Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-05-11
England and Free Trade.

The change of the tide of trade away from
England is the topic of a sober article IN the
London World of April 18th. 1t makes use
of speech on the subject, delivered recent
" in Parliament, by Mr.. Baxter, who de-
clared that 1.-THE manufacturing interests oil
England are now carried on at serious loss,
and the foreign markets for English manu-
featured goods have never been worse than
they are now" Englishmen, says the Lon
don paper. will not readily listen to IN
pleasant truths and they are still less ready
to study and explain them. Nevertheless
there is a positive decline of most OF the
great Industrial interests, which heretofore
have been the sources of England S wealth.
The World adds
what is to cause a revival of the cotton
trade? Increased demand. But where Is
il TO come from? Not from the United
States for not only are they underselllng
us on their ground, but in our shops also.
French silk has driven English silk out Of
the market, and no miracle will be worked
to prevent the same thing happening with
our cotton trade, We shall find the Amer
leans competing with us in all parts OF the
world. and India may yet prove as rich
mine to them as it has long been to us. The
common run of people fancy that the causes
of the decline in our cotton trade are accl-
dental and transitory; we fear that any man
who looks closely into all the facts, and who
knows what prodigious progress the Ameri-
cans have made in their cotton manufacture
since the war, will come to much less
agreeable conclusion.
And this is not all Z" The iron trade is in
quite as bad condition, if not worse y ''the
sources of our much vaunted wealth seem
fast fastening to decay" One result Is that
' the ranks of the unemployed grow larger
every day. and another, that the exports
are constantly falling off. A still more note
WORTHY result is stated as follows;
"A cry which seemed to be dead has
therefore suddenly revived, the cry for pro-
lection, although it is at present but iaintly
heard. Perhaps some of our readers noticed
a few DAYS ago few lines setting forth that
a deputation of English silk manufacturers
had waited upon Lord Derby, requesting
him to get a reduction of French duties on
our silk, or else to lay heavy duties on
French silks brought over here. Protection
seemed as extinct as the Wars of the Roses,
but here it is again and what is more, We
venture to predict that we shall sec good
deal more of it during the next few years
than many people suppose.
1t would be rather awkward now fol
Great Britain to have to turn about, and
begin enacting protective tariffs in support
of her manufacturing industries. Yet, not,
outstanding all her talk about free trade,
Great Britain has never failed to levy duties
on a large part of the goods carried to hei
ports from foreign countries. Her :" free
trade" has been confined to manufactured
goods which she could produce and sell al
lower prices than could be made by any
other nation. The fact that she could I'M
dersell all other traders was the motive Of
her clamor for free trade. That motive is
fast losing its force and, now, in her OWL
home markets, she begins to hear the CRY
for protection