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Tariff Reform and Unemployment.

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Tariff Reform and Unemployment. To THE EDITOR OF THE Weekly News. S,ix,-Be,fcfr.e, replying to Mr. Sam Thompson, may I briefly restate the question at issue? Mr. Thompson is asking myself and other electors in West Denbighshire for our votes ai the next election. He tells us he is a Tariff Re- former, .and that Tariff Reform is the one and only satisfactory remedy for unemployment. Socialists tell us that Socialism is the only re- medy, and Free Traders tell us that Tariff Re- form means less work and less wages. Whom are we to believe? Mr. Thompson in advocating Tariff Reform as a remedy for unemployment is only following the example set by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who said Tariff Reform will provide work for all who want it," and his statement is now being repeated in all parts of the country by an army of agents of the Tariff Reform League. The object is, of course, to secure a large majority of Tariff Reformers in the next Par- liament. But the work for all promise, though it may serve its purpose as a vote-catcber, is a dangerous one, because it is impossible for Tariff Reformers to provide work for all." Therefore, the responsible leaders of the move- ment are already beginning to hedge" in order to pave the way for subsequent refutation, of the work for all promise—after its purpose has been served. Lord Ridley, Chairman of the Tariff Reform League, says: It is madness to say that lack of work can be got rid of altogether." Mr. Austen Chamberlain publicly refuted his father's statement on January 301th last, in the House of Commons. He said Lack of em- ployment has, always been, with us., and we shall always be liable to. it, whatever kind of measures we may adopt." Mir. Hewins, a prominent official of the Tariff Reform League, also says:" No responsible Tariff Reformer has ever said that Tariff Re- form is going to provide work for all. No one ever aid such an absurd thing as that." All that can be said in reply is: Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who started the present campaign, said so, and the statement isi being repeated by Tariff Reformers, all over the country. What the object is we know—Votes. What will happen after the Tariff Reformers have secured the votes intelligenlt readers can guess, in view of the refutations already made by the leaders of the Tariff Reform movement—the working men who have been deluded by the promise of "work for all will be left in the lurch. As for Mr. Sam Thompson, he evidently feels that he has a bad case to uphold, otherwise he would not descend to the doubtful tactics of en- deavouring to belittle his opponents. I have no wish, nor lis there the slightest need for me, to mislead your readers, or to be discourteous to Mr. Thompson—'both of which he accuses me of being guilty. Mr. Thompson says I am wrong in stating that the 35.7 per cent. of unemployed in New York State referred to Trade Unionists only, and he asks for my authority. He shall have it. Let hlim refer to the New York Labour Bulletin for June last. He will find it there stated that on ;tihe,last working day in Miarch 35.7 per cent. of Trade Unionists in New York State were' out of work, and 26.3 per cent, of the total Union mem- bership was continuously unemployed during the first three months of the year. Mr. Thompson tries to belittle those figures by stating that they included all out of work through illness, &c. To -cme extent that is true, but the New York State Department of Labour states thiat -89.6 per cent. were idle from lack of work alone. And the (recent financial crisis to which Mr. Thompson attributes this deplorable state of things is not the only cause of unemployment, otherwise it would be confined to the period covered by the crisis. In 1897 the Trade Union- ists out of employ in New York State numbered 30.6 per cetilt. in March, 1903, 12.1 per cent. 1904, 27.2 per cen 't. 1905, 15.1 per cent.; 1906, 9.9 per cent. and 1907, 19.1 per celil Those are the official figures supplied by the New York Labour Department, but un- employment is by no means confined to New York State. Replying to a question in the House of Commons on February 20th, 1907, the Presi- dent of the Local Government Board said: The maximum of 'unemployed in this country, whether of skilled or unskilled labourers, is never more than the maximum in the United States of America." Further the Times on Febru- ary loth last year reported that: On a con- servative estimate taking the country (United S,tL%,t,eis,) throughio,ut, from cine-quarter to one- third of those usually employed in all trades, and industries are at the present moment laid off." Again, Mr. Robert Hunter, in his work on Poverty in, the United States," deals very largely with the unemployed problem, and he, states that the causes of unemployment appear to be more active there than in England. He alludes particularly to the violent reorganisation of particular industries which throws thousands of men out of work, to the sudden closing of great numbers, of w-orksi by the Trusts, and to other causes of unemployment more prevalent in. the United States than in other countries. In regard to alien immigration