Money's Fiscal Dictionary

L.G. Chiozza Money

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138182271
• eBook ISBN: 9781317295327
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Commerce Général

Money's Fiscal Dictionary details information about fiscal terms in encyclopaedic format in relation to British industry in 1910 when originally published. This text originally began as a column in The Morning Leader but was expanded upon to present this information in a more accessible and convenient way. This title will be of interest to students of Business and Economics.

First Published in 1910

Preface

THIS book is designed to present, in a convenient form, information upon the fiscal question in its relation to British industry and commerce. It was the aim of the author to make it encyclopedic in character, but the protraction of the Parliamentary session of 1909 has compelled him considerably to modify his ambition, and the imminence of a general election seems to render it inadvisable to postpone the publication of a work which, while admittedly incomplete, and far short of what he desired to make it, will, it is believed, prove of some value to the student of affairs. It is the hope of the author that he may be pardoned his sins of omission on account of the very considerable amount of information which his pages, incomplete as they are, afford.

Every care has been exercised in compiling the statistics and statements of fact adduced, but in treating such a large variety of subjects the author cannot hope to have avoided error. He would welcome, and indeed invites, correction from his readers, whatever their fiscal opinions.

This work first took shape in the columns of the Morning Leader, in which it was published in an abbreviated form, and the author is indebted to Mr. Ernest Parke, the editor, for permission to publish this expanded version of the widely circulated popular "Fiscal A B C." He has also to thank the editors of the Daily News, the Westminster Gazette, the Daily Mail Year Book, the Free Trader, the Daily Dispatch, and the Co-operative Annual for permission to incorporate in this Dictionary articles which he has contributed during the past few years to those publications.

L. G. C. M.

CHALDON, SURREY

December 6, 1909

Money's Fiscal Dictionary

Acetic Acid

In 1908 60,000 cwts. of acetic acid, valued at £67,000 c.i.f., were imported into the United Kingdom. Prior to that year the imports, if any, were not separately recorded. There are no recorded exports, although it is possible that the article may be included in our " Unenumerated " chemical exports. This material of industry is classified in the Board of Trade Returns under Section III., " Articles Wholly or Mainly Manufactured." It is therefore included in the articles upon which Mr. Chamberlain suggested (October 6, 1903) that an import duty should be levied, " not exceeding 10 per cent. on the average."

Acetic acid is used as a solvent, and in the preparation of acetates used as mordants in dyeing, &c. A duty on acetic acid would therefore be a tax on a raw material of industry.

Aerated Waters

The British aerated-water industry is of great dimensions. Owing to our national neglect of industrial statistics, we have no precise computation of the quantity or value of the output, but according to the National Union of Mineral Water Associations, Limited, £30,000,000 is invested in the industry, and the wages bill amounts to £4,000,000 per annum.

In addition to the large home trade, there is a small export trade, which has recently been recorded at the Customs:

BRITISH EXPORTS OF AERATED WATERS

	Dozen bottles	£ (f.o.b.)
1900 (good year)	1,105,000	173,000
1907 (good year)	1,415,000	225,000
1908 (bad year)	1,139,000	181,000

This trade is chiefly with foreign nations, and the best customers are the United States and France.

There are no recorded imports of aerated waters, and it is impossible, therefore, to offer the trade an import duty. On the other hand, the aerated-water manufacturer would suffer considerably if import duties were levied on articles which he uses as materials, e.g., glass bottles. The cost of laying down an aerated-water plant would, of course, be enhanced by Protective duties, and working costs would be increased all along the line, from the stationery used in the office to the fodder consumed by the horses.

Aeroplanes

The manufacture of aeroplanes is a new and rapidly growing industry which owes its sudden emergence to the perfecting of light internal combustion engines of great efficiency by Gottlieb Daimler and his successors in connection with the motor-car industry. As an aeroplane is a manufactured article which "might be made at home," and most certainly ought to be made in the motherland of modern engineering, imports of aeroplanes into the United Kingdom ought to be heavily taxed, according to Protectionist reasoning. The following advertisement appeared in the Times of July 28, 1909, after Blériot's flying of the English Channel on July 25, 1909:

"Charles Houry, 23, Rue Eoyale, Paris, is prepared to furnish without delay the following aeroplanes:

Blériot Monoplane,
Antoinette Monoplane,
Wright Biplane,
Voisin Biplane."

This was the first commercial advertisement of aeroplanes to appear in a British newspaper, and is of historical interest.

The case of aeroplane imports enables us to rate Protection for what it is worth. If we placed a duty upon imported flying machines we should either keep them out altogether or make them dearer. In either case we should injure ourselves by doing so, because, if we are ever to have an aeroplane industry, it is absolutely necessary that we should buy and study the foreign article. Protectionists forget that what is true of aeroplanes is also true of motor-cars and of every other machine and production. Just as free access to foreign aeroplanes is necessary if we are to progress in aeroplane making and using, so free access to the latest varieties of machines, tools, yarns, &c., is necessary in all branches of industry if the greatest efficiency is desired in them.

The rise of the aeroplane reminds us of the final futility of Protection. By improvement of road and rail and tunnel and canal and ship, the engineer in the past has beaten down Customs duties more quickly than Protectionist statesmen could erect them. In the twentieth century the device of Custom houses will be abolished, at least for a very large variety of manufactured articles, by the solution of the problem of aerial transport. The flying man will laugh at Custom houses.

It is amusing to observe that the monthly circular of the British Chamber of Commerce of Paris, for July-August, 1909, announced that the French Customs administration " states that duty will, in future, be imposed on balloons alighting on French territory."

Agricultural Implements

We have both imports and exports of agricultural implements, but only the latter are separately recorded at the Customs, the former being included under the general classification IMPLEMENTS AND TOOLS.

The export record is as follows:

BRITISH EXPORTS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS

	£(f.o.b.)
1860	254,000
1870	224,000
1880	263,000
1890	391,000
1900	384,000
1907	487,000
1908	431,000

The greater part of this trade is with foreign countries, chiefly South America. The trade with British possessions is growing, however, and in 1908 reached £197,000, India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand being the chief Colonial buyers. Canada's imports are not large enough to be separately recorded.

By reference to TOOLS it will be seen that our imports of this kind have been falling of recent years. It would be exceedingly unwise to levy an import duty upon them, for to raise the price of agricultural implements would be to inflict serious injury upon the farmer and market gardener.

Agricultural Machinery

Britain is one of the largest producers of agricultural machinery. Many of her productions in this industry are unrivalled, but in others the large scale farming of America and consequent great need for machinery has led to the production of excellent, and, in some respects, improved, machinery in the United States and Canada. We export agricultural machinery chiefly to Europe and South America, and import chiefly from the United States, Sweden, and Canada. Our imports for home consumption and exports of British make have been as follows:

BRITISH COMMERCE IN AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY
(NOT INCLUDING STEAM ENGINES)

	Imports for Home Consumption (c.i.f.) £	Exports of British Make (f.o.b.) £
1860	Not known	Not known
1870	,,	303,000
1880	,,	680,000
1890	,,	688,000
1900	,,	873,000
1907	269,000	1,133,000
1908	322,000	1,297,000

Our exports in this industry are thus four times as great as our imports, and they have grown considerabl...

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