The Free Trade Movement. By G. Armitage Smith, M.A. "
Vic- torian Era Series." (Blackie and Son.)—To the question whether the practice of Free-trade is destined to be a permanent feature of British policy we believe there can be but one answer. The reaction against it has now been in full swing for many years, but from all the indications available it makes no perceptible progress. Its chief result has been to cause Free-traders to. restate their position with telling effect, and we can point to no. better example of this fact than the volume before us. We have seldom met with a more complete though concise statement of fact and argument than Mr. Armitage-Smith has given us. On all points, whether of historical discussion of tariff reform, foreign. competition, or Imperial Federation, he seems to us convincing an satisfactory, and his handbook should do much both to convert doubters and to confirm believers. The author incidentally remarks on a serious danger to British industry in the restraint imposed by Trade-Unions on the efficiency of labour in this country, and points out that our most serious competitors, the United States and Germany, are countries almost entirely free from these ruinous methods.
Previous page
