exchange, in the comparative position of foreign nations, and, above all, in our relations with our own Colonies, seem to point conclusively to the necessity of a reconsideration of our fiscal system. It is not desirable to postpone this review to a time of depression, which many close observers think to be imminent, when the pressure of exceptional distress may compel us to hasty and ill- considered reforms. The original object of Mr. Cobden and hie colleagues was to secure a free exchange of products between the nations of the world at their natural price, but for many years the example of the open door set by the United Kingdom has not been followed by other countries, and hostile tariffs have everywhere interfered with the natural course of trade. These tariffs, avowedly designed to exclude British manu- factures, have been supported by the operation of bounties, subsidies, and trusts ; while foreign producers have been enabled, partly by the same means, and partly by the lower standard of living, to which their working classes are accus- tomed, to undersell the British manufacturer in neutral markets and even seriously to attack his home trade. The doctrinaire Free Traders have no remedy to propose viii Introduction for this state of things, which, indeed, they either deny, or else ascribe to the want of enterprise and intelligence on the part of our manufacturers, to the ignorance and inca- pacity of our people, or to the tyrannical action of the Trade Unions. The Tariff Reformers, on the other hand, believe that by recovering our freedom of action, and by re-arming our- selves with the weapon of a moderate tariff, we may still defend our home market against unfair competition, and may, at the same time, secure a modification of foreign cariffs which would open the way to a fairer exchange of our respective products than we have hitherto been able to obtain. But they attach even greater importance to the possi- bility of securing by preferential and reciprocal arrange- ments with our Colonies a great development of trade within the Empire and a nearer approach to a commercial union which, in some shape or another, must precede or accompany closer political relations, and without which, as all history shows, no permanent co-operation is possible. They believe that these objects can be promoted, without loss to any class or any individual, by a slight transfer of existing taxes which will not increase national burdens, but will raise the revenue required for defence and administra- tion in such a way as to develop our inter-Imperial trade to the mutual benefit both of the Colonies and the Mother Country, while adding greatly to the amount of employment for our ever-growing population. The questions thus raised, although they interest every class, are more vitally important to working men than to any other, since they alone depend upon their daily employ- ment for their daily subsistence. ix «\* Introduction To the manufacturer and the capitahst the essential consideration is security for his investments which, under present conditions, are always Hable to a kind of interfer- ence against which it is impossible for him to provide. His foreign competitor, unassailable in his home market, can safely issue forth to attack him, while he is incapable of retaliation, and powerless to defend himself against the new methods of foreign competition. Both manufacturers and workmen are restive under these conditions, and if, with a long experience of popular dis- cussion, I am entitled to express an opinion, I should say that never before in my recollection have they taken so keen and intelligent an interest in any economic and social question. They have refused to consider it from a party point of view, they have refused to be led by any party or partisan organisations. They are thinking for them- selves, and, unless I am greatly mistaken, the majority have already decided in favour of the principles of our proposals. When they will be able to give effect to their decision is more open to speculation. I have often wondered that we have never adopted the principle of the Referendum as practised in Switzerland, and also in many parts of the United States of America. It is the only way in which the decision of great national questions can be separated from all the complicated issues of party Government. At a general election the voter is influenced partly by his desire to see his own party in office and partly by his views on a number of special questions, many of them purely local or even personal. If, in the case of a new policy, not necessarily pohtical, it were possible to eliminate all side issues, we might have a national verdict which all sections would accept, and which Introduction would be given without reference to the perennial struggle between the " Outs " and the " Ins " which is at present the chief occupation of pohtical hfe. In the absence of such a machinery for testing public opinion, I wiU not venture on any prediction as to the exact time at which a conservative nation such as ours will decide on the adoption of new methods to meet new conditions, but I have no doubt whatever that the policy of free imports is already doomed, and I earnestly hope that the pohcy of mutual preference between the different parts of the British Empire may be accepted before it is too late for us to avail ourselves of the opportunity now within our grasp. J. CHAMBERLAIN. November g, 1903. XI A DEMAND FOR INQUIRY* Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the warmth of your welcome, and for the assurance, which is always delightful to me, of your continued confidence and support. Mr. Jephcott is quite right when he says that I am proud of being the representative of West Birmingham, an essentially working class constituency. I have ventured before now, in the House of Commons, to claim that I repre- I sented more labour than any other Labour Representative \ (cheers). And I do not think the less of that position, because I believe that I represent Labour in no narrow and selfish sense. I represent Labour as it constitutes the ruajo- rity of the people of this country, and as it is characterised by the virtues and the qualities that have made this country what it is — by Labour, that is, which thinks not of itself as a class, opposed to any other class in the community, but as responsible for the obligations of the country and the i Empire to which it belongs, and as participating in all that / concerns the prosperity and the welfare of t hpy/hnlp / It is two months now since I returned from a voyage which will always be one of the most memorable incidents of my life ; but I have not forgotten — I shall never forget — that my constituents and fellow citizens sent me forth to make that great experiment encouraged by their good wishes and by the most splendid and inspiriting demonstration that was ever accorded to any public man (cheers). It was to me also a matter of the greatest gratification that, when I returned, the first to greet m^e on these shores was a Depu- • Delivered at a Meeting of the Unionists of West EirraiDgbam, held OQ May 15, 1903. I A * % A Demand for Inquiry tation from you, my friends and constituents, assuring me of your welcome home and of your congratulations. And, during the Interval between those two events, I was con- stantly reminded of you. I could come to no great city in South Africa, hardly to any village or wayside station, in any of the Colonies, but ahvays, it seemed to me, I was cheered by the presence and the enthusiasm of Birmingham men (cheers), proud to recall their connection with our city, and anxious to prove that neither time nor distance had lessened their affection for their old home (cheers). I go back often to my old associations. I think of the time when I entered upon public life, thanks to the support of those who, in St. Paul's Ward, sent me to the Town Council of Birmingham. And, amongst all my recollections, of none am I prouder than of the fact that I was permitted at that time to co-operate with men, our then leaders, most of whom have passed av/ay, but who have left behind them an imperishable legacy, who have impressed upon us, and instilled into our lives, that intense feeling of local patriotism which makes it the duty of every Birmingham man, at home and abroad, to maintain and to raise the reputation of the city from which he came. The South African Problem On my return, as is right and proper, I am called upon to make my first political speech to my constituents (cheers). You will excuse me if I am a little out of practice (laughter). It is true that, in South Africa I did a great deal of talking ; but I am bound to say that my party weapons are a little rusty. When I was in South Africa, it was not of our con- troversial politics that I was thinking ; and for a consider- able period my whole mind was turned to the problems connected with the birth of a new nation in South Africa, and, above all, to the question of how it was possible to reconcile the two strong races who were bound to live together there as neighbours, and who, I hope, will live together as friends (cheers). And, in connection with that, I had to think also of how this new nation v/ould stand, a A Demand for Inquiry how these races would be concerned in the future of the Empire which belongs to both of them, Dutch and Englisli — great people with many virtues in comm.on, but still with great differences. WTio would vvish that the traditions of either should be forgotten or that their peculiarities should disappear ? And yet we have to make of them a united nation. Here, in the United Kingdom, we have different races but one people. It would be rather difficult, I imagine, that an Englishman should feel exactly the same in regard, let us say, to Bannockburn, as a Scotsman would feel. Yet both Scotch and English may equally be proud of having had their full part in Waterloo or the Alma (applause). Why should it not be the same in South Africa ? I ask of no Dutchman that he should forget any of his traditions, of v/hich he may justly be proud, or abandon any of the peculiarities or prejudices of his race, any more than I would ask it of any Briton. But my confident hope and belief are that, in the future, both these representatives of different races will be able to co-operate, and create for themselves a com.mon existence, in which they may have a common pride. It is, therefore, to the Empire, with all that that means, that I look to produce that union in South Africa which we all desire to achieve (applause). Local and Imperial Politics But you v/ill understand that in the absorbing preoccu- pation of these thoughts, in a work which strained every nerve, and v/hich filled every v/aking mom.ent, I had no tim.e to keep myself abreast of purely party politics in this country. I am still under the glamour of this new experience (laughter). llj ideas even now run m.ore on those questions v/Iiich are connected with the future of the Empire than upon the smaller controversies upon which depend tlie fate of by- elections, and somictimes even the fo,te of Governments. Ladies and Gentlemen, when you are 6000 miles away from the liouse of Com.mons, it is perfectly extraordinary how events and discussions and conflicts of opinion present them- selves in different — I think I may even say in truer — 3 A Demand for Inquiry proportion. You are excited at home about an Education Bill — about Temperance Reform — about local finance. But these things matter no more to South Africa, to Canada, to Australia, than their local affairs matter to you. On the other hand, everything that touches Imperial policy, every- thing whioh affects their interests as well as yours, has for them, as it ought to have for us, a supreme importance. And our Imperial policy is vital to them and vital to us. Upon that Imperial policy, and upon what you do in the next few years, depends the tremendous issue whether this great Empire of ours is to stand together, one free nation, if necessary, against all the world, or whether it is to fall apart into separate States, each selfishly seeking its own interest alone — losing sight of the common weal, and losing also all the advantages which union alone can give. After some remarks about the political situation the right honourable gentleman proceeded to say: There must be ups and downs in politics. I have had now a long experience, and I will safely predict of any Govern- ment, that if it endeavours honestly to grapple with the great problems of its time, it will lose a certain amount of support. You cannot deal with any domestic question, and find an absolutely united Party to support you ; and the more bold your policy, the more drastic the changes which you propose to bring about, the more certain it is that you will pay the price, for the time at any rate, in the votes of a certain number of those whose support you greatly value. Well, but what is the business of a Govern- ment ? Under ordinary circumstances, the business of a Government is to spend itself in doing what it thinks to be right. There comes a time v/hen it has spent all that it has ; and then it makes room for its successor. And let me say in all seriousness that, if I were assured that the main lines of our Imperial and National policy, those things which touch our existence, were secured ; if I could feel that there was that continuity in foreign and colonial policy which I have known to exist in past times, I for one should be very willing indeed to allow to my pohtical oppone:iti 4 A Demand for Inquiry their chance in their turn to try their hands at the difficult domestic problems with which we have had to deal. After eight years of such strenuous work as seldom falls to the lot of politicians, I can say for myself — and I believe I can say for all my colleagues — that I would rejoice if I could be relieved, at all events for a time, and if I could occupy, instead of the post of a prominent actor, the much more easy and less responsible post of universal critic. The Empire : Principles of Imperial Policy Moulding the Young Life of the Empire I did not require to go to South Africa in order to be con- vinced that the pervading sentiment of Imperialism has obtained deep hold on the minds and hearts of our children beyond the seas. It has had a hard life of it. This feeling of Imperial patriotism w as checked. fo r a gen e ration by the apathy and Ihe indifference which were the characte ristics^ of our former relationswi th our Colonies. Itjwas^discouraged by our apparent acceptance of the d octrines of the Little' Englanders, of the provincial spirit which tau ght us to con- sider ours elves alo ne.^ and to regard with indifference all that concerned thosey- however loyal they jnight b e, who left these shores in orde r to go to our Colonies abroad. But it was never extinguished. The embers were still alight, and when, in the late war, this old country of ours showed that it was still possessed by the spirit of our ancestors, that it was still prepared to count no sacrifice that was necessary in order to maintain the honour and the interests of the Empire that was committed to its charge, then you found such a response from your brethren, your children, across the seas, as had never been knov/n before, astonishing the world by an undeniable proof of affection and regard (cheers). I have said that that was a new chapter, the beginning of a new era. Is it to end there ? (No.) Is it to end with the end of the war, with the termination of the crisis that brought it forth ? Are we to sink back to the old policy of^lfish isolation . which went very far to try, and even to sap, the loyalty of our Colonial brethren ? I 5 A Demand for Inquiry do not think so, I think these larger issues touch the people of this country. I think they have awakened to the enor- mous importance of a creative time like the present, and will take advantage of the opportunity that is offered to make permanent that which has begun so well. Remember we are an old country. We proceed here upon settled lines. We have our quarrels and our disputes, and we pass legis- lation which may be good or bad, but which, at any rate, can be altered. But we go towards an object which is sufficiently defined. We knov/ that, whatever changes there may be— whatever meandering of the current — at all events the main stream will ultimately reach its appointed destina- tion. This is the result of centuries of constitutional progress and freedom. But t)ie Empire is not old. The Empire is new. The Empire is in its Infancv. ^^Qw is the ti me when we_ can_ m.ould that Empire , an d we and those who live w ith us can decide its fut ure destinies^ Future of th^ EiMPIRE Just let us consider what that Empire is. I am not going to-night to speak of those hundreds of millions of our Indian and nativ^e fellov/ subjects for whom we have become responsible. It is upon us that the obligation lies to give them good government now, and in every way to promote their future development and prosperity. And some day it might be worth my while, and it might be possible, to discuss with you all the important questions which such an enormous obligation imposes. But to-night I put that aside, and I_ consider only our relations to our_ own kinsfolk, to that v/hite British population that con sti- tutes tlie majority in the great self-governing Colonies^oL- the Empire. What is our position in regard to them ? Herc,"lh the United Kingdom, there are some forty milhons of us. Outside, there are more than ten milhons either directly descended from ancestors who left this country, or persons who, themselves in their youth, left this country in order to find their fortunes in o ur possessions abr oad^ 6 A Demand for Inquiry Now how long do you suppose that, this proportion of the population is going to endure ? How long are we going to be four times as many as our kinsfolk abroad ? The devel- opment of those Colonies has been delayed by many reasons —partly, as I think, by our inaction, partly by the pro- vincial spiiit which we have not done enough to discourage, that spirit v/hich attaches undue importance to the local incidents and legislation of each separate State, and gives insufficient regard to the interests of the whole, but mainly, probably, by a more material reason, by the fact that the United States of America have offered a greater attraction to British immiigration. But that is changing. The United States of America, with all their vast territory, are filling up, and even now we hear of thousands and tens of thousands of emigrants leaving the United States of America in order to take up the fresh and rich lands of our Dom'nion of Canada. And it seems to me to be not at all an impossible assumption that, before the end of this half century, we may find that our fellow subjects beyond the seas may be more numerous than w^e are at home. I want you to look forward. I want you to consider the infinite importance of this, not only to yourselves but to your descendants. Now is the time when you can exert influence. Do you wish that, if these ten milhons become forty millions, they sh all s till be closely, intimately, affec- tionately united to you ? (Cheers.) Or do you contemplate the possibility of their being separated^ going off each in his" own direction under a separate flag ? Think what it means to your power and influence as a country ; think v/hat it means to your position among the nations of the world ; think what it means to your -trade and commerce. I put that last. The influence of the Empire is the thing I think most about, and that influence, I believe, will always be used for the peace and civilisation of the world. COMMEKCE AND FEDERAL UnION But the question of trade and commerce is one of the greatest importance. Unless that is satisfactorily settled, 7 A Demand for Inquiry I, for one, do not believe in a continued union of the Empire. I am told — I hear it stated again and again by what I beheve to be the representatives of a small minority of the people of this country, whom I describe, because I know no other words for them, as Little Englanders — I hear it stated by them, what is a fact, that our trade with our Colonies is less than our trade with foreign countries, and, therefore, it appears to be their opinion that we should do everything in our power to cultivate that trade with foreigners, and that we can safely disregard the trade with our children. Now, sir, that is not my conclusion (cheers). My conclusion is exactly the opposite (renewed cheers). I say it is the busi- ness of British Statesmen to do evervthmg they can, even at some present sacrifice, to keep the trade of the Colonies 'with Great Britain (ch eers); to increase that trade^ to pro- mote it, even if in doing so we lessen somewhat the trade with our foreign competitors (ch eers). Are we doing every- thmg at the present time to direct the patriotic movement not only here, but through all the Colonies, in the right channel ? Are we, in fact, by our legislation, by our action, making for union, or are we drifting to separation ? That is a critical issue. In my opinion, the germs of a Federal Union that will make the British Empire powerful and influential for good beyond the dreams of any one now living "^ are in the soil ; but it is a tender and delicate plant, and requires careful handling (applause). I wish you would look back to our history. Consider what might have been, in order that you may be influenced now to do what is right. Suppose that when self-government was first conceded to these Colonies, the Statesmen who gave it had had any idea of the possibilities of the future — do you not see that they might have laid, broad and firm, the foundations of an Imperial edifice of which every part would have contributed something to the strength of the whole ? But in those days the one idea of Statesmen was to get rid of the whole business. They believed that separ- ation must come. What they wanted to do was to make it smooth and easy, and none of these ideas which subsequent experience has put into our minds appear ever to have been 8 A Demand for Inquiry suggested to them. By their mistakes and by their neglect our task has been made more difficult — more difficult, but not impossible (applause). There is still time to consolidate the Empire. We also have our chance, and it depends upon what we do now whether this great idea is to find fruition or whether we must for ever dismiss it from our considera- tion and accept our fate as one of the dying Empires of the world. The Colonies and Imperial Defence Now, what is the meaning of an Empire ? What does it mean to las ? We have had a little experience. W e have had a war — a war in which the majority of our children abroad had no apparent direct interest. We had no hold over them, no agreement with them of any kind, and yet, at one time during this war, by their voluntary decision, at least 50,000 Colonial soldiers were standing shoulder to shoulder with British troops, displaying a gallantry equal to their own and the keenest intelligence (loud cheers). It is something for a beginning ; and if this country were in danger — I mean if we were, as our forefathers were, face to face some day, which heaven forefend, with some great coah- tion of hostile nations, when we had, with our backs to the wall, to struggle for our very lives — it is my firm conviction that there is nothing within the power of these self-govern- ing Colonies that they would not do to come to our aid. I believe their resources, in men and in money, would be at the disposal of the Mother Country in such an event. That is something which it is wonderful to have achieved, and which it is worth almost any sacrifice to maintain (applause). So far as men are concerned, and the personal sacrifice involved in risking life and encountering hardship, the Colonies did their duty in the late war. If we turn to another question, the question of the share they bore in the pecuniary burden which the war involved, well, I think they might have done more. I did not hesitate to tell my fellow subjects in the Colonies of South Africa, whether in the new Colonies or in the old ones, that though they had 9 A Demand for Inquiry done much, they had not done enough, that they had left, substantially, the whole burden on the shoulders of the Mother Country ; and that, in the future, if they va.lued Empire and its privileges they must be prepared to take a greater share of its obligations (applause). If I had been spea-king in Australia^ or in Canada, I would have said the same thing, and perhaps I should have been indined to say it even in stronger terms. And if I m^ay judge by the reception of m^y utterances in South Africa, I should give no offence by this frank speaking. There is something, however, to be remembered on behalf of our Colonies, and that is that this idea of a common responsibility is altogether a new one, and we have done nothing to encourage it. It is presented to them in the light of a new tax, and people have an extraordinary v/ay of regarding a new tax with suspicion (laughter), and even witli dislike. But what hap- pened ? I spoke in Natal ; and the people of Natal responded by taking upon their shoulders 9, burden whidi, for a small Colony, was considerable, and which they had thought of placing upon ourselves. I spoke in the Transvaal, and the representatives of every class in the Transvaal — and none more enthusiastically than the working people — took upon themselves a burden of £80 per head of the white population — a burden, indeed, which the riches of the country justified, but which v/as something altogether in excess of any similar obligation placed upon any other country in the world (applause). I spoke in Cape Colony ; and although in Cape Colony, owing to the division of opinion which has prevailed there, I neither expected nor asked for a contribution toward the war, I do expect that in the time to com^e Dutch and English wiU both feel that the Empire belongs to them as well as to us, and that they are bound to contribute more liberally to the future expenditure of the Empire than they have done in the past (applause). All have done something ; and to my mind, it is a great thing to get the principle accepted. I think it depends upon us v/hether in future this principle shall be applied with greater liberality, or whether we are all to fall back, each to care for himself and " the devil take the hindmost.'* > 10 A Demand for Inquiry A New Development of Imperial Policy Commtmiiy of Sacrifice Sir, my idea of British policy — I mean the pohcy of the United Kingdom — is that here, at the beginning of things, at the beginning of this nev/ chapter, we should show our cordial appreciation of the first step taken by our Colonies to show their solidarity with us. Every advance which they make should be reciprocated. We should ourselves set a great exam.ple by acknowledging the community of interest, and, above all, that community of sacrifice on v/hich alone the Empire can permanently rest. I have admitted that the Colonies have hitherto been backward in their contribu- tions tovvards Imperial defence. They are following their own lines. I hope they will do better in the future ; but in the meantime they are doing a great deal, and they are trying to promote this union, which I regard as of so much im.portance, in their own v/ay and by their own means. Prejerential Tariffs : South Africa and Australia And first am ong those means. is the offer of preferentia l tariffs (cheers). Nov/ that is a mxatter v/hich, at the present mo ment, is of the greatest possible importance jtojeyery one oTyoiT it d epends upon how we trea t this policy of the- "Colonies— not a policy inau gur at ed by usl but a policy wEgjr__^ '^comes to us from o^r children abroad — it depends upon Koj^^* ^i^*" v/e treat it, whether it is developed in the future, or with- drawn as being unacceptable to those v/hom it is sought to " benefits The other day, immediately after I left South- Africa, a great conference v/as held for the first time of all the Colonies in South Africa — the nev/ Colonies as well as the old. The Boers and the Dutch v/ere represented as well as the British ; and this conference recommended the several Legislatures of the difereiit colonies to give to u§, the Mother Country, preference upon all dutiable goods of 25 * per cent, (cheers)* Last yeaf, at the Conference of Premiers, ' i the representatives of Australia and New Zealand accepted \ u c«^ A Demand for Inquiry the same principle. They said that in their different Colonies there might be some difference of treatment ; but, so far as the principle was concerned, they pledged themselves to recommend to their constituents a substantial preference in favour of goods produced in the Mother Country. Now, that, again, is a new chapter in our Imperial history, and again I ask, is it to end there ? In my opnion, these recom- mendations and these pledges will bear fruit just in proportion as you show your appreciation of them, and they will depend largely upon the experience of Canada, which has been a precursor in a similar movement. Preferential Tariffs : Canada Canada is the greatest, the most prosperous, of our self- governing Colonies. At the present time it is in the full swing of an extraordinary prosperity, which I hope and believe will lead to a great increase in its population, its strength, its importance in the constellation of free nations wh ch constitutes the British Empire. Canada is, of all our Colonies, the most backward in contributing to comm.on defence, but Canada has been the most forward in endea- vouring to unite the Empire by other means — by strength^ ening our commercial relations, and by giving to us special favour and preference. And if we appreciate this action properly, it seems to me that not only is it certain that every other colony of the Empire will necessarily and in due time follow this example, but Canada herself and the other Colonies, as the bonds are drawn closer, and as we become more and more one people, united by interest as well as by sentiment, will be more and more ready to take their lair share in these burdens of defence to which I have referred. The policy which I wish to make clear to you is not to force our Colonies — that is hopeless, for they are as independent as we are — but to meet everything they do. If they see a way of drawing the Empire together, let us help them in that, even if they may not be prepared to join us in some other way from which we think the same result would be achieved. But let us be prepared to accept 12 A Demand for Inquiry every indication on their part of this desire. Let us show we appreciate it ; and, beheve me, it will not be long before all will come into line, and the results which follow will be greater than, perhaps, it would be prudent now to anticipate. What has Canada done for us ? Canada in 1898, freely, voluntarily, of her own accord, as a recognition of her obli- gations to the Mother Country, as a recognition especially of the fact that we were the greatest of the free markets open to Canadian produce, gave us a preference on all duti- able goods of 25 per cent. In 1900 she increased that pre- ference, also freely of her own accord, to 33-J- per cent, (applause). I have had occasion to point out that the results of this great concession have been, to a certain extent, and in some respects, disappointing. The increase in our trade with Canada has been very great, but it has not increased largely out of proportion to the increase of the trade between Canada and other countries. But this remains true : that whereas, before these concessions, the trade of this country with Canada was constantly getting less and less, that reduc- tion has been stayed, and the trade has continually increased (applause). To put it in a word, the trade between our colony of Canada and the Mother Country, which was six and a half millions in 1897-1898, is now carried on at a rate of £11,000,000 — probably a good deal more — but I will, to be safe, say of £11,000,000 sterling in the present year (cheers) ; and the increase is chiefly in textile goods — cotton, woollen, and goods of that kind — and in the manufactures of hardware and iron and steel. And, at the same time, whereas the percentage of the total trade had fallen from 40 per cent., I think — or, at all events from a large percent- age — to 23|- per cent., in