Chapter III.

The Depression Abroad.

France, Germany and Austria, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, The United States.

Having completed our survey of British internal and external trade, let us now take a glance at the condition of things in other countries.

There is in many minds a hazy conviction that the depression from which we are suffering is, in some way, attributable to our fiscal system, the principles of which are in direct conflict with those adopted by most other civilised countries, the system which goes by the name of Free Trade, but which is one of Free Imports against Protective Tariffs.

If it can be shown that in countries where protection rules, trade depression exists in an equal or greater degree than here, it must be clear that the evils complained of do not owe their existence to our peculiar system, but to other causes, and this will at once get rid of much error and misconception, and materially aid us towards the end we have in view.

Let us look at the condition of things in such countries as France, Germany and Austria, Belgium, Italy, Russia, and the United States, which are Protectionist; and in Holland and Switzerland, which are Free Trading.

1. France.—Here we have a people possessing the most fertile soil in Europe, industrious, frugal, practically stationary in numbers, which nevertheless is suffering from depression in trade, in manufactures, and in agriculture; with annual deficits arising from expenditure at home for public works, in order to find employment for her citizens, and abroad for wars undertaken in order to found colonies for a people which will not emigrate, and to discover outlets for a trade which never follows, and with a national debt of 1,000 million sterling, the largest in the world, which is being swollen year by year.

If we look at her industries, we find every one, although protected, clamouring for increased duties. With regard to sugar, they have passed 26 bills in 50 years, and yet the growers of beetroot are in despair. The graziers are crying out for increased rates on the importation of foreign cattle; the timber merchants for heavy duties on the foreign article; while the corn-growers demand, and are getting, increased duties on foreign grain. How all this increase in the cost of living is to benefit the distressed millions is past ordinary comprehension, and must be left to time to disclose, especially when we bear in mind that three-fourths of one of these millions live in 219,270 houses without any windows whatever.^* From the reports of the Economic Investigation Committee we learn that at Lille and in the north the greatest distress prevailed throughout the cotton industries, and that its principal cause was the agricultural crisis. Farms were standing empty and no tenants were to be found. Landed property had decreased in value by two-thirds, and the agriculturist who used to be the great consumer had no money to buy anything. On the Public Relief Fund Register of Lille the names of 28,000 persons were stated to be inscribed, and it was affirmed that the distress would at once assume dangerous dimensions but for the fact that a considerable number of manufacturers were keeping open at a loss,^† We further read that at the conclusion of their inquiry the Committee received a deputation of workmen, who presented a petition, bearing some 2,400 signatures, praying the Chamber of Deputies to oppose the temporary free importation of cotton yarns from England.^‡ As to Paris, M. Tony Revillon, in the Chamber, in November last, drew a doleful picture of its state. Out of every 15 artisans only 10 had employment, and their average wages had fallen from 6f. to 5f. per day. Of 100,000 masons in Paris in 1882, 30,000 had left, and only one half of the remaining 70,000 had work. M. Mun, Legitimist, argued that the distress existed overall France. M. Spuller, Chairman of the Economic Committee of Inquiry, agreed with M. Revillon in apprehending an aggravation in 1885; and M. Waldeck Rousseau, Minister of the Interior,

^* M. Nadaud, in the Chamber, May 1883,

^† The Standard, 31st Dec., 1884.

^‡ The Standard, 1st Jan., 1885.

page 15 remarked that the distress had not so much increased as it had attracted greater attention.^*

We read also that the mining industries compare unfavourably with ours, and that even the shipbuilding trade, nurtured by the State, was as depressed as here, and was permanently in disfavour, excepting when English shipbuilders were too busy to take orders.

With regard to labour, it was the rule in French factories to work 72 hours per week, against 56½ in England. In one of the largest cotton factories visited by the Technical Commissioners, they ascertained that the machinery was running 14 hours a day, with ten minutes for oiling. In the worsted districts the usual hours per day were 12.^† According to the Revue lndustrielle, a commissioner has lately been appointed by the Sociét lndustrielle de France, with the object of inquiring into the feasibility of shortening the daily hours of labour in the textile and collateral industries. At present the hours throughout France are rarely, if ever, under 12 per day, while in Germany they are still longer, being 13 at Dusseldorff, 13 to 15 at Treves and Aix-la-Chapelle, and even 16 in Franconia, this, too, without deductions for Sundays and holidays. After mature consideration, however, the committee have come to the determination that it is impossible to recommend the reduction in the face of the great competition from England and Germany. Moreover, if the hours were shortened, the already moderate daily wage would have to be reduced, much against the workpeople's wish; and it is also considered that the latter would suffer considerably, both morally and pecuniarily, from the extra idle time, a great portion of which would be passed in the débit de boisson.^‡

As to wages, English workers receive 58 per cent, higher wages,^§ while as to leisure we should have to go back 40 years to parallel the present state of things in France.^‖

The condition of affairs is further shown by what took place in the Chamber on the 5th Feb., when M. Revillon made a motion for a credit of 25 millions of francs for the unemployed.

