The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-31 00:00:00

TO THE OPERATIVES OF ENGLAND

MY FRIENDS,—In offering to your notice the following
remarks upon the corn laws, I am not influenced either by
politics or party, but solely by a desire to promote your in-
terest. I neither belong to the Anti-Corn-Law League, nor
am lin any way connected with the agriculturalist. What-
ever, therefore, my opinions may be worth, they will, at least,
have the merit of being perfectly disinterested, except so far
as relates to the welfare of the country at large.
You are invited to join in the cry for the repeal of the corn
laws, but before you take a step which is likely to lead to
such important results, it would surely be well to consider
whether or not you will he benefitted by repeal. I think I
shall be able to prove to you, that so far from improving your
condition, the repeal of the corn laws would be a death-blow
to British commerce.

The advocates for repeal hold out to you as an inducement,
that bread will be cheap, but they never tell you at the same
time, or even hint, that cheap bread would be accompanied
by a reduction in wages. That this would be the invevitable
conseuuence, is easily proved ;—in the first place, the home
trade would be ruined by a free importation of foreign corn,
as I will presently show you. We shall then have only the
Foreign Market to depend upon, and from this we are already
in a great measure excluded, not by the Corn Laws, but by
the high price of Our goods, which are said to be from 25 to
40 per cent. above those made by the Continental manufac-
turers, who are consumers of cheap bread. To enter into a
successful competition with them, we must reduce our prices
to the same level, and this can only be effected by a propor-
tionate reduction in your wages, and even then you will not
have full employment ;—how then can you be benefitted
by repeal ? You may save 2s. per week in the price of food,
but you will lose from one half to two thirds of your accus-
tomed wages. How is it that the labouring population
of those countries in which corn is plentiful and cheap, are
in the most abject state of poverty ? Though surrounded by
the finest wheat crops, they are fed upon miserable black
bread, and are destitute of most of the comforts which the
humblest English labourer possesses. You will find this
statement confirmed, if you refer to Mr. Jacob's official re-
port to government on the state of the labouring population
of Poland. Mr. Jacob states that the peasantry of that
country live on rye, buck wheat, or potatoes ; their huts are
constructed of wood or mud covered with shingles, which
admit the piercing cold through the crevices ; the greater
part of the population are too poor to allow of their eating
animal food, and this not on account of the high price of
cattle, for sheep are from 3s. to 6s. each, and beasts from
275. to 28s. ; neither does their poverty proceed from high
rents, for Mr. Jacob states that the rent of land for growing
wheat or other grain is a mere trifle, varying from Is. ld. to
Is. 9d. per acre ; and yet the cultivators of land, who have
no other means of subsistence, are obliged to submit to many
privations, if not reduced to actual want. The great secret
is, that the wages of the labourer are too low; so that, how-
ever cheap food may be, he is too poor to purchase more than
a bare subsistence. A few extracts from different authorities
will suffice to give you an idea of the rate of wages in those
countries where corn is cheap.
Mr. Cayley states the average weekly wages in France at
5s 6d, in Sviitzerland 4s sd, in Austria 4s, the Tyrol 3s 6d,
and in Saxony 3s 6d. According to Mr. Greg's evidence
before the House of Commons, the wages in the spinning
mills in France are 5s 6d per week, in Austria 4s, Switzer-
land 4s sd, and Saxony 3s 6d. Mr. Jackson, a manufacturer
of Sheffield, when examined before a committee of the House
of Commons, stated the rate of wages in England to be three
or four times higher than in France, and that a good work-
man in Prussia will only earn from is 2d to Is 3d per day.
In Mr. Porter's Progress of the Nation it is stated that the
wages of a labourer in Sweden is from 4d to 8d per day, in
Bavaria Bd, in Tuscany Bd, and in France from 5d to Is 3d.
The annual earnings of a labouring family in Holland, con-
sisting of a man, his wife, and four children (all workers),
amount on an average to £l5 12s, whilst the income of a
similar family in England is stated, on the authority of
many hundred returns, to be £4l 17s Bd.
After reading the above statement, you will perceive that
no reduction in the price of food will enable you to compete
with the foreign artizan, unless you are content to submit to
the same privations he experiences. The distress at present
so prevalent in the manufacturing districts is a subject of
great regret, but we are cheered with the hope that it is only
temporary ; but should the corn laws be repealed, you will
find it permanent.
I shall now proceed to show how the home trade will be
affected by the repeal of the Corn Laws. The annual value
of British agricultural produce has been estimated by some
at upwards of £400,000,000 sterling, but take it at £200,000,000
—which, I think, will be found near the truth,—in that case,
150,000,000 would abundantly cover all expences of seed,
rent, taxes of all kinds, and food for the farmer and his fa-
mily, leaving a clear surplus income of 100,000,000 to be ex-
pended in necessaries or luxuries. This immense sum is cir-
culated through the country, almost as soon as it is acquired,
and forms the main support of our manufacturers. There
are at the present time upwards of 21 millions of acres in the
United Kingdom under tillage ; by a free importation of
foreign grain the price of corn in this country would be re-
duced one-third ; this reduction would cause at least 7 mil-
lions of acres to be thrown out of cultivation; the higher
lands and inferior soils would soon revert to their original
barren state, and instead of the present supply of 60 millions
of quarters of grain, not more than 40 millions would be
raised by the British farmer. This deficiency must he made
up by the importation of foreign grain. Now, if it should
happen that goods should not be taken in exchange, where
should we find specie to pay for even one year's consumption ?
The surplus income which the farmer, under the present
system, spends in support of manufacturers, will no longer
exist, when the Corn Laws are repealed. In the first place,
one-third less laud being in cultivation, will cause a reduction
of £30,000,000 sterling ; the reduction in value of the pro-
duce of land remaining under tillage will be £20,000,000
more ; and as the price of corn regulates that of all other
agricultural produce, a further reduction must be set down
at 35,000,000 ;—thus 85,000,000 sterling would be deducted
from the present income of the agriculturist, leaving the
manufacturers minus customers to this amount.

