Daily Republican., 1879-12-05

cheaper than the Chinese. They car
and do produce almost every maAufac
tured article--silk, iron, glass, cotton,
woolen-cheaper than we do. So much
the better, say the free traders ; we
shall then import that we require from
France, Germany, Belgium or America,
cheaper than we can buy 1t in this
country, and We shall have so much
more money to spend on something else,
and by that much the country will be
the richer. This is the free.trade shib-
boleth. Let us take test case
No industry stands alone; each one
Is so dovetailed and interviewer with
other industries that it cannot fall
without bringing ruin on numbers of
others. Plate glass supports, and is
supported by, and is intimately mixed
up with no less than 80 distinct indus.
tries, occupations and employments.-
Suppose A builds house in which
the plate glass cost e200; he perhaps
gets this glass 2 per cent. cheaper
from France or Belgium. "See what a
grand thing is free trade" say the Free
Traders. will save 95; he will have
IS to spend on something else; there
fore, to the extent of that e5 the whole
country is the richer. Apply this to
sugar, iron, wool, cotton, silk, &c., and
you sec at once how immensely free
trade adds to the wealth of the country.
But, as in every case, there is reverse
to the medal. A saves e5; granted;
but the plate glass workers and the SO
industries depending on plate glass
lose between them goo.
Ten years ago the condition of our
productive industries was nearly as
bad as it is now. General employment
was equally depressed. Then came the
years Of imitation, when wages and pro-
fits jumped to a point never before
reached. "See what free trade is doing
for u.s." said its supporters; but 1t was
not free trade at all that caused those
three years Of infation,it was war, sim
ply war-the Franco German war-and
nothing else that for two years paralyz-
ed the productive industries of France
and Germany and left US masters Of the
situation to supply our own markets
and the neutral markets of the world.
OF course there is a credit as we'll as a
debit side in foreign competition. |
leave the credit side to Mr.. Bright and
his followers. The debit side is shortly
as follows:
The industrial community suffers to
the extent of forty times the amount
saved by the individual A. Apply this
again to iron, sugar, silk, cotton, wool,
&C., and we shall see what foreign COM
petition is really doing for the general
employment of the people. Mr.. Bright
and his friends overlook the point OF
the argument. "Ws will not take the
whole community in order to enrich a
few greedy manufacturers, says our
Free Traders. "We will tax the whole
community in order to tax the general
employment of the people," says the
Protectionist of France, Belgium and
America.
Foreign competition has lessened the
general employment of the people.
1t has made the returns of labor and
capital more uncertain, more fuctua-
ting.
Supply is no longer regulated by de-
mand, but by the over-production and
the necessities of foreign producers.
The masters cannot calculate their
profits, or the workmen their wages, for
month together.
1t must lengthen the labor and lower
the wages of the British workmen to
the level of his foreign competitor.
1t has destroyed the national pride
in the national industries.
1t has created wild competition in
price, and price only, that has ruin
the quality of English goods.
1t has destroyed the English work
mans pride in his work. Cheapness
everywhere axes the place of quality.
Pressed 10 produce the greatest posi-
bls quantity, in the least possible
time, at the lowest possible price,
the British workman has neither time
nor inducement to improve his work.
How will this end for end 1t must /;
it cannot 60 on. Very soon the work.
ing classes will rouse themselves from
their dream of confidence in Mr.. Bright
and his friends. They will say: "For
q years we have sat at your feet,
trusting to your predictions and your
promises, applaudipg your fallacies as
Divine revelations, and where have
they landed us In something very
like industrial ruin.
Every year We see ourselves more
com mpletely excluded from the foreign
markets; every year more and more
excluded from our own market. You
may say it is our own fault-that We
ought to work longer hours (seven
days week, like our foreign compet-
itors), be satisfied with lower wages,
eat less meat, drink less beer, and it
may be so, but that does not alter the
fact that in asking US to produce as
cheaply as the foreigner, you ask US
to do what at present we cannot do.
In the same breath you say to the for
eign operative: Send us your goods,
as much as you can, and to the En-
glish operative:
I'VE have too much of your goods;
leave the country, go to America Ap-
parsntly you wish to make England a
land for consumers only. You have as
much as said to the producers: We
can do without you; We can buy all We
want cheaper elsewhere You have
worked hard for the consumer-what
have you done for the producer ? You
have given him cheap bread, you say.
Certainly, but man does not live by
bread alone he wants money to buy 1t,
and how is he to get money without
employment. :,
No doubt the aristocracy, the land