ALL-BRITISH SHOPPING. T HERE are two distinct aspects of the All-British
Shopping Week. One is wholly good ; the other, with all respect to those who differ from us, is somewhat foolish. Let us deal with the latter first. Some of the authors of the scheme for the All-British Shopping Week seem to have been inspired with the idea that in some way it is possible for British people to transfer their custom from foreign to British goods, and that a net gain to the British nation will necessarily ensue. This idea shows so complete a misunderstanding of the essence of international commerce that it is difficult to see how it can have gained even temporary credence. The Tariff Reformers themselves recognize that ultimately the only way of settling international purchases is by an exchange of goods for goods. If, therefore, English women buy French chiffons, sooner or later some British goods will be sent out of the .United Kingdom in payment for those French goods. The British goods may not go direct to France ; they may go to India or to China or Peru, and the Chinese or Peruvian goods, in turn, may go to Russia or Germany, but finally some goods will find their way back to France, perhaps through a series of half a dozen exchanges, to settle the exchange which began by the English woman's purchase of French chiffons. It follows that if the English woman decides that she will buy English instead of French chiffons, English goods which would have gone to pay for her French purchase will no longer find a market, and the country will lose the amount of business to make up for the business gained by the transference of this woman's custom from France to England. There is no net gain : there is simply a transference of national industry from one kind of activity to another kind of activity. Of course it may be argued that it is better for English energies to be devoted to the production of chiffons for the English market rather than to the production of calico for the markets of India or China ; but that is a proposition which few people would care to advance, and which no one is capable of proving. The class of labour involved in the production of chiffon does not so appreciably differ from that involved in the production of calico as to enable anyone to say that one is more desirable nationally than the other. Moreover since there is already established an export trade in calico which is partially counterbalanced by an import trade in chiffon, the probability is that this distribution of British activities possesses economic or other advantages, or else it would not have come into existence. There is consequently a prima-facie case against any attempt to alter it.
So far, then, as the All-British Shopping Week rests upon the delusion that a nation can sell without buying, there is nothing to be said in defence of the scheme. There is, however, another and a completely different aspect of the All-British Shopping Week. In effect, the week just ended has furnished a gigantic advertisement for certain classes of British goods. It has brought home to many English people the interesting fact that some of the finest fabrics which they imagine could only be produced in France are really manufactured in England. That is all to the good, for it may have the effect of destroying a delusion which tends to depreciate the value of English wares. There are numbers of women to-day who are so convinced that only French people can produce the finest fabrics that they will only buy goods which have come to London via Paris, though in many cases these very goods were manu- factured in Bradford. Such a roundabout method of doing business is clearly uneconomical. From the national point of view it means that the British manufacturer loses part of the value which really belongs to his own production, this part being absorbed by the cost of transit to Paris and back, and by the various profits made by the French firms concerned in the transaction. There would clearly be a net national gain if we could keep these profits to ourselves. Nor is that the end of the story. The advertisement given to British goods in London this week extends beyond the limits of London, and to a large extent serves the very valuable purpose of proclaiming to the world the excellence of British goods. That, again, is a dis- tinct net economic advantage. It enables our manu- facturers to command a higher price in the world's markets than they could do if their wares were less well known. Consequently when international exchanges come to be balanced, we in this country shall receive more in return for our products than we should have received if they had less notoriety. The influence may indeed extend even further, and possibly lead to a readjustment of our trade on more profitable lines. Tbat is to say it is possible that the excellence of British goods may be so conclusively and so widely demon- strated that London may even be able to secure some of the special advantages which Paris now possesses. For part of the esteem in which Paris goods are held is undoubtedly a mere matter of reputation, and this may conceivably be won ; but it must be remem- bered. that in the long run reputation tends to follow solid facts, and, unless London work is from every point of view equal to Parisian work, the Paris firms will always be able to command a higher price.
The whole problem, in fact, turns on relative excellence. If a country wishes to improve its international position it must first improve its national work. There is no escape from this common-sense law, and all the devices, whether protectionist or patriotic, for giving a preference to British goods solely because they are British will do nothing whatever to add to the net wealth of the country. Such devices merely transfer capital and labour from the industries already established to other industries which somebody thinks ought to be estab- lished. If, however, by bringing patriotic considera- tions into operation we can stimulate our own people to increased efforts or to the adoption of improved methods, then no limit can be set upon the advance achievable. It is from this point of view that the All-British Shopping Week deserves support. It is a patriotic effort to bring home to our own people and to the world at large the excellence of our manufactures, and a national advertise- ment of their character not merely improves the present position of our manufacturers in the world's markets, but furnishes a moral stimulus to them to improve upon their present records.
Previous page
