PAUPERISM AS A RESULT OF FREE TRADE 103 

 by the Foreign Office in a report by Mr Consul H. 

 Harriss-Gastrell on the trade of Wurtemberg. 



" Practically every industry is reported to be in a 

 highly flourishing condition. Orders are pouring in, capi- 

 tal is doubling with unparalleled rapidity, wages are 

 rising, and there is an extraordinary demand for labour. 

 The British Consul says : 



" *The general economic improvement in Germany 

 . . . has continued steadily, and in the latter of the two 

 years under review (1905-1906) attained a hitherto un- 

 precedented height. 



" ' There are no signs as yet of high water mark having 

 been reached, most manufacturers having orders for 

 months in advance. 



" ' The home labour supply has resulted in a very 

 general increase of wages, which in many industries 

 amounts to more than a 10 per cent, rise, and also in 

 many cases to a shortening of the working day.' " 



From such references as these, which appear con- 

 stantly in the public prints, it is manifest that the 

 country is now aroused to a sense of its own danger, and 

 that the entire question of labour is attracting intense 

 and widespread interest. This, therefore, is the time for 

 us to study the matter and to trace the evil which besets 

 it to its source. 



Much is made by publicists of the marvellous in- 

 dustrial prosperity of Germany, the United States and 

 other civilised countries, and with very good reason. 

 Phenomenal progress has been made in these countries, 

 but we can also point to enormous commercial and in- 



