The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-07-18
TRADE In ENGLAND.
An Unusual Depression.

A London letter i'll the New York
| Times says;
a good deal of alarm is felt Just
VOW in consequence Of tie almost tint
iiersal depression of trade The mar
kets are either stagnent or declining,
and on every side one hears complaints
that there is nothing doing. There ear
be no doubt that the strikes i'll the
coal and iron trades have done a good
deal of harm. Production has been
suspended at the Very time when prices
were at their best, and employers have
now a falling market and restricted or
| ders, and noalternative but to refuse any
further concessions. The necessities
OF their position have given them theup,
per hand, and, in many cases, the men
have had to succumb. Unfortunately
however, the sunny hour is over, and
those who wasted it in idlenes5 are be
ing taught that brisk trade will not
spring up just when it happens to suit
their convenience. The process which
has been going on is something III this
wise At first the masters, anxious tC
keep their works going; were disposed
to yield, rs far as possible, to the de-
mands of the men, hoping to tecour
themselves by increased prices For &
time this plan succeeded At the out
set the producer has command of the
market; there are ugent demands which
must be supplied at once, and a SUD
der rise IS, as a rule, Submitted to.
The question is, however, how long d
rise car be maintained: and it's con.
sequences, as regards several of the
most important branches of English
trade, are painfully apparent. Prices
have been forced up to point which
has obliged purchasers to consider
whethef they cottld not manage to dc
with less quantity of goods, and also
whether they could not get served ON
cheaper terms elsewhere and it is evi-
dent that these questions have been an
swered by foreign buyers in way I'M
favorable to English trade Other
countries ate, in the natural course OF
things, becoming less dependent on
England, and they lave been forced by
the exceptional pressure of prices to
make an especial effort to do more for
themselves. The effect of all this on
England is shown III the recent Board of
Trade returns. There was n decrease
of nearly six millions streling i'll theim-
ports for May as compared with the pre-
ceding May, and a decrease of 81 1878,
600 III exports. 1T is true that there is
still q great increase of imports for the
whole five months of the year, and that
| the decrease III exports i'll not quite SO
bad as III January. 1t has also been
pointed out that part of the decrease
III imports is i'll articles of food, which
means that the country has had topay a
smaller bill out-of- doors. Still, after
making due allowance for all these
qualifications, the state of affairs is
sufficiently serious. The decrease has
been steadily going on since last June,
SO that for whole year there has been
a steady fall month by month. It is
clear that the period of imitation, of
prosperity 'by leaps and bounds, has
came to an end, and that the tide is on
the ebb. There Is no reason to sup
pose that the ebb will be continuous for
any length of time, but in the
meantime it is creating much discom-
fort and anxiety 1t must be remem-
bered that wages have gone up, that
the expenses of living have increased,
and that a reimbursement of prices III
consequence of declining trade is al
ways unpleasant"