New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-10-22
VOORHEES, ENGLAND
Free Trade No Longer a Popular
POlicg.
London October Ia

nd N0hden'S
she question Of employment not raised be
cause the supremacy of British manufacturers
Was not challenged in any quarter Of the world
The PENNIES saved to consumers by free i'm
,.,-tstioa no longer count when there is horde
81 unemployed clanoring for work and without
wages or savings for buying anything. The most
urgent duty OF ministers is TO provide employ
-,,ent for q largely increased body OF voorhees,
men and women and what they doing ex-
cent u initiate the political market with prom
,.ss which they cannot redeem? The patents
hiU Is the only Liberal measure which has
brought capital into the kingdom and widened
.he sources Of remunerative occupation. Min
is-e-s have cheapened the debt service and re-
6uced the revenues drawn from sugar duties
and other forms Of indirect taxation and they
have enieayored 10 carry out retrenchment in
,Fs military and naval services The consurn-
ers interest has been constantly in their
thoughts. and they have done nothing to stirnu-
late the productive energies Of the country. Bad
trade and falling revenues warn them that there
VII b. a great deficit 70 be met by fresh taxa
,ior Parliament reassembles with battaIons
Of unemployed messed in Trafalgar Square and
Whitehall. The Prime Minister is harassed; his
colleagues are downhearted.
Experts differ respecting the magnitude Of
the evil. hut il cannot be doubted that there are
more unemployed persons in sight than at any
time during recent years Poor law officials
snd Wears Of working parishes in East and
South London agree that there have never been
- many workers cIanoring for employment
JadgirEs and bread The parks and streets Of
The capital are filed with t7amps and beggars.
who complain Of lack Of work and ask for
sisra-ce. and thousands Of them can be mustered
fer socialist demonstrations whenever agitators
summon them In the shi-es as well as the
IL
heard on the highroads in the Southern Mid
land and Northern counties the beggars are
marching day and night. and whenever they can
obtain "a hearing they appeal for charity the
e-ounl cf being out OF work. The evidences
or poverty and distress would he appalling il
there we're not reasonable suspicious that lack
o. v-a-k had been taken UP as political cry.
Men and women who have never begged in the
streets and country lanes for food and lodging
now make an excuse Of worklessness and dog
-fe steps q every passerby. Socialism has
Taught them that they are entitled work
? human right and are not disgraced If they
ask Toy IT, The oldtirne feeling OF self-respect,
which prevented public displays OF beggary has
been lost. Worklessness has become a political
condition or economic state rather than pri-
,a-e --is<ortune.
Veteran politicians talk about street barri-
cs6es. mob outbreaks and revival OF Chartism
during the coming winter English working
r1en are less excitable than French artisans. and
gre i-7r1oHle and conservative when called
upon 10 60 anything revolutionary- The metro
Ioliran police know how TO handle the street
crowds without Irritating them or instigating
violence. PROFESSIONS, mass meetings and inces
san CONSIDERATIONS Of the unemployed are 70
r. expected month after month. but no scenes
of mob -iolence are likely to be witnessed.
Thos= who talk excitedly in comfortable arm
chairs il their clubs about the revival Of Chart
ism hare hay ideas OF the England of Maurice
s16 Kingsley O'ConneU and F'eargus OConnor-
~hs--fz7 came in when the working classes,
who had carried the great reform bill, were
convinced that they had been left out Of Parlia-
--s-- and that there Vas to be 10 further
progress under Liberal government It had
is Christian socialist preachers, its practical
politicians and its revolutionary agitators, and
in th= course Of decade Il exhausted its en-
e-Efes fr futile protests against authority and
in s==5-fo1ls conSpfraCies which were not fol-
lowed r~ popular uprisings. Chartism came 10
q end when the Anti-Corn Law League was
organized and Liberalism became identified with
Free Trade as q movement Of the masses
There are no anaIoEies here for existing condi-
-5r-s
Tie Crs--ist outcries against Liberalism as
- u-r-cEressive force. which has driven LABOR
n o.
Is EadicaI-tra unionist coalition that is gov
e--t-E the country and bringing in one social
reform after another. Working England IS
s-~a~gr- ~er-esented in Parliament and Is sup
ported Hv Z powerful organization on the most
democratic lines. Instead OF being shouideTed
o-t - politics workingmen have shown their
cs-aof-~ i'm public life and have forced min
fs-- o. azceu-fonal administrative talent 10 take
u policies advocated by the Trade Union Con-
Eresz- The masses have never been more inru=
ert-ar in determining the course OF domestic
legislation al Westminster than they are TO-
CAV Solutions outbreaks. mob violence and So
ciaist consptracies are unnecessary as agencies
fo- c-zaniziag public opinion Armed force
with 7z-rfcades behind it is not required when
the labor party is an independent group bent
upon doubling its strength at the next general
election. even II scores OF Liberal seats are
thror.r away and the Conservatives are brought
bsck with z rush The Peoples Charter OF the
hung forties would seem z hUmdrun pro
Erauue for z Radical-Labor coalition, which is
nou working out social issues Of far-reachlng
Importance
TIE s7-f-oo-n law agitation swallowed Up the
hack set q Caartisr7l and swept over the coun-
t-v With irresistible force like a mighty wave
Free trade in working England became popu-
Ia cause. 50 powerful that for two generations
neither frersls nor Tories could offer resistance
e. with the unemployed mastering in thou
Bsn5s n London and provincial towns. and with
Z Radical Chancellor Of the Exchequer Devil
dere5 by the necessity Of covering large dehcit
and II meeting an increased expenditure Of
s59GgFo6o Or $50 Op00 900. Free Trade is not so
democratic z cause it was in Cobdens time
TIE small economies Of the consumer have been
lost sgrt Of. and the large requirements Of pro-
ouction and employment have commanded pub
a. 10 %