The rest of the Duke of Devonshire's speech was full
of sound sense on the general fiscal problem ; but, unfortunately, we can only find space to call attention to two passages, —to that in which he insisted that the real issue before the country was Free-trade and Protection, and to his admirable handling of "dumping." Speaking of the proposed tariff to prevent "dumping," he said :—" What this tariff would do would be permanently to raise the price of our products to our home customers. Who are our home customers Nobody that I am aware of buys iron or steel to look at or to put in his pocket. The purchasers of iron and steel are a thousand different classes of manufacturers who convert iron and steel into hundreds and thousands of articles of general utility and advantage. Well, if the price of their material is raised to them, they also must be protected,—the price of the article which they produce will also be raised, their consumption will be necessarily reduced, and the effect of this proposal would be that production would be diminished, and that a large number of workmen in these subsidiary industries—a far larger.number than are employed in the ironmasters' works— would have their employment by so much reduced."
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