into this country, Mr. Thompson is again wrong when he says We enjoy the 'blessings of Free Trade" in pauper aliens." We have an Aliens' Act speciallly framed to keep out of England the paupers, from the Protectionist countries, where, if we are to. believe Mr. Thompson and Mr. Joseph Chamberlain,, Tariff Reform provides £ work for all who want it." I am glad Mr. Thompson now admits that the ^17,000,000 surplus of the U.S.A. Budget in 1906 was not, as he at first implied, derived en- tirely from tariffs on foreign goods. He tries to show that tariffs do keep out foreign goods. "0 He mentions particularly tinplates, and quotes figures showing how our exports of tinplates to America have fallen off since the McKinley Tariff was imposed. Then he asks Will Mr. Frost still say that tariffs do not keep out manu- fectured goods? I should be foolish indeed to say that no tariff will keep out goods if it is sufficiently high, but curiously enough Mr. Thompson himself supplies an answer to. his own question. Mr. Thompson says: In this country we tax foodstuffs we cannot produce ourselves, therefore the whole burden falls upon' usi; the U.S.A. tax, chiefly, manufactured products which they can make themselves, and therefore relieve, them- selves of part of the burden and keep the em- ployment for their own people." Will Mr. Thompson kindly explain his non- sensical statement? How on earth do the Americans relieve themselves of taxation bv tax- ing foreign goods which are kept out of the country in order to keep the employment for their own people? Yet this is the sort of ridiculous nonsense by which Mr. Thompson hopes to gull the electors of West Denbighshire Mr. Thompson will probably say that some foreign goods are imported into America and that the foreigner pays the whole or part of the tax. Let us see if that is so. Take the tinplates referred to by Mr. Thompson. In 1890 on a box of tinplates sold at Liverpool at 12s. 6d. a duty of us. 3d. was imposed. At that time practical- ly no tinplates were made in the United States; yet a so-called scientific tariff of 11s. 3d. per box was placed upon the six million boxes of tin- plates that were essential every year to farmers, fruit growers, and packing industries, and for utensils used in every home in the country. That was in October, 1890. To make it easier for these people, the operation of the tariff was delayed for six months.. But this simply gave American merchants a further opportunity to exploit their own people. They purchased all the tinplates that qpiuld be got hold of, and when the Act came into operation Welsh tin- plates were being sold in Liverpool at 17 s. 8d. per box, as against 12s. 6d. before and after the Act came into operation. Nine months after- wards only I per cent. of the tinplates consuimed in America were of home production, the other 99 per cent. being imported from Wales as be- fore. Eventually, of course, the Americans es- tablished their tinplate industry. But at what cost? It is stated that between 1891 and 1902 the Americans paid £20,000,000 more for their tinpliates than there was any need for them to have done, but for the tariff. Now rvh. Thompson ha's said that the foreigner pays at least part of the tax. If that is so, how is it that when an American exports goods packed in tins made from Welsh tinplates he is refunded 99 per cent, of the tax? The Americans are said to be a smart race, but they are told there, as Mr. Thompson tells us here, that the foreigner pays." The fact is, sir, Protection brings Trusts into existence and the great Trusts are able to buy the right to tax the American people. Mr. Thompson asks If Tariffs are bad, why the Aimemcan workers want to stick to them? I will reply by asking Mr. Thompson another question If Tammany Hall methods, are bad, why do the Americans allow them? The answer to both questions, is: Because they are at the mercy of the corrupting influence of the power- ful Trusts which have sprung up under Pro- tection. Mr. Thompson does not like my reference to his German figures of un.employment being joggled." All I can say is that the Board or Trade Gazette clearly states that those figures cannot be properly compared, as Mr. Thompson compared them, with the British figures. If Mr. Thompson was not aware of the Board of Trade warning he ought to have been if he was aware of the official warning that the two sets of figures used by him could not be pro- perly compared, then I say deliberately he was guilty of juggling." And as it is unthinkable that Mr. Thompson was ignorant of the. Board of Trade warning, I think the electors have a right to question his sincerity when, he compares figures which he is officially told cannot he properly compared. !Mr. Thompson stays his evidence in favour of Tariff Reform has been founded upon a study of the progress made by our trade rivals but he confesses that none of them have yet caught us up. He says, however, that the true test is whether our rivals have progressed or gone back under a Protective system—which, again, is ri d i cuilou s nonsense. r In both Germany and the United States the system of commercial education has for many years been far in advance of the educational sys- tem of Great Britain. White our youths were being taught the classics, the youths of Germany and America were