The Arguments on Either Side of the Fiscal Question : Protection, Retaliation, Preference With Tables

The Arguments On Either Side Of The Fiscal Question : Protection, Retaliation, Preference With Tables by Sydney Buxton. The volume offers a structured examination of tariff policy in Britain around the turn of the twentieth century. It assembles detailed arguments for and against Protection, Retaliation, and Colonial Preference, presenting competing positions on whether duties, tariffs, and preferential schemes help national prosperity or burden workers and consumers. The author frames Free Trade as a guiding principle, while acknowledging political and economic pressures to shield domestic industry. The text situates the debate within a broader historical context, and includes prefaces, tables, and appendices that illustrate tariff changes, trade balances, and the effects of protection on wages, prices, and employment. The chapters compare pleas for national self-sufficiency with the benefits of open markets, and discuss imperial federation and the future of colonial commerce. Throughout, the work is analytical and didactic, equipping readers to weigh policy options and evaluate the trade-offs involved.