r of luxury in
every domain of life.

CHAPTER VI.

LET WELL ALONE.

The preceding chapters have been mainly statistical. Their object has
been to show, by producing the best evidence available, that alarmists
like the author of "Made in Germany" have no real ground for their
fears, that British trade is not going to the devil, but that, on the
contrary, the nation as a whole is in a condition of marvellous and
still rapidly-growing prosperity. If that be so, if there be no disease,
then obviously is there no need for the remedy which Mr. Williams and
other Protectionists are anxious to foist upon the country. But though
that conclusion will be sufficiently obvious to most minds, there are
among us hypochondriacal persons who never think that they are quite
well, and these unfortunates will still hanker after some patent
medicine to cure their imaginary ills. It is worth while, therefore,
briefly to point out how utterly unsuited to our alleged ailments, even
if they existed, is the remedy which the Protectionists propose.

THE CASE FOR PROTECTION.

Personally I am not a fanatical believer in Free Trade, or, for that
matter, in anything else except the law of gravitation and the rules of
arithmetic. I am quite willing to admit that there are circumstances
under which a Protectionist tariff might be advantageous to a country.
But the practical question is whether, under the present circumstances
of Great Britain, Protection is likely to bring any advantage to her. In
dealing with that question I will venture at the outset to deny that
Protection has been any real advantage to Germany. The Protectionists
are fond of arguing that the heavy import duties which Germany levies on
British goods have enabled German manufacturers in the first place to
secure their home market, and in the second place to build up an
enormous export trade at our expense. The argument is plausible, but it
suffers from one fatal defect: it is unsupported by facts. As one reads
the writings and listens to the talk of Protectionists, one's mind
becomes unconsciously saturated with the notion that British trade is
rapidly declining and German trade as rapidly increasing. It is upon
this implied proposition that all their arguments are based; this is the
primary postulate upon which rests their whole house of cards.

THE ALLEGED EXPANSION OF GERMAN TRADE.

But what are the facts? I have looked carefully through the figures
showing th