The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-01-05
IS ENGLAND DECLINING !?
rur puEsENT DIsTREss IN CONNER.
CrAL AND INDUsTsIAL CIRCLES.

institution Of the Lab0rinE Classes-The
shrynknge Of Values Of Real Estate and
stocks-Where the Unemployed Arti-
sans and EabOrers GO-1ncrease Of
Army EnIistsnents-HOw the Present
commercial Suppression Can he Arrest
ed-MOre Canquests the Hope and
Policy Of the Country.
sspeelaI Cores pondeDce Of the Democrat
WASHINGTON, December 81, 1878.
The financial, commercial and industrial
s,tuation in England, or rather In the United
Kingdom at large, is rapidly becoming the
leading subject of interest to the minds of re-
Aecting men everywhere. The attention OF
Americans, which, for three or four years has
steadily been drawing closer and closer TO the
affairs of the mother country, has received
new Indictment In
THE LATE REPORTS OF DISTRESS
actual bodily suffering from cold and hunger
among the thfonging thousands OF Eng
lands great Industrial marts in and about
London, in Sheffield, In the cotton-spinning
towns OF Lancashire, In Birmingham, In
the coal districts of North England, the iron
districts OF Scotland; In short, at every point
where Britain has assembled her masses OF
workmen, In past years Of plenty, totio the
handwork of the universe. IL the crisis that
Ia now upon Great Britain were merely q
financial stringency or depression OF trade,
caused by temporary reaction from over
speculation or over-productlon; II her troubles
and the woes.ot her people were to be meas
ured by the possibilities Of one years toll or
another years harvest, there would be moth
in0 in the situation to coll for more than
passing notice and stereotyped expressions
OF sympathy from her neighbors. Indeed, II
THE SIGNS OF DISASTER,
which are now too plain to be ignored or
cvaded, even by. the best friends and most
resolute well-wiehers OF Old England. were
accompanied by symptoms Of decay, mental.
moral or physical, In the peerless population
that teens within her narrow boundaries,
We could place her In the category with
Venice Spain ard Holland. with the simple
remark in the margin, "Outliyed her destiny
But there are NO signs Of decay In her people
TO afford explanation for the decline Of her
prosperity, and hence we must look elsewhere
for the cause. The Yankee instinct OF affec-
ton for number one makes interest in any
subject contingent almost wholly upon the
answer to the inquiry: How Ia all this going
to affect me2 Speaking Of the United States
thus In the first person singular, the answer
is easy: To certain extent-that is to say
90 far as immediate Industrial results are
commemorative woes OF England mean the
happiness OF America. Every yard OF Eng
lish cloth and every ton OF English iron comes,
somewhere and somehow. directly or remote
~, In collision with an American yard or an
American ton In some mart of the world. To
that extent then, the decline Of England's
greatness as an Industrial and commercial
power may be taken as
4 SYNONYM FOR AMERICAN ADVANCEMENT
In about the same ratio. But this surface
view of the case Is merely preliminary incl
dent, and does not embody those aspects OF
the subject which set out to survey.
In order to comprehend fully the bearing OF
the prevailing crisis upon, not merely the
present fortunes Of England, but upon the
very life Of the British nation, 1t is necessary
to dip little into statistics. It is not neces-
sary to include ireland inthesurvey, because,
owing to the great social changes that have
taken place In that country In the last thirty
years, the population has become more nearly
apportioned to She resources OF the soil. and
hence better capable OF home self-sustenance
than that OF thu Island OF Great Britain. In
fact. the prevailing crisis is almost entirely
confined In it's operations to the Island OF
Great Britain, and has thus far had no effect
upon ireland, except in SO far as it has tended
to depress tho English markets for the pro-
ducts OF Irish soil and labor. We may, there
fore, leave Ireland out Of these reflections en-
tirely, and devote our attention to the state OF
affairs In England, Scotland and Wales.
The last census OF the United Kingdom
places the population of these three subdivi-
sions or the Island of Great Britain proper
at 2S,Soo,OoO. OF these %, 100000 are crowded
into England and Wales, upon $1,000 square
miles Of territory, leaving 100000 In Scot
land upon 10000 square miles. This popula-
tion, as the census tables themselves show
In their cold, methodical way, far more elo-
quently than any ingenuity Of speech could
do, Is vastly In excess of the sustaining capa-
city OF the soil. These tables show that out
OF 2S,800, 900 people, only about 7,00O,0OO are
engaged or directly maintained by agricultu-
raj pursuits, while over II 100000 are engaged
In and maintained by those classes OF indus
tries which, after supplying the compare
lively inconsderable demands Of the home
agricultural ana professional population,
must find an external market or languish for
the want OF one. This 100000 does not in
clude the classes OF what may be called
domestic artisans, such as house-build-
ers, railway employees and the followers
OF the thousand and one avocations whose
labor contributes directly to the home life,
convenience and luxury Of the British peo-
pie; but Is composed exclusively of factory
hands, iron and steel workers OF all descrip-
tions, miners and seamen engaged in the car
rying trade. It may in justice DO termed the
surplus producing population OF Great Bril-
tain, and It's maintenance depends entirely
upon the commercial relations between their
country and the external world. These eleven
millions, then, form the element upon whose
devoted heads