BY THE SAME AUTHOR. ENGLISH ECONOMIC HISTORY AND THEORY. Crown 8vo., Part I., 5s. Part II., 10s. 6d. SURVEYS, HISTORIC AND ECONOMIC. Crown 8vo., 9s. net. THE ADJUSTMENT OF WAGES: a Study on the Coal and Iron Industries of Great Britain and the United States. With 4 Maps. 8vo., 12s. 6d. net. BRITISH INDUSTRIES: a Series of General Reviews for Business Men and Students. By various Authors. Edited by W. J. ASHLEY. 5s. 6d. net. Crown 8vo., LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO., LONDON, NEW YORK AND BOMBAY. THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED. PROFESSOR OF COMMERCE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM PREFACE. THE purpose of this collection of evidence is, in some small measure, to clear the air in the fiscal controversy. The advocates of tariff inaction commonly allege that the condition of the German people is such as properly to deter Great Britain from any departure from its present policy. It is here shown, first, that if any argument of the kind could legitimately be based on a direct comparison—and even this much cannot be granted-the comparison is a far more difficult and dubious affair than is supposed, and the balance of advantage by no means indisputably in favour of this country. It is further shown, and this is the more important part of the argument, that whatever may be the comparative position of the two countries, Germany has actually witnessed a great advance in the well-being of the masses of her people within the last quarter of a century—a period during which she has also been pursuing a policy of Protection. |