Part 20 (2/2)
IV. That the more perfectly this system can be carried out, the more entirely must all other nations limit themselves, men, women and children, to the labour of the field, and the lower must be the standard of intellect.
V. That while the number of agriculturists in other countries must thus be increased, the power to consume their own products must be diminished, because of the great increase of the charges between the producer and the consumer.
VI. That this, in turn, must be attended with an increase in the quant.i.ty of food and other raw materials thrown on the market of Britain, with great increase in the compet.i.tion between the foreign and domestic producers for the possession of that market, and great diminution of prices.
VII. That this tends necessarily to ”discourage agriculture” in Britain, and to prevent the application of labour to the improvement of the land.
VIII. That it likewise tends to the deterioration of the condition of the foreign agriculturist, who is thus deprived of the power to improve his land, or to increase the quant.i.ty of his products.
IX. That the smaller the quant.i.ty of commodities produced, the less must be the power to pay for labour, and the less the compet.i.tion for the purchase of the labourer's services.
X. That with the decline in the demand for labour, the less must be the power of consumption on the part of the labourer, the greater must be the tendency to a glut of foreign and domestic produce, in the general market of the world, and the greater the tendency to a further diminution of the labourer's reward.
XI. That, the greater the quant.i.ty of raw produce seeking to pa.s.s through the market of England, the greater must be the tendency to a decline in the value of English land, and the larger the charges of the owners of the mills, s.h.i.+ps, and shops, through which the produce must pa.s.s, and the greater their power of acc.u.mulation, at the cost of both labour and land.
XII. That the less the labour applied to the improvement of the soil, the more must the population of the country be driven from off the land, the greater must be the tendency of the latter toward consolidation, and the greater the tendency toward absenteeism and the subst.i.tution of great farmers and day-labourers for small proprietors, with further decline in production and in the demand for labour.
XIII. That with the reduction of the country population, local places of exchange must pa.s.s away; and that labour and land must decline in power as s.h.i.+ps, mills, and their owners become more united and more powerful.
XIV. That the tendency of the whole system is, therefore, toward diminis.h.i.+ng the value and the power of land, and toward rendering the labourer a mere slave to the trading community, which obtains from day to day more and more the power to impose taxes at its pleasure, and to centralize in its own hands the direction of the affairs of the nation; to the destruction of local self-government, and to the deterioration of the physical, moral, intellectual, and political condition of the people.
In accordance with these views, an examination of the productive power of the United Kingdom should result in showing that production has not kept pace with population; and that such had been the ease we should be disposed to infer from the increasing demand for cheap labour, and from the decline that has unquestionably taken place in the control of the labourer over his own operations. That the facts are in accordance with this inference the reader may perhaps be disposed to admit after having examined carefully the following figures.
In 1815, now thirty-eight years since, the declared value of the exports of the United Kingdom, of British produce and manufacture, was as follows:--
Of woollen manufactures............... 9,381,426 ” cotton ” ............... 20,620,000 ” silk ” ............... 622,118 ” linen ” ............... 1,777,563 And of other commodities.............. 19,231,684 ---------- Total................................. 51,632,791
In the same year there were imported of
Wool.................................. 13,634,000 lbs.
Cotton................................ 99,306,000 ”
Silk.................................. 1,807,000 ”
Flax.................................. 41,000,000 ”
Grain................................. 267,000 qrs.
Flour................................. 202,000 cwts.
b.u.t.ter................................ 125,000 ”
Cheese................................ 106,000 ”
If to the raw cotton, wool, silk, and flax that were re-exported in a manufactured state, and to the dyeing materials and other articles required for their manufacture, we now add the whole foreign food, as above shown, we can scarcely make, of foreign commodities re-exported, an amount exceeding twelve, or at most thirteen millions, leaving thirty-eight millions as the value of the British produce exported in that year; and this divided among the people of the United Kingdom would give nearly 2 per head.
In 1851 the exports, were as follows:--
Manufactures of wool.................... 10,314,000 ” cotton.................. 30,078,000 ” silk.................... 1,329,000 ” flax.................... 5,048,000 All other commodities................... 21,723,569 ----------- Total................................... 68,492,569
We see thus that nearly the whole increase that had taken place in the long period of thirty-six years was to be found in four branches of manufacture, the materials of which were wholly drawn from abroad, as is shown in the following statement of imports for that year:--
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