The Dynamics of the Fiscal Problem Classic Reprint

Excerpt from The Dynamics of the Fiscal Problem

Only the principles of fiscal policies, as they have been adopted by the chief nations of the world, are there considered, and no definite proposals for a system of taxation are discussed, nor has any question of arrangement been mooted, as such matters still rest in gremz'o It would appear to be the duty of a country, which contemplates an alteration in its trade policy, first to decide upon the broad question of principles, and then to enter intoa choice of the alternatives justifiable by those principles, and, as the first duty has not yet been performed, it is hoped that the somewhat condensed chapters which ensue may prove to be of some assistance to such persons as are eager to know more of the case for a Protective policy than can be gathered from the common form of platform declamation.

It will be seen from the short historical sketch which occupies the first chapter, and which is drawn mainly from Free Trade chronicles, that the original theory of Free Trade, or, more properly, Free Exchange, was never put into practice in any state, and that the biography of that compromise which still trades under the old name is the record of a deduction killed by fact In the next chapter an endeavour has been made to show that those social and industrial forces which are, and have been, consistently active in human nature have rendered equally impossible the application to modern conditions of the still unpractised portion of the Free Trade theory; while the facts and figures which occupy other chapters, and which represent our trading with other nations, are, considered from the dynamic point of view, weighed in the balance and found wanting.

An attempt has been made to point out that any conception of Imperialism which rests only upon the basis of sentiment, and which does not embrace the more material considerations which naturally animate most human actions, is not only false but fatal; and it is argued that the political portion of a scheme for Imperial federation, considered as a thing in itself, is little more than a piece of flimsy idealism.

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