Now,  we  are  often  told  that  some  article  in  which  we  hoped  we
should  have  pretty  well  a  sole  market  is  being  imported  into
England. When  you  hear  these  statements,  you  may  fairly  ask,
not  with  a  view  to  disparaging  your  informant's  veracity,  but  for  the


ALABMIST  FALLACIES. 409

sake  of  accurate  information,  Is  it  true  ?    And  it  is  very  often  found
not  to  be. A  short  time  ago  it  was  said  that  a  large  area  of  British
land,  formerly  occupied  for  agriculture  was  now  unoccupied. On
inquiry  it  was  found  that  the  proportion  of  unoccupied  land  to
occupied  stood  in  the  proportion  of  -00006  to  unity. But  when
people  are  anxious  to  establish  a  position,  especially  when  they
think  that,  if  they  succeed,  they  wiU  be  rescued  from  an  alarming
or  an  adverse  situation,  it  is  amazing  how  vigorous  their  imagina-
tion is,  and  how  eagerly  they  enlist  irrelevant  facts,  and  even
entirely  baseless  fictions,  into  their  cause. Again,  we  are  told  that
large  quantities  of   manufactured    iron    from    Belgium  is   being
imported  into  England. But  when  I  searched  in  the  expanded
volume  of  exports  and  imports,  the  fact  was  not  mentioned. If  the
import  did  take  place,  it  was  too  trivial  even  for  a  large  volume  of
details. I  heard  the  other  day  of  a  man  who  was  alleging  that  f  100
worth  of  Belgian  glass  was  imported  into  England,  where  it  can  be
produced  5  per  cent,  cheaper  than  in  this  country. But  is  it  true  ?
I  am  sure  that  the  carriage  would  be  close  upon  6  pfer  cent,  of  its
value,  for  glass  is  a  hazardous  article,  and  if  the  figures  are  as
stated,  the  English  and  Belgian  producer  can  cry  quits. But
granted  that  it  is  true-    There  is,  I  admit,  a  good  deal  of  foreign
glass  brought  into  England,  much  for  trans-shipment,  on  which  the
English  trader  makes  a  profit. I  do  not  see  that  the  profit  should
cease  till  such  time  as  English  glassmakers  and  workmen  can  or
will  fill  up  the  void  which  prohibition  would  cause. Besides,  it  was
a  raw  material,  wanted  for  something,  and  among  other  matters
certainly  for  glazier's  work. 