The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-31 00:00:00

The repealers are divided in opinion as regards the effect
that a free, trade in corn would have
.upon prices. Some of
then' believe that the demand for our consumption would
be so great, that prices abroad would advance, so that foreign
rnanufacturersewould have to pay more for labour, andin
consequence, we should be better enabled to compete with
them. This is the Right Honourable C. P. Thomson's view,
'(our late member.) On the other band, there are a class who
declare that prices would fall here considerably; and their
cry is, why eat dear borne-bread, when foreign-bread may be
purchased so very much cheaper? And besides, say they,
if we get a cheap loaf we shall be enabled to work for less
wages, and beat the foreigner out of his own market, and
them our present member, R. H. Greg, Esq., will be saved
the trouble of going with his old power-looms either to
America or Geneva.
In answer, I would observe, that if Mr. Thomson's views
'bat-Correct; find thateforeign labour is raised by the measure,
it could only be done at the cost of this country, and on that
ground we ought to give it our most strenuous opposition ;
but if the other party are right in their calculations, how
can the working man be served if a corresponding reduction
take place in his wages ? They say, that the agricultural
labourer derives no advantages from big prices. This is
not to be wondered at, for high prices are occasioned by
bad harvests and deficient crops, which impoverish the
farmer, and it generally follows that the employed par-
ticipate in the circumstances of the employer, for we seldom
hear of wages advancing when trade is in a depressed state.
There is a divided opinion among those who are favorable
to protection ; some advocate a fixed duty, while others
deem a fluctuating scale as most conducive to the general
interest. Corn is dependent upon the seasons, and it is
therefore liable to great changes; as such. I think it impos-
sible to fix the duty at a point so as to give security to the
grower, and satisfaction to the consumer ; for if the duty be
too low the producer would be injured, and if the protection
was adequate, and high prices prevailed, then there would
be a cry raised throughout the land that it was a starvation
law. To avoid this, I would prefer a fluctuating scale, and
that the duty should range between five shillings the lowest,
and twenty-one shillings the highest figure: such an arrange-
ment, I fancy, would better establish the equilibrium of
price ; but this being so momentous a question it ought to
be approached with the greatest caution.*
• Some'time ago, I went one evening to the Corn Exchange,
to hear Mr. Nekton, the Anti-Corn-Law advocate ; and in
the course of his lecture he alluded to protection, and said,
that it was nothing less than one portion of the community
robbing the remainder ; and he compared it to a number of
Monkeys confined in a range of cages, in Exeter Change :
these monkeys, he said, instead of eating their own provi-
sions, partook of that • of their companions, at the same time
imagirun that they were deriving a great advantage.
I Now, contend• that this is not a parallel case: for it must.
be admitted that although each monkey lost the food allotted
to it, yet each enjoyed that of his companion, so that their
system was reciprocal ;• but our reciprocity is riot so, for we
allow foreigners to dip .their beaks into our mess, although
they will not even let us have a peep at theirs, unless we pay
them our hard cash.
The Free Trader would reply by saying, that our paying
the . foreigner in specie for his goods, is but an indirect ex-
change of our labour, for it is that which procures us the
gold. and silver; but let,us ask C: P. Thomson, Esq., if it
would not serve our interest much better in case we expend-
ed our money upon our productions, and by so doing would
it not be more likely to fructify in our own pocket, than in
squandering it upon foreign manufactured articles ? •
I have candidly leis' before you the arguments used by the
Anti-Corn-Law advocates, and have given you my opinion
regarding them ; 'and I do most solemnly assure you that, if
I deemed their views calculated to promote the interest of
the working classes, 1 should scorn to oppose them in the
least ; for I am satisfied that the commercial state of this
country never was in such a deplorable plight. But, thatany
man should assert that this state of things arises from the
corn laws, appears to me quite ridiculous. I am persuaded
that those laws have nothing to do with our present difficul-
ties. I beg to say, however people are divided as to the
cause of our embarrassments, the effects are now obvious to
be disputed. I consider that our present circumstances
spring from several causes, namely, a one-sided system of
Free Trade, are unnatural application of machine power,
which produces to excess, and also too great a pressure of
taxation upon the industry of the country ; and you may take
it for granted, that half-measures will not availars, and that
we must have recourse to something like the following expe-
dients before our commercial position can be improved ; and
the sooner we set about it the better.
