Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-08-23


guage. That England may have "increased
her exports and imports four-fod" may not
be untrue, but the inference intended in this
statement, that English wealth or remunera-
tive business had been increased under Gree
Trade" fourfold is entirely false. 1t is an
artful dodge to speak of imports and exports
as on the increase. 1t is quite important to
country whether the balance is in favor or
against them; whether imports which must
be paid for are in excess of exports for which
you receive pay. Now, what are the facts
and refer you to the report of the Board OF
Trade, that the balance of trade against Great
Britain for the last twelve yeas, up to 1870,
was seven hundred millions, and late speech
in Parliament represents that balance in the
year 1869 to be one hundred millions. Why
does not General Brinkerhoff give the people
to whom he speaks the advantage of the
Board of Trade reports, and their acknowl-
Judgements of drain of seven hundred mil
lions in consequence of Free Trade" No
sophistry of his can prove to the American
laborer that there is any truth in such state
ments as he is paid by New York importers to
spread through the country.
The ablest writer upon industrial interests
in England, last year published statement of
English Industrial Economy, which seems
destined to stir the working element of the
realm to the core. He says "withn the last
three years the foreign producers have ac-
quired the skill and capital and machinery,
hat &hor IF
our own markets. A great manufacturing
nation like England does not suddenly col
lapse. The shadow has been coming over us
for many years, but it is only just now that
we are beginning to feel the substance; their
progress corresponds with our decline. The
difference between England and her rivals is
simple but alarming" He goes on to say in
speaking Of the manufacturing interest, that
the consumption of cotton has fallen off 50
per cent. in three years. "In the present
condition Of manufacturing industries it is
foolish to tell the operative class to attribute
prosperity to Free Trade. They are not
prosperous; it is mockery to tell them to
thank God for full stomach when they are
empty"
"Never has starvation, pauperism, crime,
discomfort, been SO plentiful in the manufac-
turing districts" 'Never since England has
been manufacturing country, has every in
dustry, great or small, been so completely
depressed. Never has work been so impos-
sble to find. Never have the means and
savings of the working classes been at so low
| an ebb." This is the bold talk of an English
Lord. And the Pail Mall Gazette of Dec. II,
| 1869, reports statement of Mr.. Leppoc at a
meeting of the i" Manchester Board of Guar
dams"
"The amount Of out door relief is rapidly
advancing, but beyond this the relieving Off
GERS have ascertained that great distress pre-
| walls amongst many families, the heads Ct
| which would rather starve than come on the
rates"
Let the reader who may have read the
"Wooden Leg" in the Standard of last week,
consider the following when any man argues
in his hearing in favor of this country's adopt
ing Free Trade as the policy for the laboring
man.
Never in the history of England has that
portion of the commercial class that depends
on home consumption and home prosperity
been so depressed. Never has home con-
sumption been at such low ebb in every
article consumed by the working classes
| OF this universal depression of industries
have no doubt whatever, says the same at
thority.'
''Our production is not the cause; the thous
and millions of consumers the world over,
did not consume less manufactured goods in
1869 than they did in 1867 or 1865, but Eng
land supplied less, foreign nations more"
And among the working men of Bolton, Wi
gan, Stockport, OLDHAM Preston, Coventry,
Nottingham and Macclesield, the true tale of
sorrow, want and ruin is heard What says
j. S. Mill, the great British Free Trade advo-
cate, when considering the condition of the
working class in England? "That it is ques-
tiOnable if all the mechanical inventions yet
made have lightened days work of human
being" And the Edinburgh Review, the most
|euncompromising advocate of Free Trade,
says the English laborer has before him 'No
future but the poor house." These are the
sentiments of profound thinkers who make
up their judgment under the influence of be-
lieving in Free Trade. want to be allowed
to refer to one more witness, which / have
referred to in previous communication, as
applicable to refute the inference of prosper
ity under Free Trade, intended to be convey
ed by Gen. Brinkerhof's speech. Ruskin in
a recent lecture on the sad condition of la
bOrers generally, more especially agricultural
laborers in England, says, "Though England
is deafened with spinning wheels, her people
have no clothes; though she is black with
digging of fuel, they die of cold; and though
she has sold her soul for gain they die of
hunger" If this is the condition of Free
Trade England, and the miserable, suffering
condition of Ireland, India, Portugal and
Turkey, the dupes and servants of England,