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THE NEW PROTECTIONISM

marine for transport and other subsidiary war purposes, as well as for the maintenance of necessary supplies for the needs of our civil population, requires no argument. The swift, full, and easy access to the markets of neutral countries, for the supply of the requisites of war and peace to ourselves and our Allies, has been the greatest, and will probably prove the determinant, advantage we possess over our enemies in a protracted war. This advantage is the direct outcome of Free Trade. The good-will shown to our cause by most neutral nations is not attributable entirely, as we are prone to think, to the justice of our cause or the considerateness of our conduct on the sea. To a large extent it is a half-conscious acknowledgment of the superior liberality of our commercial policy.

Not less important is the contribution of Free Trade to the financial strength that has enabled us to bear the great economic burdens of a war in which we have been able to render invaluable aid in goods and

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