Excerpt from The Trade Relations of the British Empire

Rather more than five years ago I published the first edition of Tariff and Trade. At that time the subject of a customs union between the United Kingdom and the British possessions in all parts of the world was attracting some amount of attention, though the ideas and suggestions regarding it were extremely vague. A single chapter of that book proved sufficient to exhaust what was then to be said the Canadian preferential tariff had just come into operation, and everybody interested in the question naturally looked to it for a lead in the framing of a more far-reaching imperial tariff policy.

Much has happened since, and what has come to be known as the imperial idea was for a time at least rampant. With the enormous financial outlays it has involved throughout the British Empire these pages have nothing to do, beyond the trend given to fiscal policy adopted for the purpose of meeting them, for although the additions to the tariff of the United Kingdom have been made to exclude everything in the nature of protection, the hope is not concealed that they may eventually be utilised to that end. The corn tax more especially afforded dangerous facilities in this direction, not only as regards the home grower, but for the possible concession of some preference to the colonial one.

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