these last two years it has been gradually climbing up again, and it has now reached for the present year 26J- per cent. Why We Cannot Reciprocate That is an important result. But the Ministers of Canada, when they were over here last year, made me a further 13 I A Demand for Inquiry definite offer. They said : *' We have done for you as much as we can do vohmtarily and f]-eely and without return. If you are wdlhng to reciprocate in any w^ay, we are prepared to reconsider our Tariff with a view of seeing v/hethcr we cannot give you further reductions, especially, in regard to those goods in which you come into comxpetition with foreigners ; and we will do this if you will meet us by \ giving us a drawback on the small tax of is. per quarter \ which you have put upon corn." That was a definite offer which we have had to refuse. I need not say that^ if I could treat matters of this kind Solely ifi regard to my posi- tion as Secretary of State for the Colonies, I should have said, " That is a fair offer, that is a generous offer, from your point of view, and it is an offer v/hich v/e might ask our people to accept." But, speaking for the Government as a whole, and not solely in the interests of the Colonies, I am obliged to sa}/ that it is contrary to the established fiscal policy of this country ; that wehold ourselves bound to ke ep open market for all the world, even if they close th eir markets to us (l aughter) ; and that, therefore, so l ong^ a s jhat is the mandate of t he British public, vre are n ot in a position to o ffer any preference or favour whatever, even_ to our own children. We cannot make any difference between tliD.qe who frf.nt us well^ and t hose" \\^io "treat "us^ badly (".Sha me"). Y es, bu t that is the doctrine which, I am told, is the accepted doctrine of the Free Traders, and we are all Free Traders (cries of '" No, no," and laughter). Well, I am (loud laughter). I have considerable doubt whether the interpretation of Free Trade which is current amongst a certain limited section is the true interpretation (applause). I am perfectly certain that I am not a Protectionist ; but I want to point out that, if the interpretation is that our only duty is to buy in the cheapest market without regard to where we can sell — if that is the theory of Free Trade that finds acceptance, then, in pursuance of that policy, you will lose the advantage of the further reduction in duty which your great Colony of Canada offers to you, the manu- facturers of this country. And you may lose a great deal more ; because in the speech which the M'nister of Finance 14 A Demand for Inquiry made to the Canadian Parliament the other day he says that if they are told definitely that Great Britain, the Mother Countr3% can do nothing for thern in the way of reciprocity, they must reconsider their position and reconsider the preference that they have already given. These are big questions, and this particular question is complicated in a rather unexpected manner. The policy which prevents us from offering an advantage to our Colonies prevents us from defending them if they are attacked. Now, I suppose, you and I are agreed that the British Empire is. one and indivisible (cheers). You and 1 are agreed that » we absolutely refuse to look upon any of the States that j form the British Em.pire as in any way excluded from any advantage or privilege to which the British Empire is \ entitled. We may well, therefore, have supposed that an. f agreement of this kind by which Canada does a kindness to us, was a m.atter of family, arrangement, concerning nobody ^ ^ else. But, unfortunately, Germany thinks otherwise. \ There is a Germ.an Empire. The German Empire is divided into States. Bavaria, and, let us say, Hanover, Saxony, /9^^ith:n that Empire, and does not give it to all the rest of the v/orld. But in this case of Canada, Germany insists upon treating Canada as though it were a separate country. It refuses to recognise it as a part of one Empire, entitled to claim the privileges of that Empire. It regards this agreem.ent as being something more than a domestic agreement, and it has penalised Canada by placing upon Canadian goods an additional duty. Now the reason for this is clear. The German newspapers very frankly explain that this is a policy of reprisal, and that it is intended to deter other Colonies from giving to us the same advantage. Therefore, it is not merely punishment inflicted by Germany upon Canada, but it is a threat to South Africa, to Australia, and to New Zealand. This 15 A Demand for Inquiry policy, a policy of dictation and interference, is justified by the belief that we are so wedded to our fiscal system that we cannot interfere, and that we cannot defend our Colonies, and that, in fact, any one of them that attempts to establish any kind of special relations with us does so at its owTi risk, and must be left to bear the brunt of foreign hostility. To my mind, that is putting us in a rather humi- liating position. I do not like it at all. I know what will follow if we allow it to prevail ; it is easy to predict the consequences. How do you think that, under such circum- stances, we can approach our Colonies with appeals to aid us in promoting the union of the Empire, or ask them to bear a share of the common burdens ? Are we to say to them, " This is your Empire, take pride in it, share its privi- leges ? " They will say, " What are its privileges ? The privileges appear to be that if we treat you as relations and friends, if we show you kindness, if we give you preference, you, who benefit by our action, can only leave us alone to light our own battles against those v/ho are offended by our action." Now, is that Free Trade ? (" No.") I am not going further to n'ght (" Go on"). My object is to put the position before you, and, above all, as I have just come home from great Colonies, I want you to see these matters as they appear to our Colonial fellow subjects. There is no doubt what they think, and there is no doubt what great issues hang upon their decision. I asked just now, " Is this Free Trade ? " No ; it is absolutely a new situation (applause) ; there has been nothing like it in our history. It is a situation that was never contemplated by any* of those whom we regard as the authors of Free Trade. What would Mr. Bright, what would Mr. Cobden, have said to this state of thinp^s ? I do not know, and it would be pre- )us to imagine. But th's I can say, that Mr. Cobdeo^ did not hesitate"To~fnakc a Ireaty^i reciprocity with France and Mr.^righr~did""not hesitate to approve of his action ; and I cannot believeTTTthey had beenpresent among u s now ,^ and h ad known w hat t h^ s new sit uation was, that they would have hesitated to make a Treaty qf^ Preference and reci- proci ty with our ow n children (loud and prolonged cheers). A Demand for Inquiry The Two Alternatives Well, ladies and gentlemen, you see the point. You want an Empire. Do y ou think it better to cultivate the j-rar1p with ynnr nwn pfop] e. or to let that go in Order that you may keep the trade of those who are your competitors and rivals ? I say it is a new position. I say the people of this Empire have got to consider it. I do not want to hasten their decision. They have two alternatives before them. They may maintain, if they like, in all its severity, the interpretation — in my mind, an entirely artificial and wrong interpretation — which has been placed upon the doctrines of Free Trade by a small remnant of Little Eng- landers of the Manchester School, who now profess to be the sole repositories of the doctrines of Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright. They may maintain that policy in all its severit}^ although it is repudiated by every other nation, and by all your own Colonies. In that case, they will be absolutely precluded, either from giving any kind of pre- ference or favour to any of their Colonies abroad, or even from protecting their Colonies abroad when they offer to favour us. That is the first alternative. The second alternative is that we should insist that we will not be bound by any purely technical definition of Free Trade ; that while w^ seek as our c hief object, free interchange of trade and com- ^merce between o urselves, and all the nations of the world we will, nevertheIess^r,ecav:e]L£a ir freedom, resume the power of negotiation, and, if ne cessary, retaliation (loud cheers) whenever our own interests or our relations between our Colonies and ourselves are threatened by other people (renewed cheers). I leave the matter in your hands. I desire that a dis- cussion on this subject sliould be opened. The time has not yet come to settle it ; but it seems to me that, for good or for evil, it is an issue much greater in its consequences than any of our local disputes. Make a mistake in legis- lation — it can be corrected. Make a mistake in your Impe- rial policy — it is irretrievable (loud applause). You have* 17 B A Demand for Inquiry an opportunity ; you will never have it again. I do not think myself that a General Election is very near ; but, whether it is near or distant, I think our opponents may, perhaps, land that the issues v/hich they propose to raise are not the issues on which v/e shall take the opinion of the country (cheers). If v/e raise an issue of this kind, the ansv/er will depend not upon petty personal considerations, not upon temporary interest, but upon whether the people of this country really have it in their hearts to do all that is necessary, even if it occasionally goes against their ov/n prejudices, to consolidate an Empire whch can only be maintained by relations of interest as v/cll as by relations of sentiment. And, for my own part, I believe in a British Em^pire, in an Empire v/hich, although it should be one of its first duties t'o^cultivate fiicndship with all the nations of the Vvrorld, should yet, even if alone,^^be self- sustaining and self-sufficient, able to maintain itself against the competition of all its rivals?] And I do not believe in a Little England Vv'hich shall be separated from all those to whom it should in the natural course look for support and affection-^a Little England v/hich shall thus be dependent absolutely on the m.ercy of those v/ho envy its present pros- perity p and who have shown they are ready to do all in their power to prevent the future union of the British race throughout the world (loud and continued cheers). a THE CASE FOR TARIFF REFORM AND MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S PROPOSALS* My first duty is to thank this great and representative audience for having offered to me an opportunity of explain- ing for the first time in some detail the views which I hold 'upon the subject of our fiscal policy (cheers). I would desire no better platform than this ("Hear, hear," and cheers). I am in a great city, the second of the Empire ; the city which by the enterprise and mtelligence which it has always shown is entitled to claim something of a representative character in respect of British industry (cheers). I am in that city in which Free Trade took its birth ("hear, hear"), in that city in which Adam Smith taught so long, and where he was one of my most distinguished predecessors in the great office of Lord Rector of your University (cheers) wh.ch it will always be to me a great honour to have filled. Adam Smith was a great man. It was not given to h ra, it never has been given to mortals, to foresee all the changes that ma}^ occur in something like a century and a half, but with a broad and far-seeing intelligence which is not common am.ong men, Adam Smith did at any rate anticipate many of our modern conditions, and when I read his books I see how even then he v/as aware of the importance of home markets as compared with foreign {" hear, hear") ; how he advocated retaliation under certain conditions ; how he supported the Navigation Laws ; how he was the author of a sentence which we ought never to forget, that " Defence * pehvered at St. Andrew's Hall, Glasgow, Tuesday, October 6, 1903, ^9 The Case for Tariff Reform is greater than opulence" (cheers). When I remember, also, how he, entirely before his time, pressed for reciprocal trade between our Colon' es and the Mother Country, I say he had a broader mind, a more Imperial conception of the duties of the citizens of a great Empire, than some of those who have taught also as professors (laughter and cheers), and who claim to be his successors (renewed laughter and cheer'ng). Ladies and gentlemen, I am not afraid to come here (cheers, and a voice " Bravo ! ") to the home of Adam Smith, and to combat free imports (cheers), and still less am I afra d to preach to you preference with our Colonies (" hear, hear" and cheers) — to you in this great city whose whole prosperity has been founded upon its colonial rela- tions (cheers). But I must not think only of the city, I must think of the country. It is known to every man that Scot- land has contributed out of all proportion to its population to build up the great Empire of which we are all so proud — an Empire which took genius and capacity and courage to create ("hear, hear") — and which requires now genius and capacity and courage to maintain (loud cheers). I do not regard this as a party meeting. I am no longer a party leader (laughter). I am an outsider (renewed laughter), and it is not my intention — I do not think it would be right — to raise any exclusive^ party issues. But after what has occurred in the last few days, after the meeting at Shefheid (cheers), a word or two may be forgiven to me, who, although no longer a leader, am still a loyal servant of the party to which I belong (cheers). I say to you, ladies and gentlemen, that that party whose continued existence, whose union, whose* strength I still believe to be essential to the welfare of the country and to the welfare of the Empire (cheers), has found a leader whom every member may be proud to follow (loud cheers). Mr. Balfour (cheers), in his position has responsibilities which he cannot share with us, but no one will contest his right — a right to which his high office, his ability, and his character al ke entitle h'm — to declare the official policy of the party which he leads (" hear, hear"), to fix its Jimits, to settle the titme at which appl'cation shall be given to the principles 20 Mr. Chamberlain^s Proposals which he has put forward (loud cheers). For myself, I agree with the principles that he has stated. I approve of the policy to which he proposes to give effect, and I admire the courage and the resource with which he faces difficulties which even in our varied political history have hardly ever been surpassed (''hear, hear"). It ought not to be necessary to say any more. But it seems as though in this country there have always been men who do not know what loyalty and friendship mean ("hear, hear"), and to them I say that nothing that they can do will have the slightest influence or will affect in the slightest degree the friendship and confidence which exist and have existed for so many years between the Prime Minister and myself (loud cheers). Let them dc their worst. Their insinuations pass us by 1 ke the idle wind, and I would say to my friends, to those who support me in the great struggle on which I have entered, I would say to them also, I beg of you to give no encouragement to these mean and libellous insinuations. Understand that in no conceivable circumstances will I alow myself to be put in any sort of competition, direct or indirect, with my friend and leader, whom I mean to follow (cheers). What is my position ? I have invited a discussion upon a ques- tion v/hich comes peculiarly within my province, owing to the office w^hich I have so recently held. I have invited discussion upon it. I have not pretended that a matter of this importance is to be settled offhand. I have been well aware that the country has to be educated, as I my- self have had to be educated before I saw, or could see, all the bearings of this great matter ; and therefore I take up the position of a pioneer. I go in front of the army, and if the army is attacked, I go back to it (loud and pro- longed cheers). Meanwhile, putting aside all these personal and party questions, I ask my countrymen, without regard to any political opinions which they may have hitherto held, to consider the greatest of all great questions that can be put before the country, to consider it impartially if possible, and to come to a decision — and it is possible — I am always an optimist (laughter) — it is possible that the nation may 21 The Case for Tariff Reform be prepared to go a little further than the official programme ( ' ' hear, hear,' ' and cheers) . I have known them to do it before (laughter), and no harm has come to the party ; no harm that I know has come to those w^ho as scouts, or pioneers, or investigators, or discoverers have gone a little before it. Well, one of my objects in coming here is to find an answer to this question. Is the country prepared to go a little further ? (Cries of " Yes," and cheers.) I suppose that there are differences in Scotland, differences in Glasgow, as there are certainly in the southern country, but those differences, I hope, are mainly differences as to methods ("hear, hear"). For I cannot conceive that, so far as regards the majority of the country at any rate, there can be any differences as to our objects. W^at are our objects ? They are tw^o. In the first place, we all desire the maintenance and increase of the national strength and the prosperity of the United Kingdom (cheers). That may be a selfish desire ; but in my mind it carries with it something more than mere selfishness. You cannot expect foreigners to take the same views as we of our position and duty. To my mind Britain has played a great part in the past in the history of the world, and for that reason I wish Britain to continue (cheers). Then, in the second place, pu ^ object is, or should be, the realisation of the greatest ideal which has eve r in^jred^atesmen in_ any country or in any age — the creation olan Empire such as the world has nev£r„seen (loud cheers). We have to cement the union of the States beyond the seas ; we have t o consolidate the British race f we have to meet the clash _ of competition, commercial now — sometimes in the n asloL has been otherwis e— it may be again in the future.^ What- ever it be, whatever danger threatens, we have to meet it no longer as an isolated country ; we have to meet it fortified and strengthened, and buttressed by all those of our kinsmen, all those powerful and continually rising States which speak our common tongue and glory in our common flag (cheers). Those are two great objects, and, as I have said, we all should have them in view. How are we to attain them ? • In the first place, let me say one word as to the method in 22 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals V/hich this discussion is to be carried on. Surely it should be treated in a manner worthy of its magnitude, worthy of the dignity of the theme ("hear, hear"). For my part I dis- claim any imputation of evil motive and unv/orthy motive on the part of those who may happen to disagree with me ; and I claim equal consideration from them ("hear, hear"). I cla m that this matter should be treated on its merits — v/ithout personal feeling, personal bitterness, and, if possible, without entering upon questions of purely party contro- versy (cheers), and I do that for the reason I have given ; but also because, if you are to make a change in a system v/bich has existed for nearly sixty years, which affects more or less every man, woman, and child in the kingdom., you can only make that change successfully if you have behind you not merely a party support — if you do not attempt to force it by a small majority on a large and unwilling minorit}^ but if it becomes, as I believe it v/ill become (cheers), a national policy in consonance v/ith the feelings, the aspira- tions, and the interests of the overwhelming proportion of the country (cheers). I v\^as speaking just now of the characteristics of Glasgow as a great city ; I am not certain whether I m.entioned that I believe it is one of the most prosperous of cities, that it has had a great and continuous prosperity ; and if that be so, here, more than anywhere else, ^have to answer the q uestion, Why cannot vou l ^t wpII alonf^ ? (" Hear, hear.") Well, I have been in Venice — the beautiful city of the i\driatic — which had at one time a commercial supremacy quite as great in proportion as anything we have ever enjoyed. Its glories have departed ; but what I w^as going to say was that Vv4ien I was there last I saw the great tower of the Campanile rising above the city which it had overshadowed for centuries, and looking as though it was as permanent as the city itself. And yet the other day, in a few minutes, the whole structure fell to the ground. Nothing was left of it but a miass of ruin and rubbish. I do not sav to vou, j^pjntlfiTTTPn ^thaf J antirip nt e any catastrophe s o p^reat ql — . s o sudden for British tmde. : but I do say to you that T see signs of decay ; that I see cracks and crevices in the v/alls 23 The Case for Tariff Reform of the great structure ; that I know that the foundations upon which it has been raised are not broad enough or deep enough to sustain it (cheers). Now, do I do wrong, A I know this — if I even think I know it — do I do wrong to warn you ? Is it not a most strange and inconsistent thing that while certain people are indicting the Government in language which, to say the least of it, is extravagant, for not having been prepared for the great war from which we have recently emerged with success (cheers) — is it not strange that these same people should be denouncing me in language equally extravagant because I want to prepare you now, while there is time, for a struggle greater in its consequences than that to which I have referred (hear, hear) — a struggle from which, if we emerge defeated, this country will lose its place, will no longer count among the great nations of the world — a struggle which we are asked to meet with antiquated weapons and with old-fashioned tactics ? (Cheers.) I tell you^that i t is not well to-day with British industry ("hear, hear"). We have been going through a period of great expansion. The whole world has been prosperous. I see signs of a change, but let that pass. When the change comes I think even the Free Fooders will be converted (laughter). But meanwhile, what are the facts ? T he year iqoo was the record year of British trade. Th e exports were the largest w ^ hf^ll ^^^^^ know-n . The ^ear iQQ^zrrlasL-^SaX^::.. was ne^jly ns gnod^ .ajad-Ji.:^t^iL-iiZQu_adll cnmpn re your trade in^i872yihirty 3^ears ago, with the trade of 1 902 — the ex port trade--you will fmd that there has been a moderate increase "pT twenty-two millions.*- That, I think, is something like 7 j- per cent. MeanW^hileT the pp pnlntinn It^q inrrf ^ pi gorl c^n per cent . Can you go on supporting your population at that rate of increase, wlien even in the best of years you can only show so much smaller an increase in your foreign trade ? The actual increase was twenty-two millions under our Free Trade. In the same_time th e inrre a.se in the Unit cdjt^ates The figures given in the recent Board of Trade Blue Book are as follows : 1872. Total Exports of British Produce, 256 millions. 1902. Total Exports of British Produce, 27S millions. 24 Mr. Chamberiain's Proposals of America was no millions, and the increiise.in_^GermanyL was iift}^six juiUions. In the United Kingdom our export trade has been practically stagnant for thirty years. It went down in the interval. It has now gone up in the most prosperous times. In the most prosperous times it is hardly better than it was thirty years ago. Meanwhile the protected countries which you have been told, and which I myself at one time believed, were going rapidly to wreck and ruin, have progressed in a much greater proportion than ours. That is not all ; not merely the amount of your trade remained stagnant, but the character of your trade has changed. When Mr. Cobden preached his doctrine, he believed, as he had at that time considerable reason to suppose, that while foreign countries would supply us with our food-stuffs and raw materials, we should remain the mart of the world, and should send them in exchange our manufactures. But that is exactly what we have not done. On the contrary, in the period to which I have referred, we are sending less and less of our manufactures to them, and they are sending more and more of their manufactures to us (cheers). I know how difhcult it is for a great meeting like this to follow figures. I shall give you as few as I can, but I must give you some to lay the basis of my argument. I have had a table constructed, and upon that table I would be willing to base the whole of my contention. I will take some figures from it. You have to analyse your trade. It is not merely a question of amount ; you have to consider of what it is composed. Now what has been the case with regard to our manufactures ? Our existence as a nation depends upon our manufacturing capacity and production. We are not essentially or mainly an agricul- tural country. That can never be the main source of our prosperity. We are a great manufacturing country. ^n_^ 187 2, we sent to the prote cted counfript; of Knrnpp ^nn to The United Sta te s nf Am prirp / tt^ 000,000 of export pH manufactures. In i883,.ten years later, it fell to ;^88^ooo,ooo, — • Trri8"927terr years later, it felL to £75,000,0 00. In ijQOj^ last year, although the genexaL.ex.p-Oits_ had Jncreased, the 25 The Case for Tarjir Rerorm e xpo rts of manufactures to these countriesJ Liad decreased_ again to -f. 7 3^ j> ^00,000, and the tot al result of this is t hat, aftejL thjrty_ years, you are sending ^A2,'^,oo~6Gb of manu - factures less to the great protected countries than you did thirty years ago (cheers). Then there are tlie neutral countries, that is, the countries which, although they may have tariffs, have no manufactures, and therefore the tariffs are not protective — such countries as Egypt and China, and South America, and similar places. Our exports of manu- factures have not fallen in these markets to any considerable • extent. They have practically remained the same, but on the whole they have fallen £3,500,000. Adding that to the loss in the protected countries, and you have lost altogether in your exports of manufactures £46,000,000. How is it that that has not impressed the people before now ? Because the change has been concealed by our statistics. I do not say they have not shov^n it, because you could have picked it out, but they are not put in a form which is understanded of the people. Yb u have failed t o observe that the maintenance of your tradi3 is dependent^ entirely on British possessionsT, While to these foreign countries your export of manufactures' has declined bv £46,000,000, to your British possessions it ' has increased £40,000,000 (cheers), and'"ar "the present time y nur trad^ v/ith the Colonies and British poss essions is larger in amount, very much larger in amount, and very much more valuable in the categories I have nanied^ than our trade with the v/hole of Europe and tlie-Uioited St ates^f America" It is much larger than our trade to those neutral countries of which I have spoken, and it remains at the present day the most rapidly increasing, the miost important, the most valuable of the whole of our trade (cheers). One more com- parison. During this period of thirty years in which our exports of manufactures have fallen £46,000,000 to foreign countries, what has happened as regards their exports of manufactures to us ? They have risen from £63,000,000 in 1872 to £149,000,000 in 1902. They have increased £86,000,000, That may be all right. I am not for tlie mom.ent saying whether that is right or wrong, but v/hen 26 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals people say that vve ought to hold exactly the same opinion about things that our ancestors did, my reply is that I daresay we should do so if circumstances had remained the same (cheers). But now, if I have been able to make these fieiures clear, there is one thing which follows — that is, that our Imperial trade is absolutely essential to our prosperity at the present time ("hear, hear"). If that trade declines, or if it does not increase in proportion to our population and to the loss of trade with foreign countries, then we sink at once into a fifth-rate nation (cheers^ Our fate will be the fate of the empires and kingdoms of the past. We shall have reached our highest point, and indeed I am not certain that there are some of my opponents who do not regard that v/ith absolute complacency (laughter). I do not (loud cheers). As I have said, I have the misfortune to be an optimist. I do not believe in the setting of the British star (cheers), but then, I do not believe in the folly of the British people (laughter). I trust them. I tr us t the w^orking classes of this country (cheers), and I have confidence that they who are our masters, electorallv speaking, v/ill have the intel^ li gence to see that they must wake up. Th^y mny^t modify t heir policy to suit new conditio ns^_ They must meet those conditions with altogether a new policy (cheers). I have said '^-zt if our Imperial trade declines we decline. My occond point is this. It will decline inevitably unless while there is still time we take the necessary steps to pre- serve it ("hear, hear"). Have you ever considered why it is that Canada takes so much more o f the products of British manufacturers th an the United States of America does p er head_? When you answer that, I ha^ 'e another conundrum (laughter). Why does Australia take about three times as much per head as Canada ? And to wind up, why does South Africa — the white population v^i South Africa — take more per head than Australasia ? Wha ^ you have got to the bottom of that — and it is not difhcuK — ^^ou will see the whole argum^ent. These countries are ai\ protective coun- tries. I see that the Labour leaders, or v'ome of them, in this country are saying that the interest of the working 27 The Case for Tariff Reform class is to maintain our present system of free imports. The moment those men go to the Colonies they change. I will undertake to say that no one -^f them has ever been there for six months without singing different tune (laughter). The vast majority of the working men in all the Colonies are Protectionists, and I am not inclined to accept the easy explanation that they are all fools (laughter). I do not understand why an intelligent man — a man who is intelligent in this country — becomes an idiot when h<^ goes to Australasia (laughter) . But I will tell you what ne aoes do. He gets rid of a good number of old-world prejudices and superstitions (laughter). I say they are Protectionist, all these countries. Now, what is the history of Protection ? In the first place a tariff is imposed. There are no industries, or practically none, but only a tariff ; then gradually indus- tries grow up behind the tariff wall. In the first place they are primary industries, the industries for which the country has natural aptitude or for which it has some special advan- tage — mineral or other resources. Then when those are estabhshed the secondary industries spring up, first the necessaries, then the luxuries, until at last all the ground is covered. These countries of which I have been speaking to you are in different stages of the protective process. In Amicrica the process has been completed. She produces everything ; she excludes everything (laughter). There is no trade to be done with her beyond a paltry 6s. per head. Canada has been protective for a long time. The pro- tective policy has produced its natural result. The prin- cipal industries are there, and you can never get rid of them. They will be there for ever, but up to the present time the secondary industries have not been created, and there is an immense deal of trade that is still open to you, that you may still retain, that you may increase. In Australasia the industrial position is still less advanced. The agricul- tural products of the country have been first of all developed. Accordingly, Australasia takes more from you per head than Canada. In South Africa there are, practically speak- ing, no