being trained in the practical application of the industrial sciences. Thus it came about that when important discoveries were made by British scienrt:is,ts-for example, the production of aniline dyes from coal tar— British manufacturers were unable to. take ad vantage of those discoveries. While great Britain had individual chemists of rare ability, she had not forseen the advisability of training chemists in a systematic way. Germany, on the other hand, had already been doing so, and was in a thoroughly competent state for dealing with the utilisation of the waste produot-coal tar. And so the manufacture of the aniline dyes which were a British discovery, and of all synthetic substances generally, passed from our hands, in- to those of Germany. Our loss was Germany's gain but it is idiotic nonsense for Mr. Thomp- son or any other 'Tariff Reformer to say that Germany's Protective system had anything what- ever to do with the building up of her chemical industries. It was entirely a matter of scientific education, and Great Britain is. only now, after half a century of sleep, endeavouring to throw off her educational lethargy. I confess having quoted from. Mr. Lloyd George's Liverpool speech, but why Mr. Thomp- son should call it notorious I am at a loss to understand, unless it was because Mr. Lloyd George hit the Tariff Reformers hard. At any rate, I take, it Mr. Lloyd George knows almost as much (?) about the trade of this country as Mr. Thompson. He asks me to prove, that the cost of living is cheaper in this country than in any other country in the world. I make the assertion boldly, and I challenge Mr. Thompson to name any country where for /1 he can purchase the same quantity and quality of household neces- saries as in this country. I am quite prepared to admit that he may purchase some things cheaper, as for instance eggs in Russia and mut- ton in New Zealand; but I say emphatically that a working man's wife can obtain more for £ 1 in Great Britain than she can in any other country. I notice Mir. Thompson, is inclined to twit me because I told the truth in regard to the rate of wages, and he says it inclines' a bit towards jugglery.' Well, it is the first time I have known telling the truth termed jugglery but as Mr. Thompson would have us believe he was sincere when comparing German and British figures concerning unemployment, I am not at all surprised when, he calls the truth "jugglery." And now for the great and difficult problem (?) Mr. Thompson has given me to, solve. He wants to know how we pay for 118 millions, of surplus imports. It is a very simple problem but in view of Mr. Thompson's opinions in regard to the, value of Tariff Reform I am not surprised that he needs light upon the subject. He says our imports were worth Z536 millions and our exports and re-exports only £ 418 mil- lions,, leaving a balance of fii8 millions. In view of that balance he. delniels the truth of Mr. Joseph Chamber lain" s statement that every pennyworth of foreign goods, that comes into this country is paid for by a similar amount of English goods that go oiut of the country." And he is veryamxiOlus to know what English goods paid for the CiiS millions balance. Well, Mr. Chamberlain has made many great misltlakes during the course of his political career, and I am bound to confess he made a mistake here. 'But it was only a very slight one. Instead of English goods only he ought to have said English goods and services rendered by British ships." Then, of course, there is a great deal of British capital invested abroad, and the interest on that capital is p aid for, not in gold, but in goods. Thus the £ nH millions which is such a great source of trouble to Mr. Thompson, representsl British manufacturers' profit on goods exported, earnings of British ships, and interest on British money. Now, it is a fact that, like Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium., Denmark, Holland, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland all have an ex- cess of imports over exports, and, consequently, according to Mr. Thompson's view, they must all be going to the dogs together while on the other hand Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the United States, which have an excess of exports over imports, must, according to Mr. Thomp- son's view, be prospering mightily. But what are the facts? The three latter countries have each incurred considerable debts abroad, and they have to export goods in pay- ment of interest. Then again, the United States have a large foreign trade which, owing to their Protective system having killed their shipping trade, is carried by British ships, and the ser- vices rendered by which, are paid for by American goods. I am afraid this is. a long letter, but there is one other point upon which Mr. Thompson is asking for light. He wants proof of Mr. Cham- berlain's statement that Protection would diminish the total production of the country it would diminish the rate of wages and it would raise the price of every necessity of life." Now, sir, Protection is of no earthly use' to those manufacturers and landlords who are backing the Tariff Reform movement with their money unless it raises prices. It does not re- quire a tariff to enable a shopkeeper to sell a 'half-crown article of .British tffianllfacDureirn