First.—Lay a tax upon all coal that is exported. For-
merly, for the protection of our trade, coal exported was
taxed ; and surely there is need of such a tax now ; for the
free exportation of coal has a two-fold evil. In the first
place, it puts a weapon into the hands of our rivals, to wield
against- ourselves; and in the second place the foreign de-
mand has a tendency to enhance the value of coal at home,
which adds to the cost of our manufactured goods ; and,
moreover, when we reflect upon the nature of procuring
coal, and the frequent loss of life through explosion, caused
by fire-damp, &c., I am sure we are not warranted in pro-
moting the exportation of it beyond due bounds, particularly
as its consumption will be much increased at home in,conse-
quence:of the rapid promotion of railway conveyance' It be-
hoves us then the more to husband our means.
Second.—Tbe enforcement of a law to prohibit the expor-
tation of machinery.
Third.—Prohibit the importation of foreign-manufactured
goods ; for in all conscience have we not quite enough to do
to consume our own commodities ? Formerly we did not
suffer manufactured goods to be imported. Our maxim was,
that the wealth of England should uphold the labour of Eng-
land ; but now-a-days, our liberality is so great that we en-
courage any other labour in preference to our own. France
has played a different game, and the result is, that she has
got all the money ; and the Bank of England has been obliged
to borrow money from the French Bank, to enable her to
meet her engagements.
Fourth.—Take off taxes to the amount of at least sixteen
millions ; say such taxes as press upon the industry of the
country, namely, the tax on malt, soap, glass, cotton, &c.
and substitute a property tax. This measure would have a
tendency to cheapen commodities, and then our countrymen
would have less inducement to reside abroad to economise.
Fifth.—Curtail the hours of factory labour.
Near the cloSe of the last session of parliament, the govern-
ment introduced a new factory act, but, like most Whig
measures, it was so exceedingly bungled, that the committee
could make nothing of it, and Lord John Russell was obliged
to withdraw it. But during the discussion of the same act,
Lord Ashley moved a ten hour clause, and supported his
motion upon the ground of humanity and sound commercial
policy. The ten hours' clause means ten hours, of- actual.
—!•• v - necuration q,f 114 k
hours per day. Lord John Russell, supported by Mark
Phillips, Esq. one of our members) most strenuously opposed
Lord Ashley, saying, that he, Lord Ashley, was totally mis-
taken in his calculations, and that it was anything but hu-
mane to abridge the hours of labour ; for how is it possible,
said Lord John Russell, that a man can earn the same amount
of wages by ten hours' work, as he can by working twelve
hours ; for, continued his lord Ship, if you reduce the hours of
labour, a reduction of wages must follow. I think that Lord
John Russell should have proved to the house that increased
hours of labour always gave increased wages, and then his
argument would hold good; but allow me to ask his lord-
ship how it happens that formerly, when the hand-loom
weaver only worked eight hours a day, he earned thirty
shillings per week, and that now the power-loom weaver,
with an improved machine, works twelve hours a-day, and
gets only twelve shillings per week ? I would also direct his
lordship's attention to the capitalist, for the mill-owners
assert that yarns and goods are so abundant in the market,
that they are- selling at ruinous prices, and that they are
compelled to put their works upon short time to preserve
themselves from destruction. Common sense, therefore,
must convince any reflecting mind, that if capital can be
overcharged, so may labour. What would Lord John
Russell think of a sportsman charging his gun up to the
muzzle,•_io that he might destroy a covey of birds at one
shot : I wish his lordship to understand, that labour has
its medium as well as every thing else. If a man indulge
extravagantly in eating and drinking it is certain to injure
his health. If a merchant trade beyond his resources it is
certain to produce ruin. Indeed, it is notorious, that indivi-
duals do frequently trade beyond , their means, and it may
fairly be asked, is it not possible that a nation may do the
same? Is not this our case at present? Is it not admitted
that both labour and profits are on the wane ? Extravagant
production has a tendency to advance the price of the raw
material, and at the same, time to glut the market with
goods. This places the manufacturer between two straits.
