Mr. Appleton goes on with iswiaa little homily on the
economic truth that imports have to be paid for by exports, and -that wages cannot be determined by food prices, but must eventually and inevitably be determined by the value of the commodities produced by the workers. He points out, again, that the price of any given article cannot be fixed by the men who make it, but is regulated by the demand. We cannot force foreigners to buy what they do not want or what they regard as too expensive. "We are exporting," Mr. Appleton continues, " 52,000,000 tone of coal instead of 76,000,000. There are 44,000,000 less for our dockers to handle, and Mr. Matt tells me that 20 per cent. of them are unemployed. If we cease to export coal and manufactured goods we must export human flesh. Our people must emigrate" This, we fear, is only too true. Unemployment is said to be becoming more pro- nounced daily. Some well-known works have already put up the shutters, and there are rumours that others will follow suit.
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