New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-11-14
The British Free Traders' q" Last
9hiff.p


Shift"
Our free trade friends, the advocates Of
British supremacy over the trade and man
ufactures of the world are sadly puzzled
with the present state Of things. The great
market of England, that was ~ absorb hun
dreds of millions of dollars worth of the pro-
ducts of our farms, is shOked with grain,
and the price of wheat seems fixed eTma-
nently at about 36s. per quarter, or less than
a dollar for one of our bushels, while al! the
countries of the Continent are filled with
grain ready to be poured into that market on
the first appearance Of q rise. AS ne
cessary consequence of this, wheat now
sells in Ohio, Indiana, and other States, at
about fifty cents bushel, with every pros
pect of a considerable decline in price. I'M
less Providence should favor the advocates
of British free trade with another Irish
famine, for which, if we may judge from
articles that occasionally meet our eve,
they are much disposed to devoutly pray.
So too with cotton. While they could
deceive the merchants and manufacturers
into the belief that the last crop would not
exceed two millions of bales, they could boast
of the prosperity of the planter; but so soon as
il was ascertained that the quantity had at
tanned little more than the average of the
crops raised from 1912 to 1916 the prices
fell to those of old times, and the most that
the planter can now obtain is an average of
about thirty dollars per bale, while each
succeeding mail brings with it reports of
further depression, not to be checked, aP-
pa1ently, even by reports of heavy trosts,
&C., &c. The explanation of this fall is
easy. The domestic consumption, instead
of increasing, as it should and would have
done by two or three hundred thousand
bales, has diminished more than a hundred
and sixty thousand bales, and the quantity
now pressing on the markets of Europe is
greater by at least four hundred thousand
bales, than it would have been had not the
advocates of British supremacy succeeded
in closing the mills and furnaces of the
Union. for the purpose OF maintaining the
English monopoly of machinery for the
production of cloth and iron. The loss 10
the planters from this increase in the guam
tity, for which they are forced to seek
market in England. cannot be estimated at
less than twenty dollars a bale, or fifty mil
lions of dollars But to admit this would be
to yield up the tariff of 1916 and to aban-
don the advocacy of British policy, which
pays so largely to our friends of The
Union. The PtH, The Journal of Com
merce, and other kindred journals. To
proclaim the truth would be ruin to the
cause and yet, some reason must be fur
nished TO account for the existing state OF
things, for our friends are in dilemma, ex-
trication from which is difficult.
Believing that it may amuse our readers
to see the reasons that are now furnished
TO the planters for the vast dlminution IN
tic HoiiC uchldHu' We Bi'c th'h thC ioi-
lowing extract from the last letter of the
New-Yoik Commercial Correspondent of
The Union, our neighbor of The Democratic
Rerie,c, and in doing so, beg Of them not
to laugh while reading it:
In ls4s, when the price fell to 3 cents per
pound, the manufacturers Increased their purchases
l03,so5 bdes, or nearly IS per cent, uhich ,cas
probably less far than for stocks Dhich had
teen used up phen the prize high m the former
year. The reserve stocks taken when the price was
high and money plenty cere probably used up IN the
last year, when the purchases were probably less
than the actual consumption"
This is really amusing. The manufac-
turers purchased stocks in 1913, and held
them until 1851 This may certainly be
styled the British Free Traders Last
Shift" Last year, when prices were high,
this same writer quoted the large consump-
ton of 1918 as an evidence of the pros
perity that has resulted from the passage Of
the act of 1916; but he now assures his
readers that the cotton was only purchased
and was not consumed until 1851. We
shall look with interest to see under which
thimble the little joker will next be found
The jugglers may, however, be assured
that the nation will not long continue to be
deceived. The day of retribution is at
hand.
Household Servants-Rightsa and