The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-07-21

ignore the economic impulse of the
times. Whether this is or is not a
prudent course for them to take is
not in consideration, however, and
in this relation we simply note the
fact as 1t presents itself to general
observation.
But "cheap labor" that Is low
priced labor, is factor in the econo-
mic problem Of the world which cam
not be ignored or lost sight Of The
great consuming countries of the
world are also the countries in which
wages are relatively high and the
cost of living dear. They are also the
great distributing countries, and COM
mand the transportation agencies Of
nine-tenths Of the habitable globe.
But there are exceptional conditions
constantly springing up which either
modify very materially, or threaten
to Overturn the economic balance in
one or other Of them.
Take the production of breadstuffs
| by way of example. For many years
the United States led the world in
| their production, the indirect effect
being that population flowed steadily
into it from Europe, while the western
nations looked to America to supply
any shortage i'll their annual crops.
The result was unwonted growth of
the United States, cheap food in
Europe, and a corresponding increase
in the output of manufactures at
lower range of prices. The western
nations and the United States, jeal-
Gus of each others prosperity, which
was owing to reciprocal exchange of
commodities, did their best to check
it by hostile tariffs, England alone
holding aloOf, and as q result captur-
ing the worlds carrying trade, which
was transferred to it by the war of
tariffs referred to. Nevertheless, the
net result was great average prosper
ity, high rates of wages, large profits,
increased comfort of the people, and
wonderful Industrial development
generally.
A new factor is now introduced
which may, and indeed must, change
existing economic conditions. The
supremacy Of the United States as the
worlds granary is being disputed in
an unlOoked-for quarter. British
India has stepped into the lists, and
bids fair to become the leading wheat
producing country Of the world. A
few years ago the idea of India ex-
porting wheat would have been
laughed at. A tropical country sub
jected to periodic famine, whose popu-
lation starved to death by millions
almost within a decade, is certainly
the last place one would look to find
surplus supply of bread-stuffs. But
so 1t is; and this is not all. Wheat
is raised so cheaply, without the use
of labor-savlng machinery, as to put
all the cOntrivances of American in.
kenuity, on the virgin fields of the
West, entirely In the background.
These points are brought out by Mr..
J. A. Leonard, United States Consul
General at Calcutta. He reports to
his Government
Wheat is and will be raised cheaper in |
India than in America. Our improved |
cannot compete with the laborer
who works for z to 10 cents day, and with /
that sum feeds and clothes himself and
family; who lives in house that can be
quilt for less than SIS, and wants scarcely
my clothing, no furniture, and less and
cheaper food than any other civilized human
'eing.
Mr.. Leonard, however, takes COM
ort in the thought that owing to de-
ective land transportation, this
wheat cannot be got to England so
,heaply as American wheat. But
his is one Of those drawbacks which
money and enterprise will soon rem
'dy in the shape of railroad construc-
ion and the adaptation of the Ameri-
an elevator system. The Afghan
difficulty has stimulated railroad con-
tructiOn in Northwestern India, and
t is certain that British capital and
Enterprise will develop, to its fullest
xtent, this new field of food produc-
ion, which will make England in
dependent of "wheat pools, =" and "cor-
lers' in pork, lard and provisions by
american spectators.
India will give large additional
upply of cheap food to Europe, re-
ucing the cost of living to the work
ng classes there, and enabling manu-
acturers to turn out goods profitably {
t reduced rates. This must in turn
eact upon the wage-earning and
gricultural classes in America, and !
ighten the economic strain which
he tariff has already put upon them.
will lower the profits of the farm in
ne States, reduce consumption of ,
manufactures, and, according to pre-
edent, result in a lowering of wages, ,
xtended strikes, and mayhap in the
nd social revolution, which was {
lmost precipitated by the greed of {
ne great corDOrations in the Fall of | {