New-York tribune., 1905-11-20
UNEMPLOYED LONDON.
Practical Operation Of Free Tmpor,,
and Direct Taration.
London. Novemhsr II

after q coid rainy seasen, and Lord John Rus,.
II oclaimed his conversion to the policy Of ~.
Anti-Corn Law agita.o-s. and Sir Robert Pal
resolved to introduce free trade. TradItionsi
party policies. the tactics Of leaders the arm
I..ents of hnanciers and the experience OF trss,-
ury officials were OF little account when n,
most eloquent Free Trader. sturdy John Rr,sb,
could sum up the politics of the day in the ter.
rible sentence: Famine. against which wa
had warred, Joined us" Equally convincinv
to-day IS the evidence that industries are over
whelmed with the increasing burden of competi-
tion. and that immense masses of the populs-
tion without employment and in dire dis
tress Mr. Chamberlain might make weigbtv
speeches on commerce and empire and the
tariff reform commission issue reports on tho
destructive force Of foreign competition: or Mr.
Asquith and other Liberals might demonstrate
from monthly, quarterly or annual exhibits os
the export trade that the country was never
more prosperous: and the inconclusive orator.
passed like gusts of wind among patches OF
thorn and hazel on the chalk downs. Argument,
ceases when long files of hungry women. with
pinched faces march across London to tell the
Prime Minister that their husbands and fathers
ere out of work. and to hear his sorrowful ad-
mission that he cannot do anything for them.
The ideness and destitution Of masses OF work
ing people in London and throughout the United
Kingdom are decisive proofs that the country
is not prosperous. and that something ought 70
be done. When Sir Robert Peel reached similar
conclusions the fiscal system was changed and
the risk of breaking up the party was courage
oUsly faced. What Mr.. Balfour will do is prob
lematical
Socialists are charged with organizing the bat
talIons of the unemployed and exaggerating the
t.
are active without doubt. and they are not
temperate in their language, as is shown by
Mr. Hyndman's declaration in Trafalgar Square
that the Cars bullets are better than the
Prime Minister'S sneers. Yet. irresponsible as
is their plea that every workingman has an
inaIienabIe right to employment and that the
State is under obligation to provide it in the
last resort and ominous as it is TO have ex-
citable crowds in the capital dispensing with
cheers for a social revolution. it cannot be de-
MED that the destitution among the London
poor is terrible, and that it arises mainly from
lack of work The borough authorities. the
overseers of the poor rate and the parish work
ers throughout the metropolis agree that the
misery among the lower classes is appalling taa
has not been paralleled during recent years.
Estimates Of the number of unemployed in Lon
don are untrustworthy, for Mr. Charles Booth
has not attempted to give one. and he is the
only competent investigator or metropolitan
poverty. but It cannot be doubted that tens Oh
thousands are underfed and starving IN the
capitaI of the empire. The Prime Minister
when the leaders of the long procession OF
women and children came to him. could not
rive them much comfort. He could not deny
that there was terrible distress. and the best
suggestion that he could make was that the
ambiguous ineffective bill enacted by Parlla-
nent during the last session might not De qulte
worthless There were no sneers, for Mr. Bal
four spoke most sympatheticaly, both at ths
local government board and at the Gulldnau
b,1t there was no attempt to deal broadly and in
a practical spirit with a dangerous situation.
He did not venture, as Mr.. Chamberlain would
have done in his place, to advocate changes OF
tariff 7olicv which would tend to- supply more
ernnlovrnent in the home trades and industries
The Free Traders would have had their
answer If the Prime Minister had recommended
moderate duties on manufactured goods They
,vo,,ld have charged him with proposing to in
crease the cost of living at period when thou
sords of workers were unemployed and their
families reduced to extremities. They "oulu
have considered it ruinous and inhuman to IN
terrupt or check importations of cheap goods
when the masses were earning less than they
do usually and they would have closed their ar
g,,roent with fmpassioned protests against dear
food and the half loaf during period Of destl-
+ution. The wary Prime Minister. playing Tor
safety. as is his habit, refrained from making
Droposals which would have involved prena-
+ure discussion. Yet for two years MI Chaln-
bar1ain has been laying stress in his speeches on
this vital question of employment for workers d.
home and has been contending that unrestrlcteu
in,nortation takes the bread out of their mouths
AnnarentIv his case for a partial revision OF tls
free trade system is made out, when there u
direct and unanswerable proof that there Is q
danIorabIe lack Of employment IN many ~
dustries and trades, and that it is attended WIN
UNPARALLELED destitution. Whatever may De 'Lo
aseresate amount Of exports IN the monthly o.
Quarterly exhibits of British commerce Whei li''
values of cotton wool and other fabrics h@'
been enhanced by high prices there does hO'
saen TO be work enough in the factories 10 Ae'P
N. industrial population busy. In America uu4
ing recent wears there has been great NJ
i'm importations OF raw material Du' 80.
+aneouslv the export of manufactured soOu9 A
o-o1,r even more rapidly, so that the tar-ll -
tenn operates to encourage the prouu''i'--
torcA suppIies of material, to stimulate mani
toh+,rine and to keep the industrial popuia'ioi
f,,lv employed. In Great Britain whatever me-
ho,,e haen the results during the early decaus'
of free trade the effect of unrestricted IN
tion is now different. Home labor IS not N.s
empIoved. Free importing promotes N.S ,,~
oor1natition but cheapness spells starvation 10
those out of work -.,,r, - the
The Free Traders have their explanation, o.
onoooo1,, of a vast horde of unemployed
49, oorDrnerce of the United Kingdom Is -
ortI,, in a Aourishing state 1t is the q u9.'
20, asfnct of taxation. national and local. on -,
.,.S1,,s+r,ss themselves \ shilling income 1a
tI,a,, assert. is so much dead weight winch va