THE ABUSE OF EXPORT TRADE STATISTICS. [To THE EDITOR 07
THE "SPEC7ATOR."1 SID,—Your admirable article on "The Abuse of Export Trade Statistics" in the Spectator of July 25th should dispel one() and for all the Protectionist's nightmare,—viz., that because of our excess of imports over exports our national credit is on the downward grade, and we are rapidly approaching bank- ruptcy. If this were really the case, and we actually paid in golden sovereigns for the excess value of our imports, there would be an annual drain of bullion, which there is not. They seem unable to grasp the fact that £1,500 worth of American goods exchanged for 21,000 worth of Birmingham goods (viz., an excess of imports) is worth more to the country than if there were no profit on the transaction, and the bare £1,000 was returned in cash (the Protectionist ideal). As your correspondent, F. E. Cairnes, so aptly puts it in reply to Sir Conan Doyle's arguments, "suppose there were no such thing as money," we should then be easily able to convince the pessimists that all trade is an exchange, and that there is no fear of our buying without selling. Money is only the medium of exchange, and a plethora of money is always in evidence in times of depression, which Protectionists seem anxious to
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