Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-05-29

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that the greatest possible prosperity can
never be reached in any country while
great depression exists in any other, ex-
cept, possibly, for a very short period.
The cause of this is easily understood.
For Instance, from the close of the war
Of the rebellion until 1878 American in
dustry was in a flourishlng condition,
and this made an active demand for la,
boz. The price of labor was consequent-
ly high, SO high that no manufactures
or dealer attempted to compete with
English dealers in foreign markets. In
England labor then commanded wages
that were there considered high, and
workingmen had no trouble to find en-
ployment; but in that country, as in all
countries that are denseiy populated, wa
ges were much lower than in the United
States. English commodities being thus
made with comparatively cheap labor,
they could be sold without any competi>
tion from this country, where labor was
higher, and where it cost corresp ond-
lngly higher rate to manufacture goods.
But the price of labor fell in this coun-
try, and continued coming down until Ia
Dor was so cheap that manufacturers here
could sell some kinds OF goods in foreign
markets as cheap as English goods of the
same kind and quality. English manu-
facturers were therefore compelled to re-
duce their prices, cut down wages, and
even, IN some cases, to close their facto
ries. In other European countries the
war against silver has caused the price
of labor to fall, SO that England is con-
fronted IN every direction with cheap la
Dor and cheap manufactured articles.
The writer IN the New York Grocer
says "the era of prosperity has just begun
to dawn" but that assertion is the worst
kind Of nonsense, if American labor
IS to compete with British labor as he
proposes. An era of prosperity creates
a greater demand for labor, and increas~
es wages. He says that 1--WE are even
with England in many respects in the
cheapness and quality Of our 1nanufact-
ured products" But if wages increase,
it will cost more to manufacture goods,
and we will no longer be 'seven with
England" and competition with Eng
lish prices will be impossible. Therefore
the American laborer can have no reas-
enable hope for better times, if he has to
compete with the English laborer. The
New York Grocer says that "we have
neither the home market nor the means
of reaching consuming foreign markets. -
Now we wish to introduce few more
historical facts in reference to the alleged
insufficiency Of the hon1e market From
1866 to 1878 every nan IN the United
States who desired employment had all
he could do, and received good wages.
The brain and nauscle Of the whole coun
try was fully occupied with producing,
and yet there was no overproduction.
On the contrary it was impossible for the
combined efforts of all the people in the
United States to produce enough to sup.
ply the home market, and our dealers
had to buy SO heavily in foreign mark
cts that the imports into the United
States largely exceeded the exports, the
difference one year amounting to over
one hundred and eighty~two million dol
lars. That is, the home supply, when
every man was at work, came 1872 mill
lion dollars worth short of meeting the
demands of the home market. When
the people have plenty of money they
spend it freely. We never hear of over
production except when many of the
people are producing nothing, and many
more are working for very small pay.
People cannot buy unless they have mo-
ney to buy with. And this brings us to
another point. The writer in the New
York Gorcer inquiries, "How, then, is
Europe to pay for our cotton, corn, meat
and oil?" Now if he had just gone far
enough to answer his own question, he
would have completely destroyed his
whole theory. Europe has only one way
in which she can pay her balances, and
that is by her manufacturing interests
but his scheme would shut off even thai
means Of payment. The result would be
that Europe would cease to buy our coma,
modities, for the simple reason that the
great mass of consumers would have
nothing to pay with. 4'ut, no; let III
pursue a more liberal and much wiser
policy. Let us cultivate our millions O.
fertile acres, and let England grow richie,
In her manufacturing interests. 'Ther
she will come to us wealthy customer
and will peur out her abundant treasures
in exchange ufor our cotton, corn, meal
and oil,s and mutual prosperity will he
the result. This will be much better
than trying to starye each other to death
by a destructive, competition, hoping :te
pick something of value from the bones
of starved competitor. The bankers
and money lenders are the only ones re-
ally lnterestedln disseminating such non,
sense as that quoted from the New York
Grocer, and their money has corrupted
very many political and commercial pa
pers. '1'hey want to make the people be-
lleve that prosperity can be gained by
having such cheap labor as TO enable us
to undersell English goods in foreign
markets, and since such cheap labor can
be had only by a contraction of the cur
rency, and by maintaining the single
gold standard of value, the whole scheme
is for their benefit. They have such nom
sense published for the sole purpose of
influencing public opinion and securing
Legislation favorable to their schemes.
The New York Grocer, In the begin>
ming OF the article quoted, refers to the
"fnancial and commercial legislation''
that Is needed, but the people are getting
Their eyes open, and we believe that the
bankers will have a decidedly lively time
getting any more pernic1ous laws enact
o1 haS