British trade

“ Some idea of the extent to which a modern industrial community is dependent for its survival upon imported raw materials may be gained from an examination of the trade figures for Great Britain. In 1920 the total value of British imports was 1,936 millions of pounds sterling. ”

“ Meanwhile, simultaneously with the movement in favour of reciprocal fiscal advantages to be granted within the empire by the many local governments to each other, there was a growth of the perception that an increase of the foreign trade of Great Britain, carried on chiefly in manufactured goods, was accompanied by a corresponding enlargement of the home markets for colonial raw material, and consequently that injury to the foreign trade of Great Britain, while as yet it so largely outweighed the trade between the United Kingdom and the colonies, must necessarily react upon the colonies. ”

“ British trade abroad was found to suffer from the competition of foreigners who were found, in some cases at least, to be following methods of organization and marketing that were distinctly more efficient than those which the British pursued. ”

“ The preamble declares it to be "a beneficial trade to this kingdom, not only in the employing great numbers of seamen and ships, and exporting and consuming great quantities of provisions and manufactures of this realm, whereby many tradesmen and poor artificers are kept at work, but also in bringing into this nation, by returns of the effects of the said fishery from other countries, great quantities of wine, oil, plate, iron, wool, and sundry other useful commodities, to the increase of his majesty's revenue, and encouragement of trade and navigation." ”

“ This step was a natural sequence to the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and the glorious dawn of Free Trade, by which every British subject was permitted to purchase whatever he required in the best and cheapest market, and so was able to work at a moderate wage, and to have continuous employment. Thus Great Britain, with few natural advantages, became the great workshop of the world and controlled every market upon the globe in which her manufactures were not excluded by the barrier of Protection. ”

“ They adopted various expedients to draw trade from each other, one of which was to sell articles below first cost, thus ruining a large number of traders. [132] Fabrications dangerous to the public were frequently created to explain the price and condition of goods. [133] But probably more injurious still to imperial interests, was the fact that whole cargoes of goods were sometimes sold by English firms to French traders thus enabling the latter to engross a great part of the trade, [134] depriving the empire of the benefit of the revenue accruing from the importation of furs into England. ”

“ You will have a large share of essential raw materials. You will have the machinery for marine insurance and for foreign banking. You will have much the largest volume of productive labour. And you will know the world as you have never known it before. What then is going to become of British trade? ”

“ Studying the course of trade during the generation comprised between the dates 1880-1909, the United Kingdom maintained or increased the value of its sales in all but two of the more important markets of the world; and the two countries to which British exports have declined, Russia and Roumania, would not by themselves form very serious exceptions. If, however, we select for study not the bare figures of export values, but the figures showing the percentage which British sales to any country form of that country’s total imports, the result is very different ”

“ It proves, indeed, that the increase in Imperial trade is greater than the increase with all foreign markets put together. It suggests that the growth of British exports to the principal protected countries has been insignificant, even when we take these exports as a whole, and do not inquire into their character. ”

“ In the enormous property and traffic thus created in foreign possessions, by the continuance and extension of the slave trade, British merchants and manufacturers are interested in the cause of their lawful trade to a great extent. The remainder is divided amongst the great civilized nations of the world, maintaining in each very extensive, very wealthy, very powerful, and, as opposed to Great Britain, very formidable commercial and political rival interests. ”

“ That Your Majesty’s British subjects residing in this province have set examples and given every encouragement in their power to promote industry, are the principal importers of British manufactures, carry on three-fourths of the trade of this country, annually return a considerable revenue into Your Majesty’s exchequer in Great Britain ”

“ So much for the foreign trade; but there still remains the home trade, in which by far the largest portion of our manufacturing capital is embarked, and which furnishes a much greater amount of employment to British labour than the other. ”

“ THE outlines of British commerce have been heretofore sketched; and the interest of each part, in particular, and of the whole empire conjointly, have been shewn to be the principles by which the grand system is poized and balanced. Whoever will take upon himself the trouble of reading and comparing the several acts of trade, which respect the colonies, will be convinced, that the cherishing their trade, and promoting their interest, have been the objects of parliamentary attention, equally with those of Britain. ”

“ Both in 1663 and 1669, as we have already seen, the imports very greatly exceeded the exports on our trade with the whole world; yet in both those years it was not to be disputed by any man in his senses that we carried on a thriving traffic on the whole. On the other hand, in five more recent years, for which he presents from the Custom-house books an abstract of the exports and imports between England and all foreign countries, it appears that the exports regularly exceeded the imports in a very high degree ”

“ How did British commerce compare in growth with world commerce? Did England keep her share in the world’s trade? Try to find in English history reasons for the ups and downs of trade, and for its gains and losses in comparison with the world’s trade. Beware, however, of hasty conclusions; many pitfalls are concealed in commercial statistics. In the table in the text, for example, the early figures are those of total exports and imports of merchandise, including wares simply passing through English hands to foreign customers ”

