Iii.—: Free Trade and Free Imports.

“I am a Free Trader,” said Mr. Chamberlain at the beginning of his campaign. “I am as much of a Free Trader as any one, but we have not got Free Trade; we have only Free Imports.”

He forgets that no one buys to please the seller, be he a fellow-countryman or a stranger, but always to please himself. When a Government puts an obstacle between him and the seller, it forces him to make an effort proportionate to the obstacle to get what he wants. Of course the obstacle inconveniences the seller, and since his desire to sell is greater than the buyer’s desire to buy, his inconvenience is the greater; but the buyer is forced to have recourse to things which are not exactly what he wants, and which, if the tax is prohibitive, cost him more; he has to pay more dearly for all taxed goods, and consequently his purchasing power is diminished by every rise in duties.

Free Imports enable the Englishman to buy what he wants at the lowest price. When other buyers present themselves at a disadvantage because of the uncertainty and burdensomeness of the Customs policy of their respective countries, they find that the English, safe in the freedom of their goods, have already supplied themselves. Since Free Trade makes the British Isles a free port, prices are fixed in its markets, and its merchants profit thereby.