New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-01-29
There seems to he y,iirtnallv mn.

There seems to be a virtually I'M.
iversal acknowledgement that Eng
lish fabrics Of the simpler, cheaper,
and coarser kinds do not find any
thing like their accustomed sale in
countries which till recently were
the most important markets. It is.
found that they have not only to
compete with Swiss, German, and.
American goods Of the same class,
but that these last are actually CON-
ing to be preferred to them. The
difficulty is Of the utmost seriousness,
on account Of a popularity in the
English trade to which we have re-.
peatedly called attention. The.
greatest markets for English produc-
tions are the barbarous and half bar
barous countries Of the world. Man
chester and the north England find
their chief customers among Indians,
Chinese, and the African negroes.
Now these populations are, from
their very righteousness strongly
under tue influence of custom, and
the tenacity of custom would make
the markets which they supply more
than ordinarily conservative and
durable. If then, any class Of pur-
chasers in India, China, or Africa is
once brought to declare that it pre-.
fers Swiss and Indian cottons to
English. because they are better at
an equal price, we may be quite sure
that the temptation to change to an.
other fabric has been overwhelming.
A piece of Manchester cotton must
have become extraordinarily like
cobweb plastered with rice. -four and
clay before the barbarous buyer is
disguised with it. Such market,
however once lost is lost for ever.
The very force of usage which has
made the barbarian so long constant
to English fabrics will in future
work against them, and the rival
manufacturers will hold indisputable
possession of the market.
sEAs to the growing intensity Of
foreign competition, there can be no
question whatever. It is felt far be-
yond the sphere Of the northern Eng
lsh industries; for even the trades
subsidiary to agriculture are affected
by it, so that in the east of Eng Gland
such articles as hurdles and drain
agepipes are nowadays foreign man.
ufacture. The explanation Of the
phenomenon usually given is that
foreign countries have of late be-
come aware of their natural advant.
ages-in some cases of their great
forests, in others Of their low wages,
in others Of their stores of coal and
iron. It would, in fact, be irration.
al to deny that under systems Of pro-
tective duties some communities
have at length discovered, though at
an enormous and prolonged sacrifice
the secret Of their true industrial
strength. Thus far the most power.
full cause of the existing distress is
not foreign but British competition.
It is no secret in the north that some
of the largest fortunes Of recent times
have been made, and numbers ofnew
concerns have been enabled to start,
through what is humorously called
cheapening the cost of production.
This means that the real thing is not
made at all, but only something sup
critically like the real thing some.
thing which may be mistaken for it
by careless housewife OF an ignor.
ant barbarian. It is in fact the
manufacture Of mere limitations
which was brought to the northern
counties larger industrial popula-
ton than they can fairly support,
which has created for the operatives
a higher standard of living than can
long be maintained, and which, now
that the limitations have been de.
tected even in half savage countries
as not being realities, threatens to
involve all classes in distress or ruin.