The increase in the imports of the leading articles of food consump tion since 1870 has been very great indeed. In payment for her food Great Britain has been reducing her holding of United States Government bonds and railroad mortgages, and a similar decrease has also taken place in her holding of Russian and other European bonds, and these foreign countries have in some instances increased their interests in British funds. The increased facilities which have arisen for procuring food supplies have not been followed in the same ratio by opportunities for selling or exchanging British manufactures. The abundant import of wheat from America, from Russia, and from India has reduced the price of this cereal to a lower point than has been reached since 1762. The land system of Great Britain is also proving very detrimental to the agricultural interests, for the reason that land in rural districts is owned by a very small and constantly-decreasing number of persons, many of whom are so burdened that it is impossible for them to do justice to the land or improve it. The people of Great Britain appear to be becoming more and more divorced from the soil, and their knowledge of agriculture does not now compare favorably with that of the peasantry of some other nations of Europe. The class of men, formerly so numerous in Great Britain, who cultivated their own land is now almost extinct, and the agricultural laborers are entirely severed from any permanent interest in the land. The effects of the land laws are to force the people to abandon the soil, thereby greatly depressing the home trade and manufacturing interests by curtailing the demands of the rural population. In the face of the decline in the price of wheat and the evil effects of the land laws, it is probable that there will be a still further reduction in the wheat acreage in Great Britain. The following table shows the average gazette prices of British wheat per imperial quarter (8 imperial bushels, or 560 pounds) for each of the years from 1870 to 1884, inclusive: GAZETTE PRICES OF BRITISH WHEAT, 1870–84. The currency question, so far as it relates to bimetallism, is also an alleged element in the present depression. British enterprise and com merce with silver-using countries, it is asserted, are hampered in consequence of recent monetary changes adversely affecting the price of silver in Europe, and the consequent appreciation of gold and the depreciation in value of all commodities. The total value of the cotton manufactures of Great Britain is, roughly speaking, $400,000,000. Of these manufactures there are exported about $300,000,000, of which about $150,000,000 go to silver-using countries. Thus it appears that one-half of all the cotton exports are sent to countries where they are not sold for money, but bartered for silver-a commodity which must afterward be sold for gold in order to become money to the vendors. Recent events make it probable that gold will continue to become dearer, and as a consequence silver must become cheaper, and Lancashire men fear they must face a declining value in that for which nearly one-half of their cotton manufactures are exchanged. Silver has depreciated in value from two causes, one of which was the action of the Latin Monetary Union, and another the large recent production of the metal. Its value has been upheld mainly by the action of the United States, and there is so much that is artificial in its position that it is not possible to ascertain its probable future. It is partly from this uncertainty that the entire cotton industry of Great Britain suffers. The present depression in cotton manufacture in Great Britain is, however, chiefly due to over-production. The rapidly-increasing profitableness of cotton spinning and weaving in past times led to a considerable increase in the number of mills in England, and an excessive expansion of the producing capacity. Had there been a slower multiplication of cotton mills, or, in other words, a natural increase in the producing capacity, there would probably have been a decline in the price of the raw material and fewer fluctuations in the rates of wages. The planters and cotton operators have so far largely been benefited by the excessive competition of the mill owners in extending their power of production without reference to the real wants of their markets. For numerous reasons the cotton trade deserves, in the present industrial crisis, a very careful investigation. It affords, in all its phases, the most flagrant example of over-production, and consequently the best promise of determining the question whether over-production is or is not an evil to both capital and labor. The facilities for manufacturing, owing to the rapid formation of jointstock companies, are in no case more markedly illustrated than in the case of the Oldham Spinning Companies. Whereas borrowing powers in most public companies are limited and regulated by amount of paidup capital, no limit whatever is placed by act of Parliament upon the borrowing powers of the Oldham limited concerns. They have the power to borrow as much money as they possess ability to persuade lenders to advance, and they can then proceed to mortgage the mill, machinery, stock, and even the very book debts. If it be said that this is an undoubted right, and that the open loans are upon short notice of repayment, it still must be apparent that the money can only be repaid to a limited extent, as a large portion of it is in the plant or working capital, and, in times of borrowing, cotton spinning has been developed to that point at which the percentage of profit is extremely small and the margin between the price of the raw material and the price of the manufactured yarn is so narrow as to make its production extremely hazardous to the capital invested. The following tables show the average prices in Manchester, England, from January, 1873, to March, 1885, inclusive, of numbers 32 and 50 twist cotton yarn: VARIATION IN MARKET PRICE OF COTTON YARNS IN GREAT BRITAIN, 1873-85. Month. Number 32 twist. