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                         ARE WE RUINED BY THE
                               GERMANS?

                                  BY
                              HAROLD COX,

             FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF JESUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.


      _Republished from the "Daily Graphic" for the Cobden Club._


                            [Illustration]


                     CASSELL and COMPANY, LIMITED:
                     _LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE._




PREFACE.


The greater part of the contents of this little volume appeared
originally in the _Daily Graphic_, in the form of a series of six
articles written in criticism of Mr. Ernest Williams's "Made in
Germany." To these articles Mr. Williams replied in two letters, and to
that reply I made a final rejoinder. In the present reproduction this
sequence has been abandoned. For the convenience of readers, and for the
economy of space, I have anticipated in the text all of Mr. Williams's
objections which appeared to me to have any substance, and, in addition,
I have modified or omitted phrases, in themselves trivial, upon which he
had fastened to build elaborate but unsubstantial retorts. By doing this
I have been able to preserve the continuity of my argument and at the
same time to cut down a somewhat lengthy rejoinder into a brief
concluding chapter. Incidentally a few new points and some further
figures have been added to the articles. This arrangement,
unfortunately, deprives Mr. Williams's reply of most of its original
piquancy; but, in order that my readers may have an opportunity of
seeing what the author of "Made in Germany" was able to say for himself,
his letters are reprinted _verbatim_ in an Appendix. I am indebted to
the proprietors of the _Daily Graphic_ for their courteous permission to
republish the articles, and to the Committee of the Cobden Club for
undertaking the republication. I have only to add that the opinions
expressed throughout are my own, and that the Cobden Club does not
necessarily endorse every one of them.

                                                       H. C.

    GRAY'S INN,
        _December, 1896._




CONTENTS.


  CHAP.                                           PAGE

    I.--OUR EXPANDING TRADE                          1

   II.--GERMANY: ONE OF OUR BEST CUSTOMERS           8

  III.--PICTURESQUE EXAGGERATIONS                   14

   IV.--MORE MISREPRESENTATIONS                     21

    V.--OUR GROWING PROSPERITY                      33

   VI.--LET WELL ALONE                              43

  VII.--CONCLUSION                                  54

  APPENDIX                                          57




ARE WE RUINED BY THE GERMANS?




CHAPTER I.

OUR EXPANDING TRADE.


In a little book recently published, an attempt is made to show that
British trade is being knocked to pieces by German competition, that
already the sun has set on England's commercial supremacy, and that if
we are not careful the few crumbs of trade still left to us will be
snapped up by Germany. This depressing publication, aptly entitled "Made
in Germany," has received the quasi-religious benediction of an
enterprising and esoteric journalist, and the puff direct from a
sportive ex-Prime Minister. Thus sent off it is sure to be widely
circulated, and, being beyond dispute well written, to be also widely
read. Unfortunately--such is the nature of the book--it cannot be so
widely criticised. It consists largely of quoted statistics and
deductions therefrom, and few readers will have the means at hand for
verifying the many figures quoted, while fewer still will have the
patience to compare them with other figures which the author omits to
mention. As a necessary consequence, a large number of persons will
believe that Mr. Williams has proved his case, and some of them will
jump to the conclusion, which is evidently the conclusion to which Mr.
Williams himself leans, that the only way to prevent the commercial
downfall of our country is to reverse the Free Trade policy which we
deliberately adopted fifty years ago.


THE ART OF EXAGGERATION.

That may or may not be a wise thing to do, but at least let us be
certain before taking action, or before taking thought which is
preliminary to action, that we know our facts, and all our facts. The
second point is as important as the first. On hastily reading Mr.
Williams's book for the first time, my impression was that he had only
erred by overlooking facts which told on the other side. On general
grounds, considering the signs of prosperity on every side, it seemed to
me impossible that the condition of our foreign trade could be so bad as
the author of "Made in Germany" paints it. A cursory glance at a few
staple figures convinced me that my general impression was