Lord Goschen, writing in the Times of Tuesday, dealt with
Mr. Chamberlain's statement that £27,000,000 of . annual profits are derived from 2600,000,000 of British capital invested in industrial enterprises—i.e., the competitive manu- facture of goods—in foreign countries. Mr. Chamberlain attributed this migration of capital to the attraction of protected countries, but he omitted to include—as he ought to have done—the Colonies and India in the area of invest- ment. Next, so far from the investment of this capital being limited to the competitive manufacture of goods, these 227,000,000 include the profits of all companies and firms with their headquarters in the United Kingdom which have branches abroad,—e.g., banks ; insurance, gas, and waterworks companies; and Australian, Indian, and South African mines with their seats of management in London. In view of these facts, it becomes a labour of supererogation to refute Mr. Chamberlain's amazing statement that if the exiled £600,000,000 were invested at home, as they would be under a Protective system, they would yield 2100,000,000 in wages for the British working man instead Of E27,000,000 for the capitalists. Mr. Chamberlain has been guilty of many bad " howlers " since he began his propaganda, but we are by no means sure that this last is not the wort of all. When you invest money in a South African mine you are, according to Mr. Chamberlain, robbing the working man. If that is so, some of the supporters of the Tariff Reform League have a good deal to answer for.
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