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'utE PB.:&ifI.~O!.U~.ioNDlTIONS AND OUTLOOK 417
I ~-,"
PtQtecting fueir home manufacturers, for there are no
corresponding home manufactures to protect, but are
,l'eally revenue duties like our own duties on tea, wine,
tohfcco and spirits, which are very high ad valorem,
but are in no way prote<;t:ive in their operation.
We come, then, to thl'l third item in our list of the
means by which this co-"ntry obtains ab extra what it
requires, viz.: the earni,gs of our ships employed in
the foreign trade less any portion of such earnings
spent abroad; plus the commissions to which we are
, entitled as merchants and bankers doing certain work
for foreign trade all over the world. This is a source
of importing power which is not an export so-called,
but ~hich is strictly speaking analogous to that of the
exports themselves. Many years ago I called it an in-
visibleexport,l and the name has remained. The reason
fol' claiming credit for this business is surely not open
to doubt. If we run ships to carry goods all over the
world, or if we do commission and agency business for
people in every country, this is not for nothing, but we
are to be paid for our services. Whatever these cost
we must charge, plus a reasonable profit, one year with
another, in addition; and this charge is to our credit
in international dealing as much as the piece goods, or
machinery, or. coal, which we put on board ship for
export so-called. The payment likewise must come in·
t~e form of imports, cash or something else, unless an
equivalent amount is invested abroad, which would
swell yet more the total foreign investments yielding
an income which is the first item on our list. Freight
may be paid abroad sometimes, though London is the
usual place, but the receiver of the freight abroad im-
mediately buys bills on London with the proceeds, less
any expense abroad which the foreigner has to meet,
arm. this he can only do by sending goods to London.
~hus, whether f~ight is fjlaid' abroad or in London, the
result is the same, the remittance of goods to pay what
••
1 See supra, "The Use of Import and Export Statistics," vol. i.
p. 283 et seq. "
II. E E