The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-01-23
Europe and America.

,LaLeS, from 1901 TO 1860, made the United
tates emphatically nation OF consumers.
The energies and resources Of the two Sec
ions were devoted to war, and everything
Produced was Tapped up by the insatiate
reed of..the Demon of War. This was the
ource OF England's great prosperity. We
consumed more than we produced, and for
nearly ten years after the terms of peace
we're agreed upon the balance of trade was
lgainst us. The speculation and extrava.
yance which seemed to enter every avenue
If endeayor, and the reckless disregard of
The legitimate laws Of trade, gave an i'm
petus to foreign industry, employment
to British workmen and stimulated foreign
Itrequired the collapse OF 1873
to bring the American people to their senses
and school them to the necessity Of retrac-
ing their steps and living within their
means. We have the result in the changed
of the export and import trade, and
instead of $1,000, 900 against us, we have
$500, 900, 900 in our favor. This reversal in
the tide of exports and imports has operated
upon the industries of England
and Germany, in the proportion that it has
stimulated the enterprise and economy of
our own country. The unexampled pros
perity Of the United States is the primary
and controlling cause of English prostr a
ton. The London correspondent of the
New York Herald. discusses this theme very
intelligently and nationally. After depict
Ing the gloom and distress in the working
districts in England, and in Manchester, the
seat of the industrial enterprise and pros
perity OF that nation, the writer says: sIf
you look for the causes of this trouble what
do you find? There is the distress In the
iron trade. Well, in ten years America has
added twelyefold to her iron production
Every ton of ore produced is so much taken
from England. We can make iron even in
Tennessee and Alabama cheaper that it can
be made in England, and as consequence
the export trade of English iron, once the
largest item of our imports, is confined to
the Atlantic coast. Very soon it will be
driven out and we shall be sending out our
manufactured iron to this market. This
makes an immense chasm in the profits of
English labor. There is distress in the cot
ton trade. Not long since England had a
virtual monopoly of cotton manufacture.
She purchased our raw Ecotton and sent it
back to US in cloth, and the industry as
sumed prodigious proportions. She had a
market in India and China. am afraid
even to hazard guess as to the amount of
money England has made in the last half
century out of her cotton trade with India,
China and the United States. What do you
see now? The United States makes her
own cotton into cloth and begins to supply
England. In China our cloths are so much
better than the English that we are taking
the market. 1 hear of some English mills
Initiating our American trade marks so as
to secure Chinese market. Tread warning
articles IN the newspapers, telling cotton
manufacturers that unless they stop cheating
the Chinese by putting too much sizing in
their cotton cloths they will lose their whole
trade, the Chinaman being a thoughtful,
prudent person, and not caring to buy their
sizing by the yard. In India, where Eng
land has monopoly of the cotton trade,
and where local regulations would forbid
any serious competition on our part, the pc o
pie are building cotton mills and making
their own cloth. Labor is so cheap in India
and cotton grows there in such proiusion
that this competition must be effective. So
you see that three great markets in which
England has heretofore been supreme are
taken from her and the cotton trade dies,
and the men who work in cotton must go
to the reiiefassociations and crave bread and
meat"
The correspondent continues his theme
with stating the probable conclusion of all
this revolution in trade and industrial &C
tivity, as follows: $50 I might continue
and show you how in industry after indus
try we have defeated England. Our con-
quests have only begun. The victims are
the poor starving workmen in Lincolnshire
and the Trent Valley. What is the remedy
Some speak of revisal of commercial
treaties SO that America will give England
q chance. This means that having thrived
under protective tariff we should try and
revive England by one made to suit her
markets. You see that Prince Bismarck has
some such scheme for Germany. There is
no hope that any treaty revising CONNER
cial relations will ever be made betw cen
England and America to the disadvantage
OF America. England has never given any
other country an advantage which she could
reserve, and she cannot expect us to do diff
ferently. Another remedy is emigration
lshould not be surprised to see the emigra-
ton from England larger in the coming
years than ever before. It will be the emil
grafton of the better class; men Of proper
ty or OF business who have about enough for
an elder son, with portions for the daughters,
consider thatthe best career for the other
boys is in the colonies or the States. Strong
efforts are used by the government and pri-
vate enterprise to direct this emigration to
Canada and Australia. But Canada is so
cold and Australia is far away, and the bur-
den of it will go to the United States. A wise
policy on the part Of the United States, the
Western State governments and the rail-
ways would add to our population hum
dreds OF thousands of the best men in
England-men of sense and character
whose addition to our civilization would be
OF as great value as the cavaliers who set
tied Virginia or the Puritans who made for
us New England
This brings us to consider the uses to which
could be placed in this country,
which would relieve the condition of the
emigrants and better their fortunes. A few
figures of comparison Will furnish the an
swer to such inquiry.
In Great Britain and islands, with pop
nlation of 31,62S, 1888, there is an area of
III, 230 square miles of territory, or about
2eS persons to the square mile. In Texas
alone, with an area of ga, 900 square miles,
Or l53, no square miles more than are in Eng
and, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, there
was a population at the last census of less
han 100000, or about four people to the
square mile, with soil and climate equal to,
not superior to that of Great Britain.