ENGLAND: COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 1850-1914
=440. Development of English commerce since 1850.=—An accompanying
table sets forth the course of English trade down to the outbreak of
the World War. The figures refer, as in the previous table, to imports
for consumption in the country, and to exports of British and Irish
produce. To indicate, however, the share of commerce which the English
enjoyed merely as middlemen I add a column of re-exports, foreign and
colonial wares imported but shipped away again. If the amount of these
wares be doubled (since they figure both as imports and exports),
and added to the other items, the sum gives the gross foreign trade
(excluding that in precious metals). The system of valuation of imports
changed in 1854; under the old system of “official” values the imports
of that year would have been entered at twenty-eight million pounds
less than under the new system of giving the “real” values. This table,
therefore, is not directly comparable with the table of the preceding
chapter; and to remind the student of this I have left a few years
vacant, making a gap between the two tables.
=441. Importance of England and of British Empire in trade of the
world.=—A mere glance at this table will be sufficient to show the
progress that has been made since 1850. Some idea of the importance
of this trade, not only to England but to the world at large, can
be gathered from the fact that it amounted, about the middle of the
period, to nearly one-fourth (23 per cent) of the estimated total
foreign trade of the world, and at the close of the period, (1912),
in spite of the commercial progress of other countries, it was still
one-sixth. If we extend our view to embrace not only the little
islands in the North Sea, but all the countries depending on them
and forming the British Empire, we find the trade of this group over
one-fourth of the trade of the world.
ANNUAL AVERAGE TRADE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN MILLIONS,
STERLING, WITH ROUGH EQUIVALENTS IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
========+==============+=============+==========
| Imports | Exports |Re-exports
--------+------+-------+------+------+----------
1855-59 | £146 | $730 | £116 | $580 | £23
1860-64 | 193 | 965 | 138 | 690 | 42
1865-69 | 237 | 1185 | 181 | 905 | 49
1870-74 | 291 | 1455 | 235 | 1175 | 55
1875-79 | 320 | 1600 | 202 | 1010 | 55
1880-84 | 344 | 1720 | 234 | 1170 | 64
1885-89 | 318 | 1590 | 226 | 1130 | 61
1890-94 | 357 | 1785 | 234 | 1170 | 62
1895-99 | 393 | 1965 | 238 | 1190 | 60
1900-04 | 466 | 2330 | 289 | 1445 | 67
1905-09 | 522 | 2610 | 377 | 1885 | 85
1910-13 | 611 | 3055 | 474 | 2370 | 107
========+======+=======+======+======+==========
A survey which omits from consideration trade across land-frontiers,
and considers only sea-borne trade, is even more impressive. Of the
total sea-borne trade of the world in 1912 it is estimated that 15% (in
value) was between countries within the British Empire, and 39% was
between the Empire and foreign countries. Thus the trade of which one
or both terminals lay within the Empire was over _half_ of the maritime
trade of the world. The trade of which one terminal was in the United
Kingdom amounted by itself to about 40% of the world’s total sea-borne
trade.
=442. Chief causes of the rapid development of English commerce.=—The
causes of this development may be summarized briefly as follows: (1)
The English people were the most advanced, in industrial and mercantile
ability, of any people in the world. They had the start on others
in manufactures and trade, and reaped the benefits of their early
training in this period. (2) The geographical situation of England,
and the physical resources of the country, especially its coal, made
the English superior to most peoples and equal to any, in this age of
transportation and manufacture by steam. (3) The commercial policy of
the government allowed the people to make the most of their advantages.
Toward the close of the eighteenth century an English statesman had
told Benjamin Franklin of his idea “to make England a free port, for
which he said the English were especially fitted by nature, capital,
love of enterprise, maritime connections, and position between the old
and new world, and the north and south of Europe, and that those who
were best circumstanced for trade could not but be gainers by having
trade open.” This idea waited long for its realization, but on that
account led to the more rapid progress when it was carried into effect.
Within five years of the repeal of the corn laws exports rose fifty to
one hundred million pounds sterling per annum; manufactures and trade
developed by leaps and bounds. Free trade alone cannot be credited with
all the progress that England made in this period. It was, perhaps,
the least of the three factors enumerated, but still it was of such
importance that the other two factors would have been of much less
effect without it.
=443. Character of English exports.=—This trade had now in a more
pronounced form, the characteristics which it had been gradually
assuming and which make it one of the most remarkable examples of
advanced commerce in the world. Considering first the exports, we find
that over three-fourths of them (in value) have consisted of wares
wholly or mainly manufactured. Only one raw material has gone out in
great quantity; this is coal, which has contributed about one-tenth of
the total value of exports. Aside from coal few wares, and those of
relatively slight importance, have left the islands in their crude form.
=444. Leading items among the exports.=—Cotton manufactures kept their
place at the head of the list of exports, comprising about one quarter
of the total. England in 1913 exported the enormous sum of over seven
thousand million yards of cotton cloth a year. The exports of iron
and steel and their products rose in this period to the second place;
England was now purveying to other nations the means of raising the
structure on which modern manufactures and transportation are based.
