The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-19
INAUGURAL COMMITTEE
 PREPARES FOR PAGEANT

That a particularly severe business depression has prevailed the past year in Great Britain and still prevails Is
 proved by several varieties of evidence.
 Retail shopkeepers in every line com plain of dull trade. that sales are few CT disposition to buy cheap things than for years past. Wholesalers re- port a generally reduced demand in comparison with recent years.
 Manufacturers say that orders are unusually slack. and that the work
 they have to do is at reduced profits or none. Here and there. however. is an exception. For example. local lace firm has instailed a machine, protected
 by patents. which makes an imitation 1 torchon that only a semi-expert can tell from handmade lace II is under stood that the firm is prospering won derfully. Only where competition is . impossible does there seem to be any satisfactory profit in manufacturing. Almost without exception. hotels re- port reduced receipts this year-the minor ones in the provinces. The man. agers generally say that the num- Der of guests has not materially de- creased. but that they stay a shorter time and spend far less for food and drink. Receipts Of British railways decreased this year and reductions of the working force and of running time, | in shops have been general. Reduc- tions of wages are reported in manu- have come to my notice. Breweries are
 having q relatively profitable year.
 bank deposits have declined and the Government revenues have decreased. | notably from the income tax and the taxes on beer and spirits.
 The number of the unemployed is | unusually large. A ,ow trades report | increased employment, but the most report the contrary Returns from | their members unemployed at the end | of September. against 5.S per cent at
 the same time in 1903. This years percentage Is the greatest for any Sep- tember in over twenty-five years; the average for the past ten years was 5 per cent. An estiwate which seems to be undisputed raises the probable num- Der of unemployed during the coming
 winter to per cent Locally, building
 trades are particularly depressed. Hun
 dreds of bricklayers. carpenters. paint,
 CTS, etc, in this district are walking
 the streets, generally receiving out-of-
 work pay. however, from their respect-
 i've unions, sufficient to exist upon for
 time. During the year ended Sep-
 tember 30. 1904, 10.084 men. women and
 children passed through the vagrant
 wards" of the Nottingham workhouse.
 These were tramps in unprecedented
 number. entirely distinct from the reg
 ular poor receiving help.
 | Causes of the Hard Times.
 Many reasons for the hard times are
 given. One. which nobody omits, Is
 the war in South Africa. This caused
 great loss of wealth invested there by
 Englishmen. led to imitation in various
 lines of production here, and turned
 loose on the country, at its conclu- | sion, thousands of soldiers out of
 work. some of whom even today are unemployed
 ine next cause most commonly name
 Is foreign competition, reducing or
 preventing rapid growth in British ex. ports and dispiacing home goods in
 the home market. Both free traders
 and protectionists refer to this cause. The latter contend that the competi-
 ton must be combated by import du- | ties; the former, that 1t can only be | overcome by improved British methods
 and machinery. Connected with this
 cause Is the heavy investment of Brit
 ish capital in factories in protected
 countries to compete there. free from
 import duties.
 Queen Victoria's death is believed to
 nave been a factor in the trade depres-
 sion by placing the British pc g,le in
 mourning and inducing a habit of more
 sober dressing, which has, 1t is. claim
 ed. reduced the demand for more ex- pensive wearing apparel Excessive in-
 Vestments in get-rich-qui companies Of the Whitaker Wright stripe have contributed materially to the general
 depression. The general decline of az
 riculture Is another alleged cause, but
 N IS question whether this is a cause
 or an effect.
 A local authority asserts that tba
 import duty on sugar, increased in
 isoS' Is also cause of the hard times
 by crippling the confectionery and al- lied trades. and says that in Noting.
 ham alone 1t has reduced the number Of persons employed in candy making from 400 to less than 100. The Hopeful Side. There is another phase of the situa tion worth noting. because at the present moment 1t seems to be assum- ing a significance that warrants hone Tor the future. Mining industries in general this year are doing fairly well: the tin-plate business Is distinctly good this autumn. Leather trades. footwear excluded are now emplovinr more hands than last year. and this ia | also true of hosiery machine buildine q.
 d N0tIlnRhAm. while even in the shoe trade tSe latest news is that exports are showing A marked increase. A local manufac. turer Of ladies' skirts and blouses is compelled by increasing trade to en- large his premises and employ more hands. The favorable, weather for late harvesting and preparing the way for next season has distinctly revived agriculture. Employment in the cot tradaz fa 4at proving, with the more settled prices of the raw material. Within the past two weeks a decided improvement in the stock market has set in. which is con- sidered particularly significant as & sign of a renewal of confidence on the part of people with means to invest. A close analysis of the latest returns to the Government board of trade seems to show that the gneral stagnation is