The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-04-30 00:00:00

TWO VIEWS OF PROTECTION.

At Cambridge on Saturday afternoon there was a
county meeting to consider the depression of trade
and agriculture. The Lord Lieutenant presided. The
Mayor of Cambridge proposed "That this meeting
considers that the existing depression throughout the
country is mainly owing to the very low prices caused
by foreign competition.' He supported the motion
in a vigorous speech, which was warmly cheered, and
the resolution was carried with acclamation. Mr. C.
Bidwell proposed "That this meeting urges tho
Government to promote and forward measures
to remedy the general inequality now existing
in the system and unjust incidence of local
taxation, and to remove the undue preference
given to foreign imports by the railway and canal
traffic ratts." Mr. Clarke, tenant farmer, se-
conded the motion. He had been a Free Trader
all his life, but when he found the system sucking
his life blood from him he could not be blamed for
casting it from him. (Loud cheers.) Mr. J. C.
Lawrence, M.P., said the question had passed beyond
the bounds of landlord and tenant, and it had become
a great national question, which the Government
were compelled to take up, as affecting every indi.
oidual in the country. Insurance companies, friendly
societies, hospitals, and other institutions would be
hard hit in their mortgages in land. The motion was
adopted. Major Frost proposed "That this meeting
also urges the Government to consider the possi-
bility of arranging our fiscal system so that agricul-
ture, manufactures, and trade, upon which the work-
ing classes of the country are dependent for their
labour, may not be unduly affected by excessive
foreign imports." Mr. Joseph Martin seconded the
motion, which was carried, an amendment that to
return to a protective policy would be in the highest
degree prejudicial to the country being shouted down
and not seconded.

At a meeting of the Glasgow Chamber of Com-
merce to discuss the question of Fair Trade, a state-
ment was made that Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden had
predicted that in 10 years after the introduction of
Free Trade the whole world would follow or
example, and if not there would be a good reason to
reconsider the question. Mr. Bright's attention having
been called to this statement, he has replied as
follows: "So far as I know, I never predicted nor
expected that other nations would follow us in Free
Trade within five years, nor do I believe or remember
that Mr. Cobden ever said anything of the kind. As
to the reconsideration of the question, the motiot is
to the last degree absurd. Neither Mr. Cobden, nor
I, nor any other man who knows anything about the
question could possibly have said or thought any-
thing so ridiculous and childish. The more other
nations accept wrong principles upon this question,
the more necessary and desirable it is for us to accept
and adhere to the policy of Free Trade. Free Trade
gives us freedom to buy and to increase our
buying, and the more we buy the more we sell, and
the greater our trade, even in spite of the hindrance
of foreign tariffs. Surely, no man imagines that to
make importing difficult—that is, to prevent our
buying freely—would lessen the injury which foreign
tariffs ir.flict upon us, and which prevent our selling
freely. Is it not better to be able to buy freely rather
than by law to be unable either to buy or to sell
freely? The reason other nations keep up their
high tariffs is plain enough. The Protectionists are
an organised army, and the consumers are a mob. It
is easier also to levy taxes, because the manufacturing
classes do not complain of taxes which it is pretended
are imposed for their special benefit. The Protec-
tionists in the United States are burdened with a large
surplus reienue, and yet they refuse to lower their
import duties or lessen their protection, and this is
promoting a system of corruption unequalled in any
other country. If the objectors with you would read
Sir T. H. Farrer's little book, Free Trade versus
Fair Trade,' they might learn something useful if
their minds are open to facts or to avgaments on the
I'ree Trade question,"