The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-09-26
American Manufacturers-JOh Bull
Thinks He is i'm No Danger from
Them,
[London Daily Telegraphl


A report which has just been pub
lished by Mr.. Victor Drummond on the
question of actual or threatened Ameri
can competition with English industry,
gives, in a very interesting form, the i'm
pressions of an intelligent official who
has no personal concern in the matter,
but views all the facts as an unpreju-
diced man of the world. The conclu-
sions 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 as Englishmen,
Swedes, or Germans can afford to do. If
to these we add the heavy duties imposed
on raw materials, we find sufficient rea-
sons why Americans can not compete
with Englishmen i'll 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-
duee wages by amicable arrangement
| whenever market exigeucies are seen to
render the step imperative. He points
out the many difficulties by which
American producers are handicapped
| onerous 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
munistic movement. 1t is, he seems to
think, these causes which led to the
competition of American and English
goods, 4" in a small way" at home, be-
cause the speculative shipments over
the Atlantic of such articles as cotton
manufacturers only represented surplus
stock which could not be sold in the
States, and was, therefore, sent to Eng
land for disposal at any price obtainable
We are inclined to think this is a mis-
take, since the importation of American
manufactures into England has gone or
steadily increasing, and it is incredible
that producers should have parted witt
their goods for years at a continuous
loss. Nor does Mr.. Drummond take ac
count of the fact that American manu-
/, facturers have rapidly expanded thei
export trade, not merely with England
but with countries where English indus
try has hitherto almost monopolized tn
market for certain goods, as for instance
China, the West Indies, and Soutl
| America. Still, the advice which h
gives to the workingmen here is whole
| some and timely, whatever opinion ma
/ be entertained of the danger threaten
= ing. "The working class must consen
| to the stern facts of the case, and IT
, member that there is distress in nearl
S every country i'll the world just now
| and that the conditions of trade pre-
S vent their employers giving the ord
: nary wages; that if they did so the
Y would be paying out of their capita
i and producing and selling at loss, an
0 one day they would find their mil
! closed, perhaps never to be opene
0 again-and that then there would be 1
e wages at ALL" It is by no means out
n place to enforce these truths now, b
cause all the lessons of depressed trae
have not yet been thoroughly mastere
and, until they are, no permanel
change for the better can be looked fo