Are we Ruined by the Germans? Part 5

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' SHIPPING TO AND FROM PORTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Entries and Clearances together, in Millions of Tons.

------------+---------------------------+----------------------------- | FOREIGN TRADE. | COASTING TRADE.

Average of +-------------+-------------+----------------------------- Five Years. |Under British| |In this Trade practically all | Flag. | Total. | the Shipping is British.

------------+-------------+-------------+----------------------------- 1870-74 | 28 | 42 | 38 1875-79 | 35 | 51 | 46 1880-84 | 43 | 61 | 50 1885-89 | 49 | 67 | 54 1890-94 | 55 | 75 | 58 Year 1895 | 59 | 81 | 61 ------------+-------------+-------------+-----------------------------

In order to further compare our progress with the progress of other countries the following table has been prepared to show the relative position of the princ.i.p.al countries now and twenty years ago. If we consider merely the rate of progress, the German percentage of increase is undoubtedly better than ours. But in national life, as in individual, it is not percentages but amounts that are important, and the table shows that while Germany has added 6,000,000 tons to her shipping, we have added 27,000,000 tons to ours. As long as anything similar to that proportion is maintained we have no need to fear German rivalry.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SHIPPING.

In Millions of Tons.

---------------------------------------------------------+-------+------- Average Annual Entries and Clearances. |1870-74|1890-94 ---------------------------------------------------------+-------+------- British tonnage engaged in the foreign trade of the U.K. | 28 | 55 German " " " " " Germany | 4 | 10 French " " " " " France | 5 | 9 United States " " " " the U.S. | 7 | 9 ---------------------------------------------------------+-------+-------

The figures for 1890-94 may be ill.u.s.trated diagrammatically as on opposite page.

It must be noticed that this comparison takes no account of the enormous carrying trade done by this country for foreign countries or British Colonies trading with one another; nor are there figures available for showing how in this matter we compare with our rivals. The figures, if they existed, would show that in this international industry Great Britain is first, and the rest of the world nowhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Before pa.s.sing to another point it is worth while to call attention to the enormous development of the coasting branch of our shipping trade, as shown in the figures given above. This branch of shipping is really of the nature of internal traffic, as distinguished from foreign trade.

That it should have increased so steadily and so rapidly is by itself a striking proof of the commercial activity of the country.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR RAILWAYS.

Proof even more convincing is apparent in the enormous development of our railway system. It is difficult to know from which side first to approach the tremendous figures in which this development is portrayed.

Taking, at hazard, mileage first, we find within the last twenty-five years an increase of 6,000 miles in our railway system-namely, from 15,000 in 1870, to 21,000 in 1895. Of this increase, 2,000 miles are due to the last decade. Looking next at the capital expenditure, we find that in the ten years from 1885 to 1895 the total capital of the various railway companies of the United Kingdom rose from 816 millions sterling to 1,001 millions. Part of this immense increase was, it is true, only nominal, being due to consolidation of stock, etc. But when all allowance has been made on that score, we are left with a real net increase in the ten years of 170 millions sterling. During the same period of ten years the receipts from pa.s.senger traffic rose from 30 millions sterling to 37 millions, while the receipts from goods traffic rose from 36 to 44 millions. In the last quarter of a century the number of pa.s.sengers carried by the railways, exclusive of season-ticket holders, has risen from 337 millions to 930 millions. Were it possible to record the number of journeys made by season-ticket holders, we should obtain an even more striking picture of the development of pa.s.senger traffic on our railways. Such figures as are available are given in the next table, and ill.u.s.trated by the accompanying diagrams:-

THE RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Ten Years' Work and Receipts.

-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- |1886|1887|1888|1889|1890|1891|1892|1893|1894|1895 -----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Goods carried:- | | | | | | | | | | Million Tons | 255| 269| 282| 297| 303| 310| 309| 293| 324| 334 | | | | | | | | | | Pa.s.sengers carried: | | | | | | | | | | Million persons | 726| 734| 742| 775| 818| 845| 864| 873| 911| 930 -----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- Goods receipts:- | | | | | | | | | | Million 's |364|373|387|411|422|432|429|410|434|440 | | | | | | | | | | Pa.s.senger receipts: | | | | | | | | | | Million 's |302|306|310|326|343|351|357|358|365|374 -----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----

The figures may be ill.u.s.trated diagrammatically as follows:-

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAILWAY Pa.s.sENGERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM (exclusive of season-ticket holders). 1870-337 Millions, 1895-930 Millions.]

These diagrams and the figures they ill.u.s.trate hardly look as if the nation were on the verge of decay, ruined by German cheap goods. If such be the signs of national collapse, no country in the world can be called prosperous. For there is this feature about our railway development which entirely differentiates it from the railway expansion of newer countries-that every pound of capital required has come out of our own pockets: we have borrowed from no one. Instead, while planking down in ten years 170 new millions to add to our own railways, we have been lending with large hands to railway builders in every part of the globe.

LENGTHENING TRAM LINES.

From railways we pa.s.s to tramways. Here the figures are less considerable in amount, but they are striking enough. In 1876 there were only 158 miles of tramway open for public traffic; by 1885 that number had risen to 811 miles, and by 1895 to 982 miles. In the same periods the paid-up capital had increased from 2 millions sterling to 12, and thence to 14 millions. Lastly, between 1885 and 1895 the number of pa.s.sengers carried upon tramways has risen from 365 millions to 662 millions. These figures are princ.i.p.ally interesting because the tramcar is essentially a popular means of conveyance. If the working-cla.s.ses of this country are being reduced to starvation, as the Protectionists say, by the invading Teuton, it is astounding that they should be able to afford so many pennies to pay for tram fares.

POST OFFICE EXPANSION.

