The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-20
Free Trade England.

NV
There is a great deal of nonsense
INDUCED in by the republican press
claiming that it is impossible for the
manufacturers of this country to com
pete against the ''pauper" labor OF Eng
land. and that, therefore, they need
protection from the government. The
REFLECTOR stated as fact in its last
issue that the purchasing power of Wa
ges in England was as great as In the
limited States: and further, that while
English wages were increasing and Eng
lisb living decreasing, the conditions In
tbe limited States were just the oppo-
site. Mr.. ROBERT CITIZEN an English
statistician of high reputation, argues,
with the aid of great mass OF figures,
that the prosperity Of the workers OF
England has enormously increased
within fifty years. Mr.. CITIZEN also
presents figures to show that meantime
the purchasing power of money, except
as regards house rent and meat, has not
diminished.
According to his statistics, the Eng
lish workman has increased III round
figures during fifty years from 30 to 100
DER cent. in money return, and mean
time the hours of labor have decreased
by about 20 per cent. The whole con-
ditions of modern labor, too, require
more skill than the conditions of fifty
years ago, so that there is more labor
relatively at the higher wages than used
to be the case. Itmay be true that the
worker does as much during his present
shorter hours of labor as he did during
the longer working day of the past, but
he gains more leisure, Mr.. GIFFEN says,
and that is what he has always fought
for.
On the whole. Mr.. GIFFaN contends,
the sovereign goes as far it did forty or
fifty years ago; while there are now
many new things which can be bought
at a low price which could not
then have been bought at all.
Within the last ten years especially,
thanks to the farmers of the United
States, the average price of wheat in
England has largely declined, especially
as compared with the ten years from
from 1887 to 1916. Moreover, before
free trade in food products, the fluctua-
tiOnS in the price of wheat from year to
year were occasionally so great that the
workman saw bread rise to point
which meant to him starvation. peri
odic starvation" says Mr.. CITIZEN,
"was, in fact, the condition Of the mas
ses of wOrkingmen throughout the king
dom fifty years ago." while during the
last twenty years the fluctuations of
wheat have been slight.
During the last half century sugar
and such articles have largely declined
in price, and the present consumption
of sugar and tea in England is four
times what it was forty years ago.
"There could be no better evidence of
diffused well-being among the masses, "
concludes Mr.. GIFFEN. Clothing Is
also cheaper than it used to be, and the
only article much interesting the work
man which has increased in price is
meat. But fifty years ago meat was
not an article of the WOrkman's diet, as
it has since become. Formerly the only
meat he consumed was pork-bacon and
hams, and of these the quantity now
imported is nearly equal to the estima-
ted consumption among the English
working classes fifty years ago.
House rents have undoubtedly much
increased. They are now at leaft fifty
per cent. higher than they were half
century since. In spite Of this increase,
however, the workman, because of his
greater wages and the diminished cost
of bread, has larger margin than he
had before for miscellaneous eXpendi-
ture. Mr.. GIFFEN contends, further,
that the houses are better, and that the
increased rent is merely the higher price
for superior article.
In proof of the improved condition Of
the working people he cites various So
cial statistics. As compared with the
rates upon which DIR. FARR'S famous
life tables were based, rates obtained
in the years 1S41-t5, during the last
five years the average of hui
man life III England has increased
from 1919 years to 4l-9 years, gain Of
two years. BY far the larger proportion
of this increased duration of life is lived
at useful ages, and not at the dedendent
ages of childhood and old age. No such
change could have taken place, Mr..
CITIZEN argues, without great increase
in the vitality of the people. Not on
ly have fewer died, but the masses who
have lived must have been healthier and
suffered less from sickness than they
did. From the nature of the figures,
also, the Improvement must have been
among the masses, and not amOUg a Sc
lect class whose figures threw up the
average" Besides, this gain has fol-
lowed an ameliOration of the condition
of the working people, which has only
lately been effected and partially APP
piled. A greater gain may be expected
when the lives of all who are living have
been passed from their birth under the