“ Her trade in woolen and other manufactures is said to be lessening in all parts of the world but America, where it is increasing and capable of infinite increase from a concurrence of every circumstance in its favor. Here is an extensive territory of different climates, which in time will consume and be able to pay for as many manufactures as Great Britain and Ireland can make, if true maxims are pursued. The French, for reasons already mentioned, can underwork and consequently undersell the English manufactures of Great Britain in every market in Europe. ”

“ A very minute and complete account of our trade with France for one year in the reign of James II., 1686, when the trade was free, as drawn up from official returns, and laid before the House of Commons during the discussion on the Utrecht Treaty of Commerce, is here adduced simply to show that our imports from that country then amounted annually in value to 1,284,419l.—namely, into the port of London 569,126l., into the outports 715,293l.; and our exports thither to only 515,228l.—namely, from London 409,563l., and from the outports 105,665. ”

“ That an extensive and most important trade has been long carried on, from said town to the continent and islands of America; and that the exports from thence infinitely exceed in value the imports from America, from whence an immense debt arises, and remains due to the British merchant; and that every article which the laborer, manufacturer, or more ingenious artist, can furnish for use, convenience, or luxury, makes a part in these exports, for the consumption of the American ”

“ The total amount of British manufactures annually produced is about £180,000,000 worth, of which only £47,000,000 is taken off by the whole external trade of the world put together, while no less than £133,000, 000 is consumed in the home market; and of the foreign consumption, fully a third is absorbed by the British Colonies, in different parts of the world. ”

“ For immediate results and greater certainty of securing payment for what we sell, I believe that some of the European countries, including Great Britain, who has been a purchaser of German goods to the amount of some 350 million dollars annually, and the British Colonies, offer greater immediate inducements and better possibilities of increasing our trade along lines of the least resistance. ”

“ Attend to the trade with England and the continent previous to the Orders in Council. The annual exports of British manufactures to the United States amount to twelve million pounds sterling. In exchange for these manufactured articles, Great Britain receives to the amount of four million pounds sterling in tobacco, cotton, wheat, and the substantials of life. ”

“ Besides this, the private trade allowed by the Company to owners of ships, commanders, and seamen, as well as to their own factors, for diamonds, pearls, musk, ambergris, &c., occasioned an annual export of from 80,000l. to 100,000l. in bullion, and about 40,000l. or 50,000l. in goods, and brought returns to the amount of 250,000l. or 300,000l. Of the 110,000l. worth of goods exported by the Company, 40,000l. or 50,000l. worth consisted of foreign commodities, the rest of home produce and manufactures, such as drapery, tin, and lead. ”

“ It was supposed that, without restrictions, the sum might be doubled. Everybody wished for a share in the golden harvest, and much money was transferred from legitimate and lucrative trade to the purchase of colonial produce for exportation. But what is called effective demand for any commodity depends not on the desire of the purchaser, but upon his power of purchase. The exhausting wars of late years so limited that power of purchase that the exports of England either lay in the ports unsold or were got rid of at less than the cost price. ”

“ There are many fields of trade which may be said to pertain naturally to this country, and which we have as wholly neglected and yielded to Great Britain, as if she had a divine right to the monopoly of the entire commerce of the world. ”

“ It was to these objects that the frequent ordinances and statutes with regard to trade were directed. Although very various and, as such regulations were almost certain to be, frequently inefficacious, they were energetic and simple. England was not as yet a manufacturing country. Its trade was an export trade of raw materials, principally derived from sheep farming on the vast spaces of uncultivated land which then existed, and from its mineral wealth. Its principal commodities were wool, sheep-skins, or wool-fells, and leather, together with tin and lead. ”

“ Englishmen might easily retain for themselves the profits which foreigners had till now secured, and manufacturers were undoubtedly doing a considerable export trade in the middle of the fifteenth century. ”

“ The English felt that their colonial empire was in some respects a burden, and entailed heavy expenses both in peace and war; but they were not complained of, because the manufacturing industry of England found a vast and increasing market for its produce in the growth of its offspring in every part of the world, and its commercial navy grew with unexampled rapidity from the exclusive enjoyment of their trade. ”

“ It has from the beginning been carried on with as much vigor, and as great care of our trade, as was consistent with our safety at home, and with the circumstances we were in at the beginning of the war. ”

“ All foreign cloths were to be reduced to the English measure; all wore to be measured by the king's alduagers, and whatever cloth was found of a less measure in length or breadth was to be forfeited.
How commerce could exist under such absurd restrictions is marvellous. Yet the advantages of trade with this country must, under all those obstacles, have been greater than with most others, for foreign merchants flocked hither in great numbers. They were called "merchant-strangers;" and forming themselves into companies, they soon managed to engross nearly all the foreign trade of the country. ”

“ In 1820 a number of London merchants presented a petition to the House of Commons which covered import duties of every kind, and stated "That freedom from restraint is calculated to give the utmost extension to foreign trade, and the best direction to the capital and industry of the country." ”

“ From the twelfth century wool had been the one great export of England, and the one great source of wealth for nobles, churchmen, farmers, even kings. So important was its sale that statesmen very early saw the necessity of securing for the national Exchequer a share in the profits of the main national trade; and in aid of the royal treasury they devised in the first half of the thirteenth century a system which was quite peculiar to England, the organization of the Staple. ”