The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-07-10
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The Decline. OF EngIaud..A Note d
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Ina significant editorial article in the
London Daily Meas, recently, the writer
said; a.,.l
"a 'hat Warning OF great significance
isgiven TO all EDgllshmen in the figures
oil our trade returns for May. Masters and
workmen may DO more directly concerned,
but there Is no person resident in these
islands or deriving his income from q ma.
tcnal source, who will not find 1t his bust.
ness to look the facts in the face and to
take note Of the new characteristics. The
tide Of prosperity-oI increasing trade, Of
augmented profts-thst has flowed 90
steadily for years, and that of late rolled
in on Us with vast volume and accelera.
ted speed, has at length begun to
ebb. We have received our frat
check. There have been former oc-
cssions, no doubt, when financial panic or
monetary arrangements have thrown Us
suddenly back; but without any such
startling or obvious cause the trade OF the
United Kingdom now exhibits serious
decline. In the first five months Of 1873
we exported produce TO the extent OF one
hundred and six millions; while In the
corresponding period Of 1874 our exports
amounted only 70 ;ninety.eight millions.
Nor Is this the decline for twelve months
only. We haveiallen one million below
the total for the same months OF 1872. |
Bearing In mind the constant tendency
Of our trade for many years TO increase |
sometimes by leaps and boundS--We
should consider that standing still for two |
years was In itself something significant
and 'un.EDglish.' We have not, how
ever, experienced q moderate misfortune
o. that kind; We arc actually going back. |
With an increased population we have |
diminished trade.
The details Of the decrease do not SUP. |
ply any consolation. Our exports Of cot. |
Ton manufacture have fallen of In value
since 1873 from twenty ak TO twenty.iour
millions, our coal from five millions 10 |
iour, our hardware from two millions 10 |
million and three quarters, our iron and
steel manufactures from fifteen millions 10 |
Twelve and our wooden and Worsted arti-
Giles from eleven millions to nine. These |
statistics entirely relate TO the first five
months OF each year. We have named |
lhe larger items, but the decrease Is gen. |
era, and extends to nearly every section |
Of the export trade in our own produc- |
lions. The world appears to want less Of
almost everything we make. We still |
continue to sell largely, and even in aug
mented proportions, some articles Of |
raw material produced by ourselves or
brought by US from abroad and re.
exported. Thus the exports Of raw cot
Ion, Of railroad iron, OF unwTought tin,
Of unwrought leather, have all slightly
lncreased-while as q natural corOllary |
there has been during the two years q
slight though distinct advance in tho ex-
port OF engines and millwork. When |
foreign countries buy from Us less manu-.
taclured goods, excepting machinery for |
factories Of their own, and more raw ma.
terill, the Inference Is plain. He who
runs may read we are losing some OF
our most valuable customers. In The |
Critic one dramatic author whispers into |
snother's ear the horrible information |
that the manager writes himself and
our manufacturer may contemplate with |
equal dismay the tidiDgs that some Of the
nations which bought most largely from
US in the past, helping US to pay the high
wages Of our workiDgmen, are now be.
ginning to make their own goods" : |