Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-04-26
A Lesson Of the Times.

There IL a good iesson for thoughtful
American citizens in two events which have
occurred during the past year, One of
these IL the great strike of the Lancaster.
England, cotton operatives This continued
for twenty weeks during which time l0o.-
900 operatives were out of employment.
and much suffering resulted The strike
ended by the employees accepting reduc
ton of three per cent. in their already
small wages and returning to work. This
strike il significant because it shows the
inferior opportunities and advantages which
working men enjoy under n Free Trade
policy. The cotton industry IL one of the
oldest and most prominen, of English man
nfscturing industries. II would certainly
seem. il there is any reason in the plat
iades of free trade theorists, that wages
cline in England; but the great Lancas-
ter strikes prove that such is the
case. and the working people of
that great Industrial center are the ones " no
shHet W II. ont1a-t tne CONDITION OF
affairs at Lancaster with the condition at
Fall River. the great center OF the cotton
industry in this country. While the opera
tives of Lancaster, England, have been
sighting with desperate tenacity against
reduction in their meagrc earnings those of
Fall River have been voluntarily granted
an Increase ef ten per cent in wages
that were very largely in excess OF those
paid the English operatives. 1t is well
sometimes to thru from the consideration Of
theories to the consideration Of facts. It |
should never be forgotten that the free
traders of this country are theorists pure
and simple. There are very few material
producers in their ranks neither have the
great majority Of them any sympathy with
those who do produce ANYTHING save theo-
ries. 1t would certainly seem. IL their free
trade doctrine IL the great blessing to
aboring men that they claim it to be
that its practical operation should establish
the fact. Instead of wages going down in
free trade Lancaster. Englsnd, and up in
Fall River. under the operation of the pro
tective system. the reverse should be true.
or their theories should a, least be able
TO hold their own in practical operation
with the results of the protective system
which they condemn 80 roundly
Free trade is a form of Anglo-mania
Its leading disciples have been largely the
spers of English thought and methods. |
Because England has free trade they think
that the United States ought to have it.
They do not parse to consider the different
con itions that obtain in the two countries |
England adopted free trade only, when, by |
tifsy years of the most rigid protection she |
had placed her industries beyond reach |
of competition. Had she been able |
70 produce sui'ieisu, food supply to feed |
her population aud the raw material ueces- |
ssry to keep her manufactures in opera |
ton. it Is quite cafe to say that she would |
never have changed to free trade policy !
Now the United States can do both of /
these things. II can raise a food supply |
leave very handsome margin for export, |
II produces practically all the raw material |
necessary to run its manufactures. |, has |
the best home market III the world wherein |
TO dispose of its products. What ben.ii, |
would, therefore accrue to the people of |
this country from the adoption of a free |
trade policy does not appear. Ii would |
certainly be of great advantage to England |
for Is would enable her to control our mar |
kets with her manufacture product Of |
her cheaper labor. Mr.. Gladstone, in his |
famous North American Review discussion /
With Mr.. Blaine. clearly showed the British |
idea Of the proper economic relation be- |
tween England and the United States. viz |
England to DO the manufacturing for both
countries; the United States to raise their
food supplies. There is something
Rrstes9ae in this Brisish idea of turning
Uncle Same domain, with its vas, and va
ried resources, and its great diversity of
sndssefies. into one hig farm and vet i,
vas hailed vAh delight, as . most admir-
aSse propositions, by American free trade
Aneto-manacs. Whatever shcorisss may
cay 70 the contrary. any policy that viii
a.as itnk Diversity of industry in this
az5.0d aahe ss.ta great II or les, dc.
gree. dependent upon other lands, win be- ,
national salsniey sesiously felt hy ali of
our citiasas. and b. none 20 much :. by il,
prNlucers.