Do not suppose that I am an enemy to machinery, far
from it.. It is not machinery that is an evil, it is the abuse of
it. Fire and water, so long as they are kept within bounds,
are necessary to the well-being of man; but, if suffered
to rage uncontrolled, will cause misery and devastation.
Machine labour may be compared to a fruit tree. When it
is in its infancy, it may be allowed to expand, but as it ma-
tures, it must be kept pruned, or it will yield only timber
instead of fruit. So it is with machinery. When young, it
might be allowed to run all hours ; but as it matures, it must
be kept in bounds, or it will produce evil rather than good,
It was the opinion of the late Sir Robert Peel, that if the
government did not curtail mill labour, machinery would
prove a.curse rather than a. blessing, which induced Sir. Ro-
bert to advocate a short hOurs factory bill. The present
system of mill labour is attended with serious evils. The
operatives are injured in their health by extreme labour,
which has a tendency to damage another portion of opera-
tives, by depriving them of employment, so that one portion
becomes sufferers by over-labour, and the other portion is
rendered so for want of employment. This principle has the
same effect upon capital. To moderate mill-work to a rea-
sonable term (say ten hours of actual. daily labour) would be
a great advantage, as it would expand the employment of ca-
pital in the erection of. new mills, and labour would thereby
be called into action, by which means the consuming power
would be increased ; for we cannot satisfactorily produce un-
less we have the,ability to consume.
Before steani-Power was introduced, the consuming ma-
nual power was the 'producing power, so that the supply and
demand were kept relative. At the present period the steam
machine is the great producing power, and through its com-
petition with man, it has reduced the circumstances of the
consuming power, which is a state of things that cannot be
endured. Indeed, capitalists are now feeling the withering
effects of the present system; but to epppose that the free
adriii.SSlon of foreign goods and corn would relieve es, may
be compared to the act of a man who cut off his feet in order
to serve his legs.
John Fielder', Esq., M.P., a few years ago advocated an
eight hours' factory bill. At that time I considered. that he
was going into an opposite extreme, but past events have
almost convinced me, that his ideas were correct; however,
it must now be acknowledged by all intelligent men, that ten
hours is the utmost that either labour or capital can sustain
without injury, and so far as concerns our steam productions,
we have nothing to fear from foreign competition, for we
send them to the cheapest-paid-labour-countries in the worid,
_namely, Russia, China, India, &c., but as regards our phy-
sical labour, man being a consuming power, taxation enters
considerably into the cost of his labour, which gives the fo-
reigner an advantage over us in all manual productions, in
consequence of foreign labour being much more lightly taxed
than our own.

In conclusion, I particularly wish to impress upon your
minds, that the British empire, with its dependencies, is
great and powerful, and possesses all the resources of wealth ;
and if we had a ministry competent to manage our affairs,
we should soon be in a flourishing condition, and then the
present suffering and discontent would speedily vanish. The
Whigs have held office about nine years, and during this time
the circumstances of the country have been progressing from
bad to worse, and now things have become so truly deplora-
ble, that it is utterly impossible for us to bear with them
much longer.

* For what may appear very promising in theory, if re-
duced to practice might prove very calamitous. We must
bear in mind that there is a wide difference between corn and
cotton ; for corn can be produced in all parts of the world,
but cotton, it is well known, can only be grown in a peculiar
climate. Now, suppose the duty on corn was fixed at 10s.
per quarter, and the measure being favourably received by
the foreign corn growers, they, naturally enough, would com-
mence producing for our market, and no doubt, in a short
time, we should be inundated, and the result would be at-
tended with an immense sacrifice, which would prevent our
farmers from cultivating corn ; as a necessary result, the fo-
reign and home producer would cease to furnish our market
at the same time, and the end would be discontent and starva-
tion. It must be allowed that we, as manufacturers, very
frequently glut foreign markets with our goods, and many of
our merchants are frequently ruined by this. Then, all ex-
portation ceases, and, in consequence, the glutted markets,
in a little time, become exhausted. Now, this state of things
may be borne for a season, so far as regards clothing, but
what must our situation be if we should be so circumstanced
as relates to fOod ? I will leave you to decide.