Page:The New Protectionism.djvu/49

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DEFENCE AND OPULENCE
25

directly the war is over, in order to kill any revival of our trade. How Germany can spare from the remnants of her industrial population the labour needed to perform this feat, what harm it would do if Germany could send in cheap stocks at a time when our stocks and those of the commercial world will be depleted, what sort of goods Germany would take in payment, and, finally, what shred of evidence exists to support the silly fable — these probings must suffice for the "dumping" argument.

A more plausible case for economic "defence" on the part of Great Britain and her Allies is made by dwelling upon the constructive and aggressive measures of trade which the Central Empires may employ. The assumption is that an unrepentant and revengeful Germany will direct all her efforts to the work of industrial recuperation and expanding trade with three related objects: first, the recovery of her internal economic strength in order to be rich enough to prepare for another war; secondly, the com-

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