New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-23
BRITISH ECONOMICS.
AGRICULTURAL. DEPRESSION IN THE
UNITED KINGDOM-MR. CHAMBER
LAINS FIRST STEP TOWARD
IMPERIAL FEDERATION.
London, December 3.

the disastrous effect OF free trade upon all agri-
cultural interests of the United Kingdom
whether foreign trade be good bad foreign
competition Is invariably ruinous to the English
nroducer Of agricultural staples. One Ministry
succeeds another, but both political parties are
. nowerless TO order any change in the lot of the
unfortunate farmer. Wheat and meat are cheap
ened one decade after another and their produc-
zion is rendered more and more Improbable; spe-
cial industries. like hop-farming and barey-rais-
ing. which were highly remunerative. are
confronted year after year with increasing I'M
nortations and are rapidly declining: market
gardening and poultry farming are exposed to
competition from the Continent. and to exorbi-
tant railway charges; and the land is every
where going out Of tillage because the returns
for the labor OF cultivatng 1t are inadequate.
Every decade of free trade in England has been
q period of agricultural distress. Rents have
fallen and tax rates have risen. and landholders
who once owned great estates have been COM
PEELED 10 mortgage them heavily, and whenever
foreclosure sale is forced the shrinkage in the
value OF farming land is disclosed.
All these facts are undisputed in England
The provincial press is constantly recording fore
closure sales in which farms once held at 800 an
acre have gone begging at SIS. The statistics
show that all the agricultural industries are de-
clining and that the acreage under cultivation
Is shrinking year by year. Every delegation
which visits the Foreign Office TO solicit LORD
saisbury's sympathy and active support has the
same melancholy story 10 tell Of low prices caused
by unrestricted foreign competition.
Every political leader when he faces a popular
audience is forced TO admit that English agri-
culture is in a bad way, and that there is no help
for H. If promises OF relief measures are made
before an election. reputation of them follows as
q matter OF course when the responsibilities Of
office are accepted Sir Frank lockwood. who is
one Of the bright men on the Liberal side hit off
this tendency a night or two ago when he de-
scrbed Lord Salisbury as encouraging protection
before election by remarking that there was
good deal 10 be said about hops, and Their as
coolly dsmissing the matter interesting
topic for conversation when he was asked as
Prime Minister 10 ,edeem the pledge. Lord Sails
bury however is not lacking in candor In ex-
blaming the main cause of agricultural ruin. He
has repeatedly declared that Golden and the
free-trade leaders failed to forecast the dsas-
trous consequences of unrestricted importation Of
farm products upon one Of the greatest industries
Of the Kingdom.
A STRIKING CONTRAST
The contrast between English and Continental
~
Germany and Russia have been exposed 10 the
same competition from America which has
proved ruinous 10 English farming: but they have
found means of saving their agriculture. Rural
France is still thrifty and prosperous. Neither is
the acreage under tiage declining, nor Is the
value Of farming property falling steadily in the
market. nor are the peasants emigrating IN
swarms as they have done from England. Ger
many has created by State bounties and scientific
s~ucation new agricultural industry OF ire
mendous magnitude. and is now bent upon stimu-
lating IL by further legislation until beet sugar
shall displace cane sugar in the markets o. the
world Russia has protected its agriculture by
tariff and treaty, and during recent years has III
.--A--@d oe..~.. planting a large soNlN "nder
Government patronage. England is surrounded
with nations great and small. which have saved
their farming industries in one way or another.
Each one has a coasting trade, which carries farm
products into English ports and cheapens prices
In the markets there. II Is the English farmer
alone who is apparently defenceless.
Sympathy Is not lacking. Mr. Moriey expressed
q large measure of it yesterday al Newcastle in
,efcrring TO the hopeless condition OF those land
holders and laborers whose existence depended
,pon profitable farming. Sir Michael Hicks
Beach on the same day. at Bristol, regretfuly
confessed his inability TO suggest any method OF
relieving by legislation the burdens OF the agri-
cultural classes Every political leader is very
sorrv that the landowner, the tenant farmer and
moor Hodge are having so much trouble; but no
body is able 10 devise any way Of escape Zen
years ago voices were occasionally heard In FAVOR
OF an import duty of 10 per cent imposed on all
foreign food products d measure Of protection
,,r the depressed agricultural industries of Great
Britain Sometimes manufactures were coupled
With food nroducts and British Zollverein was
proposed by which all dependencies OF the EN-
rire would be admitted to free trade win the
mother country on preferential terms. wnie ali
other countries would be placed at disadVan-
tage So long as they were unwilling to readJust
their tariffs and to comply with the conditions OF
free exchange.
DEAD SET AGAINST PROTECTION
All nronosols Of this natur, We're Withdrawn
when President Cleveland in 1887 gave the slgnai
for the lower tariff movement IN the o"i'eu
States No English leaders of any real authori'y
IN nublic life now has the hardihOod TO suggest
import duties on food products for the sake oi ie
storing the prosperity of depressed agricultural
interests The Prime Minister. the Chancellor OF
the Excheuuer and every other MEMBER vi inc
Cabinet are of one mind in declaring that re-
turn 70 the protective system is utterly lmprac
ticable
When relief measures for British agriculture
are discussed these emmett statesmen 'H'u"ns
confess their ina bty to do anything thal WI"
b. practical or effective. They talk OF cheap
ening the legal methods of conveying rear es'a'e
but that is a trivial matter. what Is heeoeu 10
some system by which the Vaiue Vi ia''"'"e
land will be increased through prohtapie asi'
culture They also SOUND an alarm asdi"'' '''
of
,,:t,.h on extravazant outlay for schools is In
c,,rred and tine rates are raised until the land
ounars and occup.ers are everywhere burdened
Win ,oxat,on But these tendencies cannot be
counteracted by imperial legislation. especially
x.ner tho new Government is committed to the
noliov ~ aiding the UNCONVENTIONAL or sectariah
.Ao..l.,. ircrea sinp the cost of ma