In reviewing Mr. Chamberlain's speech as a whole, we can
only say, as Free-traders, that we are exceedingly glad that it was made, and that Mr. Chamberlain raised so clearly the question of more employment. It is an issue from which no Free-trader will shrink. We want more employment quite as much as he does, and we are absolutely certain that the maximum of employment for the nation as a whole, and not in a. few selected trades, can come only from Free-trade. To get more employment, and employment at a higher rate of remuneration, we want two things,—first, more orders for goods ; and secondly, greater purchasing capacity for wages, i.e., higher wages measured in purchasing power, and not merely in coins. The first we get by encouraging exchanges, and the way to encourage exchanges is to encourage imports, which are, as we have said, orders to make goods. The second—i.e., high purchasing power for money—we also obtain by encouraging exchanges, and so imports, for the greater the number of exchanges, the greater the plenty of goods and the greater the purchasing capacity of money. You cannot encourage imports without also encouraging exports.
Previous page
