The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-07-16
Extra ordinary Debate in the
British Parliament.
ENGLANUS MANUFACTURERS DECLARED RUINED
The Prices Of Food for All Europeans Regu-
lated in this Country. :.
JOHN BRIGHT ON AMERICAS GROWTH.

rose to move:-"That humble address be
presented to Her Majesty. praying Her Majesty
that she will be graciously pleased to appoint q
Royal Commission to inquire into the depressed
condition Of the agricultural interest and the
causes to which it is owing. whether those causes
are Of temporary or Of permanent character. and
how far they have been created can be remedied
by legislation" He by denied that dis
tress had on former occasions existed. but it was
nothing this. and authority
on this point he referred to statement
by Lord Beaconseld recently that though he could
recall several periods of suffering Of them had
ever equalled the present" Could we look without
concern upon the farms vacant in England and the
withdrawal of capital from the business which now
ceased to pay? What was the cause OF the distress
in Scotland, where north and south the landed in
terest was affected The distress undoubtedly
not confined to agriculture. and but for two reasons
he should have embraced trade generally in his
reference. First. many other honorable members
were more competent to deal with the subject;
next. he doubted whether any commission could
within reasonable time grapple with enormous
question. There many people who thought
that this unfortunate state of affairs due in
great measure to pursuance of free trade with
out reciprocity, but he should be sorry to rashly
commit hi mself to their views.
FOOD EXPECTATION FROM THE UNITED STATES.
At the same time he could not shut his eyes to the
fact that the and the predictions of Mr..
Golden and other men had not been fulfilled.
The circumstances of to-day were entirely al
tered from those under which free trade was
adopted. 1t maintained that other coun-
tries would follow example, seeing the
benefits we derived, but they hnd not;
and then it was predicted by Mr.. Bright that no
country produced more food than was necessary
f,,; <s opd hat hara in,
the circumstances Of any foreign nation which
could make it formidable rival to the agriculture
of this country To show that the latter assertion
quoted by the honorable gentleman to food
expectation from the United States. He quoted
this not to advocate protection. but to show how
widely the promise and the performance had
differed and that it cannot be wondered at IL doubts
have arisen to the wisdom Of our any longer pur-
suing policy which Is not free trade at all, but
which only free trade under restrictions, and
strictions OF which all the advantage goes to the
gramme of remedies by the Farmers Alliance, he
said that ha did not believe If adopted in its entirety
it would be available as substantial remedy. The
the distress that farming had ceased TO
be profitable.
UNPRECEDENTED AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.
The real and sole cause of the present agricultural
depression the bad yield and the bad prices OBJ
tainable Tor produce. They had of late been grow
ing less corn ard receiving less money for it. well
as for meat WOOL cheese and for nearly every farm
ing commodity. The loss In consequence was last
alone estimated at s5s.oOO.OOO 1890 .Ooo
The course of the they could
control, but with regard to the prices it
was perfectly clear to what they were owing.
and how tar they were likely to be Of permanent
or passing character. Sooner or later everyone
would be compelled to recognize that upon the an
prices the failure Of the agriculture of the
United Kingdom more or less depended The
production Of food in England would con-
tinue for just long time 1t continued to pay
the producer. and how long that would be depended
upon the cost OF producing the food and the return
it yielded the prices lately received continued
preyail the duration of agriculture in England must
and could only be short He did not believe in the
possibility of any material reduction in the cost of
production unless it be by reducing the rents but
supposng the whole Of the rents could be RENTED
the cost Of production in bad seasons would be
greater than the return. II the cost Of production
could not be reduced. it obvious they had only
look to the prices which they had to receive for
the produce and these prices would be governed not
by the market at home, but by the market abroad
viz, in America.
AMERICA SETTLE THE PRICE OF ENGLISH FOOD.
What they really wanted to arrive at was. what was
the leas price which American food including cost
OF freight and transport. could be supplied here
with profit to the importer? That the price
they would in the future have to adopt their own.
Ii 1t which would fairly remunerxte the
English producer all well and good and the present
depression would pass away. II on the other
hand it be found that America could supply food at
price cheaper than they could produce it. he did
statement that English agriculture must pass away
unless the country took steps to prevent it. II
would be nothing less than the ruin OF the country
tional industry. This was not question Of
class, but q national question of the great
est and largest Importance. 1t was certain that
there would be harvest at all unless IL paid to pro-
duce it. How far that likely TO be depended upon
whether America could undersell them in food in
future in their country. He admitted that there
much speculation In any opinion formed on the
point but was significant that in 1875 $50 head OF
$4,000 IN 1877 $1,000 in 1875 and he found that the
i'm portstion had reached 10000 during the frst Ave
year. notwithstanding the order In Council that all
cattle to be slaughtered at the port Of debark
he should ask for the speedy removal OF ali restrc
tions and taxes which were at present imposed on
the productions of food at home.
ENaIAND's MANuFAcTURERs RUINED.
Mr.. MacIver had no desire to underrate the i'm
portanco OF the export trade Of the country but IL
seemed to him that English home trade
more important. and that manufactures and agricul
ture had common interests. II the English manu-
featuring population were idle they could not buy
agricultural produce; and IL agriculture remained
depressed her manufacturing industries would be
depressed too because those who lived by agricul-
We were. he thought, too much dependent upon
foreign nations for our supply of food. There was
not country in the world that would take
our manufactures in exchange. The question was
not so much whether free trade was desirable as
whether 1t was practicable II wasidle to say that as
trade had formerly revived so II would again. There
might indeed be some temporary Improvement, but
1t could only be temporary. What no wished to
point out that the conditions had changed, and
that IL duty to face those altered condi-
tons. The House knew what our own colonies were
doing. Everybody closing his doors to us, and
It reasonable to expect any substantial re-
vival of our export trade under such con-
ditons. The character OF our exports had changed.
and now exporting materials
where formerly sent manufactures. and we
were even to some extent importing manufactures
from those who formerly sent us materials.
Our exports of woollen manufactures were rapidly
decreasing, and imports of the same goods AZ
rapidly increasing; and the same was true OF
cottons. He remembered when largo quantities
OF rails from south Wales went to the United
States; but now their largest export was
s'spiegel," % description OF the special useful