River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1874-07-10
TRADE IN ENGLAND.
An Unusual Depression.

WI uh~hHt UtpfesstOh.
A London letter in the New York
Timea says;
"A good deal of alarm is felt Just
vow IN consequence of the almost uni
nersal depression of trade. The mar
kets are either stagnent or declining
and on every side one hears complaints
that there is nothing doing. There can
be no doubt that the strikes in the
coal and iron trades have done good
deal of harm. Production has been
suspended at the very time when prices
Were Mt their best, and employers have
now falling market and restricted or
ders, and noaltenative 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 idlenes3 are be
ing taught that a brisk trade will not
spring mp Just when it happens 10 suit
their convenience, The process which
has been going on is something in this
wise At first the masters, anxious to
keep their works going, were disposed
to yield as far as possible, to the de-
manda OF the men, hoping to recoup
themselves by increased prices For u
time this plan succeeded At the out
set the producer has command of the
market thereare ugent demands which
must be supplied ut once, and sud
der rise is, aa rule, submitted to.
The question is, however, how long a
rise car be maintained and its con.
sequences, as regards several of the
most important branches of English
trade, are painfully apparent. Prices
have been forced up to a point which
has obliged purchasers to consider
whether they could not manage to do
with less quantity of goods, and also
whether they could not get served on
cheaper terms elsewhere and it il evi-
dent that these questions have been an
swered 10y foreign buyers in way nm
favorable to English trade. Other
countries are, in the natural course of
things, becoming less dependent ON
England, and they have 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 in the recent BOARD Of
Trade returns. There was a decrease
OF nearly six millions streling in theim-
ports for May as compared with the pre-
ceding May, and decrease OF e1 ,37S,-
900 in exports. 1t is true that there is
still great increase of imports for the
whole five months of the year, and that
the decrease in exports in not quite so
bad as in January. 1t has also been
pointed out that part Of the decrease
IN imports is in 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. 1t 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, hut in the
meantime it is creating much dlsconi
fort and anxiety 1t must be remem-
bered that wages have cone mp, that
the expenses OF living have increased,
and that a REIMBURSEMENT of prices in
consequence of declining trade is al
ways unpleasant.