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J 88 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
on the other side of the Atlantic, or the people who
here propose countervailing duties and other old-world
apparatus of Protection, are not going to be found out,
when all the actual conditions of business are against
them?
I have given you, I fear, a long sermon, but my
application will be short. I am not in any case one of
those people who profess to instruct business men what
to do in their own business. eIf people in business do
not bestir themselves to do their very best in order to
make a living, they will hardly be moved by lectures
in consular reports or in newspaper articles as to their
remissness in seeking foreign markets and catering for
their customers. Business men, however, are some-
times found to rely on some hoped-for Protection from
Government, and in this way I hope it will do some
good, especially to the younger generation, if it is made
clear, and yet again clear, that the time is past for
Protection, and that no industry can live anywhere
which is not able to face the most unrestricted com-
petition.
A better living, I believe, can now be made by every
one who is willing to work than could have been made
at any previous time of the world's history; but work
there must be in the bracing and tonic air of competi-
tion; no reposing in quiet corners with comfortable
monopolies or under the protection of a paternal Gov-
ernment which takes care of people who do not care
for themselves.