The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-03-15
FREE TRADE IN ENGLAND.

Against the persistent ana elaborate
Misrepresentation Of the projections
lists in regard to the ruin free trade Is
bringing upon England stands tht
stubborn fact, Of which we have yet
seen no attempt to give a satisfactory
explanation, that, in spite of her al
legged RAPIDLY increased impoyerish'
ment, England is pouring into TINS
country in an apparently steadily in
creasiDg stream, millions of her sur
plus gold for investment, buying up
our heaviest industries at rate that
threatens in "A few years to make TINS
a nation of British rather than Amer
lean manufacturers.
These dlreful presentations as 10
England's rapid decline are supple
mented by the most narrowing descrlp-
tions of the condition Of her laboring
classes, among whom none have come
in for greater allowance Of American
commisseratiOn than the miners or
golfers. Their long hours, hard labor,
low wages and joyless existence have
long constituted a staple scarecrow by
which American labOrerS have been
frightened into the Republican fold.
Now in order to get at the bottom
truth of these statements, the man
ayers of the Chicago Herald a month
or two ago employed Mr.. John w.
Postgate, a most intelligent and COM
petent man, to 60 to England, and,
taking his own time to it, make de-
tailed and exhaustive investigation OF
the condition of its working people in
every department of its great indus
tries, and report to the Herald the
TRUTH, whatever it might be.
AS the gloomiest pictures of distress
usually exhibited by Republican wri-
tiers and stumpers referred most
largely to the northern collieries of
England, Mr.. Postgate commenced his
Investigations with the pitmen and
GOLFERS in that quarter, and yester-
days Herald contains the first Install
ment of the series of reports with
which for the next few months he will
enrich that paper.
Unexpectedly, the picture Mr.. Post
gate draws of the English pitman is
most attractive and delightful one to
those who have hitherto read nothing
but protectiOnist accounts. He works
six or seven hours day. and spends
the intervening time amid smiling
fields and beautiful scenery, inhaling
the breezes from the German Ocean,
and enjoying the attractions OF pleas
ant home His wages are about 81 90
a day, with all the coal he needs, and
with a cottage of five rooms and mar
ket garden thrown in. His face is
bright and ruddy, his step elastic, his
heart bold and happy. He has a CO.
operative store, where he buys beef at
l2cents. mutton at 13 cents, flour at 3
cents, potatoes at 81 cents, oatmeal at
4 cents, rice at cents, sugar at 3
cents, tea at 80 cents, chldren's shoes
for 25 cents, children's suits for $3.50;
and all other articles of food ard raj
ment at similar prices. Moreover, he
draws from IL to Is per cent on his in
terest in the store. He has large
family, and when his Oldest boys begin
to work the income of the family is
$32 week, with peruisites. The pit
men have unions to protect their in
terests, they have literary Institutes
for the improvement of their minds,
and they are such power in politics
that they have literally eXtorted their
prosperity from the closed fist of CAPT.
tai and the iron grasp of the English
government. They do not feel that
they are proper objects for pity on the
part of the American workmen.
The future letters of Mr.. Postgate
will be watched for with great inter
est and whether most favorable to
this side or that in their detail of in
disputable facts, cannot fail to cut an
important figure in party polemics
during the coming season.