It is sometimes sought to evade the difficulty by confining the
produce which the assisted labour puts upon the open market to classes
of articles which are not for the most part produced in this country,
but which are largely imported from abroad. It is urged that although
shoes and furniture and matches ought not to be produced by assisted
labour for the outside market, it is permissible for an agricultural
colony to replace by home products the large imports in the shape of
cheese, fruit, bacon, poultry, etc., which we now receive from abroad.
Those who maintain this position commonly fail to take into
consideration the exports which go out from this country to pay for
these imports. If this export trade is diminished the trades engaged in
manufacturing the exported goods will suffer, and labour employed in
these trades may be thrown out of employment. This objection may be met
by showing that the goods formerly exported, or an equivalent quantity
of other goods, will be demanded for the increased consumption of the
labourers in the agricultural colony. This is a valid answer if the home
consumption rises sufficiently to absorb the goods formerly exported to
pay for agricultural imports. But even where this just balance is
maintained, allowance must be made for some disturbance of established
trades owing to the fact that the new demand created at home will
probably be for different classes of articles from those which formed
the exports now displaced.
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