The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-14 00:00:00

Oar foal= Corrtspentnt.

[We deem it tight to ttAte., that we cl¢t not at all ELI3I
iikentify ourselves with oar Correspondent's opinions.

The opening of a second Parliament within
the same year is an event of so unusual a kind
that it could net fail to attract the attention
even Of those who are not customarily concerned
in politics. Short Parliaments have been so ex-
ceptional during the life of the present genera-
tion that such a striking specimen as that which
was dissolved in June, and has now been re-
'placed, is likely to be long remembered. But,
whatever drawbacks there may be to short Par-
liaments, this advantage may be conceded—that
they teach us a good deal of procedure which
otherwise might remain unknown, with the con-
-sequence that, where flaws are discovered theit
.early repetition causes them to appear so striking
that a remedy is sought. An instance of this
_

has been afforded in connection with the opening
of this, the 12th Parliament of Queen Victoria's
- -reign. As each House had assembled there had
arisen complaints concerning the disorderly
'fashion in which the inembers crowded to the

'table to take the oath of allegiance, but when five
or six years separated every first meeting of a
Parliament, there seemed no pressing call for an
alteration in the arrangements. When, however,
only six months intervened, and the remembrance
of the inconvenience was still fresh, it was felt
that a change ought to be made; and the
Speaker accordingly issued a special regulation
dealing with the subject. Perhaps the improve-
ment was not as marked on the opening days of
the present Parliament as the right hon. gentle-
man had hoped, but practice makes perfect, and
old habits die hard.
Harvest is now in full swims, in most counties
of England, and although the yie;cl of corn this
autumn will not rank 1883 with the best years
English agriculture has seen. it will suffice to place
it among the good averages. The com-
mercial and social importance of this fact
every man of business will appreciate. and
even those who give no attention to
statistics, and whose views upon trade are of the
haziest, will hardly need elaborate demonstra-
tion on the point. In the present day the im-
portation of corn is so enormous that the fact
that England herself has a good or a bad harvest
is not of the vital importance to the population
that once it was. Even a short yield
here would not mean, as at one time
it meant, starvation to thousands of the
struggling poor. But a short yield even now
marks the difference between prosperity and
comparative poverty of a great number and
when we consider the myriad manifestations of
our social system, and how closely the interests
of all classes are interlaced, even the most un-
thinking will know that the corn-yield has its
effect upon tens of theusands who have no direct
connection with agriculture, and who could not
distinguish one kind of grain from another. If
we turned to our small towns alone we should
see what an influence it had upon trade, and, as
the trade of small towns feels that of the larger,
the dwellers in the great cities have relations to
the harvest of which many, while participating
in the benefits, are unaware, because they have
never given, to what is really a most im-
portant matter, even the tribute of a passing
thought.
But it is not only as it affects the commerce of
England generally, or even as it touches the
question of our food supply, that the harvest
should be considered. For it is the great social,
as well as the great practical, fact of the agri-
cultural year, and although much of its
picturesqueness may have separated in this
matter-of-fact age, it has sufficient yet to
challenge attention. Perhaps those who have
been always accustomed to the social observances
which accompany harvest may not appreciate
their picturesque side as keenly as townsfolk,
who see them only occasionally and, as it were,
by accident. To us who dwell in towns, and
Particularly to those who live within that "pro-
vince covered with houses" called London, there
is something peculiarly refreshing in a country
holiday at time of harvest. The ingathering of
the corn is a festival which poets have sung for
all ages, and the sentimental side of which
has been spoken since civilization began.
It is the period towards which the farmer t'has
looked through ploughing and sowing, and
ripening of the grain, and when the golden corn
is ready to be cut, the fulfilment of the promise
that as long as the world shall roll, "summer
and winter, seed-time and harvest shall not
fail," brings contentment to all concerned. And
when the labour of the fields is over, when the
last load is brought to its place, and the harvest
home is about to be held, even those of least
sentiment cannot but be impressed with the
rustic observances, which have come down to
us from the ages, and which are of interest to
us. as they have been to our fathers, and as they
will be to our children's children.
An item of news from America has been circu-
lated on the Stock Exchange, which will seem
almost beyond belief by those who are accus-
tomed to imagine that the precious metals
always will be precious, and that nothing can
affect their value. It is stated that so low
is the price of silver that it is likely to
cause the stoppage of mines in Montana and
elsewhere in the United States, the fact that
wages and the cost of working are on the in-
crease simultaneously with the price of silver
being on the decrease aiding this movement.
Seeing that a shilling can in England always be
exchanged for twelve pennies, and that with
twenty shillings a sovereign can be obtained,
the great majority of the inhabitants of this
island have no idea of the effect that the cheap-
ness of silver has upon other parts of the world.
If, however, they have friends in India they will
speedily be enlightened, for the difference be-
tween the real and the nominal value of the rupee
—a difference caused by the depreciation in the
value of silver—is one of the most tangible
grievances under which Anglo-Indians have to
suffer. To many Englishmen who do not see too
much money from year's end to year's end, it
may sound strange and well-nigh absurd to talk
of silver being a "drug in the market;" but
such a vast quantity of the white metal has
been raised in the silver-mining districts of the
United States during the past few years that,
what would once have seemed as ludicrous ex-
aggeration, has now become a literal fact.
Signs of an improvement in trade continue to
be eagerly looked for, and much comfort is just
now being derived from the fact that there are
such signs on the other side of the Atlantic,
- seeing that these have always been followed by
corresponding symptoms here. One point is of
especial interest in this connection, and that is
that in the United States there are indications
just now of a considerable revival of activity in
the department of railway construction. That
means that the iron trade of the world will be
improved, and in that improvement the English
iron trade is bound to have' a share. In the
manufacture of steel rails English firms stand at
an advantage over their American rivals, even
though their price is slightly higher; and it
!stands to reason that if more miles of railway
: are to be built in the States this year than has
=been the case for some period, and the English
-iron and steel trade is thereby improved, other
,departments of our commerce will be bene-
fited likewise. With what a satisfaction
such a benefit will be received need not
be dilated upon. For years our industries
have languished under the dull shade of depres-
sion, and that not so much because we have
made less as that we have profited less. It may
be that the time when England was mistress of
the markets of the world, and could command
her own prices for all her goods, have gone, never
to come back, Bet if "small profits and quick
returns" must be her motto, there is no need to
repine. Such symptoms of revival as have dis-
played themselves must be encouraged.; and, in
the desire to re-establish our mercantile supre-
macy, we must accommodate ourselves to the
,changed conditions of the commercial world.
London already possesses art galleries and pic-
-ture exhibitions of such number and variety that
it will be with astonishment that many people
will receive the proposition that "a really
national exhibition" of pictures shall be estab-
lished. Yet, as this is put forward by artists no
less distinguished than Mr. Holman Hunt, Mr.
Walter Crane, and Mr. Clausen, it is evidently de-
serving of consideration; and, whether it comes te
a practical issue or not, we are certain to
hear agreat deal more about it. The pro-
posal arises out of certain grievances which
various artists entertain against the Royal
Academy, and without going into detail as to
what these grievancee are, it may suffice to
indicate them if it he stated that the main ilea
of the sugaes' ed exhibition is that it should be
one" in which no artist should have rights of places
and all werkeshould be chosen by a jury elected
by and from all artists in the Kingdom." How
far the 'adoption of such regulations would do
away with the jealousies which now every year
disturb the art world when " hanging com-
mittees" meet and decide upon the pictures to
he exhibited, must remain to be seen. A. hint
has more than once been thrown out that those
, who are dissaaisfied with the present arrange-
-2 reents of the Itoya1; Academy should follow the
example of these oi their artistic brethren iv

