The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-01-17

mot1er country. Il am impressed he says,
with the extreme Importance of secur-
ing as large a share as possible of the mu-
tual trade of the United Kingdom and the
colonies for British producers and manu-
facturers, whether located in the colonies
or in the United Kingdom" That is q
practical motive and is not altogether
selhsh one, so far as England is concerned.
Mr.. Chamberlain not only wishes 10 know
why certain classes of British manufac-
lures have been undersold and displaced
in colonial markets, but he also asks for
return of colonial products which might
De adVantageously exported to the United
Kingdom or to other portions of the en-
pire. That he will receive in reply great
mass OF valuable information 1t would be
safe to assume; but it would be prema ture
to conclude that anything has been done
to hasten the consummation Of imperial
federation.
Let me offer an illustration from one Of
the neglected estates of the empire, Of
which l have personal knowledge from
travel and painstaking investigation. In
the British West Indies the tariffs have
been arranged for the express purpose of
taxing imported manufactures lightly and
imported food heavily. That has been in
violation of the Golden principle of cheap
ening food supplies, but it has operated to
encourage, SO far as possible, the impOr-
tatlon of manufactures from the United
Kingdom. If German traders have entered
those markets and displaced to some ex-
tent British manufactures, it has been in
consequence CT their mercantile intelli-
gence and of the lower cost of the prod
ucts of cheaper labor. They are becoming
the chief rivals of English merchants in
the markets of the world, and the returns
made to the colonial office in response to
Mr.. Chamberla,n's circular will reveal the
results of their successful competition.
The returns will also disclose the fact that
England offers an inadequate outlet for
the tropical produce of those colonies,
Which is absorbed mainly by the United
states Their chief export is sugar, which
has been practically shut out of Europe
through the extraordinary development of
the beet industry, and can be sold on
large scale only in the American market.
The German government is now prOpos-
ing to levy an import duty on foreign su-
gars, which is expected to yield $3.50, 600
annually, and $5,0O0,OOC drawn from this
source is to be expended in TRIPPING the
bount:es Oh beet sugar. If this scheme be
carried Out N the interest Of German ag-
rlculture nothing can be more probable
than vast increase in production and
most destructive competition in the mar
kets of the world, with disastrous effects
upon the cane industries Of the British
West Indies.
Can He Do Anythingf
When Mr.. Chamberlain receives his full
budget of information from those meg
lected estates" what can he do that will
De OF practical utility in increasing trade
between them and the mother country?
Railways are not needed; cable facilities
are adequate; no imperial grants for local
improvements can be suggested; the
steamship service is excellent. So long as
England retains its present system OF I'M
restricted importation from every quarter
of the globe it is powerless either to re-
press the increasing activity and enter
prise of German traders or to protect the
industries of its colonies when exposed to
very serious competition. If the proposed
Berlin scheme be carried into effect the
increased bounties will enable German
beet producers to sell their sugar to eX-
porters at prices which will be ruinous to
West Indian planters; and what can Mr..
Chamberlain do in London to avert the
The illustration which have given has,
perhaps, a distinctively local application;
but 1t points to the general conclusion
that the main obstacle to imperial fedora
ton is the free trade system of the United
Kingdom. One Of the best informed ex-
perts in the English public service said to
me not long ago: eff we had tariff it
would be comparatively easy to establish
a British Zollverein and to make reality
of what is now a dream-imperial fedora
ton" That was a frank admission from
a free trader, who made all haste to dis
claim any desire to have any change intro
duced in the economic system of Great
Britain; but it revealed the insuperable
difficulties with which Mr.. Chamberlain
and his successors in the colonial office
will be confronted in their attempts to
bring about imperial federation. British
farmers, who have been compelled to emf
crate to the colonies by the ruinous condi-
lions of agriculture at home, have little to
expect from that grandiose project so long
at the home government neglects 10 nro-
tect them against destructive competition
and to offer them substantial advantages
in the worlds great battle for a market.