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Protection Or Free Trade (Abridged) Protection or Free Trade (Abridged) Henry George ROBERT SCHALKENBACH FOUNDATION New York City 2020 Protection or Free Trade (Abridged) Author: Henry George Abridged: F. C. R. Douglas Afterword: Adele Wick Book ISBN: 978-0-9905043-7-5 First Published 1929 Robert Schalkenbach Foundation Official Publishers of the works of Henry George The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) is a private operating foundation, founded in 1925, to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by famed 19th century thinker and activist, Henry George. Today, RSF remains true to its founding doctrine, and through efforts focused on education, communities, outreach, and publishing, works to create a world in which all people are afforded the basic necessities of life and the natural world is protected for generations to come. Robert Schalkenbach Foundation [email protected] www.schalkenbach.org “Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.” ― Henry George To the memory of those illustrious Frenchmen of a century ago, Quesnay, Turgot, Mirabeau, Condorcet, Dupont, and their fellows, who, in the night of despotism, foresaw the glories of the coming day. — Author's dedication Protection or Free Trade An Examination of the Tariff Question with Especial Regard to the Interests of Labor By Henry George. Original edition, 1886. This abridgment was done by F. C. R. Douglas, and published in 1929 by the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain. Chapter 1 — Introductory Chapter 2 — Clearing Ground Chapter 3 — Protection as a Universal Need Chapter 4 — Trade Chapter 5 — Protection and Producers Chapter 6 — Tariffs for Revenue Chapter 7 — Tariffs for Protection Chapter 8 — The Encouragement of Industry Chapter 9 — Exports and Imports Chapter 10 — Confusions Arising from the Use of Money Chapter 11 — Do High Wages Necessitate Protection? Chapter 12 — Of Advantages and Disadvantages as Reasons for Protection Chapter 13 — Protection and Producers Chapter 14 — Protection and Wages Chapter 15 — The Abolition of Protection Chapter 16 — Inadequacy of the Free Trade Argument Chapter 17 — The Real Strength of Protection Chapter 18 — The Paradox Chapter 19 — The Robber that Takes All that is Left Chapter 20 — True Free Trade Chapter 21 — Free Trade and Socialism Chapter 22 — Practical Politics Chapter 23 —Appendices Chapter 24 — Afterwords Author's Preface IN THIS BOOK I have endeavored to determine whether protection or free trade better accords with the interests of labor, and to bring to a common conclusion on this subject those who really desire to raise wages. I have not only gone over the ground generally traversed, and examined the arguments commonly used, but, carrying the inquiry farther than the controversialists on either side have yet ventured to go, I have sought to discover why protection retains such popular strength in spite of all exposures of its fallacies; to trace the connection between the tariff question and those still more important social questions, now rapidly becoming the "burning questions" of our times; and to show to what radical measures the principle of free trade logically leads. While pointing out the falsity of the belief that tariffs can protect labor, I have not failed to recognize the facts which give this belief vitality, and, by an examination of these facts, have shown, not only how little the working classes can hope from that mere "revenue reform" which is miscalled "free trade," but how much they have to hope from real free trade. By thus harmonizing the truths which free traders perceive with the facts that to protectionists make their own theory plausible, I believe I have opened ground upon which those separated by seemingly irreconcilable differences of opinion may unite for that full application of the free-trade principle which would secure both the largest production and the fairest distribution of wealth. By thus carrying the inquiry beyond the point where Adam Smith and the writers who have followed him have stopped, I believe I have stripped the vexed tariff question of its greatest difficulties, and have cleared the way for the settlement of a dispute which otherwise might go on interminably. The conclusions thus reached raise the doctrine of free trade from the emasculated form in which it has been taught by the English economists to the fullness in which it was held by the predecessors of Adam Smith, those illustrious Frenchmen with whom originated the motto Laissez Faire, and who, whatever may have been the confusions of their terminology or the faults of their method, grasped a central truth which free traders since their time have ignored. My effort, in short, has been to make such a candid and thorough examination of the tariff question, in all its phases, as would aid men to whom the subject is now a perplexing maze to reach clear and firm conclusions. In this I trust I have done something