industries at all. Nov/, I ask you to suppose that we intervene in any stage of the process. We can do it 28 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals now. We might have done it with greater effect ten years ago (" hear, hear"). Whether we can do it with any effect or at all twenty years hence I am very doubtful. We can intervene now. We can say to our great Colonies : " We understand your views and conditions. We do not attempt to dictate to you. We do not think ourselves superior to you. W^e have taken the trouble to learn your objections, to appreciate and sympathise with your policy. We know that you are right in saying you will not always be content to be what the Americans call a one-horse country, with a single industry and no diversity of employment. We can see that you are right not to neglect what Providence has given you in the shape of mineral or other resources. We understand and we appreciate the wisdom of your states- men when they say they will not allow their country to be solely dependent on foreign supplies for the necessities of life. We understand all that, and therefore we will not propose to you anything that is unreasonable or contrary to this policy, which w^e know is deep in your hearts ; but we will say to 3'ou, ' After all, there are many things which you do not now make, many things for which we have a great capacity of production — leave them to us as you have left them hitherto. Do not increase your tariff walls against us. Pull them down where they are unnecessary to the success of this policy to which you are committed. Do that because we are kinsmen — without injury to any important interest — because it is good for the Empire as a whole, and because w^e have taken the first step and have set you the example ('hear, hear'). We offer you a preference; we rely on your patriotism, j^our affection, that we shall not be losers thereby ' " (cheers). Now, suppose that we had made an offer of that kind — I won't say to the Colonies, but to Germany, to the United States of America — ten or twenty years ago. Do you suppose that we should not have been able to retain a great deal of what we have now lost and cannot recover ? (Cheers.) I will give you an illustration. America is the strictest of protective nations. It has a tariff which to me is an abomination. It is so immoderate, so unreasonable, so 29 The Case for Tariff Reform - v unnecessary, that, though America has profited enormously under it, yet I think it has been carried to excessive lengths, and I believe now that a great number of intelligent Ameri- cans would gladly negotiate v/ith us for its reduction. But until very recent times even this immoderate tariff left to us a great trade. It left to us the tin-plate trade, and the American tin-plate trade amounted to millions per annum, and gave employment to thousands of British workpeople. If we had gone to America ten or twenty years ago and had said, " If you will leave the tin-plate trade as it is, put no duty on tin-plate — you have never had to complain either of our quality or our price — we in return will give you some advantage on some articles which you produce," we might have kept the tin-plate trade (" hear, hear"). It would not have been worth Amxcrica's while to put a duty on an article for which it had no particular or special aptitude or capacity. If v/e had gone to Germany in the same sense there are hundreds of articles v/hich are now made in Germ.any which are sent to this country, which are taking the place of goods employing British labour, which they might have left to us in return for our concessions to them. We did not take that course. We were not prepared for it as a people. We allowed matters to drift. Are we going to let them drift now ? ("No.") Are we going to lose the colonial trade ? (Cries of " No.") This is the parting of the ways. You have to remicmber that if you do not take this opportunity it will not recur (cheers). If you do not take it I predict, and I predict with certainty, that Canada will fall to the level of the United States, that Australia wiU fall to the level of Canada, that South Africa will fall to the level of Australia, and that will only be the beginning of the general decline which will deprive you of your most important customers, of your most rapidly increasing trade (cheers). I think that I have some reason to speak with authority on this subject. The Colonies are prepared to meet us (cheers). In return for a very moderate preference they will give us a substantial advantage. They will give us in the first p^ace, I believe they will reserve 30 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals to us, much at any rate of the trade which we aheady enj oy. Tliey will not — and I would not urge them for a moment to do so — they v/ill not injure those of their industries which have already been created. They will maintain them, they will not allow them to be destroyed or injured even by our competition, but outside that there is still a great margin, a margin which has given us this enormous increase of trade to which I have referred. That margin I believe we can permanently retain ("hear, hear") — and I ask you to think, if that is of so much im.portance to us now, when we have only eleven miUions of white fellow- citizens in these distant Colonies, what will it be when in the course of a period which is a mere moment of time in the history of States, v/hat will it be when that population is forty millions or more ? ("Hear, hear.") Is it not worth while to consider whether the actual trade which you may retain, whether the enormous potential trade which you and your descend- ants may enjoy, be not worth a sacrifice, if sacrifice be required ? ("Hea.r, hear.") But they will do a great deal more for you. This is certain. Not only will they enable you to retain the trade which j^ou have, but they are ready to give you preference on all the trade which is novv^ done with them by foreign competitors (cheers). I never see any appreciation by the free importers of the magnitude of this trade. It will increase. It has increased greatly in thirty years, and if it goes on with equally rapid strides we shall be ousted by foreign competition, if not by protective tariffs, from our Colonies. It amounts at the present time to £47,000,000. But it is said that a great part of that £47,000,000 is in goods v/hich we cannot supply. That is true, and with regard to that portion of the trade we have no interest in any preferential tariff, but it has been calcu- lated, and I believe it to be accurate, that £26,000,000 a year of that trade might come to this country which nov/ goes to Germany and France and other foreign countries, if reasonable preference v/ere given to British m.anufactures (cheers). What does that mean ? The Board of Trade assumes that of manufactured goods one-half the value is expended in labour — I think it is a great deal more^ but 31 The Case for Tariff Reform take the Board of Trade figures — £13,000,000 a year of new employment. What does that mean to the United King- dom ? It means the employment of 166,000 men at 30s. a week (cheers). It means the subsistence, if you include their families, of 830,000 persons ; and now, if you will only add to that our present export to the British possessions of £96,000,000, you will find that that gives, on the same calculation, £48,000,000 for wages, or employment at 30s. a week to 615,000 workpeople, and it finds subsistence for 3,075,000 persons ("hear, hear"). In other words, your Colonial trade as it stands at present with the prospective advantage of a preference against the foreigner means employment and fair wages for three-quarters of a million of workmen, and subsistence for nearly four millions of our population (cheers). Ladies and gentlemen, I f eel deeply sensible that the ar p;iimp,nt T have addressed to you is one of those w hich wil l be described by the Leader of the Opposition as a_ sq ualid argument (laughter). A squalid argument ! I have appealed to your interests, I have come here as a man of business (loud cheers), I have appealed to the employers and the employed alike in this great city. I have endea- voured to point out to them that their trade, their wages, all depend on the maintenance of this Colonial trade, of which some of my opponents speak with such contempt, and, above all, with such egregious ignorance (loud laughter and cheers). But now I abandon that line of argument for the moment, and appeal to something higher, which I believe is in your hearts as it is in mine. I appeal to you as fellov/- citizens of the greatest Empire that the world has ever known ; I appeal to you to recognise that the privileges of Empire bring with them great responsibilities (cheers). I want to ask you to think what this Empire I means, what it is to you and your descendants. I will not speak, or, at least, I will not dwell, on its area, greater than that whioh has been mider one dominion in the history of the world. I will not speak of its population, of the hun- dreds of millions of men for whom we have made ourselves responsible. But I will speak of its variety, and of the fact 32 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals that here we have an Empire whic h with decent organisation and cohsolicLation mi^ht b e absolu tely self-.'^ustaining (loud cheers). Nothing of the kind has ever been known before. There is no article of j^our food, there is no raw material of your trade, there is no necessity of your lives, no luxury of your existence which cannot be produced somewhere or other in the British Empire, if the British Empire holds together, and if we who have inherited it are worthy of our opportunities. There is another product of the British Empire, that is, men (cheers). You have not forgotten the advantage, the encouragement, which can be given by the existence of loyal men (cheers), inhabitants, indeed, of distant States, but still loyal to the common flag (cheers). It is not so long since these men, when the old country was in straits, rushed to her assistance (cheers). No persuasion was necessary ; it was a voluntary movement. That was not a squalid assistance (loud cheers). They had no special interest. They were interested indeed, as sons of the Empire. If they had been separate States they would have had no interest at all. They came to our assistance and proved themselves indeed men of the old stock (cheers) ; they proved tliemselves worthy of the best traditions of the British army (cheers), and gave us an assistance, a material assistance, which was invaluable. They gave us moral support which was even more grateful (loud cheers). That is the result of Empire (cheers). I should be wrong if, in referring to our white fellow-subjects, I did not also say, that in addition to them, if any straits befell us, there are millions and hundreds of millions of men born in tropical climes, and of races very different from ours, who, although they were prevented by political considerations from taking part in our recent struggle, would be in any death- throe of the Empire (loud cheers) equally eager to show their loyalty and their devotion (cheers). Now, is such a dominion,- are such traditions, is such a glorious inheritance, is snob, a splendid sentiment — are they worth preserving ? (Cheers.) They have cost us much. They have cost much in blood and treasure ; and in past times, as in recent, many of 33 c The Case for Tariff Reform our best and noblest have given their hves, or risked their lives, for this great ideaL But it has also done much for us. It has ennobled our national life, it has discouraged that petty parochialism which is the defect of ail small com- munities. I say to you that all that is best in our present life, best in this Britain of ours, all of which v/e have the right to be most proud, is due to the fact that we are not only sons of Britain, but we are sons of Empire. I do not think, I am not likely to do you the injustice to believe, that you would make this sacrifice fruitless, that you would make all this endeavour vain. But if you want to complete it, remember that each generation in turn has to do its part, and you are called to take your share in this great work. Others have founded the Empire ; it is yours to build firmly and peiTnanently the great edifice of which others have laid the foundation (cheers). And I believe we have got to change somewhat our rather insular habits. When I have been in the Colonies I have told them that they are too provincial, but I think we are too provincial also. We think too much of ourselves (" hear, hear "), and we forget— and it is necessarv we should remernxber — that we are only part of a larger whole (" hear, hear "). And when I speak of our Colonies, it is an expression ; they are not ours — they are not ours in a possessory sense. They are sister States, able to treat with us from an equal position, able to hold to us, willing to hold to us, but also able to break with us. I have had eight years' experience (cheers). I have been in communication with many of the men, statesme^i, orators, writers, distinguished in our Colonies. I have had intimate conversation with them. I have tried to understand them and I think I do understand them (cheers), and I say that none of them desire separation. There are none of them who are not loyal to this idea of Empire which they say they wish us to accept more fully in the future, but I have found none who do not believe that our present colonial relations cannot be permanent. We must either draw closer together or we shall drift apart. ^^ WTaeHL I made tkat statement with all responsibility SQjne time %o fhere w'ere people, political opponents^ who said ; S4 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals " See, here is the result of having a Colonial Secretary. Eight years ago the Colonies were devoted to the Mother Country. Everything was for the best. Preferences were not thought of. There were no squalid bonds. The Colonies were ready to do everything for us. They were not such fools as to think we should do anything for them, but while things were in this happy state the Colonial Secretary came into ofhce. Now it has all disappeared. We are told if we do not alter our policy we may lose our Empire." It is a fancy picture, but I will not rest my case upon my own opinion. It is not I who have said this alone ; otliers have said it before me. We have a statesman here in Scotland whose instincts are always right, but v/hose actions unfortunately often lag behind his instincts (laughter). What did he say many years before I came into ofiice, in 1888 ? Lord Rosebery was speaking at Leeds, and he said this : " The people in this country will in a not too distant time have to make up their minds what position they wish their Colonies to occupy with respect to them, or whether they desire their Colonies to leave them altogether. It is, as I believe, absolutely impossible for you to maintain in the long run your present loose and indefinable relations and preserve these Colonies as parts of the Empire. . . . I do not see that you can obtain the great boon of a peaceful Empire encircling the globe with a bond of commercial unity and peace v/ithout som.e sacrifice on your part" (cheers and laughter). Well, we have to consider, of course, what is the sacrifice we are called upon to m_ake. I do not believe • — no, let me first say if there be a sacrifice, if that can be shov/n, I will go confidently to my countrymen, I will tell them what it is, and I will ask them to make it (loud cheers). Nowadays a great deal too much attention is paid to what is called the sacrifice ; no attention is given to what is the gain {" hear, hear "). But, although I would not hesitate to ask you for a sacrifice if a sacrifice were needed to keep together the Emipire to which I attach so much importance, I do not believe that there would be any sacrifice at all (cheers). This is an arrangement between friends. This is a negotiation between kinsmen. Ca.n you not conceive 35 The Case for Tariff Reform the possibility that both sides may gain and neither lose ? (Cheers.) Twelve years ago another great man — Mr. Cecil Rhodes (cheers) — with one of those flashes of insight and genius which made him greater than ordinary men, took advantage of his position as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony to write letters, which have recently been published, to the then Prime Minister of Canada and the Prime ]\Iinister of New South Wales. He said in one of these letters : " The whole thing lies in the question — Can we invent some tie with our Mother Country that will prevent separation ? It must be a practical one. The curse is that English politicians cannot see the future " (laughter, " hear, hear,", and cheers). Well, I ask the same question ("hear, hear"). Can we invent a tie which must be a practical one, which v/ill prevent separation, and I make the same answer as Mr. Rhodes, who suggested reciprocal preference, and I say that it is only by commercial union, reciprocal preference, that you can lay the foundations of the confederation of the Empire to which we all looJ^ forv/ard as a brilliant possibility (cheers). Now I have told you what you are to gain by preference. You will gain the retention and the increase of your cus- tomers. You will gain work for the enormous number of those who are now unemployed ; you will pave the way for a firmer and more enduring union of the Empire (cheers). What will it cost you ? What do the Colonies ask ? They ask a preference on their particular products. You cannot give them, at least it would be futile to offer them, a pre- ference on manufactured goods because at the present time the exported manufacture of the Colonies is entirely insig- nificant. lYou cannot, in my opinion, give them a preference on raw material. It has been said that I should propose such a tax ; but I repeat now, in the most explicit terms, that I do not propose a tax on raw materials (loud cheers), which are a necessity of our manufacturing trade. What remains ? Food. Therefore, if y ou wish to have preference, if you desire ^ ^o gain this increase, if you wish to prevent separ a tion, you must put a tax on food (chee rs^. The murder is out (laugh ter) <, 35- Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals I said that in the House of Commons, but I said a good deal more, but that is the only thing of all that I said that my opponents have thought it particularly interesting to quote (laughter), and you see that on every wall, in the headlines of the leaflets of the Cobden Club, in the speeches of the devotees of free imports, in the arguments of those who dread the responsibilities of Empire, but do not seem to care much about the possibility of its dissolution— all these, then, put in the forefront that Mr. Chamberlain says " You must tax truth " (laughter). " You must tax food " (laughter). There is no need to tax truth (laughter), for that is scarce enough already (laughter). I was going to say that this statement which they quote is true. But it is only half the truth ("hear, hear"), and they never give you the other half (laughter). Yo u never see attach ed to thi;^ statement t hat you must tax food the other words that I have used in reference to this s ubject, thatj iothingjtliat-I- pr bpose'lrvould add^ on^^ to the cost of living t o the workin g man, or to any family in this country (loud cheers). How is that to be achieved ? I have been asked for a plan. I have hesitated, because, as you will readily see, no final plan can be proposed until a Government is authorised by the people to enter into negotiations upon these principles. Until that Government has had the opportunity of nego- tiating with the Colonies, with foreign countries, and with the heads and experts in all our great industries, any plan must be at the present time more or less of a sketch-plan. A Sketch-Plan But at the same time I recognise that ^^ou have a right to call upon me for the broad outlines of my plan, and those I will give you (cheers) if you will bear with me. You have heard it said that I propose to put a duty of 5s. or los. i a quarter on wheat. Tliat is untrue. . I propose to put a low duty on foreign corn, n o dutv at all on the corn commg }rom our British possessions ( cheers), ^ut T. propose to ^put ^/^/^^L^'^l^y ^^ "^<^^p^'gri r<^^'^ Ti ot exceeding 2s. a quarter (cheers). T_jrmr"^ ^-^" P^^^ ^Q ^^^ whatever on maizcj 37 The Case for Tariff Reform partly because maize is a food of some of the very poorest of the population, and pa rtly also becaus e it is a raw mate" rial for the farmers, who feed "tli eir stock with ilr-t^h ear; hear "). I propose that the corresponding tax which will have to be put on flour should give a substantial preference to the miller (" hear, hear") and I do that in order to re-establish one of our m.ost ancient industries in this country (" hear, hear "), believing that if that is done not only will more work be found in agricultural districts, with som.e tendency, perhaps, operating against the constant migration from the country into the tov/ns (cheers), and also because by re-establishing the milling industry in this country the offals, as they are called — the refuse of the wheat — ^will remain in the country and will give to the farmers or the agricultural population a food for their stock and their pigs at very much lower rates. That will benefit not mxerely the great farmer, but it will benefit the little mian, the small owner of -a plot or even the allotment owner v/lio keeps a single pig. I am told by a high agricultural authority that if this were done so great an effect would be produced upon the price of the food of the animal that v/here an agricultural labourer keeps one pig now he might keep two in the future (laughter). I^ propose ^2_mL^ ^' ^Hi"^^ ^^^ of n' r^ut ^ per cent, on forejpTi yneat fln< ^ dairy produce (cheers). I propose jo^ exclude _bg£on^._be-Cau .S£_- Qnc^^jnor e bacon is a'^opular food v/it h some of the poorest of the population. And,lasth-, i propose to give a substantial preference to our Colonic s upon colonial wines and perhaps upon colonial fruits. Well, those are the taxes, nev/ taxes, or alterations of taxa- tion which I propose as additions to your present burden. ^^^ I propose also some great remissio ns (cheer s). I_ propo se to take off three-fourths of the dut y on t ea and l ialf of the whole duty on sr^igar, with a corr esponding reducjL 'tion on cocoa and coffee (cheers ). Now, what will be the result of these changes, in the first place upon the cost of living ; in the second place upon the Treasury ? As regards the cost of living, I have accepted, for the purpose of argu- ment, the figures of the Board of Trade as to the consump- tion of an ordinary workman's family, both in the country 38 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals districts and in the towns, and I find that if he pays the whole of the new duties that I propose to impose it would cost an agricultural labourer i6J- farthings per week more than at present, and the artisan in the town 19 J farthings per week. In other words, it would add about 4^. per week - to the expenditure of the agricultural labourer and 5^. per week on the expenditure of the artisan. But, then, the reduction which I propose, again taking the consumption as it is declared by the Board of Trade, the reduction would be, in the case of the agricultural labourer 17 farthings a week ; in the case of the artisan 19^- farthings a week (laughter and cheers). Now, gentlemen, you will see, if you have followed me, that upon the assum.ption that you pay the whole of the new taxes yourselves, the agricultural labourer would be . half a farthing per week to the better (laughter), and th2 artisan would be exactly in the same position as at present. I have made this assumption, but I do not believe in it. I do not believe that these small taxes upon food would be p'aid to anv lar.Gre extent bv the consumers in -X ■J O ... - -^ this country. I believe, on the contrar}^, they would be paid " " by_ the foreigner (cheers) . Now, that doctrine can be supported by authoritative evidence. In the first place, look at the economists — I am not speaking of the fourteen professors (laughter) — but take John Stuart Mill, take the late Professor Sidgwdck, and I could quote others now living. They all agree that of^anv^ tax upon im.ports,_ especially if the tax be moderat e, a por- TTon^ at any rate_ ^ is pa id^by the_forei gner, and that is con- _ firm ed by experience . I have gone carefully during the last few weeks into the statistical tables not only of the United Kingdom, but of other countries, and I find that neither in Germany, nor in France, nor in Italy, nor in Sv/eden, nor in the United Kingdom, when there has been the imposition of a new duty or an increase of an old duty has the whole cost over a fair average of years ever fallen upon the consumer. It has alwa^/s been partly paid by the foreigner (cheers). Well, how much is paid by the foreigner ? That, of course, must be a matter of specu- 39 The Case for Tariff Reform laiion, and, there again, I have gone to one of the highest authorities of this country — one of the highest of the ofticial experts whom the Government consult — and I have asked him for his opinion, and in his opinion the incidence of a tax depends upon the proportion between the free production and the taxed production. In this case the free production is the home production and the production of the British Colonies. The taxed production is the production of the foreigner, and this gentleman is of opinion that, if, for instance, the foreigner supplies, as he does in the case of meat, two-ninths of the consumption, the consumer only pays two-ninths of the tax. If he supplies, as he does in the case of corn, something like three-fourths of the consump- tion, then the consumer pays three-fourths of the tax. If, as in dairy produce, he supplies half of the consumption, then the consumer pays half of the tax. Well, as I say, that is a theory that will be contested, but I believe it to be accurate, and at all events as a matter of curiosity I have worked out this question of the cost of living upon that assumption, and I hnd that, if you take that proportion, then the cost of the new duties would be g^- farthings to the agricultural labourer and lo farthings to the artisan, while the reduction would stiU be 17 'ar things to the labourer and 19 J farthings to the artisan (cheers). There, gentlemen, you see my point. If I give my oppo- nents the utmost advantage, if I say to them what I do not believe, if I grant that the whole tax is paid by the consumer, even in that case my proposal would give as large a remission of taxation on the necessary articles of his life as it imposes. As a result of the advantage upon other neces- sary articles the budget at the end of the week or the result at the end of the year will be practically the same even it he pays the whole duty. But if he does not pay the whole duty, then he will get all the advantages to which I have already referred. In the case of the agricultural labourer he wdll gain about 2d. a w^eek, and in the case of the town artisan he will gain 2\d. a week. I feel how difficult it is to make either interesting or intel- ligible to a great audience like this the complicated subject 40 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals with which I have to deal. But this is my opening declara- tion, and I feel that I ought to leave nothing untold ; at all events, to lay the whole of the outlines of my scheme before the country. Now, the next point, the last point I have to bring before you, is that these advantages to the consumer will involve a loss to the Exchequer. And you will see why. The Exchequer Vv'hen it reduces tea or sugar loses the amount of the tax on the whole consumption, but when it imposes a tax on com or upon meat it only gains the duty on a part of the consumption, since it does not collect it either upon the colonial or upon the home production. Well, I have had that worked out for me, also by an expert, and I find, even making allowance for growth in the colonial and home production which would be likely to be the result of the stimulus which w^e give to them — and after making allow- ances for those articles which I do not propose to tax — the loss to the Exchequer will be £2,800,000 per annum. How is it to be made up ? I propose to find it and to find more (cheers) — in the other branch of this policy of fiscal reform, in that part of it which is sometimes called *' retalia- tion " and sometimes " reciprocity " (cheers). Now I cannot deal fully with that subject to-night. I shall have other oppor- tunities, but this I will point out to you, that in attempting to secure reciprocity we cannot hope to be wholly successful. Nobody, I imagine, is sanguine enough to believe that America or Germany and France and Italy and all those countries are going to drop the whole of their protective scheme because we ask them to do so, or even because we threaten. What I do hope is that they will reduce their duties so that worse things may not happen to them (laughter and loud cheers). But I think we shall also have to ra'se ours (''hear, hear"). Now a moderate duty on all manufactured goods (cheers), not exceeding 10 per cent. on th e average, but varying according to th e amount of labour in these goods (" hear, hear ") — that is to say, putting"" the higher rate on the finished manufactures upon which most labour would be employed — a duty, I say, ayeraging_ IQ per rent, wnnld give the Exc hequer at the very least, 41 The Case for Tariff Reform /q,ooo,ooo a year (ch eers) , while it might be nearer /i=;.oo o.qoO if we accept the Board of Trade estimates of ^148 ,000,000 as the value of our imports of manufactured and partly manufactured goods. Nine millions a year — well, I have an idea that the pre senj Chan cellor of the Exchequer (loud and prolonged cheers^ would know what to do with a full ^ purse (laughter). For myself, if I were in that onerous position — which may Heaven forfend (laughter) — I should use it in the first place to make up this deficit of ;f2,8oo,ooo , of which I have spoken ; and, in the second place, I should 1 use if for the_iiiilher reduction both o f taxes on food and ^ I also of s ome other taxes which pres s most hardly on different I classes of thej:ommunity (cheers). Remember this, a new 'tax cannot be lost if it comes to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He cannot bury it in a stocking (laughter). He must do something with it, and the best thing he can do with it is to remit other taxation. The principle of all this policy is that whereas j^our present taxation, whether it be on food or anything else, brings 5'^ou revenue and nothing but revenue, the taxation which I propose, which will not increase your burdens, will gain for you in trade, in employment, in all that v/e most want to main- tain, the prosperity of our industries (cheers). The one is profitless taxation, the other scientific taxation (cheers). I have stated, then, the broad outline of the plan which I propose. As I have said, this can only be filled up when a mandate has been given to the Government, when they have the opportunity which they desire to negotiate and discuss. It may be that when we have these taxes on manufactured goods we might be willing to remit or reduce it if we could get corresponding advantages from the country whose pro- ducts would thus be taxed. It cannot, therefore, be pre- cisely stated now what they would bring in or what we should do, but this is clear that, whatever happened, we should get something. We should either get something in the shape of a reduction of other taxation or something in the shape of a reduction of those prohibitive tariffs which now hamper so immensely our native industries (cheers). There will be, according to this plan, as I have said, no 42 Mr. Chamberlain's Proposals addition to the cost of livirxg, but only a transfer from one item to another. It remains to ask what will the Colonies say ? I hear it said sometimes by people who I think have never visited the Colonies and do not knov/ much about them., that they will receive this offer with contempt, that they will spurn it, or that if they accept it they v/ill give nothing in return. Well, I differ from these critics. I do not do this injustice to the patriotism or the good sense of the Colonies. When the Prime Ministers, representing all the several States of the Empire, were here, this was the matter of most interesting discussion. Then it was that they pressed upon the Government the consideration of this question. They did not press — it is wrong, it is wicked, to say that they pressed it in any spirit of selfishness, v/ith any idea of exclusive benefit to themselves. No ; they had Mr. Rhodes's ideal in their minds. They asked for it as a tie, a practical tie, which should prevent separation, and I do not believe that^ they will treat ungenerously any offer that we may now be able to make them. They had not waited for an offer. Already Canada has given you a preference of 33-1- per cent.. South Africa has given you a preference of 25 per cent.. New Zealand has offered a preference of 10 per cent. The Premier of Australia has promised to bring before Parliament a similar proposal. They have done all this in confidence, in faith which I am certain will not be disappointed — in faith that you will not be ungrateful, that you will not be unmindful of the influences w^hich have weighed with them, that j^ou will share their loyalty and devotion to an Empire which is theirs as well as ours, and which they also have done something to maintain (cheers). And, ladies and gentlemen, it is because I sympathise with their object, it is because I appreciate the wisdomx, 2.y, the generosity of their offer, it is because I see that things are moving and that an opportunity now in your hands once lost v/ill never recur ; it is because I believe that this policy will consolidate the Empire — the Empire which I believe to be the security for peace and for the maintenance of our great British traditions (cheers) — it is for all these 43 The Case for Tariff Reform things, and, believe me, for no personal ambition tha^JL have given up th e office which I was so proud to hold (cheers), "and that now, w4ien I might, I think, fairly claim a period "0! rest, T havp tnVpn i]p new burdens, and come before you" as a missionary,_Qi_£ii ipire, to urge upon you again, as I ^did i n the old times, when I protested against the disruption "of the U nited Kingdom (loud cheers), once again to warn_ you7 to urge you, to inipXcre_y;ou Jto do noUiingJdiatjolL tend towards the disintegrati on of t he_Empire , not to refuse to sacrifice a futile superstition, an inept prejudice^ -and thereby to lose the results of centuries of noble effort and patriotic endeavour. (Loud cheers, amid which Mr. Cham- berlain resurned~his seat, having spoken an hour and fifty minutes.) 