^* The Times, 21st Nov., 1884.

^† Swire Smith, lecture at Bradford, Bradford Observer, 23rd Dec., 1884.

^‡ The Times, 21st Feb., 1885.

^§ J. S. Jeans, at Statistical Society, 16th Dec., 1884.

^‖ Swire Smith, at Bradford, supra.

page 16 This, he said, would allow a franc a day to 246,000 persons who had for the last two months been starving. In opposition, M. Waldeck Rousseau urged that the rural was as much entitled to help as the urban population; and we learn that the motion was negatived, but that M. Revillon's second resolution, calling on the Government to begin the year's public works, was agreed to without a division.^*

2. Germany and Austria.—Like the French, the Germans are under the protective system, yet poverty and discontent prevail, and the cry of both agriculturists and manufacturers is for more and more protection. It is difficult to measure the depression, in consequence of the meagreness of the statistics at command, and of the censorship which is exercised over the press, and which has been extended to the reports of the Chambers of Commerce. Enough leaks out from time to time, however, to show the economic state of the country. One of the most protected industries in Germany, as also in Austria, is that of sugar, and it is precisely this industry which, during the last twelve months, was overtaken by such signal disasters, involving ruin in all directions, and which is clamouring for a further extension of the insane bounty system; while the cotton and wool manufacturers are petitioning the Minister of Commerce to again raise the import duties on cotton and cloth, although the Government has already twice done so, once in 1878 and again in 1882.^† We read that duties on imports are met by manufacturers by reductions of wages, and that out of a population of 45 millions in Germany, in 1882, the Prussian officials discovered that there were more than 7 million heads of families who must be exempted from direct taxation, because their earnings were less than £25 a year—9s. 7½d. per week.

With regard to the general rate of wages, we read that wages are 42 per cent, higher in England;^§ while as to the hours of labour, according to the report of the commissioner appointed by the Société Industrielle de France, already quoted, they are 13 per day at Dusseldorf, 13 to 15 at Treves and ^‡

^* The Times. 6th Feb., 1885.

^† Economist, 13th Sept., 1884.

^§ J. S. Jeans. 16th Dec., 1884.

^‡ Swire Smith at Bradford.

page 17 Aix-la-Chapelle, and even 16 in Franconia; and this without deductions for Sundays and holidays.

With regard to agriculture, we learn that increased duties have just been imposed on the importation of wheat and rye, in deference to the views of Prince Bismarck, and in spite of the report lately issued by the Prussian Minister of Agriculture, which declares that the country cannot in future rely on the growth of corn, but should try to widen the scope of production by introducing the rearing of cattle, &c., and which records the fact of the existence of much land which is still in a primitive condition, especially in the eastern provinces, where more than 10 per cent, of all the land is in this state, and might be made profitable.^*

We learn also that emigration is now five times more than it was before 1879, when Protection was established; but, according to a speech of Prince Bismarck in the Reichstag, on the 8th January, this was simply a convincing proof that the material prosperity of the nation had increased in proportion.^†

The Report of the Trade Inspector of Moravia and Silesia states that at Brunn the working time in the weaving and spinning mills, which were fixed at 12 hours before the new Act was issued, was sometimes prolonged to 16 and even 18 hours. It states also that in many manufactories workmen remain the whole week in the factory, sleeping on woolsacks, and working 96 hours, from Monday morning until Sunday morning. The weekly wages fluctuate between 4fl. and 8fl. for men, and 1.20fl. and 4fl. for women, &c. These low wages barely keep the workpeople in lodgings and dry bread.

3. Belgium.—In protected Belgium we find the labourers working longer hours and for lower wages than in Great Britain. There are no factory acts; children of tender years are employed 66 and 72 hours per week, and take their share of nightwork; while women and children work in the coal mines.^‡

4. Italy.—Here, as elsewhere, the people are protected in everything in which the foreigner might compete with them,

^* Economist, 14th Feb., 1885.

