The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-25
THE DISTRESS IN LANCASHIRE.

GREAT BRITAIN is sadly puzzled by the diff
Guilty of discovering the true cause of, or de-
vising remedy for, the distress in her cot
ton manufacturing districts. The mills are
standing idle, and, as owners and operatives
are suffering seriously from the industrial
suspension, the wisest political doctors are
called in to examine and prescribe for the
afflicted patients. AS usual, they disagree in
diagnosis as well as in prescriptions. The
disease is in ''high wages" says one; cit is
too much free trade" says another; ''it is
scarce and dear cotton, says third; ''it is
caused by the refusal of other countries to
trade freely with US, says a fourth. From
these diverse theories naturally proceed
diverse plans for recuperation. "We
must go back to first principles, restore
a high protective SYSTEM and since we cannot
force our goods on foreign markets, we must
at least secure to British workmen the oppor-
tunity of supplying all home demands, says
party of protectionists which has already
gained sufficient strength to command great
attention. ''That plan is ridiculous" says
John Bright, 'for it is more cotton we want,
and not more taxes on imports" But the
London Times, in turn, contradicts John
Bright, by asserting that Lancashire suffers
from a loss of trade more than from the
dearness and scarcity of cotton" and while it
deplores the evil effects lin Great Brittany of
the protective tariffs of other countries, it
sighs for return of the good old days when
we freely exchanged our corn and cotton for
British manufactures, leaving to England all
the profits of skilled industry. The Times is
nearer right than either of the other authori-
ties but if it cherishes the hope that
America will ever be reclaimed
as an escaped fugitive from indus
trial vassalage to her British task-mas-
ters, we devoutly trust that this expectation
will never be fulfilled. This nation can stand
almost anything but that. Our British cousins
would very gladly transfer the distress which
reigns in Lancashire to the manufacturing
districts of the United States, but this result
can only be achieved by gross betrayal of
the American people by Congress; and while
that body resists the insidious appeals of the
free-traders, Great Britain will seek in vain
to shift her present trouble to our shoulders.
The underlying cause of the British distress
must be traced in the avaricious, unnatural,
anu Cruel uaUulr0 VI tue SOfSlnlnOuedi
and industrial system. Under the unequal
operation of her laws, the masses have been
reduced to the verge of pauperism. From
this great reservoir of poverty and wretched-
ness she draws unlimited supplies of cheap
labor. And she has relied upon a continued
control of the markets of the world through
this cheap labor, combined with machinery
and capital, in the expectation that other
countries, and especially America, would be
content to serve her perpetually as newer of
wood, drawer of water, and cultivatSr of
corn and cotton, contributing the gross pro-
fits of all our mutual business transactions
to her enrichment. This expectation has,
however, proved as fallacious as it was grasp
ing, and the Lancashire workmen will find
permanent relief only in emigration to this
country.