GIPE-PUNE-OIIOI2 - DSpace@GIPE

WORLD-CRISIS: INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTIONS 293
In the atmosphere. of the League of Nations
(Geneva), backed up as it is by the special institution, the
International Chamber of Commerce (Paris), the ideology
of "tariff truce" has become a ruling factor as
an element in the development of the "mind international.
" Naturally, therefore, the thousand times
repeated controversy of free trade VS. protection has on.ce
more raised its head in the discussions on the world-crisis
of 1929 and after. It is alleged that the protectionistic
tariffs of the post-war period are greatly responsible for
the depression and unemployment. 29
But the thesis can hardly be maintained in face of
current commercial history and statistics . France is a
protectionist country but does n.ot happen to be seriously
affected by the crisis. Nor can Great Britain, the traditional
land of . free. trade, serve as an example of
the principle that "liberalism" in commercial policy is
an antidote to unemployment.
We find, besides, statistically, that protective tariff
is hardly a hindrance to international trade. This is a
curious proposition but actual facts leave hardly any
doubt on this point. For the quinquennium 1925-29
there is positive evidence to the effect that no matter
what the commercial policy was,-protection or free
trade,-the imports (in manufa~tured goods) of a certain
number of countries were actually on the increase.
From Statistical Tables relating to British and
Foreign Trade and Industry (1924-30), Part I, we obtain
the imports of manufactured goods expressed as percent-
29 Problame., etc., p. 37.