competition with a foreign article of the same quality at the same price. The .idea of the Tariff -Reformer is to put a tax of 10 per cent. on the foreign article, and then the British manu- facturer can charge two shillings and ninepance for a half crown article. If the tax does, not enable him to, do that it is of absolutely no use to him. So much for the raising of prices by Protection. Now as to Pircitection diminishing the total production of the country. I think I have al- ready proved that imports are paid for by ex- ports. Therefore, a half-crown foreign article— say an enamelled saucepan—is paid for by a British article'—say a hat. As I have shown, t.o be of any use Protection is bound to increase the price of the saucepan say to 2:S. gd., and though It may enable a British manufacturer to rmake a saucepan it prevents the hatter from making a hat to pay for the foreign saucepan. And as the housewife could under Fares Trade obtain a saucepan for 2s. 6d. and a yard of ribbon for 3d., under Protection she can only obtain the saucepan for 2s. gd. thus not only doing the hatter out of a job, but the ribbon maker als,cy. So that 'Protection diminishes the totoal production of the country by throwing two men out of a job to provide work for one. Then as to diminishing the rate of wages. Mr. 'Chamberlain knew what he was talking about when he made that statement^ It is a fact, which I challenge, Mr. Thompson to refute', that in the most highly protected countries only a small fraction of the total number of workers is employed in "proteoted" trades. The bulk of the workers., shop assistants', clerks, &c., cannot be protected. It is a fact, also, which I challenge Mr. Thompson to refute, that in the most highly protected countries the waiges of the small body of protlercted workers are not higher than the wages of similar grades of workers, who are not or cannot be protected. But, as I have, shown, the price of household necessaries is bound to, rise under Protection, Thus the real wages of the workers—that is, the quantity and quality of the articles purchasable by their wages—.will considerably less. Moreover, Protection is also bound to increase I tl o the cost of production; consequently, if British manufacturers are to keep their trade in foreign markets, competition is already so keen that it will be absolutely necessary to reduce wages or lose the trade. One word more. I have just read a recent cutting from a New Zealand new-go. paper, the "Auckland Weekly News," which gives details, of the arrival at Wellington of twenty English calrrpenters who had paid their passage out, and for whom no work could be found. And the unfortunate men were informed that there were forty carpenters out of work there, some of whom had dome nothing for three months. I mention this because New Zealand ..i I is one. of those Protected countries where we are told by Tariff ReformerSgthere is work for all who want it." Verb sap.—Yours truly, Rhos, Cblwyin Bay, S. T. FROST. To THE EDITOR OF THE Weekly News. Sir,—The thanks of the public are due to you for opening your columns to correspondence dealing with the Fiscal problem. This is not a party question., but a inatioinal, one. It was so regarded by Conservatives and Liberals alike until Mr. Joseph Chamberlain spriuing his pro- posals upon the country in the spring of 1903. Pirior to that, as the late Lord Beaconsfield said, Protection .was not only dead,, tÐUlt damned." And so it would have remained had not political circumstances, after the conclusion of the South, African War, rendered it imperative that the late Government should have some plausible red herring to draw across the trail of the South African fi-asco and the sub- sequent muddling and blundering. It was urgently necessary to stop the rot which was taking place in the Conservative ranks, and, as usual, Mr. Chamberlain., throwing aside all previous opinions, sprang into the breach and flourished his fiscal proposals be fore-an astounded public. Very quickly manufacturers and others who had long secretly desired Protection rallied to his aid, and money was poured out like water to carry on a Tariff Reform campaign which Mr. Chamberlain had, on the spur of political neces- sity, started at a critical moment in the career of the. late Government. Once started, Mr. Chamberlain., to save his face, was bound to go on, in s'pite of the fact that all the best and most prominent men in the Conservative ranks were' strongly opposed to what were described as Mr. Chamberlain's wild-cat proposals." The bitter struggle which took place within the Conservative party and the Cabinet is fresh in our memory, and it speaks well for the loyalty of the party that most of the breaches then made have been patched up, though there can be no doubt that men like Lord Hugh Cecil, Lord George Hamilton, and other prominent Conservative statesmen are still at 'heart staunch Free Traders. But they have been carried off their feet, and must either float with the tide or drown. It is well to> beiar these facts in. mind at the present time, and I know of no more interesting recreation than an impartial, study of the history of the Tariff Reform mo,veim-.int.-Yo-ufrs, &c., A POLITICAL STUDENT. ,Colwyn Bay, January, 1909.

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