AND ON THE CONTINENT.

59

As a matter of fact experience teaches that such a relation canreally happen, but still not beyond reasonable bounds. A fewmillions in cash taken from or added to the stores of preciousmetals of a country accomplish of themselves alone a raising orlowering of the rate of interest which is sufficient to lead tothe opposite result, and therewith cause an equality. Generallythe money market is of itself very sensitive to the increaseand decrease of amounts which do not come into considerationin comparison with the gigantic sums of international exchangeof goods. The whole of the precious metal of a nation, includingthat used for ornamental and industrial puiposes, would not besufficient to pay, even for only one year, for the imports. Thus,for instance, in 1880 the whole stores of precious metals inEngland were computed at 140 million pounds, whilst the importsamounted to over 400 millions.

Looking from this point of view the cotton manufacturers ofLancashire asserted that it was immaterial whether the exportsof their yarns and goods were placed under an export duty or theimports of the goods received in exchange were subjected to animport duty. As England satisfied its own industrial wants, thegreat mass of imports could only consist of nature’s products;the dearer, and those natural products forming a luxury, are, how-ever, only bought when the longing for food is stilled ; thereforewheat was the most important exchange article of foreign andnon-industrial nations for the English cotton and other industrialproductions. Wisdom also demands that one should let in thechief exchange mediums of agricultural nations free of duty ifone would not lead too early to the introduction of an industrialsystem (51).

That trade interests predominated is shown already in Cobden’ sfirst sentence in which he touches the question. The repeal ofthe Corn-Laws was the means to return to the battle in the world’smarket, under more favourable conditions to defeat the competi-tion everywhere newly arisen. “To stem the import of corninto an industrial country is nothing less than to kill the livingnerves of its foreign trade” (52). Industry has to bear the

51. Committee on Manufactures

52. Compare Richard Cobden: “ Political Writings’’('London, 1SG7), vol. I.,143, 288. Gladstone, in a debate on the 23rd March. 1842. expressed pregnantlythe point of view under notice: “The import of 50,000 cattle leads to animport trade to the value of half a million. It therefore leads to an exporttrade of a similar amount, which makes increased industry and labour neces-sary.” Similarly also, Ure “ Philosophy of Manufactures, ” p. 448.