44 RETALIATION # It is a great privilege which, however, entails a great responsibility, to be permitted to address two such meet- ings as that of last night and that of to-night in the course of twenty-four hours. When I accepted, a sliort time ago, a cordial invitation to Glasgow I received very shortly afterwards another invitation, most moderate in its expecta- tions, that I would pay a passing visit to Greenock also, where I would appear at a luncheon, and I was assured that at that luncheon nobody would expect me to say more than a few words (laughter). These things have a habit of developing into inconvenient dimensions ; and so to-night I find myself addressing this magnificent meeting, perhaps with insufficient preparation, but, at all events, with a deep sense of the obligation under which you lay me by your readiness to listen to what I have to say (cheers). I am glad to pay my first visit to Greenock. I am glad at this time especially to come amongst you and to confer with a population whose commercial history is rather dif- ferent from that of many of our great cities, and has an especial bearing upon the great question that I want to discuss (cheers). Last night I said that I did not regard this question as a political question. It is an economic question. It is a business question. It is a national question. It affects every man, woman, and child in the country, but it ought not to be a party question ("hear, hear"), and for my own part I hope that there are many Liberals present here to-night, and that, however much they may differ now, and however much they may continue to differ, from me upon every purely party and political question, that will * I^elivered at the Town Hall, Greenock, October 7, 1903, Retaliation not prevent them in the least from giving a fair hearing to a matter which, as I have said, is above all party and above all persons (cheers). I dealt last night m.ore especially with one great branch of the question of fiscal reform — that is, the question of preference with our Colonies ; and I did that because it is, of all the branches of this question, the one which most deeply moves me to exertion ; and, in the second place, because it is the most urgent part of the question. We have been going on for a great number of years, much too long, with our existing policy, and, so far as foreign countries are concerned, we might go on a little longer. A great part of the mischief has been done, and I do not know that we should suffer greatly if we waited a little longer. But that is not possible with regard to the Colonies. The Colonies have given you an opportunity. You cannot play fast and loose with these kinsmen of yours. There is no doubt in what spirit they have made their offer to you. It is in a spirit of brotherhood, and in a spirit of unselfish desire to promote the interests of the Empire of which they as well as we form an integral part ("hear^ hear"). But you cannot expect them to wait for ever on your leisure. If you think that your interests lie in another direction, they will tell you to follow your interests. They are not suppliants at your feet. They are not asking you to make any sacrifice for them. They think that something can be done which may involve con- cession on both sides, but which in the long run will be good fo^ roth. If you, in your wisdom, come to the conclusion thai: what is asked from you is more than Vx^hat they have to give in return, they will make no complaint ; they will accept your decision. But they will not repeat the offer ; and then they will perhaps receive all the reciprocal advan- tages, which they ask from you, from other countries, which are not possessed with our prejudices and superstitions, and v.hich will be ready at once to jump at any offer of the kind that is now made to us (cheers). 45 Retaliation The Policy of Retaliation V I have dealt with the case of preferential arrangements witli the Colonies, and I proceed to speak a little more fully of the other branch of our policy, which is sometimes called ^'retaliation," and which is sometim.es called '^ recipro- city." Now, I begin with a confession of faith. I was brought up in the pure doctrine of Free Trade. I will not say that I believed it to be inspired, but I believed the state- ments of those who had preached it and who induced the country to adopt it. I accepted it as a settled fact ; and nobody could have surprised me more than if, twenty, or still more, thirty years ago, he had told rne that I should now be criticising the doctrine which I then accepted. But thirty years is a long time. Has nothing changed in thirty years ? Everything has changed. Politics have changed, science has changed, and trade has changed. The condi- tions with which we have to deal are altogether different to the conditions with which we had to deal thirty years ago. Let no man say, because to-da}^ you and I are in favour of retaliation, or what our opponents call ** protection," that that is at all inconsistent with our having been Free Traders under totally different conditions (cheers). When the tem.perature goes up to a hundred degrees, I put on my thinnest clothes ; when it goes down below zero, there is nothing too warm for me to wear (laughter). When the prophecies of those who supported Free Trade appeared to be in the course of realisation, -what reason was there why any of us should consider the subject or should express any doubt ? And for something like five-aiid-twenty or thirty years after Free Trade was preached and adopted, there was no doubt v/hatever in my mind that it was a good policy for this country, and that our country pros- pered under it more than it would have done under any other system. That was for five- and- twenty 3/ears. What has happened during the last thirty years ? In the last thirty years the whole conditions have changcvl ; and it seems tp me to be not the policjy of a Liberal or tins poKcy 47 .^<^^j: y T ^^ .oc as^^ Retaliation of a Radical, as I understood such a policy twenty or thirty years ago, but the policy of a rabid and a reactionary Tory to say that when all the conditions have changed you should not change your policy too (cheers). Now, let us look at some of these changes. There was nothing upon which Mr. Cobden was more assured, more honestly convinced, than that Free Trade, as he understood it, was such a good thing that if we gave the example every other nation would follow. He said in the most positive terms that if we adopted the policy of Free Trade five years would not" pass over before all the other nations adopted our views, and if they did not — he refused to conceive such a hypothesis — but his argument went to show that if they did not adopt our policy then they would be ruined, and we should gain by their distress. We are a great people, but, after all, I have never been able to believe that all the wisdom in the world was absolutely domiciled in this country (laughter and cheers). I have a great opinion of our American cousins. I have an idea that they are people with whom you ought to deal in the most friendly spirit, but you had better not shut your eyes. I have some considerable respect for the German people. I recognise that they have been and still are the most scientifically educated people on the face of the globe. I have a great regard for our neighbours the French. I think they have done immense service to knowledge and civilisation in our past history. I do not bel eve that all these people are fools ; and when I find that they absolutely refuse to adopt the Cobdenite principle and to accept Free Trade as the model and example v/hich it was represented to be, I say to myself "it is worth thinking over. I have perhaps been wrong to be as certain as I was of the wisdom of our policy," but that alone would not have moved me. If, in spite of any respect for the Americans, the French, and the Germans, I had found that the facts were against them, if I had found that they were being injured because they had adopted protection, and that we w^ere progressing enormously because we had adopted Free Trade, then I should be in favour of it in spite of the majority being against me (cheers). 48 Retaliation ^ What is the pohcy of these other nations ? It has been; not a haphazard pohcy, but a policy dehberately adopted and dehberately pursued. It is a policy to use tariffs to increase home trade, and, if you like, to exclude foreign trade. All these nations to which I have referred, and every other civilised nation on the face of the earth, have adopted a tariff with the object of keeping the home market to the home population — (cheers)-— and not from any want of friendship to us. I do not believe they have been in the slightest degree actuated by ill-feeling to Great Britain, but because they thought it was necessary for their own security and prosperity, they have done everything in their power to shut out British goods. They have passed tariff after tariff. They began perhaps with a low tariff. They con- tinued it as long as it was successful. If they found it ceased to do what it was wanted to do, they increased it ; and what it was wanted to do was to exclude foreign manufactures, and above all to exclude the manufactures of this country, which at one time held the supremacy of trade in the world, and which was the greatest centre of industry in any part of it. That was a deliberate policy ; there is no doubt about that. Has it succeeded? ("Yes.") It has, whether it was right or wrong. What these people intended to do they have done ; and if you look back for any term of years you will find that the exports of British m.anufactures have fallen off to these countries, while their exports to us have risen. There may be something wrong in my constitution — (laughter) — but I never like being hit without striking back again (cheers and laughter). But there are some people who like to be trampled upon (laughter). I admire them, but I will not follow their example (cheers). I am an advo- cate of peace, no mxan more so. I w'sh to live quietly, comfortatly, and in harmony with all my fellow-creatures, but I am not in favour of peace at any price. I am a Free Trader. I want to have free exchange with all the nations of the world, but if they will not exchange with me, then I am not a Free Trader at any price (cheers). And again I say it may be a defect in my constitution, but it seems to 49 D Retaliation me that the men who do not care for the Empire, the men who w^ill sooner suffer injustice than go to war, the men who would surrender rather than take up arms in their own defence, they are the men in favour of doing in trade exactly what they are willing to do in political relations. I do not care to what party they belong. I am not one of that party, and accordingly, when I find the effect of this policy on the part of other countr'es, I look about for a means of meeting it (cheers). The Decline of Export Trade Last night I said, quoting from figures, that the exports of British manufactures to the principal protected countries had fallen over £42,000,000 in the course of thirty j^ears. The Glasgow Herald this m.orning says incidentally that I ought not to have chosen that particular period. I assure the Glasgow Herald that I d'd not choose it wath any sinister purpose. I thought thirty years was a good long tim.e and a 'air t'me to go back ; but I invite them to choose any other per.od, I do not care what period (cheers). In this controversy which I am commencing here I use figure, as illustrations. I do not pretend that they are proo:s. The proof will be found in the argum.ent, and not in the figures. But I use figures as illustrations to show w^hat the argument is (cheers). The argument which I use, and which I defy the G.asgow Herald to contradict — (cheers) — is that since these tariffs were ra'sed aga nst us our exports to the coun- tries which raised them have been continually decreasing. Yes ; but that is not all. If the'r prosperity had been going down in equal proportion it would be no argument at all. V\ hile our exports to them have continually been dec easing, their exports to us jiave continually been increasing. How do the F ee Traders explain that ? Their view is that these foolish Americans, these ridiculous Germans, these antiquated Frenchmen, have been ruining them- selves all this tim.e (laughter and cheers). They m.ay have kept their homiC market ; but they must have lost their 50 Retaliation foreign market. How can the good people whose cost of living has been raised — who have the little loaf and not !he big loaf — (laughter) — who are hampered by tariff protection; though they may keep their ov^oi trade, how can they do a foreign trade ? It may be very extra- ordinary, but they have done it (laughter). Their export trade has increased in very much greater proportion than our trade, the trade of the Free Trade country which has the big loaf, which has all this freedom and none of these disadvantages. I Say that is a state of things which demands consideration. We are losing both ways. We are losing our foreign markets, because whenever we begin to do a trade the door is slammed in our faces v/ith a whack- ing tariff. We go to another trade. We do it for a few months or for a few years, but again a tariff is imposed, and that is shut out. One industry after another suffers similarly ; and in that way we lose our foreign trade, and, as it that Vv^as not enough, these sa.me foreigners who shut us out, invade our markets and take the work out of the hands of our working people and leave us doubly injured. Now, I say that is unfair and one-s'ded. In my opinion, it threatens most seriously the position of every manu- facturer, and, above all, of eve.y working-man in this kingdom (cheers). It threatens the position of the m.anu- facturer. He may lose ail his capital. His buildings may be empty ; but he will perhaps nave som.ething left, and he can invest it in manufacture m some foreign country, where he will give em.ploym.ent .to foreign workmen. Yes, the manufacturer may save himself. But it is not for him thatT am chiefly concerned. It is for you — the workmen — ■ (cheers). I say to you that to you the loss of employment means more than the loss of capital to any manufacturer. You cannot live upon your investments in a foreign country. You live on the labour of your hands — and if that labour is taken from you, 5^ou have no recourse, except, perhaps, to learn French or German (laughter). Now I go back for a minute to consider the importance of the question that I have asked. If there are Free 51 Retaliation Traders — I should rather say Free Importers — for in a sense we are all Free Traders, if there are Free Importers in Greenock you may have an opportunity of discussing this matter with them afterwards in a quiet and friendly way. Ask them this question : You say protection or retaliation will be very bad for this kingdom. How do you account for the fact that all these great nations, without exception, which have adopted the system which you say is bad, have pros- pered more than you have done ? The Cobden Club says it is all right (laughter). But the Cobden Club has not answered that question ; and I advise them to write to their foreign members — (laughter and cheers) — and see whether they can tell them why Germany and France and the United States of America — and if you will remove all these from the calculation, then I take small countries, such a country as Sweden, for instance — why have all these countries prospered under a system which they declare would be ruinous to us ? (Cheers.) When that question is answered, I think that my occupation will be gone (laughter). I shall hide my diminished head, and make room for the foreign members (laughter). Now, I do not believe that these foreign countries are wrong. I believe they are better strategists than we have been. This policy, as announcerl by McKinley in America, and not by McKinley alone, but by the greatest Americans long before his time, by President Lincoln, by men like the original founders of the Constitu- tion — this policy announced in Germany by Prince Bis- marck, who was in his time a rather considerable personage — this policy, announced in France by many of their most distinguished statesmen — this policy has a great deal behind it. Foreign Attacks on British Trade Its main idea is to keep for a manufacturing country its home industry, to fortify the home industry, to make it impregnable ; then, having left the fort behind, so pro- tected that no enemy could attack it with possible success, to move forward and invade other countries, and attack 52 Retaliation especially one country, and that is our own, which we have left totally unguarded against all these assaults (cheers). We have left it unguarded because we think we are wiser than all the rest of the world ; and the result has been, that although our fort has not been taken — well, it has received a very heavy battering. The time may come when we shall be unable any longer to defend it. Now, these foreign countries have every advantage in their attack. They do not come like unarmed savages, even to attack such a defenceless village as Great Britain, but they come with bounties of every kind. They have none of the disadvantages — I mean in an economic sense — from which we suffer. We, in a spirit of humanity of which I entirely approve, have passed legislation — to which I may say without boasting I have myself contributed very largely — (loud cheers) — to raise the standard of living amongst our working people, to secure to them higher wages, to save them from the competition of men of a lov/er social scale. We have surrounded them with regulations which are intended to provide for their safety. We have secured them, or the majority of them, against the pecuniary loss which would follow upon accidents incurred in the course of their employment. There is not one of those things which I have not sup- ported. There is not one of them which I did not honestly believe to be for the advantage of the country. But they have all entailed expense. They have all raised the cost of production ; and what can be more illogical than to raise the cost of production in this country in order to pro- mote the welfare of the working classes, and then to allow the products of other countries — which are not surrounded by any similar legislation, which are free from all similar cost and expenditure — to allow them freely to enter our country in competition with our goods, which are hampeied in the struggle? (Cheers.) I say to my fellow-countrymen, and especially to the great mass of the people who depend on their work for their wages and for the subsistence of the'r families — you are inconsistent, you are adopting a suicidal course. If you allow this state of things to 53 Retaliation go on, what will follow ? If these foreign goods come in cheaper, one of two things must follow : either you will have to give up the conditions you have gained, either you will have to abolish and repeal the Fair Wages Clause and the Factory Acts and the Compensation to Workmen Acts, either you will have to take low^er wages, or you will lose your work. You cannot keep your work at this higher standard of living and wages if at the same time you allow fore'gi>ers at a lower standard and lower rate of pay to send their goods freely in competition with yours (cheers). The Cobden Club all this time rubs its hands in the most patriotic spirit and says : " Ah, yes ; but hov/ cheaply you are buying ! " Yes, but think how that affects different classes in the community Take the capitalist — the man living upon his income. His interest is to buy in the cheapest market, because he does not produce. The cheaper he can get every article he consumes, the better for him. He need not buy a single article in this country ; he need not make a single article. He can invest his money in foreign coun- tries and live upon the interest ; and then, in the returns of the prosperity of the country, it will be said that the country is growing richer because he is growing richer. But what about the working men ? What about the class that depends upon having work in order to earn wages or subsistence at all ? They cannot do without work ; and yet I he work will go if the article is not produced in this country. This is the state of things against which I am protesting. You have suffered here in Greenock and in many other parts of the country ; but your suffering has been nothing to what it is going to be. I address you in a time of prosperity ; but a time of depression is at hand, and what is going to happen then ? Now I call your attention to a matter of the greatest interest and importance which has just come to my know- ledge. In a letter recently published in the Times a corre- spondent calls attention to an interview which was held in Philadelphia and published in the Philadelphia Ledger, a great newspaper of that city, between a director of the American Steel Trust and a reporter. The American Steel 54 Retaliation Trust is the greatest of all American Trusts. It produces at the present time about 20,000,000 tons of steel and iron per annum, a very much greater quantity than is produced in this country. The director told the reporter that trade was falling off. There are many reasons for that. Finan- cial difficulties in America seem likely to hasten the result. Orders are falling off ; the demand for railways is less ; and this director ant cipated that before long the American demand would fall several millions of tons short of the American supply. " What are you going to do ? " said the reporter. " Oh," said he, " we have made all our prepara- tions. We are not go"ng to reduce our output. We are not going to blov/ out a single furnace. No ; if we did, that would be injurious to America. We should have to turn out of our works into the streets hundreds of thousands of American workmen. And, therefore^ what we are going to do, is to invade foreign markets." And remember, it may not be easy for them to invade the German market ^ or the French market, or the Russian m.arket, because in every case they will find a tariff which, if necessary, can be raised against them. They will go to the only free market, they v/ill comxC to this country, and before you are two or three years older, and unless there is a change in the situa- tion, I warn you you will have dumped dov/n in your country perhaps as much as 2,000,000 tons of American iron. There is no iron manufacturer in this country Vv^ho can regard such a proceeding as that without the greatest anxiety. You vvill see m^any ironworks closed, you may see others continued at a loss, struggling for better times ; but what will become of the workmen employed ? Hun- dreds of thousands of English workmen will be thrown out of employment in order to make room for hundreds of thou- sands of American workmen, who are kept in employment during bad times by this system. I sympathise with the American workman. I am glad that he, or any man, should be kept in employment j but, after all, I belong to this country (cheers). I admit that I am not cosmopolitan enough to wish to see the happiness, success, or prosperity 55 Retaliation of American workmen secured by the starvation and misery and suffering of British v»^orkmen (cheers). Tariff Reform and Workmen • I venture to say that no one has striven more con- tinuously than I have done to advance the condition of the working people of this country ; but of this I am certain — that what I and what others have done is a trifle in com- parison with what may be done. It is as nothing in com- parison with any policy or legislation which would ensure to every wilhng and industrious workman in this country continuous employment, full employment, at fair wages ; and if your employment is filched from you, if you have to accept starvation wages, if you have to give up the advantages which you have obtained, then I tell you that your loaf may be as big as a mxountain — (laughter) — and as cheap as dirt, but you v/ill be in the long run the greatest sufferers (cheers). Let us look a little farther into the matter ; and, again, I will g've you a figure or two as an illustration. Take other periods if you like this time, in deference to the Glasgow Herad (cheers). I will not go back to 1872 as a starting-point. I will take 1882 — that is twenty years ago. Since 1882 the total imports of foreign manufactures have increased £64,000,000, and, meanwhile, our exports of manu- factures to these countries have increased £12,000,000, so that in the balance we have lost £52,000,000. I know per- fectly well that it is very difficult to make people app eciate the meaning of a million. People who very seldom see manyshil.ings or many pounds together find it very difficult to understand what ten hundred thousand pounds means, and still more what fi'ty-two times ten hundred thousand pounds means. Therefore I intend, as far as I can, through- out this discussion to translate money into work. What would this fi ty-two millions of money have given to you if you had been able to get it ? £52,000,000 a year of goods would cost £26,000,000 a year in wages alone, and £26,000,000 of wages would have provided constant employment at 30s. 56 Retaliation a week for 333,000 work people, and it would have provided, of course, subsistence for their families, that is, for more than 1,500,000 altogether (cheers). I think we are all agreed that that would be worth having (cheers). If you gained this employment to-morrow, if any trade suddenly sprung up anywhere which employed 333,000 men and kept 1,500,000 people in comparative comfort, would you not say that the person who brought it to you was the greatest philanthropist you had ever known ? (Laughter.) But what do the Free Traders say ? No, I will not call them what they are not — Free Traders. What do Free Importers say ? " Yes, it is quite true that foreigners are doing the work of 333,000 British, and that they are earning the wages that would have supported 1,500,000 British people. That is true : but that does not matter in the least to the British workman or the British people, because they have found other employment. Having been turned out of their old employment, they have gone into something else, in which they are getting just as much. They are just as well off as they were before. They have not lost by the change, even if the foreigner has gained." It is a very comforting doctrine — (laughter) — for the arm-chair poli- tician, but is it true ? (Cheers.) I come to a subject which has a particular interest for a Greenock audience. It so happens that you have had in your midst a certain experience of a la ge trade which has been taken from you by the superior advantages of the foreigner. Has it injured you in the slightest degree or not ? Do you care whether that trade went or not, or whether it should be re-established or not ? ^ Would you like to see your trade going, with one after another following it, always confident that your friends the Cobden Club would say, *' Oh, but you will find some other occupation " ? (Laughter and cheers.) I say you are an illustration. Of course, I refer to sugar. Greenock was one of the great centres of the sugar trade. You had many refineries ; it was a pro- fitable trade ; it not only employed a great number of work people itself, but it also gave employment in subsidiary industries to a great number of your countrymen^ 57 Retaliation Then came the foreign competition, aided by bounties, and your trade declAies so seriously that only the very best, the very richest, the most enterprising, the most inventive, can possibly retain their hold upon it. If there had been no bounties and no unfair competition of this kind, what would have happened ? In the last twenty or thirty years the consumption of sugar throughout the world has increased enormously. The consumption in this country has increased enormously ; and you would have had your share. I do not hesitate to say that, if normal conditions and equal fairness had prevailed, at this moment in G 'eenock, quite independently of the other industries you may have found to occupy you, there would have been in sugar alone ten times as many men employed as there were in the most palmy days of the trade (loud cheers). But normal con- ditions have not obtained. You have been the sufferers ; and a great number of your refineries have disappeared altogether. The capital invested in them has been lost, and the workmen who v/orked in them — what has become of them ? Jam and Pickles Now, that is a question I should like to ask you. I wish I could follow the life history of every mian who was employed in a sugar refinery or any industry which was depending upon a sugar refinery, and who has been thrown out of employment by the unfair foreign competition. Has he found other employment ? In the House of Commons the other night, when the resolution was finally passed approv- ing the Act which abolished these bounties-^(cheers) — there were men to be found, not on one side of the House alone, who defended them, to my mind with extraordinary argu- ments. One speaker in particular ventured to tell the British House of Commons that, in his opinion, our primary indus- tries were possibly doomed, but that we should find compensation in secondary and subsidiary industries-. We were to depart from our high position, lose those industries for which the country has been so celebratedj which have 58 Retaliation made it great and prosperous in the past, and deal with inferior subsidiary industries. Sugar has gone. Let us not weep for it — jam and pickles rem.ain (great laughter and cheers). Now, of all those workmen, those independent artisans wdio were engaged in refining sugar and making machinery for sugar refining in this country, I would like to know how many have