The United States Consul of the Manchester Consular district has
expressed, on his return to America, a very interesting opinion in regard to the condition of the cotton operatives. His actual words are worth quoting :—" The United States buys in the dearest markets in the world, and sells in the cheapest, and its people consequently suffer,—that is, the masses of the people suffer for the benefit of a privi-
leged class We have heard a great deal at various times about the terrible condition of wage-earners and mill operatives in England, and these alleged hardships have been attributed to the Free-trade policy of Great Britain. This is all nonsense. As a matter of fact, operatives in Free-trade England earn better wages and work a less number of hours than do the workmen in Germany, Austria, or France, all of which are protected countries. Let us take, for example, the Consular district of Manchester. In this district are 5,000,000 people, and they are the beat-clothed and the happiest people I ever saw. They work shorter hours, have more holidays, undergo far less privation, and suffer less distress than any other people. Every man of them lives in his own little house and has his own fireside. There is no community in America that can compare with this in the comfort and hap- piness of its people." A more remarkable testimony to the benefits of Free-trade has never been penned. And yet Mr. Howard Vincent and his friends can hardly sleep at night because we do not imitate the McKinley Act.
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