The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-11-13 00:00:00

L,

LABOUR, RECIPROCITY, AND FREE

TRADE.

The working-men of Birmingham held another dis-
cussion on the above-named subject 011 Saturday
night; the attendance was large.
The Chairman a Mr. Stoughton, saki it was an important
condderatiou that since 1,16 England had entered into a
new business. Before that time it was a great manuf ac-
taring and ehopkeeping country ; Mere that time it had be-
come a great factor—it bought and sold everybody's goods:
anti tithe busbies' it did as a factor could be divided from
what it ditl as a manufacturer a new light would he thrown
upon the economical condition of the country. The returns
of British imports alai exports were misleading. Ile had
heard that; zinc bought in Belgium, broeght to England,
and sent to America, was exported in the shape of
British goods; and he knew that goods purchased
In America brought to this country, and sent to
Spain, were exported as British goods also. It should
be borne in mind that, when it was proved that
! working-men had the worst of it in free trade, it did not
! follow use matter of course that the country should at this
! moment go back to where it was before. That did not
' follow as a matter of course. There were other remedies—
' emigration' for example. lie fully endorsed the saitiments
expressed by the unemployed in London in their memorial
to the (lueen, in which they prayed for assistance to
emigrate, and protested against any of the colonies being
alienated.
Mr. Radford (Reform League) said, both in France and
England, there wite too much money lying idle. With re-
gard to the exports in le2l, we sent out goods to the amount
of fl Hs. per head of the population ; in 1941, LI lee. ;
in 1,61, £4 ss. Ile was asked whether they were maim-
featured goods. Not more than £30,000,000 worth of
manufactured goods came Into the country, and of the
£180,060,000 worth exported, only about £20,000,000 worth
were not manufactured goods. Triers was a great deal said
about shipping suffering and the people who built ships ;
but the fact was thiff as attempt to band ships at London !
must cud in disaster, simply liecause It cost a man et least !
Is. a day more to live in London than in Newcastle or !
Glasgow; and It costs 4t a ton fliers for iron, and 51. a '
ton more for coats. It was remarkable that the Americans !
were complaining of protection just at the time when the
complaints against free trade were raised in England.
, And the Americans were right in complaining of probe
tion. They tujimed England, but they also Injured them-
snivel; and to ask England to set up protection against
the Americans In revenge was simply to ask England
to Injure herself for the purpose of Nutting America.
The Americans would not let English goods into their
markets without the payment of heavy duties ; so much
the worse for the Americans, and for the English, too.
But though England could not eell In America, she found !
it to her advantage to buy there, and if she ceased to buy !
where it was to her advantage, no much the worse for ,
her as well as for the Americans. 'rho history of our '
shipping ought tot. a lesion to those who were In favour of '
arbitrary Interference with the natural course of thing. lu
! commerce and industry. The navigation laws were after the
erotectionists own heart. According to those laws—for the
encouragement if the English shipping interest—British
goods were not allowed to be sent abroad uhless Braids hot-
time could be found to take them. Foreign vessels brought
us cotten, and paid people to carry stones for ballast for the
vessel logo back with, because we would not let them carry
our goods. the navigatioo laws became intolerable and
wore swept away, and the tonnage of English vessels had
Increased from 3,500,000 in 1841 to 5,500,000 in leriff But
the main test of the value of free trade was whether it
bad made the working people better. If It had not done
that it was a sham. Ile maintained that flee trade hail
enabled the people to eat more arid save more, and that it
bad provided increased employment for them. In 1840
the consumption of tea per head of the population was
11b. Etta. ; in 1467, 31b. Riot. ; sugar, in 1040, 21t.b. ; In
1007, 4311 n. In 1040 there wan £28,000,000 In the saving.-
hicks; In 1864, £47,000.000. la lieM there were 00.000
ales bodied paupers; lu 1842 (before free trade), 400,000; in I
le6o, when free trade had been in operation a number of
years, the windier of the ablebodied paupers was reduced to '
120,000 ; and in ISGS there were only 105,000, or less than
half the number there were when native Industry was
"protected." On the whole, he did nos want a return to
protection. There could be no dispute that "reciprocity"
was desirable ; butte attempt to bring it about by a return
to protection on the part of England would be but to aggra-
vate the evils suisteg from the exclusion of British products