found rest and v/ages and comfort in stirring up jam-pots and bottling pickles? (Great laughter.) This doctrine, this favourite doctrine about the transfer of labour, is a doctrine of pedants, who know nothing of business and nothing of labour (cheers). It is not true. When an industry is destroyed by any cause, by competi- tion as well as by anything else, the men who are engaged in that suffer, whatever happens in the future. Their chil- dren may be brought up to new trades, but those who are in middle life, or past middle life, feel the truth of the old proverb that " You can't teach old dogs new tricks " (laughter). You cannot teach men who have attained skill and efficiency in one trade, at a moment's notice, skill and efficiency in another (cheers). Free imports have destroyed this industry, at all events for the time, and it is not easy to recover an industry when it has once been lost. They have destroyed sugar-refining for a time as one of the great staple industries of the country, which it ought always to have remained (cheers). They have destroyed agriculture. Mr. Cobden — and again I am sure he spoke the truth as it appeared to him — was convinced that, if his views v/ere carried out, not an acre of ground would go out of cultivation in this country, and no tenant farmer would be worse off. I am not here to speak to an agricultural audience ; but if I were, what a difference could I show between that expectation and hope of Mr. Cobden's and the actual circumstances of the case ! (Cheers.) Agriculture, as the greatest of all trades and industries of this country, has been practically destroyed. Sugar has gone ; silk has gone ; iron is threatened ; wool is threatened ; cotton will go ! How long are you going to stand it ? (Cheers.) At the present moment these industries, and the working men who depend upon them, are like sheep in a 59 Retaliation field. One by one they allow themselves to be led out to slaughter, and there is no combination, no apparent pre- vision of what is in store for the rest of them. Do you think, if you belong at the present time to a prosperous industry, that your prosperity will be allowed to continue ? Do you think that the same causes which have destroyed some of our industries, and which are in the course of destroying others, will not be equally applicable to you when your turn comes ? This is a case in which selfishness will not pay. This is a case in which you should take warn- ing by the past, in which you can show some foresight as to the future. What is the remedy ? What is it that the Prime Minister proposed at Sheffield ? (Cheers.) He said (I am not quoting his exact words) : Let us get rid of the chains which we ourselves have forged, and which have fettered our action. Let us claim some protection like every other civilised nation. Let us say to these foreign countries, '' Gentlemen, we desire to be friends with you. We are Free Traders in the best sense of the word. We are ready to exchange freely ; but, if you say that it is your settled policy that you will not buy from us, we will tax your exports to us. We v^ill look further afield — no, not further afield, we will look nearer home (cheers). We will go to our own friends, who are perfectly ready to meet us on fair terms, who ask only for a reciprocal response " (cheers). The War of Tariffs Then we are told that if we do this the foreigners will be angry with us ! (Laughter.) Has it come to that with Great Britain ? (Shouts of " No, no," and cheers.) It is a craven argument ; it is worthy of the Little Englander ; it is not possible for any man who believes in his own country. The argument is absurd. Who is to suffer ? Are we so poor that we are at the mercy of every foreign State (cries of " No ") — that we cannot hold our own — that we are to fear their resentment if we imitate their own policy ? Are we to receive their orders " with bated breath and 60 Retaliation whispering humbleness " ? (Laughter.) No, if that were true, I should say that the star of England has already set ; it would not be worth any one's while to care to speculate on her possible future. But it is not true (cheers). There is not a word of truth in it. We have nothing to fear from the foreigners. I do not believe in a war of tariffs, but if there were to be a war of tariffs, I know we should not come out second best (cheers). Why, at the present time ours is the greatest market in the whole world ("hear, hear"). We are the best customers of all those countries (''hear, hear "). There are many suitors for our markets. We may reject the addresses of some, but there is no fear that we shall not have other offers (laughter). It is absolutely absurd to suppose that all these countries, keenly competitive among themselves, would agree among themselves to fight with us when they might benefit at the expense of their neighbours. Why, at the present time we take from Germany about twice as much as she takes from us. We take from France about three times as much, and from the United States of America we take about six times as much as they take from us. After all that, do we stand to lose if there is to be a war of tariffs ? Trade and the Empire Ah ! and there is something else. We have what none of these countries have. We have something, the import- ance of which I am trying to impress upon my country- men, which at present they have not sufficiently appreciated. We have a great reserve in the sons of Britain across the seas (loud cheers). There is nothing we want that they cannot supply ; there is nothing we sell that they cannot buy (cheers). One great cause for the prosperity of the United States of America, admitted by every one to be a fact, is that they are a great Empire of over 70.000,000 of people ; that the numbers of these people alone, without any assistance from the rest of the world, would ensure a large amount of prosperity. Yes ; but the British Empire is even greater than the United States of America. We have a 61 Retaliation population — it is true, not all a white population — but we have a white population of over 50,000,000 against the 70,000,000 — who are not all white, by-the-bye — (laughter) — against the 70,000,000 of America-, We have, in addition, 350,000,000 or .more of people under our protectorate, under our civilisation, sympathisng with our rule, grateful for the benefits that w^e accord to them, and all of them more or less prospective or actual customers of this country (cheers). In times past we have in some inconceivable way ignored our Colonies. We have not appreciated their greatness. We have not had imagination enough to see that, great as they are, there is no lim.it to what they may become. We have gone through a time (it is a m^ost significant fact) Vvhen the m^en who advocated Free Trade in this country were at the same time absolutely indifferent to all idea of Empire, and considered the Colonies encumbrances which we should be glad to get rid of. That lasted for thirty years, and in the course of that time we tried the patience of our sons across the seas. We tried hardly their love of us and their devotion to the Mother Country. They began to think that we had no sj-mpathy with their aspirations ; that we regarded them as troublesom.e children and wished to get them out of the house, and therefore that it would be their duty to break wdth the sentiment which would othenvise have held us together ; that it would be their duty to fend for themselves, and to leave out of account everything which concerned the Empire of which they formed a part. Tliat v/as not their fault ; that was our fault, the result cf our policy. Although we have done our best to correct that impression, although there is not a man living v,-ho thinks, or, if there is one who thinks, there is not one who dares to Say, that he would wish to get rid of the Colonies, that he does not desire their closer union with us, yet we have a good deal to make up, for we have to show that, whereas at one time we or our ancestors advocated separation, v/e are now prepared to do all that in reason can be asked of us in order to promote a greater and a closer union (loud cheers). 62 ' Retaliation The Colonies are no longer in their infancy. They are growing rapidly to a vigorous manhood. Now is the time — the last time — tliat you can bind them closer to you. If now you disregard their aspirations and wishes,- if when they make you an offer not specially in their intcrestSj but in the interests of the Em.pire of which we are all a portion, you reject this offer or treat it with scorn, you may do an injury which will be irreparable ; and, whatever you your- selves may feel in after life, be sure that your descendants will scorn and denounce the cowardly and selfish decision which you will have adopted (cheers). We can if we will make the Empire mutually supporting. We can make it one for defence, one for common aid and assistance* We are face to face at this time with complications in which we may find ourselves alone. We have to face the envy of other people who have noted our wonderful success, although I do not think it has ever done them any harm. We have to face their envy, their jealousy, their desire, perhaps, to share the wealth which they think us to possess. I am not afraid. We shall be isolated. Yes ; but our iso- lation v/iil be a splendid one if v/e are fortified, if this coun- try is buttressed by the affection and love of its kinsmicn, those sons of Britain throughout the world— (cheers) — and v/e shall rest secure if we continue to enjoy the affection of all our children. WTien I was in South Africa — (loud cheers) — nothing was more inspiring, nothing more encouraging, to a Briton than to find how the men who had either themselves come from our shores or were the descendants of those who had, still retained the old traditions, still remembered that their fore- fathers were buried in our churchyards, that they spoke a common language, that they were under a common flag, still in tlieir hearts desired to be remembered above all a> British subjects, equally entitled vvith us to a part in the great Empire which they, as v/ell as we, have contributed to make (cheers). The sentiment is there powerful, vivi- fying, influential for good. I did not hesitate, however, to preach to them that it Vv^as not enough to shout for Empire, that it was not enough to bear th's sentiment in their 63 Retaliation hearts, but that they and we ahke must be content to make a common sacrifice, if that were necessary in order to secure the common good (cheers). To my appeal they rose (renewed cheers). And I cannot bel eve that here in this country, in the Mother Country, their enthusiasm will not find an echo (cheers). They felt, as I felt, and as you feel, that all history is the history of States once powerful and then decaying. Is Britain to be numbered among the decaying States ? Is all the glory of the past to be forgotten ? Are we to prove ourselves unregenerate sons of the forefathers who left us so glorious an inheritance ? Are the efforts of all our sons to be frittered away ? Are all their sacrifices to be vain ? Or are we to take up a new youth as members of a great Empire, wh!ch will continue for generation after generation, the strength, the power, and lh3 glory of the British race ? (Cheers.) The Question at Issue That is the issue that I present to you. That is the great and paramount issue. It is also a question of your employ- ment, of your wages, of your standard of living, of the prospeiity of the trades in which you are engaged. These are questions vital to the people of Great Britain. They are not to be decided by partisa.n outcries or per- sonal abuse ; they are not 'o be decided by a ridiculous appeal to the big loaf and the little loaf, to bogeys which do not frighten sensible people, to bogeys which are only addressed to the timid man, or to the man who is so pre- judiced that he cannot open h's mind. Those are the issues that I present to you ; and, gentle- men, the decis'on rests with you. Thank goodness, we enjoy a Democratic Constitution. Rightly or v/rongly, and, as I think, rightly, the power lies with the people. No dictatorship is possible ; no policy can be forced upon you to give a p e'erence to the Colonies, or to put a duty upon foreign manufac ures, or to protect your trade. If you choose to remain unprotected, if you do not care for your Colonies, no statesman, however wise, can save those 64 Retaliation Colonies as part of the Empire ; for you cannot shift the re- sponsibihty upon us. We look to you ; we appeal to you ; we try to put the question fairly before you. The decision, as I have said, is yours. I have been in political life for thirty years, and it has been a cardinal feature of my political creed that I have trusted the people (cheers). I believe in their judgment, in their good sense, their patriotism. I think somet mes their instincts are quicker, their judgment more generous and enlightened, than that even of classes who have greater education, who have perhaps greater belongings, Vviio are more timid and cautious. One of the greatest of our states- men said something to this effect — that the people were generally in the right, but that they sometimes mistook their physician. Gentlemen, do not mistake your phys cian (cheers). The other day, in the speech of a Scottish member, he referred to this subject. He said it was a matter for congratulation that in putting these views before my countrymen I was committing political suicide ; my career would certainly be terminated. It was a kindly thought — (laughter) — graciously expressed — (renewed laughter) — worthy of the man who uttered it — (laughter) — bu: it does not alarm me (laughter). I have in times past more than once taken my political life in my hand in order to teach that which I believe to be true ("hear, hear"). No man as a states- man is worth his salt who is not prepared to do likewise. I care nothing about the personal result. I beg you not to consider it for a moment ; but I appeal to 3/ou to consider that in this matter the interests of your country, the n terests of your children, the interests of the Empire are all at stake, and I ask you to consider impartially the argu nients that I have put before you. I pray you may give a r-"ght decision. (The right hon. gentleman sat down am.d loud cheers, having spoken an hour and a quarter.) Previous to the delivery of h's Town Hall speech Mr. Chamberlain was entertained at dinner in the Town Hall ialoon, GU the invitation of the Greenock Guambcr of Com- mcrc.9i Retaliation His health having been drunk, Mr. Chamberlain said : I am greatly indebted to you for your cordial welcome. I am sure that my visit to Scotland encourages me to believe that, how- ever much opinions may possibly differ, at all events I shall have a fair hearing throughout the country — ("hear, hear '*) — and it is only such impartial consideration which I ask at your hands (cheers). Gentlemen, I feel it to be a great honour that some time ago I was elected an honorary member of this Chamber, and I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the very grace- ful way in which you have made the presentation of its certificate. I have in a long political life often had recourse to Chambers of Commerce throughout the kingdom to assist me in my various labours, and especially so since I have been Secretary of State for the Colonies, and I may here say how mxuch I have benefited from the advice which they have given me. I look forward to still more advantage from their assistance, and I hope from their support in the coming campaign (cheers). What has happened abroad — what v/ill happen here if we are sensible people, if the country decides that some change in our fiscal arrangements is necessary, is that the Government of the day, whatever it is, will go to the experts in trade and commerce and will seek their assistance ? I have already invited those who claim to represent commerce in the different districts to give to the proposals I have made full consideration, and to inquire specially how far they are likely to affect the trades for which they are specially responsible. It is only by such expert advice as I solicit that any scientific tariff — that is to say, a tariff constructed not merely for revenue purposes, but in order to directly benefit as large a proportion of the popu- lation as possible — can be constructed. ]\Ir. Chairman, you have been good enough to say that, as the youngest member of the Chamber of Commerce of Greenock, I am permitted to propose success to its trade and industry ("hear, hear"). That I do most heartily, I should do it with pleasure under any circumstances, because I thoroughly believe that upon our trade and industry, upon its maintenance — above all, upon its increase in proportion to the increase of our population — depends the existence of 66 Retaliation Great Britain as an important element among the great nations of the world ("hear, hear"). It is no use people saying that this is a sordid view of the subject. No ; it is at the root of everything else. We can do no good in the world unless we are strong. We cannot be strong unless we hold our own — and we hold our own in these small islands — for remember what a speck we are on the face of the globe — we hold our own with a population altogether out of proportion to the area of our territory, only by our supremacy in trade and in industry, and our trade and industry is, as I have pointed out elsewhere, largely dependent on the cont'nuance of our present relations with British possessions abroad. To my mind I confess it does not seem to be a disadvantage that such proposals as I have miade for the security of our own trade may inc dentally have the effect of considerably stimulating, encouraging, and benefiting the trade and in- dustry of our kinsmen in distant possessions (cheers). Mr. Chairman, you have said that the special industries in which this city is chiefly concerned are sugar, shipbuilding, and shipowning. Well, as to sugar, I have a great deal of information (laughter). I ought to be thoroughly acquainted with all your peculiarities, interests, and capabilities, because I have learned of them from my own inquiries. But these, of course, I will modestly put aside as of no value. I have learned of them also from my friend on the right — (cheers)— your honoured representative — (cheers) — but his views on the subject I put aside also, with even less reluctance than my ov/n — (laughter) — because he is an interested party who thinks so highly of Greenock that he cannot consent, under any circumstances, to allow anyth'ng in your disfavour. Therefore, I put him aside as one of those interested persons whom our opponents tell us ought not to be listened to for a moment (laughter and cheers). But I know you from the true source of authority. I know you from your opponents. I know you from the gentlemen v/ho resisted me in my attempt to deal with the sugar bounties. They tell me you are an unintelligent class (laughter). They tell me that, if your trade has in any way been injured, it is entirely owing to your own want of capacity, energy, enterprise, everything that 67 Retaliation you ought to have. I am told that your manufactories are fire-traps — (laughter) — and altogether behind the times, and I have been led to believe, therefore, that the sooner you are swept from the face of the earth the better it would be for the industry of the country. Now you see the advantage of seeking information where information is alone to be found. That is in the ranks of those who are opposed to your policy. Well, in spite of that, whether it is to my credit or not I do not say, I have persevered for a considerable series of years in endeavouring to remove the disabilities upon your trade without ceasing to consider myself a Free Trader — at all events in the sense in which Adam Smith understood the word — ("hear, hea^r") — to relieve you of a disability which was so unfair, so unjust, so indefensible, that if it were to be considered a part of Free Trade, then I would rather prefer to be called a Protectionist (laughter and cheers). And after lerigthy discussion and considerable opposition — curiously enough from precisely the same people who are opposing me now on both sides of politics — it was not entirely a political question — in spite of their opposition the trade has been relieved from this bounty system, and now has some chance of showing what it can do on equal conditions. I will speak very briefly of the other two industries in which you are interested. Believe me, I am not so ignorant as some of my critics suppose, as I do know a little of the importance of British shipping, the extraordinary enter- prise that has been shown in its development, and the magnificent position which it holds among the great indus- tries both of the country and of the world (cheers). I do understand all that, and I do not think you Vv^ill believe that I would lift a little finger to do anything which could pos- sibl}^ injure that great industry. There are some people who suppose they can separate one industry from another, that they can say, in regard to an}^ change of our fiscal relations : " Oh yes, that is going to benefit you, but it is going to injure us." Nothing is more dangerous than to attempt to separate the interest of different classes, whether in trade or in industry. The interest of one is the interest 6S Retaliation of all. All must gain, or none will gain in the long run. No policy is worth consideration for a moment which has for its professed object to benefit one class at the expense of any of the others. I think that that is absolutely true in regard to the considerations I have desired to put before you in reference to our fiscal policy. There is no advantage which I claim that policy will give to our manu- facturing industries which it will not equally give to ship- ping and shipbuilding. I know it is to the interest of shipowners to carry goods, and that it does not matter to them whether they are of foreign, or home, or Colonial production, and I understand that, when they have a large foreign trade, they might hesitate to accept any change that might tend to put it at risk. I quite agree that the prosperity of shipping depends upon having a large transport trade ; that is the ABC. But do not you all know that our foreign competitors are increasing their shipping, increasing it actually in amount by a greater amount of tonnage than we are ourselves in- creasing our fleet, and that, therefore, in no long t'me they will do their own transport ? Then, do you know that during all this time the Colonial trade is increasing, and that j^our interest lies in developing the Colonial trade rather than in developing the foreign trade ? (Cheers.) The object of my policy — I believe the result of the policy will be to increase the trade between this country and foreign countries by introducing a more reasonable and more equitable arrangement ; but if it has a contrary effect, still I would say to you, you shipbuilders and sh powners will have full compensation in the impetus that it certainly will give to our Colonial relations (cheers). I do not blame — on the c...--iary, I applaud — every shipowner v/ho brings to this country the profit of a new transport of goods, whether they be of foreign or whether they be of home production. I think it is perfectly right, and even patriotic, to induce the carriage of foreign goods in British " bottoms." So, again, with shipbuilding, one of the greatest and most important of our industries. I do not blam^e the ship builders for building ships for foreign countries ; but how 69 Retaliation long do you think, under the present circumstances, that trade will continue ? Do you think the energetic American, the scientific German, who for the moment finds it con- venient to buy his ships here, will allow that to continue ? (Cheers.) Is not his policy to shut us out in one industry after another ? Because your industry happens not to have suffered up to the present time, is there any reason why it will not suffer in the future ? And if you encourage the Germans to dump their surplus goods in this country, to maintain a large output by that means, and so to cheapen the cost of their production, on the ground that temporarily you will benefit when you get rather cheaper iron — 2S. or 3s., or it may be 5s. or los. a ton cheaper than you could otherwise get it — if you act upon that short-sighted policy you will find that the Germans who can make iron cheaper than you, are precisely the people who can bu Id ships cheaper than you. You stand aside and allow the iron in- dustry to be ruined, and there will not be any iron industry to support you when in turn you are the object of attack (cheers). That, therefore, is my point. Stand together and no class will suffer. Separate and allow different classes of industry to be destroyed in detail, then, indeed, I think you will meet with a deserved fate, and the trade and industry of Greenock which I propose to-n'ght will not be among the last to suffer. I propose this toast with great heartiness, and I thank you for your hospitality (loud cheers). 70 AN ANSWER TO SOME OBJECTIONS* It is little more than a fortnight since I was permitted in Glasgow to open a discussion upon this vital and important question of tariff reform. I say this vital and most important question, because it appears to me to be both, although I humbly admit that some of my opponents consider that it would be as foolish to discuss it as to discuss the roundness of the globe (laughter). But on the occasion to which I referred I had, at all events, the opportunity that I desired of placing before the people of this country, in language as plain as I can make it, the plan that I propose and support, and the arguments by which I support it. And now that it has been for some time in the hands of the critics, I am inclined to say with Lord Rosebery the other day at Sheffield, " What do you think of it all ? " (Laughter and cheers.) I know that I myself am amazed at the interest which has been taken in the sub- ject, at the progress which it has made, at the uproar which it has aroused (laughter). Why, gentlemen, I was told not so very long ago that I was — I forget the exact words — but an electioneering quack — (laughter) — who was trying to draw a red herring across the path of progress and reform — that everybody could see through me (laughter), that I should not be allowed to divert public attention from the much greater subjects which interest my political opponents. The Public Interest in the Question But what do I find ? That every day the newspapers are filled with bursts of eloquence from every leader of * Delivered at Newcastle, October 20, 1903. 71 An Answer to Some Objections every political section, from the top to the bottom ; and they are devoting themselves, not to these other subjects, but to this ridiculous, preposterous, unthought-out plan of the electioneering politician (laughter). I may be all that my opponents take me to be, but I always wonder why, in this case, they take so much trouble about me. Why should they crush me and crush me again ? (Laughter.) All the big leaders of the Opposition shower their arguments and denunciations on my devoted head. I stand alone, and without even an umbrella — (laughter) — to receive them (laughter). The other day Lord Rosebery said I was absolutely crushed by the cogent and convincing arguments of Sir Henry Fowler and Mr. Asquith. One w^ould have thought in the circumstances that he would either have played the part of the Good Samaritan — (laughter) — and bound'up my wounds — (laughter) — or that, at least, he would have been content to pass by on the other side (laughter). He cannot let me alone. Then I see that Mr. Herbert Gladstone says that Lord Rosebery in dealing with me actually smashed and pulverised me (laughter). Again I point out to my friends that after a man has been crushed and then has been smashed and pulverised by all the heavy artillery, by all the big guns, surely it is not worth while for Mr. Gladstone and others like h'm — (laughter) — to bring out their puny pop-guns and spatter him vvith their abuse. There must be a little more in this matter than these gentle- men thought at first. The execution they have done has not been so terrible after all ; and here I am — (cheers) — pre- pared to repeat what I have said, and answer, as far as I can, ail serious arguments against what I have said. A National, Colonial, and Business Question I have not raised this question as a party question. I have raised it as a national question, upon which every man, woman, and child in the kingdom has a right' to speak. I have raised it as a Colonial question, on which, I think, I have some authority to speak (loud cheers) ; and I have raised it as a business question, on which those in great 72 An Answer to Some Objections industrial communities, such as Glasgow and Newcastle, are entitled to express a serious opinion. And having raised it in that spirit, I shall continue it in tliat spirit to the end. I am not going to be led into merely personal abuse or party bitterness, and when I say I will answer my opponents I shall choose whom I will answer. I will answer those who treat this subject seriously, and without party or personal abuse, and I wiU leave to their own reflections those others who deal with the matter in the lowest spirit of party con- troversy (cheers). Tlierefore, ladies and gentlemen, when Lord Spencer descends from his high position in order to speak of me as the most unscrupulous of men, when Sir Henry Campbell-Banne man — (laughter) — tells meetings of his countrymen that I have descended to the lowest depths of political profligacy, I leave those gentlemen and all their followers to wrap themselves in their own virtue and wisdom — (laughter) — and may they keep them warm (laughter). I leave them to the happy conviction that every one who differs from them is either a knave or a fool. I turn to others. The Objections of Ser ous Critics I turn to Lord Goschen, to Mr. Asquith, to Lord Rose- bery, who have been dealing with this matter, and who, at least, respect the courtesies of debate, and who attempt to deal with the question in a serious way ("hear, hear"). But, before I come to their criticisms, I must remind you in a few words, of what is the course of the argument that has been put before the people of this country. It is not, as a rule, the argument which these gentlemen answer (" hear, hear "). It is something quite different. It is that, while there has been a great incrd;ase of prosperity in this country, it has not, in the main, been due, and it can be shown not to be due, to Free Trade, but that it has been mainly due to other things. I have pointed out that especially during the last thirty years, there has been a great change in regard to our trade and industry, and that this change may, if it be not stopped, lead to great disaster. 