Page:The New Protectionism.djvu/14

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
x
PREFACE

which is of primary importance to political enthusiasts.

The single fact which ought to guide us in our interpretation of the New Protectionism is that the moving and moulding spirit is the evident desire of groups of business men to exploit the emotions of friendship and antagonism generated by the war and the immediate economic exigencies of the situation, in order a get a public policy which will yield them private profit. Multitudes of other men are moved by patriotic and other uncommercial motives to applaud and to promote a Protectionist policy, but all experience shows that they do little to determine the form that policy takes. The famous saying of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, that "The world is made for hard practical men who know what they want and mean to get it," finds no more convincing corroboration than in the annals of Protection.

The perception of this central truth is doubtless obscured at present by the promi-

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.