^† The Times, 9th Jan., 1885.

^‡ Swire Smith at Bradford.

page 18 and yet they are wearing out their lives, from childhood to a premature old age, in a perpetual struggle for existence. Old men in England tell of being carried to the factory on the backs of their fathers sixty or seventy years ago, when they were but seven or eight years of age, to begin work at five o'clock in the dark winter mornings, and working till seven or eight at night, for a few pence a day.^* Such are the conditions at present existing in Italy.

5. Russia.—With regard to Russia, we read in the Times of the 5th of February, that the industrial depression, and disturbances are beginning to attract very serious attention, and that on all hands are heard sounds of alarm at the growing discontent and agitation among the factory hands, and the working population generally. In the agricultural districts there are disturbances, and outrages, rick-burnings, and crop destruction; while in the cotton and iron industries, there are many large mills working at a loss for fear of the consequences of dismissing large numbers of workmen; attempts at reduction having in several instances resulted in combined or isolated attacks upon the masters.

6. Holland and Switzerland.—Before we leave Europe we must take a glance at these two countries. They form quite a contrast to those which we have just been regarding. The tariff of Holland is now one of the lowest in the world. She has no material advantages except her sea-board. She is thriving and prosperous, and her industries, reckoned per head of population, are larger than those of any other Continental state. As to Switzerland, a country without a single mine, canal, or navigable river, and hemmed in from the sea by great military and protectionist nations, she imports, and exports, and holds her own in the general competition. She spends lavishly in the education of all classes, her system standing almost unrivalled, while her factory acts regarding the education and employment of children, are stricter than in any other country in the world.^†

7. United States.—Turning from the Old World to the New, let us see whether there is anything to justify protection in its chosen home. There we find that the diary of the year lately

^* Swire Smith at Bradford,

^† Swire Smith at Bradford

page 19 closed is nothing but a chronicle of disaster in every department of trade and industry. Mercantile failures have not been so numerous, or for so large an aggregate, since 1878, as the following table will show:—

Year.	No. of Failures.	Amount.
1884	10,968	$226,343,427
1883	9,184	172,874,172
1882	6,738	101,547,564
1881	5.582	81,155,932
1880	4.735	65,752,000
1878	10,478	234,383,132

In manufacturing and mining we see nothing but the closing of mills, workshops, factories, and foundries, the blowing out of furnaces, the discharge of workmen, and a reduction of wages of from 10 to 30 per cent. An inquiry into the industrial situation, instituted by the well-known trade journal, Bradstreet's, in December last, brought out the fact that in 22 States, containing 90 per cent, of the industrial population of the Union, there were at least 316,249 less people employed in manufacturing in 1884 than in 1882, that is, a decrease of 13 per cent.; while wages in most lines had fallen 20 to 25 per cent., and in some instances 30 per cent.; all this being accompanied by disastrous strikes. In a subsequent number of the paper it is stated that in all probability a more careful count of the employés would show a decrease at the end of 1884 of 350,000.

We read also, that a stream of emigration is setting out for Europe, chiefly of Germans, Italians, Poles, and Hungarians, who complain that they can no longer get work, a large exodus taking place from the Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. This is not to be wondered at, when we learn from the evidence laid before the Senate Committee on Labour and Education last year, that there were miners of iron ore working in Penn-sylvania for 75 cents, a day (3s. 1½d.), that their abodes were extremely miserable, and that they suffered from a truck system, under which they paid 100 per cent, more than the iron and steel workers did.^*

"The testimony of working men presented for the first

^* Speech of the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, House of Representatives, April 30th, 1884.

page 20 time in the history of this or any other country in methodical order and representing every branch of business in this country was absolutely unanimous: first that the wages and earnings of working men in this country are not sufficient to give them comforts or even a decent support for their families, and was equally conclusive as to their having been a steady degradation in the condition of the labouring classes during the last twenty years, and that it was a decreasing deterioration to be measured year by year."^*