73 An Answer to Some Objections I have stated that during this period our general export trade has remained practically stagnant. There has been a great increase in the population, but the amount of our exports has, with certain fluctuations, remained about the same as what it was thirty years ago. That in itself would give rise to serious thought. But there is much more. Not only have we to consider the amount of our trade, but we have also to consider the character of our trade. Whereas in the five-and-twenty years after Mr. Cobden's great reform was carried this country was an industrial centre, exchanging its manufactures v;ith other countries for their food and raw materials, now we have ceased to hold any such position of industrial supremacy, and every day we are sending out more and more of raw materials, and of coal, and we are importing more and more of foreign manufactures ; that is to say, we are importing in place of raw materials and food, or, perhaps, in addition to them — we are importing more and more of those fmished goods which give the greatest employment to the working classes, and, therefore, are of the greatest importance in the trade of a manufacturing country such as ours. Now these are facts. Nobody has denied these facts. They have quibbled — I will not say that, I will say they have quarrelled with my figures. They have said that I have taken the wrong time, or the wrong trade, or the wrong something else ; and with some of these objections I will deal — ("hear, hear") — but they do not deny the fact that my figures were intended to illustrate. The fact remains that, putting as'.de our colonial trade, our trade with foreign protected countries, countries which have not Free Trade, has decreased in amount and deteriorated in character ; and they do not deny, although they seem to forget, that meanwhile, our trade with the Colonies has increased — increased very largely, and is now the most important of all the categories of the trade of this country ; so that now our whole prosperity is dependent upon our maintaining, and increasing our Colonial trade. As to our foreign trade, much of it has gone, and it cannot be recovered. But our Colonial trade remains with us. It is going ; and I ask you — that is my offence — 74 An Answer to Some Objections I ask you to consider, while you may still stop the change, while you may retard it and probably prevent it, I ask you to consider whether you are not bound to regard the whole quest 'on from a different point of view from that which was prevalent, in Cobden's time when practically our Colonies w^ere doing very little with us and when foreign countries were not in any true sense our competitors (cheers). The Offer of the Colonies Now, I say we can only keep this colonial trade and increase it by the method that I ask you to adopt, which is not my method in the sense that I was the first proposer of it, but which is the offer made to you by your own Colonies ( ' ' hear, hear " ) . They propose to you a systemx of preferential tariffs, they to give a preference on the one side, you to give a preference on the other. I venture to think that that proposal is better w^orth considering than whether the earth is round (laughter). I suggest to you that these people who make this proposal to us are a little more worthy of attention than a good many of our own politicians (cheers). Who are they ? They are eleven millions of white people — your own kinsmen — who have done much to make your Empire for you, and without whose continued assistance without whose strong right hands and loyal hearts you cannot keep your empire (cheers) : and it is not in the best taste and it is not the highest wisdom of statemanship, to refuse to consider any proposal, whatever may be your first impressions of it, which is made to you by those who have established so great a claim on your favourable attention. If you do not agree with them, at lea^t they have the right to a fair consideration and a fair discussion (cheers). W^e ov/e much to our Colonies, and I have never denied that they owe much to us — only when I am in the old country I prefer to talk to my own countrymen of their duties, and when I am in the Colonies I speak to the colonists of theirs ("hear, hear "). But I may say this for them. When they make these proposals to you, whatever their effect may be, they are not thinking of themselves alone or principally. 75 An Answer to Some Objections I believe that when a vast number of the white colonists of the self-governing Colonies sa}^ " We are prepared to give you as much as we ever hope to receive " it is not a selfish proposal on their side. It is a patriotic proposal. It is made because they feel that here we are forty-two millions of the British race in the United Kingdom, and eleven millions scattered throughout the world who may if we please, together make an Empire such as the world has never seen before, but whose union is absolutely neces- sary in order that the strength of that Empire may be preserved ; and because they are willing on their part, if you will meet them, to make some sacrifice in order to secure it (cheers). The Transfer of Taxation But in the plan which I have laid before you I see no sacrifice. I am not afraid — I think I may appeal to my past to show that I never have been afraid — to put forward even an unpopular doctrine if I thought it to be right (cheers) ; and I have never been afraid to ask my country- men to make sacrifices which are necessary in order that their country may be worthy of them, and that they may be worthy of their country ; and, therefore, if I really believed in my heart that the result of what I am proposing would cost any one of you anything I would tell him. It is because I do not believe that it can be shown that it will cost anything — not because I think so badly of you that I believe that you would not make a sacrifice if it were neces- sary — but it is because I believe it to be true that I say that my plan will cost you nothing. Wh}^ should it ? I am not asking to impose further burdens -upon the people of this country. I am not asking you to raise the amount of taxation in this country. I am asking you to transfer taxa- tion from one article to another — {" hear, hear ") — from one pocket to another. So far as you are concerned, I main- tain that it does not matter a brass farthing to any one of you whether, let us say, the sixpence a week that we take from you in the way of taxation, comes out of your waist- 76 An Answer to Some Objections coat pocket or comes out of your tail pocket (laughter). It comes from j^our resources. If it comes from taxation upon one article it is not to be considered as affecting that article alone. If it is higher than you can bear, you have to consider which of the articles of your consumption you can most easily spare, and it does not follow that that is the article upon which the taxation is placed. But I deal with articles every one of which is practically on the same footing, they are all necessaries of your life. With perfectly aston- ishing regularity the working man's family in the country or in the town takes on an average, year by year, the same number of loaves, the same number of pounds of tea, the same number of pounds of coffee, the same number of eggs, the same amount of bacon, the same amount of meat. All these facts are included in the Board of Trade returns and although there may be exceptional instances here and there of persons who do not drink tea, just as there may be persons who would not eat bread, the average is the same. What does it matter, if I want a halfpenny from you, whether I charge it on bread or on some other article of universal consumption ? You will not eat any less bread for that, but as you have to pa}^ a halfpenny more for bread you will perhaps take a halfpenny off your expenditure on tea ; and then, when you come to buy your tea, you will find that under my plan it is so much cheaper that you can buy all you have been accustomed to purchase for a half- penny less than before. What you lose on the bread you save on the tea ; and when you come to the end of the year you have eaten exactly the same am.ount of bread and drunk exactly as many cups of tea while your expendi- ture on both taken together has been exactly the same (cheers). You have merely transferred one part of your taxation to another part of your taxation, and you have not increased the cost of living. The budget of the working man, the expenditure of the working man you have not increased by a single farthing (cheers). But you may ask why do I want to make this transfer ? I get no more revenue. I am not earning a penny more for the Exchequer, but 1 make ilm traniler in order that tha taKatlQn which .ritish possessions, has during the last twenty or thirty years been practically stationary ; that our export trade to all those foreign countries which have arranged tariffs against us have greatly diminished, and at the same time their exports to us have greatly increased. Then it is part of my case that those foreign countries which have adopted Protection have, in all the elements by which you have been accustomed to test the prosperity of a nation, grown in a greater ratio and more rapidly than we have ourselves ; and I have also to point out that this tendency, which has * Delivered at Liverpool, October 27, 1903. 124 The Policy Re-stated become so manifest in recent years, is likely, as every sensible man of business knows, to be accentuated as time goes on. Whatever may be our losses now, our losses in the future are likely to be much greater if we continue our present system (" hear, hear ") ; and the reason for that is pb\'ious. The Case against Dumping Not only are the old causes continuing to exist, but nev^ causes are coming into operation. There is that process the name for which we have borrowed from the United States, and which is known to you as " dumping." The fears which I have expressed with regard to it have been humorously described by Mr. Asquith as " dumpophobia " (laughter). Well, I admire humour mj^self (Laughter). I indulge in it occasionally (laughter). But when a lawyer tries to be humorous about business, without prac- tical knowledge of the subject, then I think I have not a high appreciation of his jokes. What is dumping ? Damp- ing is the placing of the surplus of a home manufacture in a foreign country without reference to its original and normal cost. Dumping takes place when the country which adopts it has a production which is larger than its own demand. Not being able to dispose of its surplus at home, it dumps it somewhere else (laughter). Now the United Kingdom is the only country where this process can be carried on successfully, because we are the only country that keeps open ports. Ail the other great countries protect them- selves against dumping by immediately putting on a tariff large or small to keep out these dumped articles. The pecu-. liarity of the situation is that they are not sent in under con- ditions of fair competition. They are surplus stocks, which are being got rid of below cost price ; and, just as you find a great surplus sale of some gigantic emporium may have the effect of ruining all the small shops in the neighbourhood, so the surplus of the products of all the producing countries in the v/orld may very well ruin the trade of this country (cheers). Now a curious thing which Mr. Asquith does not seem to appreciate — a curious thing to him, but not to us 125 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects (laughter) — is that " dumping " only takes place seriously where the country that has recourse to it is in a state of depression. As long as any country is able to take up all its own supply for its own demand, it does so ; but when the time comes that trade is depressed, either in Germany or in the United States, or in any other country, then under our present system they do not do what we do under similar circumstances — they do not close their shops, blow out their furnaces, shut up their factories, but they go on making their full production at the lowest possible price, and they sell the surplus for what it will fetch in England. A very good policy for them, a very bad policy for us ! (Cheers.) And as I look forward in the ordinary course of things to a time of depression which will follow the time of prosperity, which we have recently enjoyed, I think before very long Mr. Asquith may discover that dumpophobia is something really to be afraid of, and not to be laughed at. Our Colonial Trade Now there is only one other fact to which I need call your attention as part of my case, and that is that during the time in which these changes in the conditions of our trade have taken place, the only thing that has really given us encouragement has been the continual growth and pros- perity of our trade with our Colonies. In almost exactly the same proportion in which the trade with these foreign protected countries has continuously fallen off, trade with our Colonies and possessions has continuously risen ; and if we have good trade to-day, if the last year, 1902, was one of the best years that British trade has known, it is not thanks to the foreign trade which has decreased, but it is thanks to the colonial trade which has increased (cheers). How do I propose to meet the state of things that I have described ? The Union of the Empire I propose, in the first place, to meet the foreigner with his own weapons (''hear, hear"). I propose to treat him as he 126 Trade Unionism and Shipping does us ("hear, hear"), until he treats us better (cheers); and I propose to treat our Colonies better than we have hitherto done (cheers). And in connection with this I hope for something greater, in my opinion, even than increased trade, greater certainly than material prosperity. I hope to lay firm and deep the foundations for that Imperial Union which fills my heart when I look forward to the future of the world. We shall unite the British Empire not merely by a bond of blood and S3^mpathy — that already exists — but by that bond of commercial unity v/hich every one, to whatever party he may belong, every one who has studied this question, admits to be necessary if the union is to be permanent. Now, I confess in connection with this that I read the other day v/ith very great pleasure the report of a speech made by my friend — my political opponent, but my personal friend — Sir Edward Grey, at, I think, Alnwick, on October 24 of this year. Sir Edward Grey describes himself as a Liberal Imperialist. I accept his description. I do not doubt for a moment that he is as loyal to the Imperial idea as I am myself ("hear, hear"); but he has not had my eight years' experience of Colonial administration. He has not had it burned into his brain and mind that the present is the time, that this is the critical period during w^hich we may lay the foundations of which I have spoken, and that if this opportunity be lost irretrievable mischief maybe done which never can be undone. But what he said was this : " If he could see a chance of all barriers throughout the Empire being throvvn down so that there were no barriers within the Empire, he would say there was something to make sacrifices for ; if v/e could get a nearer idea of Empire which had no barriers within itself, but which raised duties on foreign goods only, then he thought there might be an ideal for which there would be a great deal to say." That is my ideal (cheers). I hope we all have ideals which are higher at times than any things to which we can possibly attain. That is my ideal (loud cheers). But I know, as a practical statesman, that you cannot realise any such ideal as that in the twinkling of an eye by the waving of a wand. You must proceed to it 127 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects step by step ; and the proposal which I make to you is a step, and a great step, towards Free Trade through- out the Empire, which is, no doubt, the ultimate object of our aspirations, but which at the present moment is impossible (cheers). Therefore, although at present Sir Edward Grey is unwilling to follow me, I think, after reading what he has said, it can only be because he has not under- stood that what I propose is a step to that ideal which he and I have in common. The Objections to his Proposals 1 have put before you as shortly as I can the reasons for the course I am taking, the proposals I make, and now what are the objections ? I deal with them briefly. They are practically two — in the first place, that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, that every- thing is thoroughly satisfactory, that our prosperity is so great that we ought not to try to make it greater, and so on (laughter). Perhaps, if I were talking to an audience exclusively composed of Liberals and Radicals, I should say to them — " If that is your view, if you are so conserva- tive that, having attained to what you think a satisfactory position for yourselves, you are not going to take any step to make it better, where is the difference between your moderate Radicalism and the oldest and most rabid form of Toryism (laughter and cheers) in days long gone by ? " But let them argue that with their ov/n people. I do not believe that in my lifetime, at any rate, and I doubt whether for many centuries afterwards, the world will ever be so good that it will not be possible to make it better. But a second argument against these proposals — one which they dwell upon in every paragraph in every paper, in every poster on the walls, in every speech of every man and every woman who speaks, from the top to the bottom —is that this is going to lead to a time of dear food. I shall have time before I leave Liverpool to say a word or two more on that question of dear food, and to-night I will only say this — that I ask you to take my pledge, and to believe 128 Trade Unionism and Shipping in my sincerity when I give it, that if you accept my pro- posals as they stand, they will not add one farthing to the cost of living, and, in my opinion, in the case of the poorest families they will somewhat reduce that cost (cheers). The Working-Class Point of View Now that is the text, that is the subject, upon which I have been preaching in some of the great centres of popu- lation ; and now, coming here at the invitation of a working- class association, I am going, as one principal part of my speech, to ask you to consider v/ith me why the working man, and especially why trade unionists, should support my proposals. I want to guard against its being supposed for a moment that now or at any time I am going to appeal to any class interest or to any one class as against any other. If I am right, every class in the country will be benefited by reforms which will give increased work and increased employment to the poor, and I daresay increased profit to the capitalist (cheers). But I am right to begin with the working class in the first place, because they are the most numerous. That counts for a great deal nowadays (laughter). Now that you are all represented, the vote of a working man counts for as much as the vote of a multi- millionaire ; and, in the second place, because in these circumstances, if I do not convince the working classes, I am absolutely powerless. I can do nothing without you ("hear, hear"). That is why I rejoice at the cordiality of your reception (loud cheers). Sometimes, indeed, in the course of the great crusade which I have not undertaken willingly, but because I thought the duty was thrown upon me, I have felt as though I stood alone ("No "), fronting hosts of enemies ; but I am encouraged by the thought that behind me there is a great multitude which no man may number (cheers), who give me their sympathy and who will give me their support (renewed cheers). Now, why should you follow the advice which I tender to you ? In the first place, because, thank God, the working men are now, as they always have been, patriots, because they, to 129 I The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects whom every additional expense counts for more than it does to other classes, yet always put first in their creed the welfare of the kingdom and the welfare of the Empire. It is not a selfish support which they tender to me, although their interest will be served by a patriotic policy. What is the whole problem as it affects the working classes of this country ? It is all contained in one word — employ- ment ("hear, he ar^T Cheap food, a higher standard of living, higher wages — all these things, important as they are, are contained in the word "employment" ("hear, hear"). If this policy will give you more employment, all the others wiU be added unto you. If you lose your employment, all the others put together will not compensate you for that loss ("hear, hear"). Free Trade a Middle-Class Movement It is rather an interesting thing, which seems to me to have escaped altogether the attention of any of my oppo- nents, who probably have not read the history of the Anti- Corn Law movement, that when Free Trade was carried, the working classes were neither represented nor consulted - ("hear, hear"). I do not say that that makes Free Trade good or bad, but it is a fact that the movement was a manu- facturer's and a middle-class movement ("hear, hear"). The \ leaders of the movement, or some of the leaders of the movement, admitted that they thought it would enable wages to be kept at what they called a reasonable level. They thought that it would give cheap food, and that if the labourer had cheap food he could afford to work for lower wages, and that they, therefore, could afford to carry on a competition with which they were threatened in the goods they manufactured. And ,it is worth remembering that long after Free Trade was carried, even as late as 1888, Mr. Bright, in writing to a friend in America, and protesting against the doctrine of protection, points out to him that, if the Americans made protection their policy, they would have to give higher wages to their working classes (" hear, liear") — higher wages and shorter hours. I do not think 130 Trade Unionism and Shipping that that would be a disadvantage (cheers). But what I want to point out is that, rightly or wrongly, the leaders of the Free Trade movement believed that the big loaf meant lower wages. Then there is another thing. At the time of the Free Trade agitation, what was the action of the Radicals of those days ? The Radicals of those days were represented by the Chartists. The Chartists were entirely opposed to the Free Trade movement. They said that they alone had the right to speak for the unrepresented classes, that Free Trade was a red herring drawn across the path of electoral reform, and they invited their followers to spurn and scorn the action of the Anti-Corn Law hypocrites. I do not think that was just. I do not think that the leaders of the Corn Law agitation were h^^pocrites at all. I believe they sincerely thought that what they were doing was for the good, not only of the manufacturers and middle classes, but also for the good of the working classes. But the inte- resting point is that at that time the working classes, who, as I say, had no Parliamentary representation, declared, through their leaders, that the thing was only an attempt to draw a red herring across the path, that it was for the benefit of the manufacturers, but that it would not be for the advantage of the working man. The Electoral Power of the Working Classes Fortunately, no condition of that kind can ever again occur in this country. The working classes are represented now (cheers), thanks very much to the efforts of one of the great Free Traders — my late friend and colleague, Mr. Bright. I am not certain whether Cobden ever took much interest in the movemxcnt for electoral reform ; but Mr. Bright made it one of the objects of his life — and it is largely due to the efforts of Mr. Bright, who went out in his time, as I am now doing, alone to speak for a policy in which he believed — it was largely due to Mr. Bright that the working classes have the franchise at the present moment (cheers). And what follows, gentlemen ? You have the franchise ; you have the majority of votes ; and you can say " Yes " 131 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects to this policy or you can crush it (cheers). The responsi- bihty, therefore, is yours. It no longer rests upon the minority. It does not rest upon the aristocracy or the House of Lords ( aughter). It does not rest upon the middle classes. It rests upon the shoulders of the workmen. There is, indeed, still one responsibility which rests upon those of us who call ourselves statesmen. We have been, by your votes, selected for the position of leadership. It is the duty of a leader, if he has come to any conviction, to express that conviction as clearly and as plainly as he can to those who are, indeed, his masters, but who ought to listen to the leader whom they have chosen. It is his duty to do this, even though in doing it he may lose any little popularity that he may have gained, even though in doing it he puts an end to his political life. I have the satisfaction of thinking that in attempting to do this you will, at all events, recognise my good intentions (cheers). I have an idea that the working classes of this country are on this question more advanced than many of their leaders (cheers). If so, we shall win (loud cheers). I care not who is against us. The Cobden Club may rage furiously in all the languages of the civilised world (laughter and cheers). The " Free Fooders " may imagine vain things — but we shall win the victory (cheers). Trade Unionists and the Cobden Club Ah ! but it is said, " How can you expect to do that when the Trade Union Congress has passed a resolution against you ? " (A voice, " It does not represent the working men.") It is true that some of them have declared against us, but I recollect that there are many trusted leaders of the working men, both of trade unions and of other organisations, who do not share the views of the Trade Union Congress ; and, therefore, great as is their authority, I humbly venture to appeal against them to you (cheers), to appeal against the officials to the men who appointed them and gave them their power (cheers). I say then, in the first place, that to me it is rather an extraordinary thing that these trade- 132 Trade Unionism and ShiDping X i union officials, acting apparently on the instigation of the Cobden Club, have prepared a manifesto, circulated through the Cobden Club, against the proposals to which I am asking your attention. Why should they do it through the Cobden Club ? The Cobden Club was formed to honour the memory of a man whom we all know to have been a sincere man, whether he was right or wrong, and always deserving of the respect of his fellow-countrymen. Yes, he was all that ; but he was not a friend of Trade Unions, and now you have the Trade Unions in the arms of the Cobden Club. Mr. Cobden himself, speaking of Trade Unions in 1844, just before the reform of the Corn Laws, said : " Depend upon it, nothing can be got by fraternising with Trade Unions (laughter). They are founded upon principles of brutal tyranny and monopoly (laughter). I would rather live under the Dey of Algiers than a trades committee" (great laughter). Surely to use a club founded in memory of a gentleman who held those opinions is a strange thing for Trade Unionist leaders of to-day. But, I want you to bear in mind that Mr. Cobden from his point of view — from the Free Trade point of view — was perfectly right. Trade Unionism Irreconcilable with Free Trade I want you to bear in mind that it is absolutely impos- sible to reconcile Free Trade with trade unionism. You can have one or you can have the other, but you cannot have both ; and I am glad to say that in expressing this opinion I have the support of a trade unionist with whom I have disagreed upon a' most every other question. Mr. Keir Hardie, speaking in the House of Commons, said : " Free Trade in the abstract is all but an impossibility. There is no member of this House who supports trade unionism who can claim to be a consistent Free Trader" (cheers). And then he goes on to say : " Trade Unionists of this country have no intention of allowing the sweating and underpaid labourers of Continental nations to enter into competition with them " (" hear, hear "). Is that your opinion ? (Cries of '* Yes.") Well, they are brave words. You will not 133 The Policy Re-statcd. How it Aftects allow it ? Then you will not be Free Traders (cheers). There is no getting out of the dilemma. The gentlemen who oppose me because they say I am a Protectionist, and who then go down to the House of Commons, and in order to catch working-men votes in Radical constituencies, declare themselves supporters of the prevention of alien immigration and the prohibition of prison-made goods, of shorter hours, and so on, are inconsistent (cheers). The Trade Union Congress was not always of the opinion of the Congress that met this year. In 1888 the Parliamentary Committee offered a report, in which it said this : " The demon of cheapness " — the present Trades Congress makes a god of cheapness ; the Parliamentary Committee in 1888 spoke of it as a demon — " the demon of cheapness has pervaded our whole social s^^stem, and while the cheapness of goods has been a matter of wonder, purchasers seldom or never give a thought to the human blood and muscle that have been ground up in the production of the article " ("hear, hear"). That is admirable, and if I had time I could preach a sermon from it (voices, " Go on "), and I think it would be well to preach that sermon before the present Trades Congress (laughter). My first point, therefore, is this — that it is not only the consumer you have got to consider. The producer is of still more importance ; and to buy in the cheapest market is not the sole duty of man, and it is not in the best interest of the working classes. Recent Legislation and Free Trade Now what are the legitimate objects of trade unionism ? In my opinion there are five. In the first place, to enable working men by union and combination among themselves to meet employers on equal terms and to bargain with them. If there were no Trade Unions and no combination capital would be too strong. Labour would be at the mercy of capital, and it is to prevent that, among other things, that Trade Unions were founded. Then the next object is to secure the highest wages which are consistent with the conditions of each trade — to raise the standard of living and 134 Trade Unionism and Shipping to prevent unfair competition — to insist on proper precau- tions for the health and safety of those employed ; and, lastly, to provide for those of their comrades who, owing to temporary illness or misfortune, are deprived of their means of livelihood. Those are legitimate objects, in my judg- ment, and I heartily approve of them, although I have not always been able to approve of all the methods by which they have been sought to be obtained. But one thing is certain. While we have done much to secure these objects, while the mass of the people, to whatever class they belong, have sympathised with them and have passed legislation such as the Factory Acts, the Mines Acts, the Truck Acts, the Compensation to Workmen Acts, the Fair Wages Clauses, the Prohibition of Prison Goods, and a number of other minor Acts of the same kind, every one of these measures is opposed to the strict doctrine of Free Trade. Free Trade says you are to buy in the cheapest market. Free Trade says you are not to interfere with the freedom of inde- pendent men, not to prescribe to an employer what he shall or shall not do, but to leave him free to bargain as he likes with his workpeople, and, on the other hand, you are not to make combinations which tend in the slightest degree to destroy the liberty of the workman to sell his labour just as low or just as high as he pleases. Those are the doc- trines of Free Trade ; and all these doctrines we have put aside now for twenty years in our endeavour to benefit the condition of the working men and to raise the standard of living ; and it is a little too much now to come down and tell me that I am a heretic, that I ought to be put out of the congregation, forsooth, because I will not allow to be sacred and inspired the doctrines that those who accuse me have abandoned long ago (cheers). But there is another most important point which I want working people to consider. Grant all this legislation, and much more of the same kind, I warn you it will be absolutely futile unless you are prepared to go farther. What is the good, I ask, in the name of common sense, of prohibiting sweating in this country, if you allow sweated goods to come in from foreign countries ? (Loud cheers.) If you insist onjiimtation of / .. r n^\ The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects hours, and upon precautions for security, bear in mind that all these things add to the cost of production, to the diffi- culties of the manufacturer in selling his goods, and unless you give him some increased price, some increased advan- tage in compensation, then he cannot carry on competition any longer. All these conditions in the long run will result not to your advantage, for you will have no work to do, but to the advantage of the foreigner, who is not so scrupulous and who conducts his work without any of these conditions. I say, then, that if it were possible to calculate exactly what these precautions cost over and above similar pre- cautions taken in the other countries with which we are competing, we should be justified, without the slightest infraction of the true principles of Free Trade, in putting on a duty corresponding to that cost (cheers). The Lesson from Fair Wages Clauses