their guilt will be shared by those who, in years past, set the Concern Going. In this matter British Statesmen and the British People will not be held wholly blameless.
It is the theory of Free Trade that the different parts of the world should develop on the basis of their natural facilities, and that different communities should specialise and render service to one another by exchanging their products freely. It was firmly believed that Free Trade thus made for peace and the brotherhood of men. That may have been a tenable theme in the time of Adam Smith and for a generation or two afterwards. But under modern conditions the Going Concern, or, in other words, accumulating Financial and Industrial strength, is capable of out-weighing most natural facilities. The Going Concern of the Lancashire Cotton Industry is an instance of this on a great scale. A very small difference of price in cheap lines of export will hold or lose a market, and the great Going Concern can best afford to cut prices. Hence Lancashire has maintained her cotton industry for a century against all competitors, though the sources of the raw material and the principal markets for the finished goods are in distant parts of the world. Coal and a moist climate are her only natural
