Value of trade 1890-1914

Question 1

Explain how attitudes to trade and commerce changed

Answer 1

• In 1890 there was a general assumption that the Empire made Britain wealthy.
• The cost of Empire was something that Gladstone’s Liberals had been concerned about and there were some radical critics who continues to argue that perhaps the Empire was not as beneficial as most people believed.
• By 1914, a few more people began to question whether the cost of Empire were entirely justified.

Question 2

Give evidence that Empire made Britain wealthy

Answer 2

• As the Empire grew British exports to the Empire increased from 21.2% in 1871-75 to 37.2% in 1913.
  -> India alone took 20% of Britain’s total exports, worth £150 million to business by 1914.
• They imported vast quantities of wheat and beef from Canada, lamb and dairy products from New Zealand and the Empire was the main foreign source of cheese, apples and potatoes.
  -> This trading supply was considered safe and stable.
• Britain’s manufacturing industries sourced raw materials from Empire e.g. cotton, wool, timber, cocoa, tea and palm oil which supported home industries and meant that manufactured goods could be sold on for profit.
  -> The Empire also allowed Britain to prevent/control colonial industries and therefore reduce competition.

Question 3

Give evidence that Empire was NOT as beneficial

Answer 3

• The foodstuffs that Britain needed mostly came from non-colonial countries e.g. Britain imported 17.2 million hundredweight per year of wheat from Russia and 30.7 million (which was almost 10 times that of Canada) from the USA.
  -> Furthermore, cheap colonial food helped to reduce the profitability of British farm produce.
• Some of the growth of the Empire in this period was expensive to secure but offered little return in terms of trade.
  -> e.g. the whole of Tropical Africa only amounted to 1.2% of British trade and The Boer War on 1899-1902 cost Britain a huge £250 million, some believed mine owners had tricked Britain into fighting the Boers to preserve their own profits.
• availability of cheap imperial products prevented the British from developing its scientific enterprises which proved damaging, in the long run, e.g. while the French, Russians and Germans developed synthetic alternatives to rubber, Britain simply relied on its supplies from Africa and Asia.

Question 4

What was John A. Hobson’s take on the value of Empire / trade and commerce

Answer 4

• believed that mine owners had tricked the British into fighting the Boers in order to maintain their own profits.
• argues that if the consuming public raised its living standards to keep pace with the rise in productive powers, there would be no excess of goods or capital nor a clamour for Imperialism in order to find markets.
• was a critic of Empire and thought that it was only a benefit for Capitalists.
• was an economist who wrote Problems of Poverty

Question 5

What were invisibles =

Answer 5

• Invisibles: refers to any export that provides income but does not have a physical presence e.g. insurance, banking services and return on overseas investments.
• With huge earnings from these invisibles, Britain could afford to import vastly more than it exported.
• By 1914, Britain had invested twice the amount of the French and 3 times that of Germany overseas.