The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-08 00:00:00

FAIR TRADE.

A largely-attended meeting of the Sheffield branch
of the Fair Trade League was held on Tuesday, night
in the Albert-hall, under the presidency of the Mater
Cutler, Mr. J. E. Bingham. There were about 3,000
people in the hall.
Sir John Brown wrote that something must be done
to save our trade, for the so-called free-trade theory
would no longer serve under the altered circumstances.
Mr. Maclver, M.P., said free trade did not exist in
the real sense of the term, for they had only a system
of free imports and restricted exports. He said that
the League did not wish to tax the food of the people;
they sought to tax the foreigners. It was resolved
that :
"No commercial treaty should be concluded with
France or any foreign Power which shall not be ter-
minable by one year's notice, and that no most
favoured nation clause shall be construed as being
applicable to any fiscal arrangement which may be
made between Great Britain and any of her colonies
or dependencies."
The following resolution was then moved :--" Con-
vinced of the practical failure of the present system of
free trade so-called, which consists of the free admis-
sion into the United Kingdom of foreign manufac-
tures and food produce, notwithstanding the exclusion
of British manufactures from foreign States, through
the operation of heavy and, in some instances, pro-
hibitive tariffs; convinced that this refusal of foreign
nations to receive British manufactures in exchange
for purchases from them is working most in-
juriously to the welfare and prosperity of the
nation, and endangering the steady employment,
the fair wages, and future well-being of our work-
ing classes ; this meeting pledges itself to promote,
by every means at its command, an extension of
trade with all countries, and especially with our
colonies and dependencies, prepared to deal with the
United Kingdom upon the principle of reasonably free
exchange, arid to agitate for such fiscal adjustments as
shall prevent the products of foreign States which
refuse to deal with Great Britain in fair trade from
unduly competing with the products of home labour."
This resolution was also carried, but both motions
met with dissentients.

A fair trade meeting called by the National League,
was held on Tuesday night at Derby, when Captain
Armit, Mr. Maddocks, of Birmingham, and others
attended as delegates. There was a htrge preponder-
ance of opinitm in favour of free trade, and a resolution
proposed in favour of using all means to maintain its
benefits in this Gountry was carried by a large majority.

LOU) DERBY ON MEDICAL SCIENCE.

On Monday the Earl of Derby presided at the annual dis-
tribution of prizes anu opening of the Winter Session of the
Liverpool Royal Infirmary Bebool of Medicine, which has
now been affiliated with the new University College of Liver-
pool. There was a large attendance of students and their
friends in St. George's !tall, while upon the platfoi in were a
number of the leading promoters of the new College, as well
as the professors attached thereto.—Lord Derby, in distribut-
ing the prizes, after some preliminary observations pro-
ceeded to say :

- .
Your privilege, the privilege of your chosen employ-
ment, is—and a high and enviable one I call it—that
you can largely satisfy the intellectual impulse to know
and to discover on the one hand, while on the other
you can equally, in the ordinary routine of your duty,
do useful service to your fellow men. Intellectually
c3nstdered, the subject of your study is that which
most deeply concerns us all. It has grown into a pro-
verb that the proper study of mankind is man ; and
in this age, when the intimate connection of body
and mind are recognised when we know that
no thought, no feeling, no emotion, can pass over -
the human
.frame without leaving traces of its
passage—the enormous importance of studying the
Physical organisation of our race is less than ever
likely to be diF,reg,arded. The ultimate mystery
of existence can never be solved, but on the conditions
of existence every successive generation of ing,,iii,s
throws clearer and clearer light, and in that inie of
resea/ch, never exhanted or capable of being ex-
le:meted, there is space enough for the Ingbeet ambi• ,
tion, and interest enough to compensate for much of
mere thudgery and dulness. But there is another,
and perhaps a more practical, aspect in which the pro-
fession of which we speak may be regarded. Medical
science applies itself more directly than any other
to the promotion of human well-being and the pre-
vention of human suffering. And it does more than
that. Those who practice it are the guardians, so
to speak, of the national health aid I need not
tell you what is implied in that practice. The
struggle for existence between races, as between in-
dividuals, is incessant. The strongest must win
in the end ; and the very first condition of a
strong race is that it shall he ph3-sically healthy.
After some local allusions Lord Derby continued—
In no age of the world have sanitary matters at-
tracted so much attention as in ours, and in the
extension of life and the diminution of disease we
are reaping the fruit of what has been done during
the last twenty or thirty yea) s. (Hear, hear.) I
need not point out in connection with that subject
how great is the power and the influence of the
medical adviser in distress; nor need I dwell on what
is obvious enough, the demand made upon him for
courage and honesty to speak the whole truth where
' scier_tific matters are in question, where money is
on one side and health on the other, and where plain
speech may give, serious offence in quarters where
offence is dangerous. But it is not in such questions
alone that the moral as well as the intelleetue),

qualities of the physician are constantly called iiito
play. He has ,to deal not with dead matter, but with
men and women. He has to witness and experience
their caprices, their passions, their weaknesses, and of
these last at least he sees more than the members of any
other profession, and that is no liAt burdento bear. He
must be firm under penalty of being useless. He must
be sympathetic, or the experience f his daily life will
force hurl into cynicism. He must avoid needless
pugnacity and antagonism, yet without yielding in any
essential point to the quackery and empiricism in which
a half-educated public delights. But, on the other
hand, he probably enjoys more of -the confidence of
those with whom he has to do than any other adviser. We
do not in these days confess ourselves to priests, but we
do confess ourselves generally with great sincerity to our
lawyers and our physicians. For the great office, as I
most seriously call it, of a trusted me\ficaladviser there
is wanting more than mere science, though that must
necessarily be the basis; he must have tact, judgment,
firmness in opinion, courtesy, and gentleness of ex-
pression. One thing more I will add. There is, hap-
pily, in all departments of life much unpaid service,
freely and ungrudgingly rendered, often by men who
might be excused if they thought first of their own
scantily-provided families ; but I assert with some con-
fidence that he absolutely gratuitous assistance given
by the medical profession to those who are unable to
pay for it far exceeds that which is bestowed or de-
manded in any other line of life, and it is not less credi-
table to those who give it because custom has in great
measure caused it to be expected as a matter of course.
Whether it is equally creditable to the public that
it should be expected to the extent it is is a
different question, into which I need not now enter.
What I here say to you medical students may be
summed up in one word—Respect your profession,
and respect yourselves. You have great examples
before you; you have noble traditions to follow; you
have exceptional opportunities of leading a life not
only blameless, but intellectual and publicly useful.
Remember that each one of you, young as he may be,
can do something to honour, or if so willing, to dis-
credit, his profession. I have no doubt which your
choice may be, and I hope many of you may look back
from a respected and honoured professional position
on these early days of discipline and training, when
you stood on this platform as prizemen in our new
University College. (Loud cheers.)