One last thing to remember about international trade is that the very different importance of foreign trade to different countries makes the foreign politics of nations differ equally. A country which can supply itself with all it needs is free to risk its foreign trade for some other issue. A country importing its necessities cannot risk the loss of such trade, for it is a matter of life and death. The United States is in the first position. It has within its own boundaries not only all the minerals it needs, but also all the petrol and all the raw material for making cloth, and all the leather for boots, and all the rest of it. But a country like England is in quite a different position. We only grow half the meat we need and about one-fifth of the corn. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for us to have a foreign trade. If all the foreign trade of the United States were to be destroyed to-morrow, the United States, though somewhat poorer, would still be very rich and able to carry on without the help of anyone else. But if our foreign trade were destroyed there would be a terrible famine and most of us would die. Nations differ very much in this respect, but of all nations Great Britain is that which is most vitally interested in maintaining a great foreign trade, and next after Great Britain Belgium is similarly interested, for Belgium also needs to import four-fifths of its bread-stuffs. Almost every country except the United States _must_ have some foreign trade if it is to live normally. For instance: France, though largely a self-sufficing country, has no petrol. It has to buy its petrol abroad and must export goods to pay for that import. Nor has it quite enough coal for its needs, and, before the war, it had not nearly enough iron. Italy has no coal, no petrol and no iron to speak of--not nearly enough for its needs. And so it is with pretty well every nation in Europe. But of all nations our own and Belgium--our own particularly--are in the most need of maintaining a large foreign trade. This affects all our policy, it is the root of both the greatness and peril of England. It also tends to make English people judge the wealth of foreigners by the volume of their trade, and that is a great error. FREE TRADE AND PROTECTION AS POLITICAL ISSUES In this matter of international trade there rose up, about a hundred years ago, a great political discussion in England between what was called _Free Trade_ and what was called _Protection_. This discussion is still going on and affecting the life of the country, and it is important to understand the principles of it, for we have here one of the chief applications of theoretical Political Economy to actual conditions. I dealt with this subject briefly in the first part of this book under “Elementary Principles,” but I return to it here in more detail because it has given rise, in political application, to the most important economic discussion in modern England.