ENGLAND'S FOREIGN TRADE IN THE NINE- TEENTH CENTURY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—I think that your reviewer, in criticising "England's Foreign Trade," in the Spectator of July 14th, has misrepre- sented the paragraph (p. 138) on the future of agriculture. `flee passage in the hook ruts :—" A reaction is certain, though perhaps,",not till a distant future. [Considering certain phe- nomena, we see that] the law of ' diminishing return' must some day apply to the whole world ; and it seems probable that at no very distant date we shall see prices rising and agriculture prosperous." That is to say, it is certain that a reaction will come ultimately, while it is only probable that it will not be very remote. By leaving out the word "probable," and all the context except the words in italics, and inverting the order, your reviewer has made a nonsensical contradiction, which cannot fairly be obtained from the sentence, badly worded though it may be.—I am, Sir, Sze., A. L. BoweEy.
[We are glad to give Mr. Bowley this opportunity of setting himself right with our readers, which his language implies that he rather stood in need of.—Ed. Spectator.]
Previous page
