The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1878-09-26
American Manufacturers-JOhn Bull
Thinks lie is In No Danger from
Them.
London Daily Telegraph

A report which has just been pub
lished by Mr., Victor Drummond on the
question of actual or threatened Amerl-
can competition with English industry,
gives, in very interesting form, the i'm
pressions of an intelligent official who
has no personal concern in the matter,
| but views all the facts rs an unpreJu'
diced man of the world. The cOnclu-
lions at which he arrives are that, AS re-
CARDS the carry ing trade, England is in
no danger from the rivalry of the United
States, if only because of the restrictive
effects of the navigation laws in force
there, which prevent American capital
lists from buying fOreign-built vessels,
however cheap, and therefore sailing
them on as low terms ~ Englishmen,
SNedcs, or Germans can afford to do, II
10 these we add the heavy duties imposed
on raw materials, we find sufficient rea'
sons why Americans can not compete
with EngliShmcn in the cheapness of
| shipping, As respects other Industries,
Mr.. DrummOnd confirms what was said
over and over again here during recent
strikes, that Englishmen have nothing
to fear if they do not quarrel over the
cost of production--that is, if they re-
ducc wages by anicable arrangement
whenever market exigeDcics are seen to
render the step imperative. He points
out the many difficulties by which
American producers are handicapped
oncrous taxes, endless failures, and the
unsettled state of the labor market, the
silver bill and the uncertainty as to the
resumption of specie payments, over
production, and the dangers of the com
muni5tic movement. 1t is, he seems to
think, these causes which led to the
competition of American and English
goods, L" in Il small way" at home, be-
cau.e the speculative shipments over
the Atlantic of such articles as cotton
manufacturers on y represented surplus
stock which could not be sold in the
States, and was, therefore, sent to Eng
land for disposal at any price Obtainablc.
We are inclined to think this is Il mis-
take, since the importation Of American
manufactures into England has gone on
steadily increasing, and it is incredible
that producers should have parted with
their goods for years at u continuous
loss. Nor does Mr.. DrummOnd take &C
count of the fact that American manu-.
facturcrs have rapidly expanded their
export trade, not merely with England,
but with countries where English indus.
try has hitherto almost monopoIizcd the
market for certain goods, as for instance,
China, the West Indies, and South
America Still, the advice which he
gives to the wOrkingmcn here is whole.
some and timely, whatever opinion may
be entertained of the danger threaten
ing. "Thc working class must consent
to the stern facts Of the case, and re.
member that there is distress in nearly
every country in the world Just now,
and that the conditions of trade pre-.
vent their employers giving the ordi-
nary wages; that if they did so they
would be paying out Of their capital,
and producing and selling at loss and
one day they would find their mills
closed perhaps never TO be opened
agair-and that then there would be no
wages ut all" 1t is by no means out of
place to enforce these truths now, be-
cause all the lessons of depressed trade
have not yet been thoroughly mastered,
and, until they are, no permanent
change for the better can be looked for.