Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-10

question, Is 1t so prepared? Great Britain in the past has played great part in the worlds history. desire her to continue and see the realization of the great ideal of an empire such as the world has never seen. If that is to be attained, this matter should be treat ed on it's merits without any personal feeling or bitterness and without en- tering on questions of purely party controversy"
 The former colonial secretary allud- ed to the recent visit he paid to Ven ice, when he found the campanile, which had stood for centuries and which when he previously visited Ven- ace seemed as permanent as the city itself, now a mass of ruins. Hc con- tinued:
 "I do not say that I anticipate such h fate for the British empire, but do Say that I see signs of decay, cracks and crevices showing that the founda- tions are not broad and deep enough to sustain it. Am I wrong to warn you? Is it not strange and inconsist- ent that the same. people who indicted the government for it's unpreparedness in the South African war should now denounce me in language equally ex- travagant because I want to prepare you for struggle so serious that if we are defeated the country will lose its place among the great nations, a struggle which wesare invited to meet with anticipated methods and tactics ?'
 Adducing statistics, MT: Chamberlain contrastSxA the moderate increase of T12 per cent in the export trade Of Great Britain and the increase of 30 per cent in her. population since 1872 with the enormous increases of trade in the United States and Germany, and he asked how the country could sxpect to support its growing popula- hon with its trade practically stagnant sor thirty years. He proceeded:
 "On the other hand, the protected countries which, you have been told and I myself one time believed. were going rapidly to wreck and ruin have progressed infinitely better in propor- ton than ourselves, and instead of, as Golden believed, our remaining the workshop for the world we are sending less and less of our manufactures abroad, while the protected countries are sending more and more of their manufactures here. Thus our manu- factured exports from 6116,0o0,0O0 in 1872 have gradually dwindled to f73,- 5o0,Oo0 in 1902 to the protected coun- tries of Europe and the United States.
 Tn the same period our exports to mountaineering countries like Egypt, China and South America have prac- tically remained unchanged This loss of trade to the protected countries has not been noticed hitherto because dur ing the same period, our exports to the British colonies have increased in ratio to counterbalance this loss and are now more valuable than our trade with the whole of Europe and the United States together. Our colonial trade, in fact, is the most rapidly. increasing, i'm portant and valuable of all our trade. Meanwhile foreign exports to the Unit ed Kingdom have risen from E63, ,00O,- 900 in 1872 to f149,oe0, ,oeo in 1902. do not comment on that, but when am told that we ought to hold the same opinions as our ancestors I reply that we should if the circumstances remain ed the same.
 "I have made these figures clear. It is plain that our imperial trade is es- sential to our prosperity. If it declines or fails to inc-ease in proportion to our population and lA the loss of our for eign trade then we shall sink into q ffthEate nation. We have reached our highest point, and am not certain but that some of my opponents regard that with absolute complacency. I have the misfortune to be an optimist. I do not believe in the setting of the British star, but then I do not believe in the folly of the British people I trust them and trust the working classes. have confidence that they who are our masters, electorally speaking, will have the intelligence to see that they must wake up, that they must meet the new conditions with an altogether new pol icy.
 Have you ever considered why Can ada takes a so much larger amount per head of British manufactures than the United States, Australasia thrice as much as Canada and South Africa more than Australasia? These are all , protective countries. I see that some Of our labor leaders are persuading the wnrkmen to maintain the system of free imports. I undertake to say that not one of them could visit the colonies for six months without singing diff ferent tune. The vast majority of the