Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-09-20

plies to the making of machinery. and,
indeed, of almost every article which we
have been in the habit of supplying sill
yer countries with. In all industries
where rough mechanical labour forms Il
principal ingredient. there is an obvious
advantage. The building and repairing
of ships might be quoted as an instance,
and 1t Is worthy of note that at the last
annual meeting of one of our steamboat
companies, the chairman Informed his
shareholders that a large saving had been
effected by having their ships docked in
the East instead of III England.
The same stimulus is given to open
coal mines, and to develop the natural
resources of those countries. III native
and foreign COAL twenty years ago, sold
at about equivalent rates, the former
would be today some 80 per cent cheap
err. simply through currency changes.
And as a matter of fact. it is now well
known that the whole trade of the East
| is supplied by Japanese and Chinese
coal. The former, indeed, is being sent
to San Francis 90 and Bombay, and the
time may not be far distant when 1t Will
he sent through the canal and even to
England itself.
Ill The result of all this must be
that i'm the competitive manufacturing
industries of the world the divergence
of value between gold and silver will
inevitably lead to a gradual transfer OF
the seat of all the great manufactures
from gold-using to silver-using coun-
| tries, and, if England persists in exclude
| ing herself from the benefits of an album
dant supply of the international media
of exchange, to the ruin of our national
| industries.
As competitors with one another for
the sale of their products on the worlds
market, the nations that can for any
reason produce most cheaply are bound
to win in the long run. Hitherto we
have been able to do this from combi-
nation of causes. Cheap iron, cheap
coal, scientific improvements in machin-
cry, skilled wOrkmen, and economy in
the combination of labour, have for a
| long time enabled us to maintain an in
dustrial supremacy, and yet to pay our
workmen higher wages than were paid
in any other country. And had this
currency trouble never arisen, there is
not the least doubt but that we should
easily have held our own.
But the momentous economic change
implied in the divergence of the old
value of gold and silver by as much as
/ 30 per cent, has entirely altered the con-
ditions. Coal is not any longer relative
ly cheap in England, nor is iron. La
bour is 100 per cent dearer in relation to
silver wages than it was. We have no
monopoly of scientific machinery. ORR
entail nations can buy the best that is
produced, and they can engage skilled
workmen to teach the natives how to
beat us at cur own trade.
And though have insisted ON the
element Of wages as being. as | believe
| it is, the most important factor in the
case. il is not the only advantage that
| silver-usng countries have. Rents.
taxes. rates and all fixed obligations
whate, err, are light and easily discharged,
whereas in gold countries they are
heavy and tend to become heavier with
every further appreciation of the metal.
The consequence OF all this is what
might be expected. while 0ld-establiShed
industries in England are i'm many cases
barely paying expenses, new and rival
industries in the far East are springing
up broadcast. and, in spite of ineXperi-
ence and extravaganza of management.
are paying handsome returns to their
owners.
In the report of the Yokohama Cham
Der of Commerce, dated May >, 1891, the
following statistics are given.
The first spinning mill in Japan was
erected in 1863 with 5.45G spindles.
At end of 1888 there were lG mills
with 43, 200 spindes; at end of 1888 there
were ~ mills with $40 spindles; at
end of 1892 there were 80 mills with
403,3l4 spindles; at end of 1893 there
were 4G mills with about 6O0,0 spindles.
The same report adds. still more
rapid increase is expected in the near
future, large orders, it is known, have
been placed for more machinery, some
for yarns of the finer qualities.
In the Consular Report on trade at
Kobe, for 1892. a return is given of the
dividends paid during the preceding l.
months by 81 mills in Osaka the average
dividend was Is per cent. the highest
being Is per cent and the lowest pei
cent. The dividends for 1898 as reported
from time TO time, in the Japan news
papers. appear to have been equally
good or better According to "A recent
number of the Japan Gdzctte. clever
mills whose names are given, paid al
average dividend of lG per cent for the
first six months of 1891, as compared
with II per cent for the spOnding
period of 1893
Compare this with the account of the
cotton trade in England as given in the
Economist of February Il, of TINS year
cannot afford room to quote passages
but. briefly the balance-sheets of .;
spinning companies in Oldham show &
net total loss of E72. 76S in 1893. against
like net loss of fl0l ,GG4 in 1892. Al
the end of 1890 only eight of these com
panies had adverse balances and thest
amounted TO only fS.4l2; at the close OF
1891. 40 companies had adverse balances
amounting to fl42.7d7; and at the CLOSE
of 1898, GO companies had realized "A to-
tai loss of E3G6, 500 on their working ac
count.
Surely there Is something seriously
alarming in these figures. Have oul
manufacturers. with all their accumula
ted wealth of experience, become sc
effete that they allow themselves to be
beaten at their own trade by amateur
spinners in Japan? Or is itnOt that there is
some enormous difference in the econ
Omic conditions of the two countries
which enables the Eastern manufacturer
to win without effort. while the Western
is struggling his hardest to get even d