from foreign markets. There was one great cause of distress
in England remaining to be adverted to—the enormous load
ot taxatien borne by the people of this country. In England
the workman paid el lea customs duties; in France, 75. ;
in Belgium, 65. 0,1. As foreigners were less crushed by taxa-
tion, they could afford to work for lower waves than the
English, and that was the great cause of the success of
foreign competition.
Mr. Hallett Constitutiorialisl) read a paper the purport of
which was to show that there were thousands of artisans in
Birmingham and the &stilt:l elating to work, but unable
to find employment. Thousands were thrown out of work
by the French Treaty at Macclesfield, Coventry, Luton,
Dunstaale, and Cheshire, and the " preachers of political
righteousness" in the House of Commons refined all
inquiry into the extent and reuses ot the ilistrees
of the working classes. America, which was held
up as a model to working-men of Otis country,
imposed duties of 05, 45, and even more, per cent.
upon English goods to exclude them from the American
nee kets. Duties of 35 per cent, were levied upon firearm,
bellmetal, bolts, bears (plates or sheets , candlesticks (brass
or iron), chains (hires or coppu , chandeliers, coach fur-
niture, coal-hods, brass cocks, eel-fee-mills, copper wile,
cutlasses, stair-rods, flasks, glass bottles, guns, smings,
handles, &a, gilt chains. paper pm wadding, and a
great variety of other articles Its the maiming if which
thousands of artisans In this country oere employed.
Cut-glass ware, German-silver goods, and gilt wares paid
40 per cent., and steel fastenings, gimlets, hatchets, spades,
and shovels 45 per cent. Cotton, silk, and woollen goods
were taxed even more heavily. England hurl been too
liberal in her foreign policy; but it was advocated by
the Manchester school mainly for their own advantage, and
without much regard to the interests of the whole country.
No wonder thee, Hamm hail come. The Manchester gentle-
men were beginning to Mid out that their party hail made
a great mistake, and thousands in Manchester were ersing
for a remedy. Before the Eitglish Parliament was no gene-
rous to foreigners it ought to have been just to English
working men, who by the operation of free trade, were
ground down in their wages in order that employers might
be able to meet unfair foreign competition. To return
to the American tariffs cut nails worth es. el most
pay duty of 75. 43.; brads worthlla, duty 145. ; guns worth
i ss. duty Ss. 3d ; chandeliers worth £5, duty £2: pistols,
worth 205., duty 73. • japanned wares worth .20f.t duty
Bs., and no on. English goods Were thus excluded from
the American markets A Voice:—" Mere fools they !")
while the American goods were freely admitted into
England. What the English working-man felt was waqj
of work. (A Voice:—" taxation," and "Too mauy bishops!
Free trade hail reduced the price of Mead only ad. a
loaf. (Mr. Etiwartis:—"Only id in 121 b.") The greatest
part of the present distrust In England, Wales, and
Scotland was owing to the ihiquitous, DlMeral, and one-
sided measure falsely called free trade. If Mr Bright
would visit the li.. .eking-men of this town mid district and
hear their complaints he would be immediately prepar,d,
with the £6 a day he received front the hard modeles of
working-men (hhses), to go to America mid penned° the
people of that country to remove their protective duties.
A Mr. Smith (Liberal) was of opinion thst the last speaker
had cleared up any doubt that might have beet, en-
tertained as to the character of the /WWI tn. It was
clearly a party move. Reciprocity was, no doubt, a very good
thing, hut it was not to be obtained by deeertion of free
trade on the part of England. If the Americans art np a
harrier against trading with this country were the Englieh
to imitate them by setting up an additional barrier?
say that England was "generous to foreign countries" in
having adopted free trade wants beg the whole question.
The theory upon which free trade rested was that England
benefited not only foreign countries Mit herself also hy adopt-
ing free trade, and that ary country which took to " protec-
tion "Injured nut only other countries lint Itself aleo. Ile
did not believe the Americans were dull enough to persist
much longer in excluding Enelish goods from their marksta
by Imposing heavy duties upon them.
i A working-man complained that his class were injured
by German guide being tent from this country as Etigilsh
martutactura There was a great merchant In Itirmiegham
who, while spade-makers were idle in this town, sent to Ger-
many for spades, and exported them to Australia as English
spades.
Mr. Panic said he had seen an Australian order for thirty
dozen of English spades, arid 300 dozen of American spades.
The meson was that when the Australian trade was opened
the British merchants sent rubbish, but the Americans sent
good articles, and obtained a reputation accordingly.
The dieeussion was again adjourned.