French excuses invalid. England in various industries, her superiority of manufacture, and the vastness of her productive powers, especially as regards cotton. . . Members of the Chamber are not likely to admit that there is much force in the alleged advantages of Britain over France, at least in the manufacture of woollen goods. At its great central mart in London the two nations buy the raw material at the same price; and it is a fact that its transport to many of the largest manufacturing centres in France is less than to some of the great centres in Britain. On the other hand, we have to go to Havre for no inconsiderable quantity, while all the way from Bordeaux we fetch the skins which yield vast quantities of skin wool consumed in this country. If coal is here a cheaper commodity, its share in the cost of making a pound of yarn or a yard of cloth is too insignificant to be calculable; and, were it more, does France owe this country nothing for the absolute freedom with which she can carry the precious mineral from our hundred ports? What Britain If we have no conscription, we have military and naval estimates hardly less costly than they are in France. What France loses in labour by her vast standing army, Britain loses by the restrictions placed on labour by successive Acts of Parliament. Her wages, more suffers from. If we have over, are as much higher as her hours of work are shorter. domestic tranquillity, we are more torn by strikes and such like forms of commercial disturbance. Our asserted superiority in available. capital simply does not exist. In face of the rapid and constant changes in machinery and in processes, long acquaintance with the trade confers no advantage, and, if it did, the French woollen manuSuperiority facturers would have that advantage. As for superiority of manufacture, he would indeed be an ignorant Englishman who would claim to excel the French in woollen goods. Statistics tell another tale. They show that for the last few years French woollen exports to this country have gone on increasing, while English woollen exports to France have been as surely diminishing. on French side. Imports and Table showing increase of woollen manufactures imported from France to England, and decrease of same exported from England to trade. Table showing increase of woollen yarns imported from France to England, and decrease of same exported from England to France : Imports from France, Exports to France, It is plain from the gradual encroachments of French, and the steady falling back of English woollen makers, that the former can do more than hold their own. Their trade has no longer any need to shelter itself behind the ancient entrenchments of protectionism. It can afford to sally forth and wage open battle. . . . As to the rate on woven cloth, there can be no pretence on the part of France that a rapidly levy of ten per cent. on English woollen fabrics is necessary for the safety of her own manufacturers. Taking everything into consideration, the woollen-trades in each country are as evenly matched as they well could be. . . . It is unwise of the manufacturers in this country and French this district to treat the question with indifference. To imagine we advancing. are so far in advance of our neighbours that we can easily carry ten per cent. of extra weight is one way to lose the race. They are rapidly approaching us in everything that has hitherto contributed to our success; in some points they already excel us; and we may wake some morning to find that our pre-eminence is gone, and that we have allowed ourselves to be elbowed out of our rightful place in the competition. T. CRAIG BROWN. G. EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. "9th December 1880. "Such a letter of Mr.'s puts one in good spirits, and quite dissipates any little despondency caused by the opposition of powerful journals and the fatal apathy of the public. The latter amazes me more and more every day; and I think it has become quite plain that Publi the movement must first be impelled from below. If well-to-do apath people, or rather people who were well-to-do, are content to re-utter the old shibboleths of one-sided free-trade, we must look to the more nearly affected working-men to carry forward the wave of opinion, which must in the end overwhelm all this poor-spirited inaction." H. From an influential English Steamship-owner. "29th November 1880. provided "I am perhaps a more qualified free-trader than some of our friends, but nevertheless I wish to see free-trade made as much of a reality as is practically possible; and this cannot be if the bounty Bounties system is to continue. I believe indeed that the bounty system is system not something entirely outside of the old controversies between free against traders and protectionists, and that if Cobden were alive now he would be upon the platform of those who seek the fiscal unity of the empire, and who demand justice for our industries." "7th December 1880. "It is quite clear that everything is shaping in the direction you wish, and that in the course of another month or two there will be as big an outery as any of us could desire. Unfortunately it may then be too late to stop the French treaty, but I don't think it will, if two Public or three earnest men like yourself can be got to go about the country opinion. a little and take the subject up promptly. All the materials for an explosion are ready to hand, and all that is required is to apply a match; but with few exceptions, it is practically impossible either for M.P.'s in general or for intending parliamentary candidates to come to the front until they see how the cat jumps,' and experience a little friendly pressure from their constituents. . . For such reasons as these the press is, on this question, no guide to public opinion. . . . I