were to prove equal to the occasion. In 1900 our exports were £291,000,000, and they grew until they were £430,000,000 in 1910, an increase of 47 per cent in a single decade. Thus, in spite of tariffs of special severity, our men of business have shown themselves able to surmount them, and to solve what seemed an almost impossible problem.
But, tariffs apart, this is not all that they are doing to-day in this sphere.
A danger to foreign trade is that our exports might conceivably be limited to certain quarters, and might thus rest upon a frail and shifting foundation. Fortunately, however, this is not so, for our commerce is being built upon the prosperity of the whole world.
This can be proved by examining the direction of the £430,000,000 of our exports in 1910. These are now becoming so widely spread as to be sent to fifty countries, or thereabouts. Besides, only one country, India, receives more than 10 per cent of our total sales. Indeed, so well are they now apportioned that, with the exception of four countries that take between 9 and 5 per cent each, no one of the remaining countries takes more than 5 per cent. The outflow of our exports is thus becoming variously distributed and in that measure reliable. Such is one of the proofs to hand of the ability of our business men. It is the industrial activity of these individuals that makes the opportunities of England, and guarantees whatsoever prosperity we enjoy.