raris, wno, \Men situlMrty cussatisnea witn tne
arrangements of the al on, established a rival
institution in the shape of a "Salon des
llefus6s in which were shown the pictures thst
had been returned unhung from the official
exhibition. Perhaps the success attained in Paris
by this idea has not been sufficiently great to
encourage imitation; but if it be true, as is so
often asserted, that under the present system
we are prevented from seeing many good works
by young painters, the experiment might be
worth making in London.
A touching example of tlle true brotherhood
which, even under the present imperfect condi-
tions, may obtain among nations has just been
furnished in a large gift of books made by the
United States to the library of Strasburg Uni-
versity. In the course of the heroic defence of
the city during the Franco-German War, just
16 year since, the valuable public library was
burned; and upon the election of the Univer-
sity, the directors applied to various foreign
governments for grants towards replacing their
literary treasures. The matter was taken up at
Philadelphia by a prominent citizen, and, in
association with others of equal spirit, he began
to collect books for Strasburg, with the result
that 35 chests of valuable works have been
brought together, the last of which—consisting
of books, maps, and charts—has just been
brought across the Atlantic. There is in the love
of literature that which makes the whole world
kin, and no more striking instance of this has for
a long time been afforded. Between the United
States and France there has, of course, for a
century been a peculiar sympathy, and though
Strasburg by the fortune of war is now once more
German, there can scarcely be a doubt that the
memory of Lafayette has stimulated the move-
ment alluded to. But whatever recollections or
sentiments underlay the gift, it was worthy of a
great and book-loving people.

A. F. R.