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is instanced-a field of enterprise in which we have hitherto allowed foreign competitors to have almost a free hand.

Our manufacturers seem, however, most unwilling to push into lines which are in the possession of other nations. The Consul in São Paulo remarks:

'British-made cars are seldom seen in São Paulo, since the manufacturers up to the present have not made any serious effort to enter the market by establishing an agency and keeping a full range of spares. There is undoubtedly a market for a moderate-priced standard type of car if the owner is certain that any necessary repairs will be promptly attended to.'

Again, we hear from Bogota:

'Something might be done by the introduction of a fairly heavy and substantial car of British make, roughly at a price of some 600l., but this would require considerable energy in bringing it to the notice of purchasers, the market having been allowed to remain in the hands of the United States manufacturers.'

But our makers will only manufacture cars that are suited to English needs; they miss the Indian and other overseas markets by offering cars that will not stand the rough roads that are usually encountered abroad. It may be added that in 1926 Great Britain sent 289 cars to Argentina, while the United States sent 47,838. Our Consuls also issue the warning that importers should carefully study the elaborate Customs regulations of the various Republics, and thus avoid fines and delay. They should also make sure that the firms they deal with are trustworthy-a condition easily effected by means of the excellent British banks, which have branches in all the large towns. The Consul in Paraguay remarks that this can be done at the 'cost of a cable.'

As regards the more general side of the question, the spreading of British culture, we hear from Bogota that 'British standard works are difficult to procure'; while, of course, French books are on sale everywhere. He adds that it is difficult to suggest a method whereby the demand for works exemplifying British culture and ideals can be stimulated.' Here is work for the English Universities. It should be added that Bogota is, though

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- small, one of the chief seats of Spanish-American culture, and it is regrettable that the inhabitants should have no access to English literature.

By such indirect means of bringing the Republics into touch with our country, the opportunities for extending trade will be multiplied. Up to the present we have been content to concentrate almost entirely upon a few staples. The latest figures show that in Argentina cottons of various kinds make up a quarter of our imports, and iron and steel account for one-sixth. One quarter of the goods which Chile imports from us consists of textiles; and cotton goods form nearly a quarter of our imports into Brazil. It is, therefore, very necessary, as our Consuls warn us, that we should pay attention to other lines, even though they are smaller and demand more trouble. The South American Journal,' which is sceptical about the value of studying markets and the Spanish language, points out that the safest and most lucrative trade with Argentina is the selling of stores to British firms-especially railways

in that country. Almost every possible article is required from time to time, and bad debts are out of the question.

Thus new lines in old markets should be developed, and there is a great field for enterprising firms. We have, of course, also the Indian and other Dominion markets to consider; but the constant complaint now is that goods are turned out and find no customers; that factories must be closed because there is no market for their goods, and thus unemployment will be intensified. This has always been a nightmare with our Cassandras. In the 'eighties J. Cotter Morison wrote:

'The difficulty of taking new views of old things and conditions, can alone blind men from seeing the fate before them. The numbers of the unemployed in all large centres are growing from year to year. The palliatives of charity, public works, state, and in every form, are still talked of as if there were hope in them. But before the century is at an end, the illusion will have vanished. The production of wealth, as it has obtained in the past, can continue no longer. The State will be impoverished along with individuals; and with increasing charges will have less revenues to meet them. Then we shall know what a general or universal commercial catastrophe really means, when the famishing Vol. 251. No. 498.

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unemployed will not be counted by thousands, but millions, when a page of the "Times" will suffice for the business advertisements of London; and when the richest will be glad to live on the little capital they have left, never thinking of interest.'