We learn also from Secretary Howard, of the Fall River Cotton Spinners' Association, Massachusetts, that a threatened reduction of ten per cent, in the wages of the Fall River operatives would make a reduction, since February, 1884, of twenty per cent., and since 1874 of fifty per cent., of what they then earned; also, that under the coming reduction a spinner with three children, after paying rent or fuel, would have less wherewith to clothe his family than the sum which it costs to keep the convicts in the state prisons.^† We learn also that the cigar makers carry on their trade in filthy tenements, at such low rates, that the families of the workmen have neither fresh air nor sufficient food and clothing;^‡ that at Darby, in Pennsylvania, under a system of tariffs which was to guard them against the pauper labour of Europe, and in the works of a corporation owned by prominent citizens of New York and Philadelphia, children of nine years old and upwards were employed, and were worked from 6.45 a.m. to 8 p.m. The Philadelphia Ledger, in March, 1883, recording the fact that one thousand of these mill children, between ten and fourteen years of age, were taken in a steamer to Rocky Point, where they had a shore dinner, and that next day they had to return to their daily drudgery.^§ We read also of "the roof-sleepers of New York," people who, in the intensely hot weather of last year, were driven to sleeping on the roofs of their habitations.^‖ Speaking of the third and most wretched class of people, who occupy the lowest grade of tenement

^* Speech of the Hon. Abram S. Hewitt, supra.

^† The Times, 4th February, 1885, Letter from Correspondent, Lowell, Massachusetts.

^‡ Senate Committee, evidence.

^§ Pall Mall Gazette, 22nd March, 1883.

^‖ Pall Mall Gazette, 11th September, 1884.

page 21 houses, the writer describes these as:—"whose every room accommodates from one to three families, where men and women die, and children are born; where beds are huddled, meals are cooked, clothes are washed, dried, and ironed. These places are bad enough in the winter. In the summer, leaving aside all questions of health, decency, and morals, the utter wretchedness, physical, is something utterly and absolutely beyond description, or conception, to those who have not been eye-witnesses to it."

In the Times of 4th February, 1885, is a letter from a correspondent writing from Lowell, Massachusetts, already quoted, in which he says that "New York is estimated to have at least 50,000 workless people; Boston has 20,000 at least; and, out West, Chicago is said to have from 20,000 to 30,000; St. Louis 15,000; while the iron districts of Pennsylvania, Indiana, &c., have their thousands; and so it is all over the old settled districts of the country." He also, says, "And in cultured, enterprising, busy Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, and the 'hub of the universe,' I know many fine, steady, willing, worthy fellows, who . . . are in the greatest poverty. Some of these—lawyers, journalists, &c., have carried off honours at Oxford or Cambridge, and here in this boasted land of liberty and plenty have offered to do any kind of work, even that of shovelling snow or dirt, or driving horses and wagons, just for a mere pittance, but their services have not been required."

And we are not surprised after this when we read in the same letter that crime is being committed for the sake of obtaining food, and that in this same Boston, Judge McCafferty, of the Municipal Police Court, should state from the bench that strong rugged men, capable of working and of supporting others, pleaded guilty, and were sent away criminals, for the sake of being clothed and fed; one of these criminals exclaiming as he was sentenced to prison, "Thank God I shall get something to eat." And this takes place in a country where, according to Mr. J. S. Jeans, in a paper read at the Statistical Society on the 16th December last, money wages were eighty-four per cent, higher than in England.

But this is not all. In the Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, dated 1st Dec., 1884, Mr. McCulloch writes;— page 22 "The time has now come when the manufacturing industry of the United States is in dire distress from plethora of manufactured goods. Some manufacturing companies have been forced into bankruptcy; others have closed their mills to escape it; few mills are running full time; and as a consequence a very large number of operatives are either deprived of employment or are working for wages hardly sufficient to enable them to live comfortably or even decently." Also, "The all-important question, therefore, that presses itself upon the public attention is, how shall the country be relieved from the plethora of manufactured goods, and how shall plethora hereafter be prevented . . . unless markets now practically closed against us are opened, unless we can share in the trade which is monopolised by European nations, the depression now so severely felt will continue, and may become more disastrous." Also, "How, then, shall the information required for a full understanding of what stands in the way of an increased exportation of our manufactured goods be obtained?

. . . I see no better means than by the appointment of a commission composed of men not wedded to the doctrines of Free Trade or Protection—fair-minded men, who would prosecute the inquiry thoroughly, comprehensibly, and impartially." "The great and profitable carrying trade between the United States and Europe has been permitted to pass into the hands of the shipowners of other nations. . . . There is in my opinion no prospect whatever that the United States will ever share to a considerable extent in the foreign carrying trade without Government aid. The let-alone policy has been tried for many years, during which our ships have been swept from the ocean, and we pay every year many millions of dollars to foreign shipowners for freights and fares."

Such is the commercial picture presented by a country which, as Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, in his speech in Congress on the 30th April last, already quoted, states, "has had twenty-five years of uninterrupted protection, under a higher tariff than ever existed in any civilised country on the globe."