The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-02-13 00:00:00

(stourttriby Ottstrbtr.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1875.
BRITISH TRADE AND COMMERCE.

One of the passages in the Queen's Speech
Feed at the opening of Parliament, on the oth
instant, remarked on the fact that, although the
condition of the finances was satisfactory, the
trade of the country in the present year had
somewhati fallen short of that of its predecessor.
This s a subject which affects us all, more or
less, seeing that inactivity in trade means less
employment for labour, and a corresponding
falling-off in the receipts of both shopkeepers
and artisans. There can be no question that
during the years 1871 and 1873 the commercial
prosperity of this country reached a height
whi▪
ch it had never before attained. The wages
of the working classes rose to an unprecedented
figure, thoroughly justified, as they declared, by
the profits which were rolling into the pockets
of the employers. Our collieries were alive
with busy life; the blast furnaces of our iron-
works threw out a ruddy glow upon the faces of
thousands of strong and stalwart sons of Tnbal
Cain; our manufactories resounded with the ring
which is inteparable from the voice of honest
industry; our ports were crowded with ships,
which while they brought to us the products of
every clime, took away again from our shores
articles of use and consumption for the peoples
of the &latent seas; our marts were crowded;
our capitalists were unable to execute the orders
which poured in upon them. It is true there is
no serious gloom cast over the picture here
drawn; the outlines are as complete as ever.
Sti▪ ll a little of its brightness and its glory is
gone; the lights are more dim and the shadows
more perceptible than they were twelve months
ego. The subject is demed of sufficient public
interest to be mentioned in the Royal Message
which inaugurates the annual opening of the
Legitlative Session. The effect is noticed;
wherein lies the cause?
The principal, if not the sole reason, is
undoubtedly the great increase in the cost of
production. Our coalowners, our ironworks'
proprietors, and our cotton and woolen manu-
facturers, having a higher rate of wages to pay
than they had three or four years ago, find
themselves compelled to chsrge more for their
wares, and it is unquestionable that if these
war es can be obtained more cheaply elsewhere,
thi▪ ther will the tide of commerce flow. If iron
can be obtained upon the Continent at £2 or £3
per ton below the quotations for manufactured
:scotch or Staffordshire metal, there is no rea-
son why the customer should come to Scotland
or Staffordshire for it. At this moment Belgium
can send manufactured iron into the American
market of as good a quality as we can produce,
and at lower rates; and as Americans have no
special love for Great Britain, naturally they go
to Belgium for what they require. There is
another important point to be noticed in cou.
sidering the transport of manufactures across
the sea, and that is the rate of freightage. Not
only can a Transatlantic firm buy iron cheaper
on the Continent than in Great Britain, but it
can convey its purchases to their destination at
lower rates. The freight from Antwerp is half-
a-crown per ton less than from the Clyde or the
Mersey. The freights from Antwerp to Canada
range from 14s. to 163. a ton, while from either
of the great English or Scottish rivers they run
from 17s. 6d. to 20s. So that not only is iron
dearer in the first place, but it costs more to
carry it away. The line of illustration need not
be confined to one branch of industry. German
hosiery and gloves now compete successfully
with Nottingham and Leicester. Switzerland
is developing the manufacture of embroidered
muslins, and here again elbowing us out of a
position which we once called our own, The
Belgian, the German, or the Swiss can live far
more cheaply than the English artisan. The
latter will tell you, if you ask him, why he wauta
more wages,that everything has risen enormously
in price within the past few years. In towns,
especially, house rent has advanced, the
necessaries of life, of which coal is one have
made gigantic strides in expensiveness; and he
is called upon to give his children a better
education in order to fit them for the race under
the altered conditions of life. The purchasing
power of the sovereign which he gives his wife
to lay out upon market days has wounderfully
lessened. She could once buy twenty shillings'
worth with it; but, judging from the articles
which she is enabled to bring home, she now
finds the coin worth considerably less. What,
then, is the working man to do? He finds the
necessaries of life greatly augmented in rates;
i
people assign all sorts of canoes for t. Some
tell him that the flow of gold from Australia has
depreciated the value of the currency, and by
rusking the precious metal more cheap, actually
renders the sovereign of smaller value. Others
talk to him vaguely of the increase of the
national w.alth. But what is nothing to him
he -=li-trr, in it; and as the butcher, the
increased
demand and tee coal merchant make an
demand 'non his pocket, he argues, naturally
enough, that unless he can earn more money he
will very soon go to .the wall. His employer
reason with him, and asks why he should pay
higher wages for the same quantity of work ; he
replies that only yesterday he asked his butcher
why he charged more for the same quantity of
at, and the reply was that it cost more to ob-
tain it. So with him it costs more to /Iv!. The
employer accedes to the demand, and is com-
pelled to charge his customers more, because it
costs him a higher rate of expenditure to produce
his wares. And so on. One class attributes
the blame to the other, and in the end it is found
that in the general rise very little material
advantage hag been gained,
It, may he safely assumed that for the inflated
prices which have lately ruled in this country,
no one section of the community can be held
primarily or exclusively responsible. At one
time imperceptibly, at another suddenly, bat all
the while surely, the expenses of living in this
eiluntry have increased in a far higher proportion
than those in foreign lands. Consequently they
can turn out their products more cheaply; and
if they can command the same excellence of ma-
. terizel, they are bound to win in the general
tempetition, Buy in the cheapest market! " was
Sir Robert Peet's advice and no one can be
blamed for following it. At the same time the
tenses at which we have hinted as in some de-
gree explaining the declin- 1.11 crir trade are
worthy of attentive consider.tion: They suggest
motile serious retitictious ; bui it is greatly to be
feared that it is more easy to point out the
disease than to suggest a remedy. The condi-
tions of life in this country are very different
from those of the cootineot and according to
the existing ontleok they must continue to be
so. It is for us to make the best of things as we
find them.

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