The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-12-03 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT ON FAIR TRADE.

Mr. Bright has written the following letter to a
correspondent: "Dear Sir,-1 cannot be more in
favour of Free Trade than I have been in times past;
nor am I, nor can I be, less in favour of it than here-
tofore. The depression of trade of some recent years
has afforded additional proof of the wisdom of our
policy, and I believe we have suffered less than the
countries which still adhere to the Protective system.
Doubtless you will have observed that the Fair Traders
are in an amusing confusion as to what they want.
Some would tax corn as in the old days; others would
not tax corn. Some would only tax manufactured
goods; but they do not tell us which, or how
much they would tax them. Some would have
Free Trade only with the Colonies, not appearing to
know that our principal Colonies, say Canada and
Victoria, have heavy tariffs against English goods.
Our chief depression is in the farming industry. Our
farmers, as a rule, have had farms twice too large
for the capital employed upon them. Under the
corn laws, land was made to grow corn which should
not have grown it, and now with low prices must
cease to grow it. With free trade in corn, land must
depend upon its own quality, and on the capacity of
those who possess it, and who cultivate it. The ques-
tion of rent must depend on what tenants are willing
and able to pay. You cannot ask that a rate in aid
shall be levied on the breakfast table of every working
man's family to enable a tenant farmer to pay a rent
which the land he tills is not able to yield or to bear.
The rent must settle itself, and produce and prices will
enable the farmer to determine what be can undertake
to pay. Aud if these Fair Traders in their silly and
childish dreams propose again to raise the price of food
by partial exclusion of foreign .corn, how do they pro-
pose to protect the crowds of men and women work-
ing in the cotton and woollen trades of Lancashire
and Yorkshire, and to compensate them for the
various taxes which the ',Fair Traders are anxious to
see re-imposed upon food, and goods of various kinds
which we import from abroad? I should like to see
a carefully drawn tariff of the Fair Traders and
Protectionist and Monopolists who are now asking
for public support. It would be an amusing exhibi-
tion of ignorance, and folly, and confusion. It would
show the impossibility of going back to the system
which Sir Robert Peel attacked in the year 1842, and
which he utterly demolished in 1846. Since that time
there is abundant evidence of the improved condi-
tion of the millions who work for their daily bread.
Wages are generally higher' in many employments
they are nearly or quite doubled; and the cost
of almost everything the millions buy and consume
is greatly reduced, and their general condition is com-
fortable beyond anything that has been known in the
country during the last hundred years. There are
exceptions to this picture, as there have always been
seasons of depression in some or in special trades and
industries; but the picture as a whole is not over-
coloured. If, as you perhaps fear, the working men
will be persuaded to go back to the errors and mis-
chiefs of 60 years ago, it will only show, notwith-
standing efforts for their education, how far they are
from comprehending their true interests. You have
observed what the Conservatives have been saying at
Oxford—they return, shall I say, like a dog to his
vomit. They very slowly accept new teachings and
new opinions, and the old delusions still attach to
them; but they are all confusion, and know not what
they ask. Excuse this long letter.—Yours very respect-
fully, "JOHN BRIGHT?'
_ MR. MUNDELLA AT SHEFFIELD.

On Tuesday night, at Sheffield, Mr. Mundella,
M.P., spoke strongly against a return to Protection,
which seemed to be the aim of the present Govern-
ment. Passing on to the Irish question, he remarked
that no coercive measure, however stringent and
oppressive, would succeed in crushing out the spirit
of nationality in Ireland. Nationality had never yet
been crushed out of any people, and the more it was
stamped upon the more vigorous it would grow. He
believed Home Rule would yet be given to Ireland,
and the vilest blot that had ever disgraced the escut-
cheon of England wiped away.