The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-06-18

P,o1ecuon versus Free Trado-Ihs sIt.
nation In EpEIand, France and Ger
many.
1t is evident that Q change is going on
in Europe, including England, in regard
to the doctrine Of free trade. England
has seen the day when she was violently
opposed to free trade. 1t Ia hardly posi-
bic that she will see that day SgAin, be-
cause circumstances have so changed as
TO necessitats her adherence to the doc
trine as a matter Of sslfdelsnce. For In
stance, the first necessity Of England is
cheap food for her totllug masses. People
who work for slim wages must be ena'
bled TO live in some sndursble shape on
their wages. The competition for tlade
with other countries has forced down
wages in Eaglsud, but the products OF
her soil, sustained in price Rs they have
been by high rents Tor land, have made
cheap food impossible, Hence meat and
bread are relatively dear. Low wages
aud dear bread do not go hand in hand.
A poorly fed stomach Ia the precursor OF
social and political disturbance, Starving
families, or even stiul0d families, are easy
prey 10 revolutionary agitation. A land
to be happy aud peaceful must be q land
Of properly fed people, Hence England
Is necessltated to admit wheat, corn and
pork from America free oil tax, or properly
expressed, free Of duty. She Is also neces'
STATED 10 meet the logical consequences
OF exemptIug these American products
from tax, viz: q reduction Of the rental
value of her lands TO q point at which
tenants car live and work the land. 'Th!l
reduction in rent seriously Affects the re-
sources Of herlsnded nobility aud gentry,
for 1t was from thsir high rents that they
derived their immense incomes. Therefore
cheap food from America means the neces-
sity OF producing cheaper food in England,
and this sgaiD mesns q reduction in the
rents hitherto levied on tenants,
England Ia between two fires. The Amer.
a have become her formidable man
uiaCturing rivals. Their natural resources
in the way OF raw material are houndless.
By means Of protection they have deyeI'
oped their resources with great rspldlty.
BY means OF their energy aud ingenuity
they have invented every species Of me
Cnonical, labor saving and cost reducing
machinery. So that while they have paid
their labor better prices than In England,
and at the same time produced cheaper
bread, they have all the time reduced the
coat Of manufacturing every kind Of pro-
duct. The consequence Is that we have
OF late'years been exporting cotton goodsl
aud iron and steel tools, locomotives, sew
log machines, leather, glass ware, agriCul'
tural machinery, and other lines Of manu-
laCluIe, to Europe, In competition with
England. We make better goods and
more shapely goods in this Country.in Ger.
tam departments than they do in Europe,
and Europe prefers them, and while 1t is
true that our exports OF these goods have
grown most in years Of depression and
oyer.produCtion in this country, and have
been sold without much profit, In many
cases, to our American producers, yet the
fact remains that we have demonstrated
to England and oil other manufacturing
nations, that q protective tariff is becoming
every year less and less a necessity to US.
A nation that has boundless resources
in the way Of raw material for mnnufaCtul.
ing, and that can not only feed itself
cheaply, but also feed other nations, has
the whip hand Of advantage. 1t can afford
10 pay higher prices Tor labor than other
nations that are forced not only to import
more Of their raw material for their manu-
iaCtures, but also to import their means OIL
subsistence. We save, for instance, the
cost OF transportation on cotton and the
cost OF transportation Of %breadstufhs, and
these are offsets against lower priced
labor. As We bring the cotton fields and
the cotton factories closer together, as we
are now doing in Georgia, we shall pro
duCe cotton goods cheaper than ever; and
as we bring the coal field and the ore bedl
closer together we shall produce cheaper
iron than ever.
England gees and understands the situ.
alton Id this country, and Ia revolving In
her mind what lB best for her to do. She
sees the exodus not only Of labor but oil
capital TO this country from her own do.
minionB. This hegira aggrRvates the
situation somewhat. 1t tends to deprive
her Of both cheap labor aud cheap capital
and to limit her hitherto great capacity tc
uuderaell US In manufacturing. II sht
could get even with us by any sort o.
fe~stIictions she would be glad 10 impose OF
them. Her action in regard to our meaI
exports shows how esgerly our competition
In any branch Of business over thert
would welcome restrictions on our OK
ports. And yet the British government
Caunot afford to make the grievances o.
cattle or mutton or grain rAisers in En-,
gland the basis Of o national policy, iti
the laboring people, who work in the
factories, clamor for cheaper meat and
bread. This Is Eusland's dilemma.
She .is forced TO adhere to fret
trade,--rot of choice but Of r~ecessty
siThe influence and prestige Of England
in favor Of free trade Is gradually losipr
It's hold on the Continental nations, Of
Europe. Germany has shown a decided
disposition for some time past to cut loose
from such a policy. Protection ideas have
gained ground there, aud been put In
practice by Bismarck. A dispatch from