to inspire a movement now fainthearted with the earnestness and strength of radical conviction, to prevent the division into hostile camps of those whom a common purpose ought to unite, to give to efforts for the emancipation of labor greater definiteness of purpose, and to eradicate that belief in the opposition of national interests which leads peoples, even of the same blood and tongue, to regard each other as natural antagonists. Henry George Publisher's Foreword MANY PEOPLE TODAY QUESTION the idea of free trade. There may be good reasons for this - national policies and international agreements that claim to implement "free trade" are often imposed by force upon working people who have little or no choice in the matter and who get very little in return for the wealth they produce for others. By contrast, for trade to be truly free the potential traders must be in a position to refuse to trade - they must be free to not trade. Many of the world's poorest countries today export virtually all the wealth their people produce, getting little in return beside debt consolidation and new loans. Such decisions are not made by, or in the interest of those who actually produce the wealth. Instead, these decisions are imposed upon them. There is little freedom or fairness in this. Although many speak of "free trade" and "fair trade" as antithetical, in the final analysis, for trade to be fair it must also be free - truly free. Henry George understood what makes trade truly free. He understood that monopolies are violations of the freedom to trade, and that the most fundamental and powerful monopoly is property in land. As an economic factor, land encompasses all natural opportunities for human beings to live and produce. Those who control access to land control the production and exchange of wealth. In today's world, land includes untapped underground (and underwater) resources, prime urban locations and air rights, and desirable locations on the electromagnetic spectrum and in orbital paths beyond Earth's atmosphere. Land includes resources necessary not only for technological progress, but also for basic human survival. In the context of increasing globalization, the monopolization of land has been analyzed and criticized as the privatization of the commons - and rightly so, for it is a grand theft of what nature gives freely to humanity. In practice it disadvantages the working poor and favors those with financial resources to spare. How ironic that this basic violation of the freedom to produce and exchange has been falsely identified as part and parcel of free trade itself. Certainly this misperception is partly due to obfuscating claims that recent international trade agreements (full, as they are, of generous "investor protections" and corporate welfare) constitute free trade. They don't. Into today's controversies over the merits and demerits of globalization, the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation is pleased to contribute this new edition of the classic abridgment, by E C. R. Douglas, of Henry George's Protection or Free Trade. In a new design by Lindy Davies, it reproduces, with minor changes, the 1932 London edition published by Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., for the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain. In 1932 the world was in the throes of the Great Depression and devastating war was on the horizon. Humanity today is be set with similar problems and challenges. War, poverty, social inequality, financial crises, ecological degradation, and human rights violations have become the common concern of people around the world - people interconnected as never before by quantum leaps in information technology. This progress makes international trade more powerful, and the understanding of its costs and benefits more critical, than ever. To the enduring truths expressed by Henry George in the 19th century, we are happy to add not only a foreword from the 21st, but a timely afterword by our foundation president, Adele Wick. It is our hope that this book, published on paper and online, will help bring needed insights into the public dialogue on poverty, fairness, and free trade. -Mark A. Sullivan, Administrative Director Robert Schalkenbach Foundation September, 2008 Editor's Note IN THIS ABRIDGMENT an endeavor has been made to condense the discussion and to eliminate local and ephemeral allusions, so as to present the author's argument in its permanent perspective as applicable to all countries and to all times. For this purpose a few minor alterations have been made, some passages have been transposed, and the division into chapters has been altered somewhat from that in the unabridged version. This abridged edition is dedicated by the Trustees of the Henry George Foundation of Great Britain to their colleague John Paul, as a grateful tribute to his life-long and devoted service in promoting the teachings of Henry George.
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