Again, take the case of the Fair Wages Clause. I saw the other day that in the regulations of the London County Council it is provided that the wages and hours to be paid by contractors under their contracts are to be such as are current and recognised by the trade of the district {" hear, hear"). Very good ; I am making no objection. I believe similar regulations exist in all the Government departments. But these regulations do not apply to goods which are brought in by foreigners ; and what is the result ? The other day Vauxhall Bridge was to be rebuilt. The Com- mittee which dealt with the matter recommended, as I am informed, to the London County Council that only British material should be used (cheers). Surely that was fair — that is to say, if you will impose on British manufacturers all these conditions, you must either impose the same con- ditions on foreigners, or you must say you will not buy foreign goods. But the recommendation of the Committee was rejected by the County Council ; and I am told that two labour members voted against the recommendation of the Committee (cries of " Shame ! "), and that accordingly, while requiring all these conditions for British contractors, 136 Trade Unionism and Shipping the contract is thrown open to foreigners if they choose to compete. I do not know, I have not been informed in regard to the particular contract, who took it ; but I have been told that £41,000 worth on one account, and perhaps more on others, of tram rails were bought by the London County Council from Belgium. (A voice : " What about Liverpool ? ") Now will you please follow that up ? I am not blaming the London County Council ; they considered that they had only got to look in the narrowest way to the interests of those whom they represent, and accordingly they bought in the cheapest market, according to the Cobden Club maxim (laughter). Now, how much did they save on that £41,000 ? I understand that they claim to have saved £8000. Yes, and how much did their country lose ? (Cheers.) To make that £41,000 worth of rails £20,000 of wages were wanted, and where did they go to ? They went to Belgium, and they might have been spent in this country (cheers). That is being done all over the country, and if I wished I could give you plenty of instances. In every case the gain is small, but the loss, if you look at the country as a whole, is very great. Now, look at this thing in another way. You are to buy everything in the cheapest market. On what ground do you say that we should not buy our labour in the cheapest market ? Everybody knows that there are countries — I will not name them — in which labour is very much cheaper than it is here. Why should we not import labour from them to any extent ? I am one of those who for many years have voted and spoken in favour of the regulation of alien immigration (cheers). I do not want to prevent it alto- gether, but I want a man who comes practically a pauper to these shores to show that he can be, and will be, a useful and a profitable citizen (cheers). I would like, therefore, to apply tests to those who come, but how can I do so ? With what reason, with what sense could I make a law and restrictions if while I keep out the labourer I let in his goods (cheers), if I allow the man who makes slop clothing ©r whatever it may be, at starvation prices, if I keep him rom working in Shoreditch, but allow him to work at some 137 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects other place, which, again, I will not name (laughter), and thence send to me the goods which he has made at these ridiculous prices ? Now, what is the conclusion of this branch of the matter ? If protected labour is good, and I think in many ways it is — that is to say, the fair protection of labour — then it is good to protect the results of labour (cheers) ; and you cannot do the one without the other, or else in trying to do good to labour you will do it much more harm than good. And if it be good, as I think it is, to sup- port the objects of trade unionism, then, I say, those objects can only be secured, can only be permanent in our system as long as we can offer to the bulk of our workpeople, to all those who are willing to work, constant and remunerative employment (" hear, hear "). As long as we have got large numbers of people who would work if they could, but cannot find work to do, so long it is useless to talk of raising wages or restricting the hours of labour, or putting on to manu- facturers additional cost which they cannot afford to pay. The only result will be that you will still further lessen the amount of 3^our employment. Now I hope to give you more employment (" hear, hear "). I hope to do so by keeping, in the first place, a firmer hold upon home markets. I hope, in the second place, to do so by having something to bargain with when we trade with the foreigner, and I hope, in the last place, to do so by encouraging the best of our trades, the trade which is most profitable to us in proportion to its size, the trade which is increasing most quickly, the trade which we have it in our power to stimulate most greatly — I m.ean the trade with our own kith and kin across the seas (cheers). a. Liverpool Shipping Now I turn to a different subject. Industry in Liverpool, as industry in many other great cities of the Empire, is more or less specialised ; and there is no industry which is probably so important to you as the great shipping industry of which Liverpool is practically the centre. Liverpool boasts itself to be the sea-carrier and the merchant of the 138 Trade Unionism and Shipping world ("hear, hear"). I tell those who are concerned in this great industry — I will not do you the injustice of supposing you are not capable of as much patriotism or of as much self-sacrifice as the working class of whom I have previously spoken — but I tell you as I have told them : " You will benefit by this policy (cheers). You cannot lose by it " (renewed cheers). Now I am going farther. I will say that if this great industry were seriously endangered by my proposals I should think that not only would the ship- owners be justified, but that they were bound by patriotism to resist it (cheers), because what is our shipping industry ? Our shipping industry is one of the very greatest of our exports. It does not show in the figures, but we know it exists, although I doubt myself whether it is so large as some of our statisticians appear to think. Bear in mind that, whether it be £50,000,000 or £90.000,000, as some suppose it to be, the only part of it with which we are con- cerned, and which we can call British exports, is the part that employs British subjects. What is paid to the alien seaman or what is paid in the purchase of alien goods abroad, these are in the nature of imports into this country and not exports out of it. But whatever may be the actual facts, and they are very difficult to ascertain, I admit as fully as any one the importance of this trade, and I desire as much as any one to increase its prosperity. What is the case ? It is very admirably stated, I think, in a little pamphlet which has been sent to me, written by one of your townsmen in a very moderate way, by Mr. Norman Hill. What does he say ? He points out the enormous progress which this industry has made in recent years ; he says that even now it is still larger than any other merchant navy in the world ; he says it is still increasing in amount, and I hope, and I think he hopes, that it is still profitable to those who are concerned in it. I do not pretend to criticise his figures. I am not going to dispute them. It is not neces- sary for my purpose. I am going to admit every one of those statements and every one of the figures on which they are based ; only I would like to point out to Mr. Hill what, indeed, he would recognise himself, that these things 139 \/ The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects tell only half the truth. They tell what is your position positively, but they take no note of comparative progress, and it is only by comparative progress and not by actual progress that you can foresee the future. It is not what we have now, but the question is. How long shall we keep it ? And how much shall we keep of it ? We are like a man in a race. He starts with a great advantage ; he has been given 100 yards, perhaps. In the first lap he loses thirty ; in the second lap he loses iifty more ; and then he is seen by an observer from the Cobden Club (laughter), and the Cobden Club says, " That is my man ; he is still ahead " (laughter). I think we knov/ better (laughter). The Decline of British Shipping My case is that British shipping, admirable as its condition is in many respects, is not progressing so fast as foreign shipping, and I do not like that symptom at all (" hear, hear "). I must trouble you with a few figures as an illustration of what I am saying. I take these figures from some admirable articles which appeared in the Times newspaper, and which were written in a most impartial tone. According to them, British tonnage entered and cleared in foreign parts increased 20,000,000 in ten years — 1890 to igoo — but foreign shipping in the same period, and in the same ports, increased 80,000,000 — four times as much and, what is more interesting to be observed, the increase was chiefly in the later years. That is to say, not only is the movement going on, but it is going on in an accelerated ratio. Now then, take foreign tonnage into the United Kingdom from 1890 to 1902. It increased about 15,000,000, and the British trade in our own country in the same period only increased a little more than 12,000,000 — that is to say, increased less than the foreign. We are los'ng both ways. We are losing at home, we are losing abroad. Then again — and it is curious how similar the facts are, whether you look to shipping or any other trade in the whole category of the trades of the United Kingdom - — it is curious to observe that the portion of the trade 140 Trade Unionism and Shipping which is thoroughly satisfactory i« the Colonial trade, the trade with our foreign possessions, and that has doubled, I believe, in the period of which I am speaking. Now take two other facts from another source — this is from the New- castle Chronicle — the tonnage built in the United Kingdom in 1902 — that is, last year — was an increase in the year of 591,000 tons over 1893, but the tonnage built abroad by foreign nations and our Colonies, of course chiefly by foreign nations, increased by 885,000 tons — that is to say, the building was 294,000 tons more abroad than it was at home in a single year — the increase, I mean, not the total build- ing. Then there are the last figures. They are worth consideration. This comes from the Blue-book. From 1890 to 1901 we are told that the total increase in the tonnage of the whole British Empire was 1,400,000 tons, and meanwhile the total increase in foreign tonnage was 2,200,000 tons, or 800,000 tons rnore than the British tonnage. I think serious people ought to give serious con- sideration to what, at any rate, are signs. What is the use of saying that the house is still standing if you know that there is rot in the foundations ? (Cheers.) What is the use of saying we are doing very well when you know you are doing comparatively worse every year ? What is the good of talking about your income-tax returns or profit or the length of your voyages, when you know that behind you have galloping up at a greater rate than anything you can reach your bitterest and severest competitors and rivals ? (Cheers.) Mr. Asquith's Explanation What is the cause of all this ? I will tell you on the authority of Mr. Asquith. Mr. Asquith thinks himself competent to lecture the chiefs of industry in this country, be they shipowners or manufacturers or agri- culturists. He knows why it is they are going behind, and not in front as quickly as they should do. He says it is want of intelligence (laughter). Intelligence is only to be found in the legal profession (loud laughter). It 141 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects is want of capacity, it is want of enterprise. Now, if there be in the whole of this country any trade or trades of which such a statement is untrue, it is our great ship- ping industry and our great shipbuilding industry. I am not here to say that all our methods are perfect. I should not have been the founder and Chancellor of a great university if I had not felt that we stood in need of improve- ment ; and I shall be very glad of Mr. Asquith's assistance in establishing Charlottenburg schools in every city in the Empire, in order to give advantages which at present we do not enjoy. But when we have done all that, I say we should not even then increase greatly the skill and the industry and the talent and knowledge of the men who control these two great trades, and that it is not in that direction that we shall find explanation for the evils to which I have called your attention. I The True Cause What is the explanation ? In the first place, there are bounties and subsidies. How do you think that any man can stand against the kind of bounties, direct and indirect, with which a shipowner finds his path crossed in so many directions ? You will find the whole account fully told in the Parliamentary report which deals with this subject. When I was travelling the other day, I had a little expe- rience which seems to me to be worth relating. I was at Zanzibar, on the east coast of Africa, and I was told that the Germans were making great progress in their trade with East Africa. I said to the merchants whom I saw there — most of them English — " How is this ? Is it that we are so far behind the Germans that you cannot buy our goods any longer ? " And they said, " No, it is not that.- Your manu- factures, perhaps, may in some respects be improved, but the real reason is that the Germans have got an excellent line of steamers " — subsidised, I think, with £80,000 a year — " whereas we have only got an inconvenient and unsatis- factory line with a miserable subsidy of £6000 or £7000 a year, and the German steamers bring German goods, and 142 Trade Unionism and Shipping the trade follows the flag." The trade of East Africa may not be a very large one, but the instance, at all events, is worth quoting as an instance of what is going on else- where. British Restrictions and Foreign Freedom We have made sacrifices in many quarters of the globe, in none more than in that which I recently visited. And now who is to have the advantages of them ? Are they to be taken from us by bounties given to foreign shipping ? Are foreign Governments to be allowed to induce a foreign trade which would not otherwise naturally belong to their countries ? Then, again, look at the disabilities to which British ships are exposed. We put upon them all sorts of regulations — right regulations, mind you — I am myself the author of some of them. We require a load-line for them ; we require other precautions. Why ? For the health and safety of those who go down to the sea in ships. While I say that is right, what do we do with the foreigner ? We do not require any load-line from him. It is possible, I am told, for an English ship in your port here of Liverpool to load up to say, 3500 tons, and then to have an inspector come on board and say, " This won't do ; this is above your mark — below your mark, I suppose I ought to say — (laughter), you must pull out 500 tons at once " ; and then that steamer goes away with 3000 tons of cargo. The next day, as I am told, a foreign ship may come in not marked at all, and may load up its 3500 tons ; and the 500 tons may make all the difference between profit and loss, and we allow him to have every one of the privileges which we give to the other ships. These things want discussing. I have not seen that Mr. Asquith, or Lord Rosebery, or Lord Goschen has discussed these matters, and yet it seems to me they have a certain amount of importance, at a]l events in Liverpool. I have been told to-night, since I came here, of another disadvantage. You have to register tonnage, and the foreigner has a different register. Your 143 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects vessel is registered perhaps at 1500 tons, and the foreigner, who has precisely the same cargo-carrying capacity, is registered at 1000 tons ; and he pays dues of every kind upon 500 tons less than you. Is that the way to keep your trade ? (" No " and cheers.) What I am pleading for is scientific treatment of trade subjects, not this — Pshaw ! (cheers and laughter) — it makes me despair some- times — not this feeble and futile policy of official incapacit}^ or official apathy, which makes it either below the dignity or below the duty of a British Government to take care of British trade. (Cheers.) I am coming to an end ("Go on "'), but I have one more word. British Exclusion from Foreign Coasting Trade What about the exclusion by certain foreign countries of British trade from what is called the " coasting trade " ? (" Hear, hear.") And what about the definition of " coast- ing trade,'' which makes a voyage from Riga, in the Baltic, to Vladivostok, in Siberia, a coasting voyage, or from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, on the Californian coast, a coasting voyage ? (Laughter.) And yet these are voyages which no British ships may undertake, while, on the other hand, a foreign ship can come in here at Liverpool, may travel all round our coast, calling at every port as it goes, or it may go from here to the farthest end of the earth where the British flag flies, and in no circumstances will it be placed at any disadvantage with regard to us. Let us see how this works. A few years ago we had a growing trade with Madagascar. Madagascar becomes a French Colony. We thought honestly that we had a clear and distinct and unmistakable arrangement with the French that they would not interfere in any way with our liberty and with the existing conditions of trade with Madagascar. The French thought otherwise. They have excluded us altogether from that trade. It has gone, with all its possi- bilities of extension ; and so much for the trade. How long do you think that the French, who now do that trade, are going to allow your shipowners to carry it in British 144 Trade Unionism and Shipping ships ? Not one moment longer than they can prevent. Your trade there is doomed. It may not be gone yet, but is that a reason why you should not bestir yourselves in order to keep it ? (" Hear, hear.") Rest assured, if you do not take note of the warning that is written on the wall, the trade will go, and you will never be able to recover it. Our Trade with Cuba We will take another case, a more important case — that of Cuba. Cuba is a great island only requiring the good govern- ment which it now has under American protection to make it one of the richest countries in the world. The United States have undertaken obligations with regard to Cuba, and they claim corresponding privileges, but our idea was that our con- ditions of trade with Cuba would be respected. They have not been respected. Perhaps the Americans did not understand them in the same sense as we do. Be that as it may, all representations by us have been fruitless, and the American Government proposes preferential arrangements w'th Cuba, treating Cuba exactly as I want you to treat our Colony of Canada (cheers). They propose to make a preferential treaty with Cuba, the result of which will be that no more English goods will go to Cuba, and all the traffic between Cuba and the United States will be done in United States ships. And not merely that. See how these things begin ; see how these things end. I am told that a large trade is done between Rangoon and Cuba in Indian rice, and that is now done by British ships ; but the result will be that rice will go to New York, and from there to Cuba in Am.erican ships ; and once more a portion of your trade has been snipped off, and, because you have gained some- where else, you will have the Cobden Club still holding high its flag and saying, " See how great is our trade ; see what a magnificent people we are ; and see what losses v/e can sustain without complaining ! " (Laughter.) 45 K The Policy Re-stated. How it Aftects Our Colonial Coasting Trade I say that in this matter of shipping something should be done ("hear, hear"). Our Colonial Premiers on the ■ast occasion, among other resolutions besides the one asking us for preference, passed a resolution asking the British Government to consider the conditions under which the coasting trade as between ourselves and our Colonies is carried on ; and the Premier of New Zealand has already, I believe, proposed a law to his own Parlia- ment in which he recommends that the same treatment should be measured to a foreign country that they measured to the British Empire ("hear, hear"). Where they keep their coasting trade to themselves, New Zealand and the Mother Country should keep their coasting trade to them- selves. These matters are not matters to be hastily settled. I am not asking you to accept them ; I am only putting the case before you. I say there must be a remedy — there must be some way of bargaining with these gentlemen to get rid of these unfair restrictions. And it is for that power of bargaining, and, if necessary, of retaliation, that Mr. Balfour has asked and that I have asked (" hear, hear"). And, after all, if there be any difference between *us whatsoever, it is only that I go farther than he does and that I ask, not in the future, but to-day — ("hear, hear ") — for the preference to our Colonies which will bind them and us together (cheers). I have made clear to you, at any rate, what I think would be the effect of my policy upon your great shipping industry. I think it would encourage and stimulate our Colonial trade, which is already the most progressive and the most profitable, and by thus stimulating our relations with the Colonies, we shall be able to give to the ship- owner a return freight in such cases as Canada and Australia. Surely there would be an enormous advantage both to him and to us. I think he would increase his trade with the Colonies, but I see absolutely no reason whatever to believe that he would decrease his trade with other countries. 146 Trade Unionism and Shipping Why should he ? Name to me one single Protectionist country which at the same time that it has built up its own markets has not been able to increase its foreign exports. If that be so, we shall be able, at the same time that we hold our own market, to increase our trade with the foreigners, and the only change which I anticipate — and it is a change which I greatly desire — is that the character of the cargoes may be somewhat altered. I want to see less of their finished manufactures coming in (cheers), and I want to see more of their goods — raw materials and things of that kind — in return for our exports of finished manufactures (cheers). Our Colonies and our Future I have gone into some detail in these matters, but, after all, I have not wandered from my subject. You may take any detail. I can follow any trade however small, or any trade however large, or any class however small, or any class however large, as I have followed to-night one great class and one great industry, and the result will always be the same (cheers). And, over and above any elaborate attempt to prove what seems to me hardly requiring proof at all — that your interests will be served by the change which I have undertaken to recommend to you — over and above these I appeal to those solemn considerations of Imperial sentiment and national patriotism for which the city of Liverpool has always been distinguished (loud cheers). What is your motto ? " Ships, Colonies, and Commerce" ("hear, hear"). You are right to place Colonies in a prominent position. You are right to place it between the other two, for the other two depend upon it, and as long as we keep our Colonies we have nothing to fear for the future. I have not endeavoured, although I have been represented as doing so, to prove that the refusal, of my proposals will be followed by any immediate result. I do not know whether it will or whether it will not. But I look to the future, as every statesman should, and I say that, if you continue your present system, and if, above H7 The Policy Re-stated. How it Affects all, you leave your Colonies, now loyal and devoted to you, to seek for reciprocity in other quarters, a reciprocity which others will be ready to give, but which you, forsooth, I am told, will emphatically refuse (cries of " No "), then I predict that sooner or later this great Empire of our dreams will vanish away and will leave not a wrack behind. Remember, the experiment has been tried. Holland tried, in the time of her greatest prosperity, to retain her command of the sea, her position as carrier and merchant of the world. She tried to maintain it without productive capacity. She tried and failed, and you, gentlemen, cannot be more suc- cessful than she was. Remember that the principle, the under- lying principle, of Cobdenism was cosmopolitanism. It was to care for all the world, avoiding, and even despising, the special care for which I plead — the care for those who are nearest and dearest to us (cheers). The Present Issue Even at this moment one of the most strenuous advo- cates in the Press of the views which I oppose declared the other day that the great issue between us was no mere party question, but it was a conflict between Imperialism and Little Englandism. Yes, he is right. He is a Little Englander. I am an Imperialist (cheers), and the con- flict is between us. This is now to me the urgent and the present issue. You are called upon in this generation to a greater responsibility than ever before. It is on your decision that this tremendous issue rests. The balance hangs, but I know what your forefathers would have said. I know what they did. I know how they endured burdens and sufferings to which our sacrifices, if indeed sacrifices there be, are as nothing but as a drop in the ocean ; and I know how, with half our population, with one-tenth of our wealth, with Ireland hostile, under conditions of which we have no conception, they nevertheless, and at times almost alone against the world, bore themselves bravely in the Titanic strife with Napoleon and came out victorious (cheers). What is our task to theirs ? It is a mere trifle ; it is only 148 Trade Unionism and Shipping for us t© keep the fruits of the victory that they have won. I commend this issue to your consideration, and if indeed we are called upon to give up some antiquated and never- theless dearly beloved prejudice or superstition, if indeed we are called upon for more than that, let us show that prosperity has not corrupted our blood — that it has not weakened our nerve or destroyed our fibre (loud and pro- longed cheers). 149 THE QUESTION OF EMPLOY- MENT * Mr. Chamberlain, who was received with loud cheers, said : I have been told that one of my critics, looking through the numerous speeches which I have been called upon to deliver, some of them in close succession, with only a few minutes' interval, complains that he finds them too mono- tonous (laughter). If that be so, it is not my fault. Where the kindness is universal, how is it possible to make any difference in the gratitude ? (" Hear, hear.") Ladies and gentlemen, wherever I have been I have been received with the greatest consideration, but nowhere more so than in this great city (cheers), and from no clas^ more than the working class, the majority of the population upon whose continued welfare and contentment the life of the kingdom depends. You have, it is true, introduced a new element to-day into the proceedings, for you have not only presented to me an address in the most flattering and generous terms, an address which deeply moves me as being more than any- thing I could have expected in appreciation of my services, but you have accompanied it with this beautiful casket, which has been offered to me in terms so graceful that you have added immensely to the pleasure with which I receive it (cheers). Ladies and gentlemen, believe me that the prediction Alderman Salvidge has made will certainly be fulfilled. I shall value your gift as long as I live, and my children will cherish it after me, not merely for its intrinsic worth, but for all that it carries with it. For the great ;./ Will the Colonies^ Reciprocate ? Now there is another objection which they take. They say, " What Mr. Chamberlain proposes is a one-sided arrange- ment." This is Mr. Asquilh's version. " The Colonies," he says, " have not shown the slightest inclination to respond to his offer ; they will offer nothing worth having in return.*' Now, how does he know ? (Laughter and applause.) It is news to me. Whence does he derive this astounding infor- mation ? Well, sir, I know something of the Colonies, but I am not bold enough, and I am not presumptuous enough, to predict beforehand exactly what all these great States each with its separate government, each with its separate interests, will do in any case which has not arisen. I have confidence that they will do what is right — ("hear, hear ") — but I refrain altogether from saying — I have not the special information at my disposal which would justify me in saying exactly how they would meet our offer when it is made to them. Time will show whether I have under- taken this crusade in ignorance of their wishes — (cries of " No ") — or of their intentions. Meanwhile there are some: things that we all know — except Mr. Asquith (loud laughter).- They are public property. Preferences already Given We know, for instance, that a preferential system has- been asked for by all the Colonies on three separate occa- sions. It was asked for at the Ottawa Conference and at two Conferences over which I presided in London. It was- asked for by the representatives of the several Colonies^ and they were not repudiated when they returned liome.