The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-02-01
G |lE'jl Ql)t',,;t|:euiiqe:llttfer:
FORElGN mARKkTg.

ohice: ms. 70 ana ~ Fourteenth street
IT
lUbV w FOREIGN nARKETs. g,Fr
Their Value 10 Ing laud-aud what Nigh
Happen Here. ~
Philadelphia Pfn.
The boundlesa opportunities Of q foreign
market 10 q theme that American free
traders are never tired Of descantinR on
They drag It into every speech, every edi
torial and every paragraph, as the oil
spaniah dlvines did Saint Augustine int,
every discourse. mo stew without bacon
and no sermon without a text from sain
Augustine" Is the translation Of the Span
ish problem. Railroad extension stops
mills run half time, reduce tho number Of
their workmen, cut down wages or close
altogether. "Want OF foreign market
Is the never.ceasing chorus from the pro.
lessons, statesmen and editors who are be.
guiled by the shadow oil q limitless market
Like Henry Georges solution Of the land
question, the neck Of all the trouble our
iaboring humanity Is heir to Is, with the
isee trader, the want Of q foreign market,
Give US a foreign market, they eloquently
cry, and the clink Of the hammer viii be
heard on the distant prairie, as mile alter
mile Of track Ia laid, the looms will clatter
and the spindlea will hum, and the coun-
try will reBonnd with authemslto tbeaccom.
plished statesmen who have led the way
TO the worlds markets. True, markets NAV
be bound by the barriers Of ignorance and
cupidity that other benighted nations have
created, but these are for after considera.
ton. The immediate problem OF long
sighted statesmanship Is solved In the
words "a foreign MARKET" and to this the
Democratic party Is addressing itself.
About forty years ago England was
ablaze with similar cry. Manchester
hungered and thirsted for the worlds mar.
kets. A league Was formed, and enormous
Sums Of money subscribed, the amount
one year reaching a bali million dollars.
M. Golden led the hosts, and was pad
literally by the manufacturers for Il, re-.
ceiying from them during his lie nodes,
million dollars. For the moment there
seemed no bounds for the prosperity that
followed. England waa nearly a century
ahead OF the rest OF the world in manufac.
turing. Flushed with victory, Golden I'M.
dertook to convert Europe and make It a
single community. The seed sown then on
the continent brought forth the treaty with
France, and later, perhaps, Free Trade in
Germany, but withered and died when
Germany returned to Protection and France
refused to ratify the treaty again. "I
The conditions were never 30 favorable
IN any country, and probably never will
be again, as they were in England when
she decided to fight the hostile tariff OF the
world with free imports. It opened
foreign market. 1t did N IRE. II opened
also, home market, and now, as foreign
countries become better able to supply
their own manufactures, England discovers
that eeri,.us inroads have been made on
the home market. Mr.. Gladstone. at
Leeds, October s. 1851, admitted that Eng.
land was annually paying $225 900, 600 for
manufactured goods (others put it at $3.50.
oo0. 000), such as silks, woolens, gloves, cot
ton manufactures, iron and steel manu-.
facture, tanned leather, boots and
shoes, clocks, watches, sheet.lead,
manufactures Of wood, etc., that
they ought 10 manufacture Themselves.
Sir Eardley.Wilmot, NJ. p, In a!
wonderfully able pamphlet Just published,
gives list OF ten articles Of Manufactured
which, in ten years have cost Eppland
l,4W 600, 600, while the operatives in
those lines have been on the verge Of star
walton. The same authority shows that
between 1872 and 1880 the exports of wool
en- goods from England decreased one
hall. The importation OF raw silk has
steadily declined from over s, 600 900 pounds
in 1871 to less than 5000, goo IN 1881. In
the same period the expectation of linen
yarn has decreased from &c. 600, 900 pounds
10 lG.500O00. The twenty sugar refineries
on the Thames have decreased to one.
while those at Bristol bave gone out OF ex.
istence. Last year 10000 watches were
imported from America and 100000 from
the continent The watch.mskers' trade
has gone. The number engaged in the
silk industry in twenty years has declined
hall, and in the 6vs principal textile in
dustries less are now employed that twenty
years ago. German and Belgian competi.
ton mas seriously crippled the furniture
trade. Over . million acres Of land have
gone cut Of wheat cultivation. Cattle and
sheep have decreased. Says one Eaglish
writer: Foreign competition-G German,
French, Belgian and American-is grad.
ually killing out every industry in Eng.
land, and il nothing can bedone to stop It
wagee in England will ere long be down to
one shilling day." There are 43O 900
fewer cotton spindles in Scotland to-day
than twenty years ago. In short, the ia.
creased progress Of foreign commerce has
Leen coincident With contraction in many
Of those home industries and productions
on which national prosperity depends. Ia
Great Britain, on January l, 1881, there
were over 1,000, 600 OF persons on the books
in receipt Of parish relief, number which,
according to Mr.. Purdy, OF the Poor Law
Board, represents total of $500 900 40.
plying Tor parish relief. MI. Hoyle, an
other expert, argues from this that the
whole pauper class OF the community
those toeing the line Of pauperism, as be
put it-in England and Wales is some
where near 100000. &5.
Is this Sign Of prosperity Yet England
has enjoyed a foreign market-the worlds
ma,kets-Sfor forty years. She has, during
that time, been mining more tons Of coal
and iron ore, smelling more tons OF iron,
spinning more pounds Of yarn and weav ny
more yards OF cloth for the same money.
In short, she! has had the full benefit Of a
foreign market But what profit country
II 1t gain the worlds market and lose its
own? During the decade ending in 1880,
the population Of the United States increas,
ed 80 percent. Manufacturing Industries,
upon the whole, were prosperous during
the ten years ending in 1880, yet the in
croo on In Fu1mh ar arn ~ ovul ~ vital .nI
value Of products was trifs less than 80
percent. With the prospect Of similar
increase during the coming decade, is 1t
wise to reach out for that which the econo-
mic history Of England shows is uncertain
and jeopardize that which our own econo-
mic history has shown is certain? Perhaps
intelligent voters may ponder over these
facts before deciding that the possibilities
OF q foreign market are bouudlees. X