The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-01 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 1, 1842

Perhaps one of the most important inquiries which
could occupy the attention of a statesman, at the pre-
sent crisis, would be to determine the actual position
which the manufacturers of Great Britain occupy in
foreign markets, as compared with that enjoyed by the
manufacturers of other states; and yet it is precisely
that upon which the organs of the Anti-corn League
are the least solicitous to afford us information. 'We
are told, indeed, that in this or that market our manu-
facturers are unable to compete with the foreigner;
but then it is the corn-law which raises the tariffs of
those markets against us. We are assured of the pro-
sperity which would attend our operations in every
market, upon the abolition of these laws—a prosperity
which is not to be purchased by a reduction in the
wages of the operative; but we are nowhere furnished
with practical and detailed information, which can be
relied upon, to determine what is our actual, present
position in those markets, both as regards the native
manufacturer and the foreigner who enters them upon
equal terms with ourselves. We shall endeavour,
however, to approach such an inquiry, and to elicit the
important result which it is calculated to convey.
We select (not only as the best suited and thefairest
for our purpose, but also because it has been repre-
sented that there the operation of our corn laws pre-
sents an especial hindrance to Commercial intercourse)
the market of the United States. Again and again, in
Parliament and out of:it, the assertion has been put
forth, that, were Great Britain to throw open her ports
to the corn and provisions of America, we should, in
return, engross the vast consumption of her increasing
population. That the government of that country,
however, will not, by any reciprocal concessions, for-
ward such a consummation, has been already and
clearly shewn by our able representative, Sir Howard
Douglas, in his speech upon Mr. Villiers's motion,
which will be found fully reported in another column ;
and we proceed, therefore, to inquire " what is the po-
sition which, independent of any such concession, the
British manufacturer now occupies in the market of
the United States, as compared with that enjoyed by
the native and the foreign manufacturer ? "
The American tariff, it is well known, is one of an
almost prohibitory nature, as against the manufactured
goods of every nation. With respect to cottongoods,
&c., it virtually establishes an exclusive protection in
favour of the consumption of home manufactured fa-
brics below a certain cost. The duty payable upon
importation is levied upon an assumed value of 33 cents
the square yard, which is higher considerably than the
real value of nine-tenths of the fabrics of ordinary
consumption; and, consequently, it presses so heavily
upon all low priced cotton goods of foreign manufac-
ture, as effectually to secure the consumption to the
American manufacturer himself.

As the scale of value rises, however, or as the cost
of goods imported approaches towards this assumed
value of 33 cents, the duty presses more lightly; and
competition between the American ancl_the foreign
manufacturer commences. In dyed goods of ordinary
fabric, in printed calicoes of the medium and best de-
scriptions, in the finer description of shirtings, mus-
lins, &c., the home-manufacturer is unable to sustain a
competition with his more:skilful rivals; and to them
alone, therefore, the market for these goods is virtually
abandoned, except so. far, however, as the increasing
skill of the native manufacturer himself, still highly
protected, and the superior reputation of his wares for
durability' enable him yearly to:increase his share in
its supply.

From this point, then, the competition is exclusively
one, conducted upon equal terms, between the British
manufacturer and the manufacturers of continental
Europe ; and what ground, becomes the important in-
quiry, do we occupy in this competition ? Here, be it
observed, we are at the least upon a par with our fo-
reign rivals. We have paid the same import duties ;
we have received the raw material from the same mar-
kets; we have the prestige of country and the simila-
rity of tastes, habits, and fashions in our; favour ; we
have the advantage of our perfect machinery and our
abundant capital ; and, manifestly, if British manufac-
turing power occupies that prominent position, in re-
ality, which its advocates claim for it, here, at leastrit
ought surely to assert that position and maintain it too.
We fear greatly, however, that such i 3 not the fact—
that we do not and cannot maintain it.

The low-priced and, we must call them, the trashy
goods of our manufacturers; do indeed force them-
selves largely into consumption in the markets of the
United States, displacing alike, by their cheapness, the
the better descriptions of the American manufacture
and equally defying competition from the foreigner.
The produce of our power-looms, at barely remunera-
tive prices, and frequently at losing prices to the im-
porter, monopolizes the consumption of the middle
classes. We furnish nearly the whole of the medium
fabrics which the market requires,—common prints,
fustians, cambrics, ginghams, &c.; but here we stop.
We do not command the supply of the best description
of goods, but yield in the race of competition to the
superior taste, the superior finish [and beauty, and,
must we add ? to the superior reputation for honesty,
of the French and Swiss manufacturers. To these is
awarded the highest price and the highest esteem. To
the Swiss calico-printer, to the French manufacturer
of the finer descriptions of cotton goods, as well as
of those fabrics of woollen and of silk in which he pe-
culiarly excels, the American dealer looks for those ar-
ticles which he purposes for the consumption of the
wealthier classes of his purchasers. We engross, in-
deed, the greatest amount of the supply; but the most
profitable portion of it—profitable as regards the ma-
nufacturer and the importer as well—is enjoyed by
other manufacturing nations.

It may be said that this degree of pre-eminence is
as much as any nation ought to aspire to ; but we can-
not ourselves so readily be satisfied. We bear in mind
that the class of goods in which we do principally
command_a preference, in this and in other markets as
well, is precisely lila 'Which affords the lowest rate of
profit to the importer, the manufacturer, and the com-
munity ; and we must acknowledge our dissatisfaction
that in those more highly matured fabrics—by which
we mean those goods which contain a larger portion of
manufacturing labour and skill, and which are the most
profitable to an exporting country—we are compelled
to yield to any superiority. Indisputably, we are so
compelled in the great markets of the United States.
We have not there—if, indeed, we have in other mar-
kets—any better reputation than that which is acquired
by mere cheapness. We have long ago, in our insane
race after this doubtful reputation, sacrificed the far
more valuable name, which attached to our fathers, of
being the best manufacturers; and we are confident