

A Plea for Protection

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

A Plea for Protection is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in The Daily Chronicle on 4 february 1904.

A Plea for Protection

Sir, — My attention has been called to a paragraph in the Daily Chronicle in which it is stated that the Hawick Boroughs must be flourishing because more money has been deposited in savings banks. I should think that the real reason of this phenomenon may be that the people see hard times ahead of them. Many of the mills are working half-time, and the population of the three towns has decreased by 5,000 since the last census returns. It is difficult to reconcile these facts with prosperity. How can any branch of the woollen trade be prosperous in Britain when we import £12,000,000 of textiles and yarns every year? Since our export outside the Empire is only about £7,000,000, a clearer case for Protection could not be imagined. If we can keep our home and Colonial markets then we can afford never to sell a yard elsewhere, and still have a far larger output than at present.

I am, &c.,

Athenaeum Club, Feb. 3.