PROTECTION AND EMPLOYMENT.
Protection and Employment. By Harold Cox. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—In this pamphlet Mr. Harold Cox deals with the question of employment, and meets most convincingly the argument which has proved a pitfall to so many, that Protection will increase work. His main contention is that the only truo way to increase employment is to increase wealth. But if our wealth is to be increased, it can only be by trading as freely as possible and accepting all the wealth that other countries are willing to give us. If we refuse to take the wealth the foreigner provides, as we did by the Brussels Convention, we shall decrease, not increase, employment. Witness the large number of men who are now out of employment through the slack times in the confectionery and allied trades caused by that unhappy inter- national instrument. Another way to increase our wealth is to improve our methods of production and our conduct of business generally. But Protection will not help us here, for Protection invariably prevents men from improving their methods, since it does away with the stimulus of competition. Mr. Cox's little pamphlet is written with great restraint and moderation, and we have no hesitation in recommending it to all who are interested in the economic problem.
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