The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-10-09
LOSING HER MARKET.
WHAT FREE TRADE. HAS DONE FOR
GREAT BRITAIN.


eign Products-Farmors and Mechanics
Arc Idie--An Amazing Change In Eng
nsh Industrial Conditions.
A conference of the British Iron Trade
association was held ON May at the
Westminster Palace hotel, in London.
under the presidency of Sir Alfred Hick-
man, M. F. Upon opening the confer
ence the president remarked "that the
question which appeared to be the most
pressing at the present moment for the
British manufacturer, and especially
tho British iron manufacturer, was the
success of foreign competition. Sir
Alfred Hickman stated that:
/. 1.-The suggestion that the progress Of
nation was measured by its imports
was heresy which did not require con.
futing. 1t was certain that we could
never become rich by what we bought
unless we sold again at a profit. We are
told that the total value of our exports
was increasing, but our population was
increasing also and per head of the pop
ulation our exports are decreasing. Our
exports per head of population were in
1890, ST 3D., and in 1894, Go lis. I'd.
Our imports into India had decreased no
less than "a per cent, while the imports
from Germany and Belgium had in
creased no less than 700 per cent"
Now, the New York Herald has been
trying to make its readers believe that
England's prosperity twas measured by
its imports" But hard headed Brit
ish business man like Sir Alfred Hick-
man says this is ga heresy which did
not require confuting." He further
overthrows The Herald's efforts at ga
campaign of education" by saying that
the English could never become rich
by what we (they) bought unless we
(they) sold again at a profit. " If British
business on its free trade basis be such
a money making game, what necessity
was there for Sir Alfred to deplore the
fact that "our (British) exports are de-
creasing," and still further to deplore
that "the imports (British) from Ger
many and Belgium had increased no
less than 700 per cent? According to
The Herald's argument, these larger
British imports from Germany and Bel
GUM should have added 700 per cent to
the wealth of the British iron trade,
but Sir Alfred Hickman says this is
heresy.
One of those keen, long headed bust
ness men of Scotland, Mr.. w. L. Jacks
of Glasgow, added his testimony to re-
flute the heresy of The Herald. He
pointed out that, while in 1871 Great
Britain supplied over half the pig iron
of the world, and in 1882 about 40 per
cent, it only supplied about quarter
in 1898, and the tide flowed in the same
direction. The figures and facts taken
together, with the steadily decreasing
use of British coal in Germany, and es-
pecially with the startling announce
ment that Westphalian coal was being
sold in London, and with the equally
serious fact that ordinary American pig
iron was being pretty regularly sold in
some parts of England, indicated an
amazing and uncomfortable change in
our commercial and industrial condi-
tions. 1t was not in the raw material
alone that these conditions prevailed,
but in the form of the completed manu-
facture the same result was observed. 1"
Here the free traders tell us that
''free raw material will enable us to
capture the markets of the world. I"
England has the "free raw material, :"
yet she is not only losing her grip on
"the markets of the world" but the
markets of the world have the audacity
to capture the British market both in
coal and manufactured iron goods. The
Scotch manufacturer was confronted by
this condition, for he said:
''Of one thing we might be assured,
no foreign country had cheaper raw
material than our own Omitted King
doml"
Won't the New York Evening Post
explain to Mr.. w. l.. Jacks of Glasgow
that he is mistaken? Either the English
manufacturers have no ''free raw ma
terial'' and Mr.. Jacks says that "no
foreign country had cheaper raw ma
terial;" or else the Westphalian coal
and American pig iron are not being
sold in England, and Mr.. Jacks says
they are; or else the imports from Ger
many and Belgium have not increased
700 per cent, and Sir Alfred Hickman
says they have; or else the British bust.
ness mans idea of ''heresy" is all
wrong, and only The Herald and The
Evening Post of New York are all right.
Perhaps, though, an effort will be
made ty our free trade friends to extri-
cate themselves from their dilemma by
attributing these English protection ar
guments to the existence of enormous
strikes and lockouts which from time to
time arose" in the United Kingdom.
But to acknowledge this as the cause Of
British inability to capture other mar
kets or to hold their own wosld be
confession that "strikes and lockouts"
do exist in a free trade country, whereas
every free trade paper in this country
declares, especially during a political
campaign, that "strikes and lockouts"
are the outgrowth of protective tariff
and are unknown in free trade countries.
Cur free trade friends will find some
very interesting conditions here con.
fronting them. We must confess that