know, and I speak from positive knowledge, that we have influential sympathisers in many of the manufacturing towns. I think they only now want 'stirring up' to start some kind of organisation, and that matters are nearly ripe for it." I. From another English Correspondent. ... "12th November 1880. "The view you take of the French and other commercial treaties is so singularly in accordance with my own and that of a very large proportion of our producing classes, that I trust you will excuse my pointing out that the agricultural classes are as much interested in the question as any other department of native industry. . . . The result is thousands of unoccupied farms, and the reduction of agricultural capital is estimated to be equal to four rents, or, in other words, of 200 millions of previously active producing capital. This enormous sacrifice is fast destroying the home market, and free importation is at the same time crippling our manufacturing and commercial industry; and, by the liberality of our statesmen, we are now paying off the Agricultural enormous war debt of the United States. What is called freetrade was carried by Manchester men with the hope of reducing wages, by lowering the price of bread. Now, I maintain an old, advanced, and highly-taxed state has no right to expect cheap labour. Cheap labour represents degradation of the multitude, and, for national progress, they are already far too low, in food, lodging, and raiment, etc. The American statesmen openly say they will not degrade their people to the level of our cheap labour, and they maintain import duties on our goods at a rate that is rapidly paying off their enormous war debt. .. Let the free-trade physic work for a few years, and you will find the nation exhausted. It is now evident there is again great attention paid to this question, and I have always felt it a duty to do everything in my power to prevent this national suicide." view. "I feel strongly convinced that foreign protective duties will inflict very great injury upon our trade. . . . The state of agriculture, manufacture, and commerce deserves the closest attention of the nation." K. From a Silk Manufacturer. "10th December 1880. "The home consumption of raw silk has fallen off during the last five or six years from 30,000 to 22,000 bales. The re-exports have fallen at a much greater rate, the manufacturing countries of the Continent and the United States now importing raw silk direct instead of United purchasing in London as formerly. The United States last year trade. consumed 19,000 against 12,000 the year before, and this year will probably see a higher total than our own." 66 "I have been trying to procure the exact weight of raw silk worked up and used in this country for your information, but regret that no authentic returns are published by any one connected with the trade; and the Board of Trade returns are not explicit enough to be of any use. States silk The See page 96. "I am sure you would be giving the free-traders the benefit of the doubt, by saying that our present home consumption of homemanufactured silks was less than 2,500,000 lbs. per annum. average weight of the bulk of the raw silk imported is about 103 lbs. per bale, and I calculate that only 22,000 bales are at present worked up in this country, the balance of our imports being reshipped to the Continent or the United States. "What a great convenience it would be if our Board of Trade Board of summarised their monthly returns after the French style as under Trade returns. It would do much to open the eyes of the public to the serious dimensions of foreign competition in the production of manufactured articles especially. Customs' "A Zollverein of Great Britain and her colonies is now much Imperial talked of, but without we can offer them some special advantages in the way of trading, it is difficult to see what good can be done. At present we serve all alike, and our colonies do the same." Fearful decline of silk trade. Average consumption of silk in this country for ten years, before pass- Before the treaty we imported (manufactured goods), Present average is, . lbs. 6,000,000 3,200,000 2,800,000 2,200,0001 £6,000,000 13,000,000 Foreign and foreign L. From a Liverpool Iron Merchant. "12th November 1880. "President Garfield says in his election address, as regards trade, We legislate for America, not for the whole world.'. . . At present our men are very badly off; see the report in Daily Telegraph on the chainmaking industry, etc. etc. In iron, tin-plates, and chemicals, business is just as bad, and these are the staple industries of England. America, competition Russia, France, Germany, and our colonies are closing their doors markets. against our goods; what will become of our mechanics? The whole question wants going into; every class in England should contribute to the national prosperity. . . . We are losing most of our trade by people who, for party purposes, reply, 'Free-trade cures all.' . . . We must have a centre to whom we can address our grievances, a Minister of Commerce and Agriculture; that will be the first step to some reasonable readjustment." Retaliation. "13th November 1880. "There is no doubt that retaliatory measures, or threats of such, are the only effective means of checking the migration of the most useful of our industries and the demoralisation of what remains, and those who exert themselves now in that direction, when immediate action is absolutely necessary, will merit the heartfelt thanks of employer and employed alike." This is the chief of British industries and is the main cause of our national wealth. Belgian Beams and Girders of iron are now almost solely used in English buildings, notably the Exchange buildings here where I am 1 Little more than a third of what was manufactured before the Treaty !R. A. M. |