Mill says, that “_saving_ enriches, and spending impoverishes, the community along with the individual.”[25] Now let us apply England’s action in this respect to the assumed case of an individual. Suppose a farmer should allow his land to go out of cultivation and purchase farm produce, for his own consumption, from the open market; suppose at the same time he has a limited supply of iron ore on his estate, which he sells at a rate that does not quite cover the cost of its production; would you argue that the more food such a one purchased and consumed, and the more iron ore he sold, the greater was his prosperity; and especially so because he _consumed_ more than he _sold_? In my ignorance of political economy I should have said that such a man was on the highroad to bankruptcy. Now this is precisely what England is doing. She is allowing her land to go out of cultivation. She is purchasing from foreign countries food which she might produce herself, and which, when consumed, leaves nothing to show for the expenditure. Her manufacturing industries are losing concerns; her shipping is carrying at nominal rates; her iron industry has been losing at the rate of £40,000,000 a year; and she is parting with her _limited capital_ of iron at a loss. The excess of Imports over Exports does not represent wealth capable of accumulation, but consists of consumable articles of food. The annual imports of the principal staples of food in 1881 were:-- Capable of being produced { Corn and flour £ 60,856,768[26] in England. { Live animals 8,525,256[27] { Meat 35,760,286[27] ------------- £ 105,142,310 ============= Capable of being produced { Tea £ 11,208,601[28] in England’s dependencies { Sugar 24,288,797[28] ------------ Total £ 140,639,708 ============= Besides these, there are butter, cheese, eggs, coffee, cocoa, and other articles of food, which must probably amount to something between 20 and 30 millions sterling. So that the excess of £100,000,000 sterling is _entirely due to consumable food, much of which might be produced in England_. If this be not political extravagance, I am at a loss for a definition of Extravagance. My friend, it appears to me that you are burning the candle at both ends. Mr. Leffingwell, an intelligent American, writes:[29]-- “Should the day ever arrive when most of her mills are silent, her ‘Black country’ again green, her furnaces cold, her shops filled with foreign wares, and her food brought from distant lands, it will add little to her welfare that all other nations find a market on her shores for the products of their factories and fields.”