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More than forty years have passed since then, and the ship of industry has hitherto contrived to slip past the rocks of Cassandra. But not long ago we were warned by good judges that our yearly surplus for investment was dwindling and that the time might be approaching when we should be living on our capital. To avert this, the increase of our export trade is essential. It is not to be expected that we can for ever fill the rôle of universal provider of manufactured goodste to all and sundry, receiving in return their raw materials; as a matter of fact, every Republic has a system of fomento or fostering, by which it attempts to encourage every possible manufacture, and restrain, so far as may be, the import of finished goods. When I was in Buenos Aires many years ago, the Consul remarked to me: 'When any one starts in business he immediately clamours to have the duty raised on the goods in which he deals, and very often he is successful.' But at present the local manufacturers find the cost of production too high to enable them to produce many articles of a quality and price that can compete with European or North American goods, even though the tariff be exceedingly high. And for many years to come they will be handicapped by lack of domestic coal and fuel of all kinds. So there still is a field there for our manufacturers which will not soon be exhausted.

There is, indeed, plenty of opportunity in South America. Every year there is a large increase in the numbers of the world's population who insist on having substantial meals daily. Eighty years ago the poor were recommended to put curry-powder in water to make soup or to boil nettles; and yet people wondered that there was a sluggish demand for the goods turned out by our factories. Now of these new millions many-as in South America-can only obtain food and other commodities (for with improved food they demand better clothing and other comforts) by providing pastoral and agricultural raw material, which is bartered for manu

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factures. Thus there is a demand for goods which we shall supply, if we can do so on better terms than our competitors.

Nothing forbids us to hold the view that the future will see increases of wealth and trade greater than 1 anything the past can show. No one would have believed a quarter of a century ago that American manufacturers, in 1928, would be supplying motor-cars to the lower middle and working-classes in that country, or films which the children of our mean streets see several times a week. We have been content to leave these huge industries to the United States-so far, at least, as the overseas markets are concerned. But there are sure to be many more great fields where a demand for new articles for use or amusement will arise. There is no reason why our manufacturers should not develop new industries or compete effectually in those which hitherto they have neglected.

We have enjoyed a long-standing friendship and profitable intercourse with South America, and ought now to confirm and strengthen our old associations. Industrially, it is more important to us than ever, and, as always, it is politically valuable also. Other nations keenly appreciate the opportunities offered, and if we do not use our advantages, then will our rivals seize them, and profit by them exceedingly.

W. A. HIRST.

Art. 10.-MUSICAL LABELS.

No art is more a victim of labels than music. Literature can be discussed in its own medium. Painting and sculpture are, in a large measure, direct representations of the external world and can therefore be described fairly easily in words. But music, except in very rare instances (as when it is reproducing the notes of birds), is not imitative at all, but at most merely appropriate to things outside itself. Hence the application to it of labels such as 'classical,' 'romantic,' 'poetic,' 'comic,' 'absolute,' 'programme,' must be received with caution. There is, of course, no harm in employing any of these terms so long as we are quite sure what we mean by them. But in practice they are responsible for a great deal of confused thinking about music. The attempt to put them in their places is no mere academic pursuit. For the misuse of them actually interferes with the appreciation of the masterpieces of music. The thoughtless and sweeping application of the word 'classical' to the art of Bach or of Mozart, for example, and the undiscriminating use of 'extravagant' to describe the music of Berlioz or of 'melancholy' to sum up the work of Tchaikovsky, have simply resulted in the creations of those masters being misunderstood or heard with prejudiced minds by some people who otherwise might have enjoyed them to the full. A person who expresses a preference for the romantic style of music is liable to turn a deaf ear to Bach and Mozart because they have so often been dubbed 'classical,' or even to refuse to give the poor fellows a chance at all! If only he knew how much depth of emotion is really to be found in Bach, or what a strong vein of romanticism was present in Mozart, he would have a different tale to tell. The anti-sentimentalist is apt to sneer at Tchaikovsky, forgetting or ignoring that that 'melancholy' man was a master of light, airy, and humorous music: the 'CasseNoisette' suite, 'The Sleeping Princess' ballet, and the scherzo of the Fourth Symphony, are perhaps overshadowed by the gloom of the 'Symphonie Pathétique' and 'Francesca da Rimini' or the intense emotionalism of the Fifth Symphony. The notion of Berlioz's 'ex

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