The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-08-26 00:00:00

OUR NATIONAL PROSPERITY.

Reilewing our present commercial tawition, oltieli scour,,.
to he not altogether unaatiafactory. The Times haw the fol-
lowing leader, w Melt tonna a emnprehenalve summary of the
whole subject :

National prosperity may not iibeolutely involve ma.
tional hapithiess awl national safety, but it is fair to
presume that the nation which prospers in its cone
merce is at once happy awl secure. The comforting
assurance that we are prospering in trade, that our
population, gm wing richer every year, is enabled to
enj4,l all increasing proportion of luxuries, and
that fiecZ burdens, while constantly made lighter
to the con:miner, am at the Saint. time steadily be-
coming more productive to the Exchequer, may give
us Wile comfort in the midst of our Military short-
comings awl Naval disasters. The Report of the Com-
missioners of •Customs for the year 1070 furnishes
ample proof that, however we may blunder elsewhere,
the commeree of England has not been damaged
by any recent changes at home or abroad. Our entire
trade in the past year was absolutely the
.largest that
we, or any other nation, have ever done tn the same
period. Our imports from foreign countries and British
possessions abroad amounted to 1:303.000,000, nearly
eight millions more than those I.f 1169. I Hir exports
amounted to 1244,000,000, nearly seven millions more
than those of ISO. it is not enough, however, to com-
pare the statistics of this unparalleled commerce with
thoseof the premdingyearalone, which just reached the
level of lisfier, since deemed a year of unexampled activity
in trade. Let us go back to tlw year ISii4, a tine- of
sufficient commercial energy. 'rh.• Crimean War had
not yet checked trade; still our imports and exports
in that year were barely more than half the value of
our imports and exports in 1870. And yet during half
the year distinguished in our fiscal annals by the attain-
ment of a height of connnercial loromierity never reaclied
before a disastnins war was raging between two if the
most powerful and wealthy of Continental neigh-
bours.

One of the most interesting questions which arose in
regard to our commerce in the year 1070 was connected
with the war between Germany and France. Should
we lose or should we profit by it? The matter was
doubtful ; for though it was clearthat in some respectss
we should gain largely by the partial paralysis of the
French and Ili ...man trade, formidable rivals being
thus for the time taken out of our way, it was appre-
hendwl, on the other hand, that the market for our
commodities in one or both countries might be closed
to no, and that, in consequence I,f financial disturb-
ances, commercial transactions might be brought
to a standstill. The event Aux cd, however, that
the predictions of ill were founded on errors of calcula-
tion. The blockade of the German ports, never very
effective, owing to the inertness or incapacity •of the
French naval commanders, came to an end long before
the year was over by the withdrawal of the French
ships that their crews might aid in the work of defence
at home. Our trade with Germany thus suffered
less than might have been expected. The exports
indeed, (nun e 22,841,000 in 181;9 to 00,371,00 C ‘u
Is7o, but against is part of this loss may be set an in-
crease of nearly a million in the exports to Holland
and Belg,ffini. wh'eh were mainly destined, it is
reasonably pre:quiffs!, for Germany. The import values,
again, from the German Empire showed in Is7o a
decrease of nearly three millions, ,vhicb, however, may
lie assumed to have been balanced by the increase of
three and a half millions in the I bitch and Eelgian
trade. With Frame, on the other hand, we have done
a larger business than ever, though, unfortunately,
not .4 a wholesome or enduring kind. Although the
usual demand 1... r • .or manufactums and raw material
rapidly ceased after the declaration of war, we began
at the same time to supply or neighbour with
provishillS, clothing, machinery, Inn-sea, arms, and
munitions of war. We may all that the increase in
value a MT en ortatiou of aims and ammunition was
1.:881,039, ale.ut two-thirds of the net increase of
our exports to France. Our hillside from France
exhibit a much noire remarkable augmentation. The
net increase for the year is over four millions, but,
omitting corn and flour, the exportation of which from
France naturally HI off daring the war, the increase
on other French commodities amounted I. five and a
quarter milli, its... A large I inantity of raw cotton and
a considerable quantity of raw silk, nearly two millions'
worth in till, Mlle over to us because the French mills
had ti cease working. Silk, woollen, and other manu-
factured goods were also exported to this country
in large quantities mainly owing to the anxiety of
the owners to realize at the commencement of the
war. It is not pleasant to have to recount these
gains, which commerce, flowing inexorably in the
channels of safety, has bestowed , .11 us at the expellee
of our neighbours. It is more agreeable to point to
the little acts ,4 courtesy which the officials of our
('nations have been able to extend to the French who
were compelled to seek English hospitality. The rules
if the I .114,0111-611.4,1 were hospitably relaxed ti enable
the refugees ti bring in plate, jewelry, and other valua-
ble gO.OllB. I{llll store them witlemt paying duty.

What we have gained, co; appeared to
gain, during the late war by the misfortunes of France
in only a very trifling element in the substantial in-
crease of our trade, inward and outward, for last year.
A large increase is apparent on our eximrts to such
smuntries as Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and Peru,
varying from 1.6 to 2a per cent, on the business of IStifl.
hut a more important item is our export trade to the
United States, which rises to E 28,335,000, an increase
of 15 per cent over the exports of Nifl. Only
once --in 18fili has this exportation been sur-
passed, and then only by a trifle. Our export
of foreign and colonial produce to America shows
a still greater proportionate increase :17 per
cent.- -though the total amount is, of course, very
much less. The Colo odes and other British pos-
sessions have also nearly attained this year their
highest point in the absorption of English exports,
They took from us C01,54,'4,000, almut two millions
less than they took in 1:,01. Of late years they have
been falling oil an customers, but the process of recovery
is now obvious, The I 'olonies l'° l°' however, do not
show so well in this category, the exports to Australia
being less by three and a half millions than those of
Turning to the imports from abroad, we find the
United States showing the largest increase-11,231,000.
This is entirely covered by the ion ogre.n in the cultivatio on
and exportation of American cotton, of which nearly six
and a half million ..f hundredweights were shippeol in
IS7O, against over four millions in Isolto. The 1 'olonial
imports appear to lie susceptible of strange and sudden
variations, which we caronot attempt to interpret,
British North America alone progreasing steadily,
tic ugh slowly. It is oqoparent, however, that we have
nowhere bettyr customers than in the United Status,
We have built up a trade with them on a basis of
mutual advantage, the disturbance od which wonlol be
to either nation. The grooving prosperity
which the Commissioners of Customs record is one
other addel to ninny reasons to make no grateful that
the Treaty of Washington has healed a quarrel
dangerous to the peace and the commerce 4d two