A RUINED TRADE.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") STR,—As a constant reader of the Spectator, I find in your issue of July 11th an invitation to Mr. H. F. Wright to supply you with a case in which an industry has been killed by competition from a Protectionist country. I can name an industry which flourished in England and Ireland before the time of Free-trade, and as it concerns my family, I can speak from experience. A relative of mine owned a very important glass factory, employing some fifty travellers ; Free-trade set in, Austrian glass was admitted free, and my relative was completely ruined. Needless to say, many hundreds of work- men, and some of them very skilled in cutting crystal, were left without employment.—I am, Sir, &c., J. M. FREYNNOTH.
[The glass trade has, we believe, suffered far more from the restrictive policy of the Union in that trade, and also from the want of enterprise and scientific training in the masters, than it has from foreign competition.—En. Spectator.]
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