- 193 N The Changed Conditions We know as regards Canada that the Prime Minister of Canada, that the leader of the Opposition, that Mr. Tarte, one of the most distinguished representatives of French Canada, are all in favour of this principle (" hear, hear "). We know that Mr. Fielding, who is the Minister of FinaJice in the present Government, in his Budget speech in the Canadian Parliament, while saying that reciprocal prefer- ence was what the Canadian people desire, added, that if their offers and suggestions were put aside -by -the Mother Country, no one could complain if they considered them- selves free to reconsider the preference they had already given us. They gave us voluntarily of their own accord a preference of 33 1.3 per cent., and one result of that pre- ference is that our trade with Canada has gone up in the last few years until it is nearly double — it has increased by something like £6,000,000 — and the Canadian Govern- ment and the Canadian Opposition say that if we are willing to reciprocate they are willing to negotiate and see if they cannot give us further advantages (" hear, hear "). So much for Canada. In Australia the Prime Minister of Australia, and I may add the Prime Minister of New Zea- land, have both made this policy of reciprocal preference a leading article in their programme. My friend, Mr. Reid, the leader of the Opposition in Australia, although he is him- self a convinced Free Trader, has, if the reports of his speeches have been correct, declared that if he could not have abso- lute Free Trade, he would be prepared to give the Mother Country a preference of 50 per cent, (applause). In South Africa the whole British community is in favour of the preference of 25 per cent, which has already been accorded to us (applause). Mr. Hoffmeyer, the leader of the Dutch community in Capetown, has made no objection, but he has said that if there be no reciprocity he does not believe that that preference will be lasting. Now those are facts which cannot be disputed. You may draw your own con- clusions. For my part, I say that when I remember how the Colonies responded to our appeal, when I remember how, when we were in stress and difficulty, they sent us men in thousands and tens of thousands — (loud applause) — that they 194 Since the Repeal of the Corn Laws paid money, small indeed, in comparison with our vast expenditure, but not inconsiderable when you bear in mind the relative proportion of our population — (" hear, hear ") — when I remember how, when every one's hand seemed raised against us, we relied and rested on the moral support that we had from these great growing States across the sea — (applause) — I for one am not prepared to treat their pro- posals with contempt, and I believe that we may negotiate with them without fear of a quarrel — (" hear, hear ") — and that they will show to us the same spirit of generosity and patriotism which I hope that we shall be ready to show to them (loud cheers). Practical Aspects of the Home Trade Now, I have dealt with some general considerations, and 1 want to say a few words on certain practical aspects of the question. Mr. Asquith, in his speech on Saturday, com- plained that I ignored the homp trade ; that I did not answer his arguments upon this question. I ask Mr. Asquith's pardon (applause). I cannot answer every argument in one speech. I cannot answer all my opponents at once. I remember a case, reported at the time, of a civilian in a foreign country who was supposed to have said something very offensive to a certain regiment. The whole "of the officers of the regiment, from the colonel to the^^ensign, sent him a challenge (laughter). He accepted all the chal- lenges, but he said he preferred, if they did not object, to kill them one by one (loud laughter and applause). He added that he hoped they would draw lots as to which was to be first (renewed laughter). I wish my opponents would draw lots (more laughter). I am willing to put Mr. Asquith in the front rank. Now, what does he mean when he says I ignore the home trade ? I do not think I have made a single speech in which I have not given extreme importance to it. Why, sir, the main object I have in view in the whole of this crusade is to secure to this country a strong home trade — (applause) — to make that the centre of a self-sustaining Empire (applause). Sir, I gather that Mr. Asquith thinks 195 The Changed Conditions the home trade is very prosperous, and that if that is the case, it does not matter how much our export trade is dechning. I am not certain that the home trade is very prosperous ; but suppose it is, it is no answer at all to my arguments. If the foreign trade is declining, and at the same time the foreigners are sending more and more of their goods into our home markets, it does not take a genius to discover that in that case the home market will suffer sooner or later, and more likely sooner than later (laughter). I believe that all this is a part of the old fallacy about the transfer of employment. This is the idea : you are engaged in a certain industry ; that industry is destroyed by dumping, or foreign competition, or by sweating, or by any other cause. But you have no right to complain ; some other industry is prospering, and it is your own fault if you do not leave the industry which is falling and join the industry which is rising (laughter). Well, sir, it is an admirable theory ; it satisfies everything but an empty stomach (laughter and cheers). Look how easy it is. Your once great trade in sugar-refining is gone ; all right, try jam (laughter). Your iron trade is going ; never mind, you can make mouse- traps (laughter and cheers). The cotton trade is threatened ; well, what does that matter to you ? Suppose you try dolls' eyes (laughter). It was once a Bir- mingham trade, and that is why I mention it. But how long is this to go on ? Take sugar-refining. Very well, that went ; jam took its place. Why on earth are you to suppose that the same process which ruined the sugar- refinery will not in the course of time be applied to jam ? And when jam is gone ? Then you have to find some- thing else. And beheve me, that although the industries of this country are very various, you cannot go on for ever. You cannot go on watching with indifference the disappear- ance of your principal industries, and always hoping that you will be able to replace them by secondary and inferior industries (cheers). And putting aside altogether the indi- vidual suffering that is caused by every transfer of employ- ment, by taking the working-man from some trade in which he has been brought up, and in which he has been engaged 196 Since the Repeal of the Corn Laws all his life, and setting him down to something else to which he is not accustomed, and for which he has no aptitude — putting aside all that individual suffering, I say there is no evidence whatever that there is any real compensation to the nation. There is no evidence whatever that when one trade goes another immediately takes its place (applause)^^ The Building Trade .' ' I observe that Sir William Harcourt has been looking at the Blue-book, and not only that, but he has taken advantage of passing through Derby and Birmingham in a railway carriage to make observations in regard to our commercial position. What he said in effect is : "It may be that some industries are decaying, but then others are growing, and as I passed through these places I saw evidence of enormous activity on the part of the building trade." I have a letter to-day from a builder in Derby. He says that in Derby a great number of men are out of employment in the build- ing trade. But really that does not affect the argument. The building trade : What does it mean ? The tinplate trade is bad, and are the tinplate operatives to lay bricks ? But what an illustration ! What an unfortunate illustration to take ! (Laughter.) The building trade is one of the few trades in this country which is protected, not by legis- lation, but by the circumstances, the necessary circum- stances of the trade and the regulations of the trade. Have you ever heard — there may be a case, but I do not know of it — have you ever heard of a foreign contractor, say an Italian builder, coming over here and competing with British builders, to build houses or public buildings or manu- factories — bringing over with him his own labour, at, let us say, IS. to 2s. 6d. a day — (laughter) — and accordingly con- tracting for much lower prices ? My latest experience is that of the Birmingham University (" hear, hear "). We put forward our specifications and asked for tenders. No foreigner — (cheers) — no foreigner offered to compete, and, if the progress of the building trade is to be quoted at all it tells in favour of Protection — ("hear, hear") — and not 197 The Changed Conditions in favour of Free Trade. As I have said, by natural cir- cumstances the building trade is protected, and if there were to be such an incident — if a foreign contractor were to come over from some country where labour is cheaper and bring that cheap labour to build either our university or anything else — I think he would find himself in a very difficult position (" hear, hear "). I say, then, that it is childish to suggest to you, in the first place, that a decaying industry can transfer all its capital and all its labour to the building trade, or to some other prosperous industry ; and, in the second place, it is absurd to suppose that an industry in the condition of the building trade is any argument whatever in favour of free imports. Building Materials If you had taken building materials, that would have been a very different case (" hear, hear "). I think those who make all the details of house furniture, those who make iron girders for the support of your floors and roofs, those who, in former times at any rate — those joiners and carpenters who made doors and window-frames — they, perhaps, would have a different tale to tell ("hear, hear "). The builders' trade as a contractors' trade is, as I have said, naturally protected, but there is no protection at all for the materials which come into the business. Now, if our opponents fail, as I think they do fail absolutely, in producing any satis- factory explanation which would justify us in believing that all that is lost in one trade is made up in another, let us see what is the condition of the decaying industries. Mr. Asquith jeers at me, and says I have been working with I do not know how many assistants — I wish I had them — (laughter) — I have been gathering statistics of these decay- ing trades and yet I can produce very few cases. On the con- trary, I can produce scores, but I am not going to fill up a whole speech with the history of decaying trades. What I have endeavoured to do is to deal in each place I have visited with some of the industries with which the people are familiar. Since the Repeal of the Corn Laws Decaying Industries in Birmingham ' ' I will take one or two out of a sheaf in which Birming- ham men are concerned. Take the jewellery trade. We have only statistics for three years ; before that time the Board of Trade did not separate jewellery. In 1900 we sold to foreigners £50,000 worth ; we imported from the same foreigners £137,000 worth, and we were £87,000 to the bad (" Shame ! "). That was in 1900 ; but in 1902 we were £170,000 to the bad ; that is to say, in those three years in this foreign trade we are twice as badly off as we were in 1900. What is the reason ? Well, there are tariffs tariffs which prevent you from sending your jewellery into these foreign countries, and which range up to 45 per cent, and at the same time that this is going on the Colonies are buying twice as much as all the foreign countries put together {loud cheers). It is a very curious thing whichever way you look at this matter, whether you take an individual trade or whether you take the general results of trade altogether you have always the same result ; decline in exports to foreign countries, increase of foriegn imports to this country, only concealed, only compensated, by increase in Colonial trade. Take brass manufacture — ("hear, hear") — and I mean the smaller brass manufacture. In the last ten years the imports from foreign countries have increased threefold. The tariff upon brass- work ranges up to 60 per cent., and the Colonies are our best customers (" hear, hear "). I do not know what other people think, but I think that if this continues, and if the Colonial trade were to decline, as it will do if you do not adopt this system of reciprocal pre- ference, the brass trade will decline, and not all the Trade Unionists in the world will save the brass trade from ruin, or the people who are employed in the brass trade from t e destitution and misery from which we wish to protect them (applause). Will you have another trade ? (" Yes.") WeU, take one of the oldest in Birmingham. It is^men- tioned in Hutton's " History." In the pearl-button trade six thousand workpeople used to be employed, and to-day 199 The Changed Conditions there are about one thousand, and very few of them have full employment (" hear, hear "). Why is that ? It is largely due to the influence of the McKinley tariff, which shut out pearl buttons from America, and it is partly due to the dumping of pearl buttons from the Continent into England, and even into Birmingham itself (" Shame ! "). I received to-day a telegram from a great house in the city who said that whereas Birmingham used to produce small wares of all kinds, and was the largest source of them, they are now got chiefly from Germany, and that one of the greatest German manufacturers had told him that if Mr. Cham- berlain's policy were to be carried, and he thought that it was — ("hear, hear") — and so do I — (loud applause) — if it were carried he would bring his manufactory over here, and if he brought his manufactory over here it would be British workmen who would be employed, who would get the wages, which are now enjoyed by German workmen ("hear, hear"). I wonder what has become of the five thousand pearl-button makers who were once employed and who have lost their employment ? (" Making jam," and loud laughter.) " The Cycle Trade I will only give you one more ("Go on," and applause). This time I am going to take a new industry, a compara- tively new industry. Take the cycle trade. Now, w^hat is the case there ? Our exports to the foreign protected countries have fallen £566,000 in ten years. Our exports to the Colonies rose in the same period £367,000 (applause). What was the cause of that change ? When the foreigners found that the manufacture of cycles was rather a good thing they put tariffs on cycles ranging up to 45 per cent., and not content with that, when the time of depression was strongest in America, the Americans dumped their cycles down here at prices with which the English manufacturers could not compete. In 1897 the United States of America sent to the United Kingdom alone £460,000 worth of cycles, and at the same time they flooded 200 Since the Repeal of the Corn Laws the Colonies, sending to British possessions £340,000 worth all of which we might have had if we had had tariffs to pre- vent unfair competition, if we had had preference arrange- ments with the Colonies which would have kept the trade for us (" hear, hear "). I have one point more. If this great question had to be solved upon these considerations alone, upon the decline of our foreign trade, upon the progress of our foreign com- petitors, upon the necessity of keeping the Colonies with us — I should have no fear. The working classes of this country, the business men of this country, they know where the shoe pinches better than the political economists and the lawyers who profess to instruct them (" hear, hear "). But when we come to this, when we have got so far, then our oppo- nents play their trump-card. Then they say, " Very well, if it be true that your trade is falling off, that your primary industries are decaying, still you had better bear the evil that you know^ sooner than risk an evil that you know not of (laughter). You cannot make any change " — again, what a curious argument for a Radical ! — " you cannot make any change without being worse off. And, above all, if you are foolish enough to listen to Mr. Chamberlain — (laughter) — you will find the price of your food increased, the old bad days will return, destitution will be your lot, famine will stare you in the face. If you do not mind starvation your- selves, think of your families, think of your children." My answer is, that all this prediction of evil resulting from my proposals — prediction which you ought to suspect, because it comes from prophets who have always been wrong — • (laughter) — is a grotesque misrepresentation. The Big Loaf and the Little Loaf I want to give you a practical illustration. You know that during the last few weeks the walls of Birming- ham have been covered with a poster, a flaming poster which is intended as an advertisement for a London news- paper — (hisses) — which made itself notorious for its pro-Boer sympathies during the late war, and for the ready credence 201 The Changed Conditions which it gave to every calumny on our soldiers or upon our statesmen (" Shame ! "). That poster shows you the big loaf bigger than any I have ever seen — I should think it must weigh about eight-and-twenty pounds (laughter). It shows you a little loaf, smaller than any I have ever seen — (laughter) — and which, I suppose, might weigh a few ounces. And it tickets one " The Free Trade Loaf," and it tickets the little one " The Zollverein Loaf." The placard has no other object than to induce you to believe that if you adopt my policy of preference with the Colonies it is this little bit of a loaf to which you and your families will be reduced, and you will have sacrificed the mammoth loaf which appears in another part of the poster. Now, I have had the curiosity to inquire what would be the exact difference in the size of the loaf if the whole tax which I propose to be put upon corn was met by a corresponding reduction in the size of the loaf. I asked my friend Mr. Alderman Bowkett (" hear, hear") to make me two loaves in order to test this question (applause). (Mr. Chamberlain here unwrapped a parcel on the platform and produced two quartern loaves, which he held aloft, and which had no perceptible difference in size, the action of the hon. gentleman being met by loud and prolonged applause.) I do not know whether your eyes are better than mine, but I admit that when I first saw these loaves I was abso- lutely unable to tell which was the little one and which was the big one. I know there is a difference, because I know that in the smaller one a few ounces less flour have been used in order to correspond to the amount of the tax. But it is still, I think, a sporting question — (loud laughter) — which is the big one and which is the little one. What is to be said of a cause which is supported by such dishonest represen- tations as the one to which I have referred ? (" Hear, hear.") You can see for yourselves that the difference is slight, but that is not the whole of the case. I have pointed out — I have given you figures, and arguments which I will not repeat, that there is reason to believe that the greater part of the tax, whatever it may be, will be paid by the foreigner andijnot by the consumer (" hear, hear "). But I have said 202 Since the Repeal ot the Corn Laws something else — so anxious am I that in no conceivable circumstances it shall ever be said of me that I increased the cost of living — the burden of life to the poor of this country, that I have said I will take an extreme case. I will suppose that the whole tax is paid by the consumer, and I will give him an exactly equivalent amount in remission on other taxes which enter into his daily existence (" hear, hear "). I have done. I have endeavoured, in the course of my speech to-night as I have done in all the other speeches that I have delivered, while attempting to answer serious argu- ments still to avoid anything in the nature of purely party or personal controversy. I recognise with sorrow that some of those with whom I have been intimately connected in recent years of my political life differ from me on this point. I recognise with pleasure and gratification that, on the other hand, some of the strongest of my political opponents are with me now (" hear, hear "). They see as I do, that this is a question above party — (" hear, hear ") — a question which affects national interests. I have endeavoured to state the case as I see it, to state it fairly and honestly (" hear, hear "). I have not taken, as has been suggested, I have not taken my figures, or my facts, or my quotations second hand. Although I have had a great task put upon my shoulders, yet I have endeavoured, as far as that was possible, to verify myself everything that I have asserted ("hear, hear"). I have not tried to rush your decision (" hear, hear "). I have not endeavoured to take people by surprise ; on the contrary, I have asked for discussion and deliberation, and it is only after hearing all that can be said on both sides that I desire that you should come to your final conclusion (" hear, hear "). The issue will be in your hands. It will be with the people of this country. And none more momentous has ever been submitted to any nation at any time (" hear, hear "), Here, at any rate, is one point upon which all parties are agreed, whether we be Free Traders or whether we be Tariff Reformers : we all alike agree that the issue which is now raised is one on which may depend the prosperity of the country, the welfare of its people, the union of^the Empire (applause). For my 203 The Changed Conditions part, ladies and gentlemen, I care very little whether the result will be to make this country, already rich, a little richer. The character of a nation is more important than its opulence (applause). What I care for is that this people shall rise to the height of its great mission ; that they who, in past generations, have made a kingdom, surpassed by none, should now in altered circumstances and new con- ditions show themselves to be worthy of the leadership of the British race, and, in co-operation with our kinsmen across the seas, they should combine to make an Empire which may be, which ought to be, greater, more united, more fruitful for good, than any Empire in human history (great cheering). xTb R A R or THE UNIVERSITY if*-" INDEX Africa, East, 143 Africa, South, 2 et seq. ; 28, 43, 63, 112, 120, 187, 194 Agitation, Past History of the, 108 AHen Immigration, 137 AlkaH, 102 Alm^ , The, 3 Alnwick, 127 American Steel Trust, The, 54 America, South, 26 America, United States of, viii, 7, It, 14, 24 et seq. their tariff an abomination, 29, 30, 41, 52, 61, 80, 87 et seq.; 95, 102, 125, 126, 145, 164, 165, 185, 200 Anchors, 122 Anti-Corn Law Agitation, The, 177 Anti-Corn Law "hypocrites," 131 movement, 130 legislation, 170 Ashley, Professor, 167 Asquith, Mr., 72, 73, 82,84,85, 125, 126, 141 et seq. ; 177, 192 ct seq. Australia, 4, 10 preferential tariffs and, 11,27, 30, 112, 120, 146, 187, 191, -. 194 Bacon, 36, 77 Balfour, Mr., 20, 146 Bannockburn, 3 Bavaria, 15, 94 Belgium, 137 Big Loaf and Little Loat, The, 51 56, 64, 68, 81, 201, 202 Birmingham, i, 114, igy e^ seq. University, 197 Birrell, Mr. Augustine, 117 Bismarck, Prince, 52 Board of Trade, 31, 42, 77, 84 199 Boers, The, 37, 179 Bottles, 157 Bounties, vi, 53, 58, 67, 116, 142 143 Bowkett, Mr. Alderman, 202 Bradford, 87 Brass trade, 199 Brasswork, 192, 199 Bread, 77, 86, 98, 164, 170, 182, 183 Bright, Mr., 16, 130, 131 British Exclusion from Foreign Coasting Trade, 144 British Restrictions and Foreign Freedom, 143 Building Trade, The, 197 Building Materials, 197 Burgundy, 172 Business of British Statesmen The, 8 20 Index California, 183 Campbell- Bannerman, Sir H., 73, 80, 155, 190 Canada : immigration from United States, 7, 10 preferential tariffs and, 11 et seq.; 2yetseq.', 43, 112, 120, 146, 187, 189, 194 Canadian Opposition, The, 194 Cape Colony, 10 Capetown, 194 Case Against Dumping, The, 125 Chance, A Curious, 109 Chancellor of the Exchequer, The, 42> 77. 78 Charlottenburg Schools, 142 Chartists, The, 131, 180, 181 China, 26 Churchill, Lord Randolph, 108 Claims of Empire, The, 99 Coal, 74, loi, 102 Cobden, Mr., vi, 16, 25, 48, 59, 74, 75> 115, 131. 168, 173, 174, 181, 184 et seq. Cobden Club, 36, 52 ct seq. ; 78, 85, 132 et seq.', 140, 145, 159 Cobdeniem, Its underlying prin- ciple, 148 Cobden's miscalculations, 184 Cobden treaty, The, 94 Cocoa, 38 Coffee, 38, 77 Colonial policy, Our, 4 Colonial trade. Our, 126 Colonies and Imperial Defence, 9 Commerce and Federal Union, 7 Commons, House of, i, 3, 36, 58, 109, 134 " Community of Sacrifice," 11 Compensation to Workmen Acts, 54, 99, 135 Competition, Fair, 1 1 5 foreign, viii, 31, 58, 155, igi, 196, 201 Condition of the Country, The, 79 Consumer, The: 86 et seq.; 113, 163 et seq. ; 173, 202, 203 Consumers and Producers, 97 et seq. ; 134 Corn, 79 ; 164 et seq. duty on foreign, 36, 37 laws concerning, 81, 89, 133, 170, 178 et seq. ; 202 preference on, 191 tax on, 14, 113, 170 Corn Tax, The, 112 deputation, The, 114 Coronation Conference, in Cost of living, not to be added to, 37, 78, 129 Cottons, 13, 59 Courtney, Mr., 190 Coventry, 157 Cuba, Preferential arrangements with, 145 Cycles, 200 Cycle Trade, The, 200 Dairy Produce, 36, 40 Death Duties, 164 Decaying Industries in Birming- ham, 199 Decline of British Shipping, The, T40 Decline of Export Trade, 50 - Defence, Imperial, 11, 91 " Defence is greater than opul- ence," ig Delusive Returns, 154 Derby, 197 Difference between Wealth and Welfare, The, 153 Disintegration of Empire, 44 Disruption of the Empire, 95, 192 Dock Labourer, The, 154 Does the Consumer Pay ? 86 206 Index Doll's Eyes, 197 Duke of Devonshire, The, 168, 191 " Dumping," 125, 126 Dumping Policy, The, 156 " Dumpophobia," 125 Early Free Trade Promises, 115 Ecroyd, Sir Farrer, no Edgworth, Professor, 167 Education Bill, 14 Effect of Duties on Prices, The, 166 Eggs, 77 Egypt, 26 Electoral Power of the Working Classes, The, 131 Emigration to Colonies, British, 119 Empire, its meaning, 9 Employers' Liability Act, 99 Employment and Wages, loc Exports, Our, 24 et seq. ; 56, 60, 74, 83, 85, 116, 124, 139, 155, 196, 199 Exports and Imports, Test of, 85 Factory Acts, 54, 99, 135 Fair Trade, 109 ef seq. Fair Wages Clauses, 54, 135 Federal Council, A, 91 Fielding. Mr., 94 Figures not Conclusive, 165 Fiscal Gospel, Our, 168 Fiscal Policy, Our, 14, 19, 118 Colonial, 118, 165 Fiscal System, Our, 16, 109, ii6, 178 Flour, 34, 38, 79, 202 Food, price of, 21, 36, 166 cheap, 131, 170, 178 dear, bogeys of, 95, 128 Fooders, Free, 24, 132, 152, 168, igi Foreign Attacks on British Trade, Foreign Exports, The, 67 PoUcy, Our, 4 protected countries. The, 186, 200 Fowler, Sir H., 72 France, 31, 39, 41, 52, 61, 80, 88, 89 Cobden's Treaty with, 94,102, 167, 172 Free Food League, 191, 192 Free Imports and Prosperity, 80 Free Trade, vi., 14, 47, 48, 62, 68, 73,74,80,81,94,95,111, 115, 128, 130 et seq. ; 169, 174 et seq. agitation, 189 a middle-class movement, 130 an Anti- Imperial Policy, 173 doctrine, 191,194, 198 Leaders and Cobdenism, igo movement, 181, 182 et seq. 189, 190 Sophistries, 184 " Free Trade Loaf, The,'' 202 Free Traders, vi., 14, 47 et seq. ; 57 60, 68, 80, 114, 115, 131 et seq. ; 152, 168 their policy anti- Imperial, 1 73 178, 181, 191, 194, 203 French Claret, 172 French Treaties, The, 172 Fruit, Colonial, 36 Future of the Empire, 6 Future with the Empire. The 174 General Election, 18, 106 Germany, 15, 25, 29, 31, 39» 4Ij 52 61, 80, 87 et seq. ; 94, 95, 102, i2^, 158, 167, 172, 200 •07 Index Gladstone, Mr., 169 et seq. An Appeal to, 169 Gladstone, Mr. Herbert, 72 Glasgow, 22, 23, 44, 73, 83, 87, 92, 1 17, 171, 186 Glasgow Herald, The, 50, 56 Glass, 102 Glass Trade, The, 157 Gold, 81, 183 Goschen, Lord, 86, 88 et seq. ; 94, H3» 163 et seq.] igo Greenock, 44, 51, 54, 57, 58, 66, 70 Grey, Sir E., 90, 127, 128 plate-glass industr}?', 157, 158 Harcourt, Sir W., 169, 180, 182 186, igo, 197 Hamond, Sir C, no Hanover, 15 Hardware, 59, 70, iot, 102, 196 Harris, Mr. Leverton, 107 Hewins, Professor, 87 Hicks Beach, Sir M., i6g, 190, 191 Hofmeyr, Mr., in, 194 Holland, 148 House Tax, 164 Hutton's History, 199 Imperial Council, An, 90, 192 Defence, 192 ■ Federation, 188 Federation League, The, 39 Government, The, 122 Idea, The, 127 Legislation, 192 Imperial Policy, Our, 4 how affecting young life of Empire, 5 Imperial Policy, new development of, II mistake in it irretrievable, 17 191 Taxation, 192 Union, 127, 188, 191 Imperialism, 5, 148, 168, 174 Importers, Free, 31, 51, 57, 80, 114, 160 Imports and Exports, Relative Proportions of, 82 Imports, Free, 20, 28, 80, 8^ et seq. Iron, loi, 139, 159, 173, 199 Income Tax, 164 India, 120 Industry, British, 24 Interdependence of Trades, The lOI Ireland, 148 Iron, 13, 59, 70, loi, 102, 190 Italy, 39, 4i» 89 Jam, 196 Jams and Pickles, 58 Japanese treaty, 94 Jephcott, Mr., i Jewellery trade, 199 Joint Heirs of the Empire, 103 Jubilee Conference, in Keir Hardie, Mr., 133 Kidd, Mr, Benjamin, 83 Labour Leaders, 27 Laissez-faire policy, 123 Leader of the Opposition, 32 Leeds, 35, 36, 93 Lincoln, President, 52 20S Index Little England, i8 Little Englanders, 5, 8 Manchester School of, 17, 60, 148 Little Englandism, 148 '• Little Loaf and Big Loaf," 51, 56, 64,68, 81, 202 Liverpool, 124, 128, 138, 143, 144, 147. 151. 154, 169 Local and Imperial Politics, 3 London County Council, 136 Lord Goschen and Colonial rela- tions, 94 Lord Rosebery and Empire's future, 92 Lords, House of, 132 Madagascar, 144 Manchester, 78, 158 Mandate asked for, A, 117 McKinley, Mr., 152 McKinley Tariff, 87, 200 Meat, .tax on foreign, 38, 41, 77 86, 89 Mill, J. S., 39, 87, 167 Milling industry, 38 Mines Regulation Act, 99, 135 Mongredien, Mr., 181 et seq. Morley's " Life of Cobden," 174 Most-favoured-nation clause, 172 Mouse-traps, 197 Mr. Asquith's explanation, 143 Mutual bargains, 120 Mutual sacrifice and imperial benefit, 78 Napoleon, 148 Natal, 10 National, Colonial, and Business Question, A, 72 National Liberal Association, 117 National policy. Our, 4 sacrifice, Virtue of, 96 Navigation Laws, 19 Needles, 100 Newcastle, 72, 87, 100, 102, no, 188 Newcastle Chronicle, The, 141 New development of Imperia policy, II New York, 145 No sacrifice demanded, 160 Offals, 38 Offer of the Colonies, The, 75 "Open Door," The, 116 Ottawa Conference, no, 193 Our Colonies and our Future, 147 Our Relations with the Colonies, 186 Paper, 170 Pearl-button trade, 200 Personal Equation of Suffering, The, 158 Philadelphia, 54 Philadelphia Ledger, The, 54 Plate-glass Industry, 157 Policy of Retaliation, A, 116 Portland, Maine, 144 Potato famine in Ireland, The, 1S2 Practical Aspects of the Home Trade, 195 Preference, 20, 32, 36, 64, 75, 99, III et seq., 119, 146, 187, 191, 194, 199, 201 Preferences already given, 193 Preferential system, A, 193; trade, III Preferential treaty, 172 Premiers, Conference of, 11 ■ Preparing for a long conflict, 107 09 O Ind ex Prescot, 156 Preston, 180 Price of Wheat, Effects on the, 88 Production : free, 40 cost of, 53, 136 taxed, 40 Prohibition of Prison Goods' Act, 135 Proposed taxes, Advantages of the, 89 Protection : its history, 14, 51, 81, 82, 130, 178 et seq., 184, 191, 197 Protectionist, 14, 28, 68, 82, 134, 147, 169, 178, 181 Protective system, 109, 160 Public interest in the question, 71 Question at issue , The, 64 of principle, A, 167 that touches all. A, 151 yuinquennial periods, compari- son of, 83 (Juotation from Cobden, A, 181 Rangoon, 145 Reception of proposals abroad, 164 Reciprocal trade, 20 Reciprocity, 15, 16, 41, 108, 113, 131 " Red herring across the Path," 148, 165, 192 Reform, Fiscal, 41, 46, 97 Registration duty on corn, The recent, 163 Reid, Mr., 194 Relations, Our Colonial, 1 10 Remissions, 19, 36 Ren wick, Mr., M.P., 97 Resignation of Mr. Chamberlain, 106 Retaliation, 17, 19, 41, 47, 52, 81,103 bogey of, 95, no, 116, 146 Rhodes, Mr., 21 Rice, Indian, 145, 157 Riga, 144 Ripon, Lord, in Ritchie, Mr., 109, 113, 169, 190 Rosebery, Lord, 35, 71 et seq., 92, 93, III, 143, 188 Russia, 54, 88, 173 St. George's Hall, 97 Salt, Decomposition of, 102 San Francisco, 144 Saxony, 15 Scotland, 20, 35, 157, 174 Self-sustaining Empire, 195 Serious critics, The objections of, 73 Sheffield, 20, 60, 71, 92, 93 Shipbuilding and shipowning, 66, 68, 69, 141, 142 Shipping, 68, 69 industry, 139, 140 ei siq., 146 " Ships, Colonies, and Commerce," 147 Shoreditch, 137 Sidgwick, Professor, 39, 87, 167 Silk, 59 Sketch-plan, A., 37 Slop clothing, 137 Smith, Adam, 19, 68 Some striking figures, 182 South African problem. 2 Spencer, Lord, 73 Spitalfields, 87 Steel, 13, 54 St. Helen's, 157 Straight questions, 179 Subsidies, vi., 142 Sugar, 41, 57 e/ seq 210 Ind ex Supposed bribe to the Col®nies, The, 91 " Sweating,' 196 bounties, 67, 86, 170 preference on, 191 refining, 196 Sweden, 39, 52, 81, 167 Switzerland, viii Tariff, Arranging a, 122 reform and workmen, 56 reformers, formers. Imperial, vi, 203 Reform League, vi Tariffs, vi, 29, 49, 51, 55 on cycles, 200 preferential, 11, 31, 75, 90, 92, 106, 108, no, III prohibitive, 44 protective, 31 reform, 71, wall, 28, 29, 108, 185 war of, 61, 66, 92, 103, 108, 119, 122, 124, 125, 165, 185, 186, 199 Tarte, Mr., 194 Taxation, Transference of, 160 ' Taxes on food paid by foreigners , ' ' 39 Tea, 20, 41, 86, 170 preference on, 191 Temperance reform, 4 Tenantfarmer, The, 115 Thimbles, 121 Times, The, 54, 140, 189 Tobacco, 98 Trade and the Empire, 61 Trade, Imperial, 27 British, signs of decay in, 23, 24 foreign, 12, 13, 69, 186, 187, 196, 199, 201 our Colonial, 8, 30, 32, 89, 90, 126, 140, 186, 188, 199 tinplate, 30, 197 Trade runs in cycles, 159 Trade Unionists and the Cobden Club, 132 Trade with Cuba, Our, 145 Trade Unionism, its legitimate objects, 134, 138 Unionists, 129, 133 Unions, 132, 133 Transfer of employment, 196 Transport trade, 69 Transvaal, 10 Treasury, The, 38 Truck Acts, 135 Trusts, vi, 116 Tynemouth, 105 Union, Commercial, 90, 91 Union of the Empire, 126 Vauxhall Bridge, 136 Venice, 23 Vladivostock, 144 Waltham watch factory 157 War, Franco- German, 83 War of Tariffs, The, 60 Warrington, 157, 158 Watches, 156, 158 Waterloo, 3 '* We stick to our well-tried policy," 188 What the Colonies will do, 119 Wheat, tax on, 37, 88, 166, 183 Why we cannot reciprocate, 13 Will the Colonies reciprocate ? 193 Wine, Colonial, 36, 191 Wire, 158 Woollens, 13, 59 2X1 Index Working classes and fiscal re- form, 97 Working-class point of view, The, 129 Wiirtembnrg, 7 Zanzibar, 142 Zealand, New, 11, 15, 43, 112, 146, 194 ZoUverein, 94, 95 " ZoUverein Loaf," The, 202 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson dr» Co London 4r» Edinburgh l(U^HB^iaip5