What great object does the Anti-Corn-Law League pro-
pose to effect by thus ruining the agriculturist, and depriving
the manufacturer of a sure home customer, which neither
war nor caprice could take from him ? All that the most
sanguine repealer would promise is an additional export trade
of 20,000,000, to be obtained by a sacrifice on your part of
half your wages. If the partial loss of the foreign trade last
year (which could not exceed 8 or 10 millions) has caused so
much misery among the manufacturing population, what
would their state be when deprived of orders to the amount
of 85 millions ! Besides this, deficiency of employment would
be increased by the number of agricultural labourers thrown
out of work ; for if less land were cultivated, fewer hands
would of course be required in its cultivation. Thus the re-
pealers certainly offer you cheap food, but at the same time
deprive you of the means of obtaining a sufficient quantity
of it.

The supporters of the Anti-Corn-Law :League assert that
rents will be reduced, and by this means the English farmer
will be able to compete with the continental agriculturalist.
I believe there exists a great delusion respecting rents ; they
are supposed by many to average from 40s to 50s per acre,
when in fact the average rent of land throughout England and
Wales is only 15s 111. Should the present amount of rent
paid to the landowners (now about 38 millions) be reduced
one half, it would not save the farmer from ruin if the corn
laws were repealed. But it would so reduce the income of
the landowners, as to compel a great many to reside abroad.
The country would in consequence sustain a further loss of
20 millions per annum, and the manufacturer be deprived of
his best customer, for it is an acknowledged fact, that the
country gentlemen consume those articles which afford the
greatest profit both to the mechanic and his employer. You
will, 1 think, now see this question-in a different light, and
perceive that reduction of rent, instead of relieving you from
distress, would be the means of adding to it.
Before 1 conclude these remarks, I will give you a short
extract from a speech delivered by Mr. Alison, at a meeting
in Glasgow. It shows how very improbable it is that foreign
nations will take British manufactures in exchange for corn,
or indeed that the export trade to the Continent will be in-
creased at all. FOr we must recollect that it was the long
warfare in which Europe was involved that caused the de-
struction of the manufactories of Germany, and that the
uninterrupted tranquillity since 1816 has encouraged the
gradual investment of capital in those manufactures in which
they formerly excelled. That they have not made greater
progress is owing to the want of capital. This they will
soon possess if the corn laws are repealed ; (for gold, and
gold only will he taken in exchange for corn;) capital will
furnish machinery ; and machinery and capital would soon
enable them to improve the quality of their goods so that
instead of obtaining an additional market, we should find the
home trade ruined, and a more favourable rival abroad. " It
is in vain," says Mr. Alison, " that we hold out the olive-
branch to the nations of Europe, in token of our desire to
establish reciprocity treaties on the footing of real mutual
advantage. We cannot by so doing either shut the eyes of
their manufacturers to the danger of British competition, or
close the vision of their governments to the dazzling specta-
cle of Britsh greatness. They see that we have risen to the
summit of prosperity under the protection given to domestic
industry, and they naturally imagine, that it is only by fol-
lowing our example that they can hope to rival our success.
The Continental nations of Europe are in the same state of
civilisation as ourselves. Are we cotton-spinners ?—so are
