II—MECHANISM OF EMPIRE
IMPERIAL TRADE
By HENRY BIRCHENOUGH
It is my wish in this article to present, not a commercial conception of Empire, but an Imperial conception of trade, by pointing out some of the facts which show the great part trade is playing in building up and binding together, through the steady growth of common commercial interests, the scattered States of the King's dominions.
There used to be, and perhaps still are, economists and politicians who maintain that trade does not follow the flag, but the price-list. It is possible that in a world of economic automata everyone would resign himself cheerfully to buy only in the cheapest and to sell only in the dearest markets. The British Empire is not, however, composed of economic automata, but of men and women who are influenced in all their business transactions by circumstances and conditions far more numerous and complicated than can be taken into account in any price-list. What strikes one most in studying Imperial trade is that all through its varied activities, its thousand changing forms, it reflects the mind and the character of our race. And if it mirrors Anglo-Saxon human nature, its movements are likely to be as sensitive to prejudice and to sentiment as they are to calculation. Experience confirms this supposition,
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