The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-11-15
PRISON MADE GOODS.
FREE LABOR IN LONDON MUST CON-
PETE WITH FeLONs.

Poorly Paid Workers Struggling For =
1 Mere Existence--Four Cents Day Al
lowed Prisoners For Their Labor-Free
Men Must Meet IL or starve.
A London correspondent writes: A
commission of inquiry has been sitting
in London for some time past to inves-
tigate into the question Of the importa-
tion of prison made goods. Such an in
vestigation goes right to the very kerr
mel, the crux, Of the free trade position.
The working people in this country,
overwhelmed with taxation and strug
Cling to live ON small wage, have be-
gun to cry out against this wretched
system which allows goods made in for
eign prisons to be shipped to England
as dumping ground and to enter into
competition with similar goods made
here. 1t is hard enough to get living
in England at the best Of times, but the
difficulty is increased thousandfold II
an artisan has to compete with crimi-
nal workman, who is paid practically
nothing for his labor and where the
state lends him all the aid possible.
What chance can any one have under
such circumstances, and il Is not to be
wondered at that the British operative
has begun to kick at last against a mis-
cradle system that allows him to be
crushed out of existence.
Colonel Howard Vincent, M. p. for
division of Sheffield, the great cutlery
center in England, has served on the
commission and retired from it partly
in disgust.
The evidence was overwhelming
against the continuance of the system
Of free importation. In Belgium it was
said that quite 20 per cent of the prison
made goods were sent to the English
market, while cents per day was al
lowed to the inmates of the prisons for
their labor.
Four cents day wages! How would
an American operative like that? But yet
that is the logical outcome Of free i'm
ports. During the last four months it
appears that tho imports from Belgium
Of these manufactures have increased
700 per cent A considerable number of
workingmen have been deprived of their
employment and of full wages by this
foreign competition. Many of the men
do not average more than 5 to shil-
lings a week ($l. % to $3.50.
The secretary of the operative brush
makers said: Ruin practically stares
us in the face. The main suggestions Of
my society are to prohibit prison made
goods being sent here" A member Of
the London county council and q master
brushmaker said: "There is q strong
feeling among not only masters but men
that the competition of prison made
goods with free labor in England is IN
fair. The consumer is deceived and
prejudiced, as we'll as the trade pur
chaser.
The secretary Of the Manchester
branch Of brushmakers said, "We
could not lower wages sufficient to meet
foreign prison competition. In order to
do that we should have to do without
wages. Another representative Of the
mat industry said that three men out Of
four are standing idle. He had been in
the mat trade for 80 years and had new
er seen it so bad as the past two years.
Surveyor General R. T. Churchill of
the civil service said, "It is certainly
my opinion that the importation Of pris-
on made goods is injurious to the manu-
facturers and labor interests in this
country and should. in my opinion, be
stopped if possible.
Yet in face of all this and much more
similar evidence we have the Golden
Free Trade club, speaking through the
mouth of Lord Farrar, declaiming that
"the working classes in England would
gain and not lose by the importation Of
these prison made goods, and that mats
and similar lines affected could be made
here as cheap as abroad. The stoppage
Of prison made goods was wrong eco
nomically, socially and morally" Thou
sands of English operatives have said
that Lord Farrar is either a fool or an
Internal knave, and that his writing is
damnable Let him go and talk to the
starving matmakers who are earning
81. 30 to 81. 80 week. fancy he would
not repeat the visit Such advocacy is
really another nail in the coffin of Cob
denism and free trade.
The British workingman is strong
protectionist wherever his own trade is
concerned. The trade unions here are
becoming more powerful every day and
they are distinctly protectionist. These
prison goods are regarded all over Eng
land by workmen as unfair competition
and species of hitting below the belt.
What has happened to one trade may
Just as we'll befall another.