SOME ECONOMIC APHORISMS.
[To THE EDIT011 OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sra,—Mr. Collins in your issue of the 21st asks whether there should not be a qualification to the aphorism, " All imports are physical orders for goods to be made here in exchange for imports." Subject to the fact that a considerable portion of imports are interest on capital invested abroad, the aphorism may broadly be accepted without qualification ; that is, some imports are in return for goods already supplied on credit through the machinery of a loan. He then gives an instance of a man in England receiving his income from Argentina and ordering a motor in Paris, payment for which he arranges by a cheque from a bank in Argentina. The ultimate effect of this transaction is pro tanto to check imports from Argentina to England, and to the same extent to stimulate imports from there to France. That is, the import now sent from Argentina to France is a physical order for payment of the bill for the motor made there and sent to England.—I am,
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