WHAT ONLOOKERS THINK OF FREE-TRADE 63 



obtaining from such citizen the best results possible for the benefit 

 of the Empire as a whole, 



" It is reasonable to suppose that when the English people awake 

 to tiie losses actually incurred by them in consequence of the high 

 tariffs imposed by Germany and other foreign countries, that it is 

 necessary for the protection of the English workmen, that the 

 foreigners should pay for the use of the English market." 



Some extracts from the general body of the Eeport bear 

 with singular significance on the case we are considering. 



Comparative Poverty of England and Germany 



Crefeld, the seat of the German velvet and silk industry, 

 was the first great town visited by the Commission, and what 

 the delegates found there may be taken as the keynote of the 

 entire question respecting the Comparative Poverty of Great 

 Britain and Germany. 



" There is no penury to be seen in the streets of Crefeld," said 

 the delegates on visiting that place, and they saw no reason to 

 change this note during their extended tour through industrial 

 Germany. 



" The general condition of the working classes in the industrial 

 town of Crefeld impressed us. Wherever we came into contact with 

 them we were struck by their genial character, general physical 

 health, cheerfulness of demeanour and freshness about their work. 

 No sign of extreme poverty meets the eye ; the problem of the 

 unemployed obviously does not weigh upon the municipal authorities 

 at the present juncture." 



In Rheinliausen and Essen, Bechum, Dortmund ; in Selingen, 

 Dusseldorf, Cologne, Fraukfort-on-Maine ; in Bavaria and 

 Saxony; in Leipzig, Hamburg, Berlin, the same experiences 

 are met with. 



Widespread Poverty does not exist in Germany 



" Widespread, pinching poverty, in the worst sense of the word, 

 does not exist under the present conditions of the labour market. 

 There is a demand for labour, not a scarcity ; the working classes 

 here are receiving wages which, even if not quite up to our British 

 standard, are not illiberal, and are certainly above the standard we 

 were led to expect they were before we left England." 



" The (piestion of the unemployed docs not exist here." 



" The men in this neighbourhood earn good wages, so that it is 

 not necessary for the women to go out to work." 



" We could, however, see no trace of want. There is no lack of 

 employment, and all the works here are fully occupied." 