From this last comparatively limited but not unimportant test of the general prosperity of the country, we pa.s.s to the Post Office returns.

Next to the test of railway traffic, already dealt with, no better evidence of the prosperity and commercial activity of a country can be found than is furnished by the growth of post office business. A nation whose trade is being filched from it by foreigners, whose blast furnaces are cold, and whose looms are silent, as Mr. Williams would have us believe, does not add every year forty million letters to the amount of its correspondence. Yet this is what we have been doing in the United Kingdom for a good many years past. Starting from the year ending March 31st, 1878, when a slight alteration was made in the method of presenting the statistics, we find that in the nineteen years that have since elapsed the number of letters delivered annually has increased from 1,058 millions to 1,834 millions. In the same period postcards have increased from 102 millions to 315 millions; newspapers and book packets, from 318 to 821 millions. Moreover, the increase has been steady, with one significant exception. In the year 1894-95, which was notoriously a year of bad trade, there was a drop in the number of letters delivered. The drop was more than made good in 1895-96. Turning to telegrams, we find a similar story. Here we are compelled to start with the year 1886-87, the first complete year after the introduction of sixpenny telegrams. In the ten years that have since elapsed the number of telegrams delivered has steadily increased from 50 millions to 79 millions.

EVER-GROWING INCOMES.

Another test of our national prosperity is furnished by the income tax returns. When the annual value of the property and profits a.s.sessed for income tax exhibits a steady increase, it is hard to believe that our manufacturers, and all the cla.s.ses that depend upon them for support, are being ruined by Germans or by anybody else. Here are the figures:-

INCOME TAX a.s.sESSMENTS.

In Millions Sterling.

-------------+-------------+------------- Five Years' | Schedule D. | All Average. | | Schedules.

-------------+-------------+------------- 1870-74 | 210 | 490 1875-79 | 263 | 575 1880-84 | 268 | 601 1885-89 | 292 | 634 1890-94 | 350 | 699 -------------+-------------+-------------

The return from which the above figures are taken stops with the year 1894; but a somewhat similar comparison was brought up to date in the last Budget speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The following table is taken from the "explanatory memorandum" that accompanied that speech:-

YIELD PER PENNY OF THE INCOME TAX.

-------------+------------+----------------------------------- | | Ten Years' Growth, | | after allowing for alterations in Year | Yield | the incidence of the tax.

Ending | per +-----------------+----------------- March 31st. | Penny. | Amount of | Percentage of | | Growth. | Growth.

-------------+------------+-----------------+----------------- | Thousand | Thousand | Per Cent.

| | | 1876 | 1,978 | - | - 1886 | 1,980 | 62 | 323 1896 | 2,012 | 207 | 1147 -------------+------------+-----------------+-----------------

With such figures as these available it is difficult to understand how people can continue to pour forth nonsense about the ruin of our national industries. During the very decade in which the blight of German compet.i.tion was supposed to have destroyed the profits of our manufacturers, it is clear from the above infallible test that the incomes of our commercial, professional, and property-owning cla.s.ses have been growing with increasing rapidity.

REDUCTION OF NATIONAL DEBT.

Pa.s.sing from taxation to the question of what has been done with the taxes, it is sufficient to select one fact for comment-the enormous reduction in the National Debt. Here are the figures:-

THE INDEBTEDNESS OF THE NATION.

----------+------------------------------+------------------------ | Aggregate Gross Liabilities. | Per Head of Population.

----------+------------------------------+------------------------ 1876 | 776,000,000 | 23 13 9 1886 | 745,000,000 | 20 13 8 1896 | 652,000,000 | 16 13 2 ----------+------------------------------+------------------------

That is to say, that within the past ten years-the years of alleged depression and blight-we have reduced our national indebtedness by over 90 millions sterling. During the same period it is worth while to point out that we have expended enormous sums in the almost complete reconstruction of our navy. Meanwhile Germany-the hated rival-has, since the war, added as many millions to her debt as we in ten years have taken from ours.

SOME STAPLE COMMODITIES.

In case the pessimists and the Protectionists should be still unconvinced by these proofs of national prosperity, let us turn to a new series of tests, the test of consumption. The great staple commodities which we will first take (cotton, wool, and coal) are partly required for manufacturing purposes and subsequent export, and partly for home use. The word "consumption" covers both uses, and we cannot, except in the case of wool, readily ascertain to which use the greater effect is attributable. In the case of wool it so happens, as was previously pointed out, that our export trade in manufactured goods has declined.

But since the total consumption of raw wool by the United Kingdom has gone on increasing, it is clear that the decline in woollen exports has been more than made good by the increased home demand, unless, indeed, it be imagined that woollen manufacturers go on weaving an endless web which n.o.body wears. Nor is that all, for the figures of our import trade show that in addition we are importing considerable and increasing quant.i.ties of foreign woollen manufactures. So that not only have the home consumers more than recouped the British woollen manufacturer for the decline of his export business, but so great is their purchasing power that they can, at the same time, afford to send abroad for fresh woollen stuffs to please their fancy. Here are the figures showing the consumption by the inhabitants and manufacturers of the United Kingdom of three staple articles referred to:-

CONSUMPTION OF COTTON, WOOL, AND COAL IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

+-----------------+--------------+--------------+---------------+ | Average of Five | Cotton (Raw) | Wool (Raw) | Coal | | Years. | Million lbs. | Million lbs. | Million Tons. | +-----------------+--------------+--------------+---------------+ | 1870-74 | 1,178 | 342 | 108 | | 1875-79 | 1,221 | 353 | 118 | | 1880-84 | 1,445 | 354 | 136 | | 1885-89 | 1,467 | 416 | 141 | | 1890-94 | 1,590 | 475 | 151 | | Year 1895 | 1,635 | 510 | 157 | +-----------------+--------------+--------------+---------------+