23. BRITISH COMMERCE. Volume of It has been estimated that nearly a fifth of the working population of the United Kingdom depends for existence on the sale of its products in foreign markets; add to this the classes engaged in ocean transport, in market organization and financial settlements, and it is possible to arrive at some conception of the magnitude of the interests involved and the importance assigned in the United Kingdom to oversea commerce. Parliament and the Press never tire of the theme. Not merely the Board of Trade, but all other great departments of administration, whether concerned with de fence, revenue, foreign and colonial affairs, or education, find themselves involved in one way or another in the consideration of the interest of international commerce. So far, indeed, has been carried this exclusive attention to external relations, that the existence of a home market is not seldom forgotten or ignored. Some ground for this forgetfulness may be found in the great value of the foreign trade — over $7,000,000,000 imports and exports in 1913, the last normal year before the war—in relation to a limited and area; but its real im portance in the economy of the United King dom appears only on a further analysis of the figures.
Of the imports, valued at £769,033,959, three fourths must be credited to food and raw ma terial, the rest to manufactures of various kinds. The exports are made up of 1525, 461,416 of British produce and 1109,655,718 foreign and colonial re-exports. Manufac tures constitute the mass of British produce ex ported, with one important exception — coal.
The figures imply much that is interesting both in past history and present organization. A country of restricted area and resources ob tained, through various economic and political accidents, a start in the industrial race a cen ago. Some of the necessary raw materials of industry it cannot produce, of others the quantity is insufficient for its growing demands. Increasing specialization leads to greater de pendence on certain types of foreign imports and greater need for a market abroad for the constantly increasing surplus of manufactures. Food, too, must be brought from more favored regions, and the very success of manufactures breeds a natural tendency to neglect the inter est of agriculture; though native resources, utilized to the utmost, would still be insufficient, in the present state of agricultural science, for the needs of the growing industrial population.
The basis of the present system, and the only home product, on a large scale, which is more than sufficient for the needs of the moment, is coal. Hence it is exported from those districts where it is not utilized in local industries, and where access to the sea is easy; its ultimate functions being to provide power for British and foreign shipping or for foreign factories.
. The entre* business, in foreign and colo mal produce, again represents a historical ad vantage. It is a relic of the partial monopoly of the carrying trade, and the control of the supply of tropical, eastern, and colonial com modities to continental markets, long enjoyed by the United Kingdom. Though aided by the principle of inertia, and the facilities of old established commercial centres, such business has not increased at a rate proportional to the general movement of trade; in fact, for a long period it was stationary at about 160,000,000, though recent years have witnessed a great im provement. This slow rate of growth is due mainly to the development of continental ship ping and the establishment of direct relations between the European consumer and distant markets, which have been conspicuous features in the elaboration of international commerce during the last generation.
The last point noteworthy in the general figures, is the vast difference between the value of imports and exports. Apart from minor questions of statistical method, the excess of imports represents two main facts: firstly, re turns for the service of some 11,000,000 tons of foreign-going shipping, which carried nearly the whole trade of the United Kingdom and no inconsiderable portion of that of the rest of the world; secondly, payments of interest by debtor nations and foreign industries to the great creditor nation of the 19th century, or in some cases, perhaps, the redemption or creation of capital liabilities.