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. January. 361 311 March. 30 281 26 231 Cents. Centa Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. Cents. 361 32 291 29 261 23 231 261 257 297 243 234 213 23 293 23 228 29 23 233 28 25 251 23 21 May.. 351 31 30 25 23 June... July 243 231 August 241 September 29 29 32 29 282 254 231 23 22222 223 26 25 The depression in the British iron trade is largely owing to the fact that the United States, Germany, Belgium, France, and Russia have of late years very largely curtailed their purchases of pig-iron from Great Britain; consequently the area of consumption to which British manufacturers can look for a market is greatly diminished, and competition has been sharpened by the fact that the countries which were previously Great Britain's best customers are at times supplying the English home market with manufactured iron, and also successfully competing with English makers for the trade of other markets. The export of rails from Great Britain has largely decreased since 1883, and the decline is especially noticeable with South America, the only checks to the ruinous decline in exports to foreign countries being the increased demand from the colonies, especially from. India and British North America. The merchant-iron trades, with the exception of the tin-plate branch, have also greatly suffered in consequence of the diminished foreign demand. The lower royalties, rents, and railroad charges make Germany and Belgium severe competitors with England in the iron trade, and the competition of Belgium is becoming especially noticeable in the large quantities of rolled-iron beams and other forms of manufactured iron which are now being imported into Great Britain. As another example of the cause of the present depression, the iron ship-building trade may be mentioned as second only to cotton in prominence. During the prosperous period subsequent to 1879 the mercantile marine had been earning large profits, averaging from 25 to 30 per cent. interest on capital in steamers and sailing vessels, and in consequence of these not uncommonly large dividends an immense amount of capital was invested in the shipping trade. New fleets and lines of merchant steamers have been built, equipped, and placed upon the old ocean routes. This severe competition, together with the falling off of the world's trade, reduced freights to a ruinously low figure, with the result that vessels in many instances have been worked, even though they failed to pay expenses, and other vessels have been laid up at a considerable loss to their owners. The demand for shipping shares during the period from 1879 through 1883 was so great that shipping companies were organized and managed in many of the inland towns of Great Britain. The year 1884 will be long remembered as a most disastrous one in the history of iron ship-building. At no time since this important industry came into existence has a collapse so sudden, so widespread, and so injurious in its effects been witnessed. The effects of this depression were not confined to a single district, but extended over the Clyde, Tyne, Wear, Tees, Humber, Mersey, and Thames. Many thousands of workingmen have been dismissed from lack of work, and in numerous cases the ship-building yards have been totally closed. As has been previously stated, the depression in the woollen manufacturing industries of Great Britain is not so severe as in all other largely developed trades. The conservative manner in which the woollen trade has been developed, and the fact that manufacturers depend upon receiving positive orders before producing large quantities of any pattern, have prevented serious over-production and consequent distress. A very small increased demand in the woollen industry would probably make it at the present time the most flourishing branch of British trade. The trades centering at Birmingham, such as the hardware and toolmaking industries, and the manufacture of fowling-pieces, are probably the most depressed of any in Great Britain, and the result has been to throw out of employment a very large number of workingmen, among whom there is more suffering than is the case in any other manufacturing district. The depression in the trades named is largely owing to the severe competition of the United States in the production of tools, light hardware, and clocks, and also in the competition of Belgium in the manufactured-iron trade, and of Germany in the manufacture of iron, iron nails, etc. The following table shows the miles of railroad opened in the United Kingdom in each of the years from January 1, 1873, to December 31, 1884, inclusive; also, the amount of paid-up capital invested in railroads during that period, and the gross amounts of paid-up capital on the respective dates: RAILROADS OPENED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1873-84. The following statement shows the number of miles of railroad in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland at the end of the year 1884: MILES OF RAILROAD IN THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1884. The total number of joint-stock companies registered in the United Kingdom during the period from January 1, 1873, to December 31, 1884, inclusive, and the total nominal share capital, were as follows: JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1873-84. |