they. Are we iron-masters ?—so are they. Are we silk-
manufacturers ?—so are they. Are we cutlers ?—so are they.
There is no branch of industry in which we excel, in which
they are not making the greatest and most strenuous efforts to
rival and outstrip us. Let us therefore, uo longer strain after
the impracticable attempt to disarm the commercial jealousy
of the European states, but turn to our colonial empire.
There we shall find markets inexhaustible, and abundance
of employment for the whole of our artizans, without the
necessity of any reduction in their wages."
Instead, therefore, of " No Corn Laws," let our cry he,
" Ships, Colonies, and Commerce." Let us unite in peti-
tioning the legislature for justice to our colonies. If this can
be obtained, peace ar.d plenty will again bless the land, and
we shall have no complaining in our streets ; for under a wise
colonial government, the commercial resources of the British
empire will be found unlimited. The East Indies alone, in
a very few years, would take more of our manufactures than
the continents of Europe and America united. Is not such
a prize worth contending for, particularly when it may be
obtained without the necessity of any reduction of wages, or
risking the loss of any portion of our present home or foreign
trade, both of which, I have shewn, would be put in jeopardy
by the repeal of the Corn Laws.
That a settlement of this important question may speedily
be made, conducive to the welfare of every class in society ;
and that peace and happiness may prevail throughout the
country, is the earnest desire of your sincere friend,
A MANUFACTURER.
Sheffield, March 20, 1840.

SEVERN SALMON.—In the early part of last year we had
occasion several times to notice the abundant supply which
our river furnished of this delicacy. The present season pro-
mises to be equally prolific.—Salopian Journal.
DoturricA.—Her Majesty's packet Ringdove has come
into port with a slave vessel, having a great number of un-
fortunate negroes on board.

EXTRAORDINARY FECUNDITY.—AbOIIt a fortnight ago, a
ewe, belonging to Mr. William Wilson, of Pooley Farm,
near Droitwich, yeaned four lambs, the whole of which she
is now suckling, and all are doing well.—Mr. Stephen Pack-
wood, of the Broom House, Bromsgrove, has five ewes,
which have had eighteen lambs this season ; three of the
ewes had four each, and the other two three each. Fourteen
out of the eighteen lambs are living, and doing extremely
well.—Bristol Standard.
ISLES OF SCILLY.—The proposal to fix a floating light
near the Seven Stones (which is understood to be now in
contemplation by the Brethren of the Trinity House) re-
ceives a further melancholy claim to consideration, by a cir-
cumstance that occurred there during the late gales, when a
schooner was seen coming from the northward and steering
for these islands, but " the stones" being completely hid in
foam, which spread round for above a mile, the ill-fated ves-
sel struck amongst them, and sunk iminediately, and all on
hoard were drowned. An elegantly carved and painted
(a warrior hearing a spear) is all that is come
dard.
ashore.—
figure-head B
ristol Stan

----
CHARTIST REVELS.—On Monday evening, about no of
the youthful disciples of chartism, of both sexes, assembled
at the Three Crowns Inn, in Walcot, where "a concert and
a dance" were provided for their entertainment. in eye-
witness of the scene thus describes it—" The room was de-
corated with banners, on which were blazoned democratic
sentiments ; the chalked floor was made to convey similar
poison to the mind : the songs selected had, in several in-
stances, the same tendency ; the young men who appeared
in " fancy dress" costume, had dirks and Spanish knives in
their belts. In fact, every device was adopted to imbue the
youthful mind with the flagitious principles of democracy.—
Bath Chronicle.