New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-11-04
MORALS FROM LANCASHIRE.

MORALS FROM LANCASHIRE.
The views of the United States Consul at
Manchester respecting the prospects OF
English manufactures and the results of
American competition are so iudiciOus that
we beg our readers not to overlook the letter
from Lancashire which they will find in this
mornings issue. Mr.. Shaw is keen observer
who knows where TO look for his facts and
what value to attach to them in contrasting
the industrial capacities and achievements of
two great nations. 1t has been generally sup
posed that the manufacturing interests of
Great Britain would be quickenod into new
life 10y the revival OF trade in the United
States So far as Mr. Shaw's observations
have extended this expectation is premature
Lancashire is still slough of despond.
Trade is exceptionally bad, there are few
spindes and looms that have made even the
smallest returns for interest on capital, and there
are no means of employing the surplus of pop
ulation in the manufacturing centres. Owing
To various causes, which the Consul enumerates
the losses to manufacturers are more serious
than English capitalists suppose, and the sole
alternative to an increase of pauperism is en-
igration. His inference is one upon which
stress has repeatedly been laid in these col
umns. Emigration on n large scale will soon
take place. and if intelligent efforts are made
without delay, operatives and farmers can be
induced to settle in the United States in pref
erence to Australia or Canada. Although
they are neither as sober nor as industrious as
the corresponding classes are here, yet are
they emigrants whom our growing West can
i'll afford to lose Mr.. Shaw makes some ex-
cellent suggestions respecting emigration
agencies. 1t is undoubtedly true that our peO-
pie are not as active III furnishing informa-
ton and In influencing English workingmen
to come among us as they ought to be. and
the present Is a favorable time for making
strenuous exertions in this direction.
The passage in this interesting letter which
will prove most useful to American exporters
is that in which the Consul refers to the de-
fective methods of placing dairy products
and fresh meats in the British market. He
contends that any system whereby direct
shipments can be made to branch houses or
wholesale dealers in the principal cities, and
the commissions now paid to middlemen and
INSCRIPTIONS agents can be cut of, will largely
increase the sale of American products. AS
matters stand, fresh meat, butter and cheese
exported from New-YOrk are sacrificed at
forced sales, and English retail dealers laugh
in their sleeves and pocket the profits When
Mr.. Shaw speaks of the general results of
American competition he weighs his words,
30 that his conclusions are free from the
faintest suspicion of Yankee bumptiousness.
He admits that there is no market In Lanca-
shire for New-England cottons, and that in
this as well as in many other fields of indus
try our people have yet to make a serious be-
ginning in order to compete successfully with
English manufacturers, but his conviction is
well founded that the genius of our inventors
and the growing skill of our operatives,
coupled with cheap lands and cheap food,
will eventually give the English-speaking
race in the West the supremacy in this inter-
national contest.
When we consider how rapid has been the
development of American industry since the
adoption of q wise economic policy, this as
sumption does not appear understandable.
With inexhaustible agricultural resources, with
mineral wealth that is coming to light
wherever new settlement Is made with SUI
perior capacity to produce the great staples of
food and manufacture and with reserves of
capital increasing steadily for use in industrial
enterprise, the commercial prospects of the
United States are Frightening every year.
How can England hold her own place as time
goes ont Her fields are Over-cltivated
her mines are overwOrked; her natural
sources of wealth are overstrained. One
third. or possibly one-half. of her food
supply comes from abroad. and the cost of
living cannot be reduced Mr. Gladstone was
far-sighted when he wrote kin Beyond Sea-"