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-------------BAD TRADE.

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BAD TRADE. THE honourable and frugal fraternity of ArigL-ulturalists have been credited from time immemorial with a capacity for grumbling, 0) and it must be confessed that they have done their best to maintain their reputation. At the present time, however, they are by no means isolated in this respect. Butchers, bakers, cabinet-makers, weavers, cotton-spin- ners, coal and iron merchants, shop-keepers and shipowners, all, by common consent, join iI' a universal dirge bewailing the bad times which prevail. Stagnation is and has been for some time past the order of the day, and the present outlook of matters in the world of commerce is not conducive to an optimistic view of things. The question which naturally arises is: What reason can we assign for the existing depression ? We know the effect, but, what is the cause ? The reply will depend 11 a great measure on the position and sur- roundings of the person who makes it. The ardent Tory will readily ascribe all the evils ile:H is heir to, io the continuance in power of a Liberal Ministry,—just as the farmers of old accounted for the existence of murrian in cattle by the presence of a elderly female in the neighbourhood, who, in the witching hours of night, might be seen speeding through the -1 silent air astride the orthodox broomstick. But it is rather unfortunate for the exponent of stupidity that the present bad times had their birth nnd!r the fostering care of the "late defunct Conservative Government." The patrician mind will seek to place the blame at the door of Trades Unionism; "things were never so bad before the organisation of the Working classes," is the reply, forgetting that Trades Unions were in existence long before 1870, and conveniently passing over the fact that ¡,he country, from 1870 to 75 enjoyed a period of unprecedented prosperity. The fact is, the present bad times are attributable to no particular cause but to a variety of contributory Ones. Comparisons may be odious, but we are clpt to judge by them, and the existing state of affairs, when compared with more prosperous tunes, no doubt appears deplorably bad. But are they really so ? The man who for years I has indulged in the questionable luxury of high living considers it a terrible deprivation to have to subsist on ordinary ,_ood. Those accustomed to an income of thousands per annum find it awkward to make both ends Meet when their yearly receipts can be counted hy hundreds. We are in the position of the bibulous individual who in the morning suffers from the effects of excessive potations on the previous night, or of the cow in the fable which got into the doveriielcl and fell a victim t) to an indiscreet indulgence. In 1870, two £ ?rea-. European powers exhausted their en- ergies and strangulated their commerce by a disastrous and sanguinary war. The manu- facturing industries and the general trade of both countries were completely disorganised. Great Britain had watched the struggle, and, when the end came, reaped a huge pecuniary harvest owing to the commercial weakness of her powerful neighbours. Trade in this country increased by leaps and bounds, middle men amassed fortunes. Working men earned abnormally high wages. Trade and commerce, or rather those engaged in it, went mad. Coal pits were sunk in almost every conceivable place. Ironworks increased apace. Tin plate mills grew like mushrooms, houses were built wit.h amazing rapidity. Ships were laid down by the hundreds ) hops and public-houses, Splendent with the glories of plate glass and ^lour,met the eye at every turn; the temporary 1 Nation was regarded as a permanent affair, a°d every one sought to increase the h production of the necessities of trade. he result was," over-production, and, 'ater on, stagnation. It has been -estimated by a competent authority that there are at present sufficient steamers built, after allowing for the annual loss, to meet the Requirements of the carrying trade fAr the next fiY(. years; and what is true regarding steam- sVos is proportionately applicable to other ^bi i^s. Trade is in the same position as the ttia.i who ate not wisely but too well. It needs a commercial aperient. Capitalists suffer more P''r,iaps than the labouring millions, though be.ivg 11 knows their lot is not particularly en- "V'la.de. A vast amount of money lays about the country in thcshap" of unproductive bricks a-¡ù mortar, and machinery. Trade follies of thib description meet the gaze in every part of the kingdom, and there they stand, lasting memorials of all overweening confidence in commercial infatuation, A more general know- ledge of tL?e principles of political economy might have obviated a great deal of this unwise speculation, and prevented capital from visit- ing a bourne from whence there is 110 return. P But as we have before intimateJ, unparaMed prosperity generally produces a species of spe- culative insanity, unreasoning avarice reigns supreme, and rational investment and political economy are relegated to a back seat. The passion for gain, 'ike the green-eyed monster Jealousy, grow-, by what it feeds on, and the result is disappointment and regret,occasion ed I by consequent commercial depression. Yet it ip possible that with all the prevailing gloom in the trading world, things might be even 0 w°rse than they are the darkest cloud boulder -:tùat flits across the wintry sky is reputed to bave a silvery lining. Wages are low, and em- ployment is difficult to obtain, but bread, the staff of life," as it has been appropriately Called, is marvellously cheap, thanks to the t abundant harvests in the corn-producing coun- tries of the world. Sugars are to be obtained 0 at unheard of quotations, and the other neces- saries of life, with perhaps the exception of butchers' meat, are proportionately reasonable 11l price. Rents are lower than they have been, and the working classes, those toiling miliions whose unwearied industry is the true secret of England's greatness, have of late years developed habits of thrift, consequent, we believe, on the spread of education, and many of them now dwell in their own little castles, built or purchased by means of the careful husbanding of their hard-earned sav- ings. The year is speedily drawing to a close, and trade does not usually revive in this put of the world with declining days. But, brighter hopes are gleaming in the dawn of the future. Colonisation :s busily going on in many parts of the world. New fields of labour arc open- ing to the sons of toil men and material will be required to carry on the work of civilization in distant lands t!,e demands on the home trade will increase, opring ere long will be upon us and as the bursting buds fill with fragrance the vernal air, and the music of feathered choristers echoes through wood and dell, let us hope that trade, taking its inspira- tion from nature, will throw off its present lethargy, revive with wonted energy, and fill with prosperity this and other lands.

HERE AND THERE.

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