The growth in the exports of machinery is especially striking; this
item increased over fivefold within the fifty years to 1900, and
doubled again in the short period before the outbreak of the war. Below
these leading items come others with which we are already familiar
(woolen and linen manufactures) and some which had gained promotion
on the list of exports; leather goods, chemicals, jute manufactures,
pottery, etc.
=445. Imports; prominence of foodstuffs.=—The fact suggested by
the list of exports, that England has specialized more and more in
manufactures, is borne out by the list of imports during the past
half century. Since the adoption of the free-trade policy the English
people has been freed from dependence on the home supply of food and
has supplied its necessities by purchases abroad. Among the imports,
therefore, we find that the largest item is that of foodstuffs, which
has grown rapidly both in its absolute value and in its proportion of
the total imports. In contrast with the medieval period, when only
luxuries like wines and spices could pay for their transportation,
we find now the great food staples flowing to England from countries
thousands of miles distant. Improvements in transportation, due
especially to the use of steam, have enabled bulky cargoes to pay for
their passage, and the weight of the imports in tons has increased much
more rapidly than their value. Improved means of transportation and
preservation have moreover enabled the English to import perishable
articles like meat, fruits, and vegetables, and dairy products; and the
imports of these wares have increased from ten to twentyfold in weight.
=446. Imports of raw materials and manufactures.=—The same conditions
have affected the imports of raw materials. A century ago the
manufacture of iron from imported ore would have been thought an
absurdity, but it has become a regular practice now that freights are
so low; and the import of minerals is a respectable item in a list in
which the raw materials for the textile industry are still, of course,
most important. Free trade encouraged also a great increase in the
imports of manufactures, which grew nearly tenfold in the fifty years
to 1900, though they still were less important than foodstuffs and raw
materials. The largest item among them after the crude metals, was
silk, for the manufacture of which other nations have always shown more
aptitude; but the list included woolens, hardware, leather (boots and
shoes), paper, and many other items.
=447. Explanation of the excess of imports over exports.=—A feature of
England’s foreign trade deserving comment and explanation is the great
excess of imports over exports. It is natural to expect that these two
items, which seem to represent the two sides of a balance sheet, should
be nearly equal to each other; but in fact the value of exports has for
many years been far below that of imports, and the difference in the
years toward 1900 amounted to the enormous total of $700,000,000 to
$900,000,000 a year.
England did not receive this surplus of goods as a gift, but earned it
by services in the past and in the present which put other countries
under obligations to her. The English had invested enormous sums
abroad, and had the right therefore to interest and dividends; their
merchant marine did a large part of the carrying trade of the world,
and naturally had a large bill for freight to render to other people;
London was the financial center of the world, and made the foreigner
pay tribute for the services and commissions executed for him. There
were some items on the other side of the account, but on the whole
England had the right every year to take from other countries in the
form of goods vastly more than she exported to them.
=448. Detailed items in England’s international balance.=—The items
which go to make up the credits and debits of England in relation to
other countries may be set forth in the form of a balance sheet, as in
the table below, which gives the estimate of these items for the year
1910. Figures are given in round millions of pounds sterling.
_Credits_ _Debits_
Exports of merchandise 430 Imports of merchandise 678
Re-exports (foreign mdse.) 103 Imports of bullion 71
Exports of bullion 64
Income from investments 178 Capital invested abroad 170
Earnings of shipping 100
Banking and business earnings 55 Earnings due foreigners 15
—- —-
931 934
The students should note several characteristic features of this
balance sheet. (1) Only the items at the head of the columns are
measured accurately: the others are “invisible” items, represented only
by pieces of paper passing through the mail, but these are, pound for
pound, of equal importance. (2) The inflow and outflow of bullion are
large items, but nearly balance; England has acted as a clearing house
for the payments of the world’s debts, and the distribution of the
world’s gold. (3) In this period England re-invested in other countries
most of the great sum due in interest and dividends. The English
investor may be pictured as receiving a dividend check from the United
States or South America, and as mailing it back instead of cashing it,
asking that it be added to the capital sum of his investment.
=449. Growth of the merchant marine.=—England was the leader among
nations in the carrying trade in 1850, and retained her position still
unchallenged at the close of the century. At the outbreak of the
war in 1914 nearly half of the world’s steam tonnage was under the
British flag; the tonnage of Germany, which came second on the list
of countries, was not one-fourth of the British. The number of ships
in the English merchant marine has actually decreased in this period
of progress, but the carrying capacity has grown immensely by the
increase in size of the ships and by the substitution of steam for
sailing vessels. It will be remembered that the protection afforded by
the navigation acts was removed before the beginning of this period.
The government has made generous payments for the carriage of mails,
but still has refused to pay regular subsidies or bounties for the
encouragement of shipping. English shipping, nevertheless, has held
its own. Of the steam shipping built in the twenty years preceding the
war, two-thirds were built in the United Kingdom, and over one-half was
built to sail under the British flag. While soon after 1850 the English
merchant marine carried not much more than half of the foreign commerce
of the country, the proportion grew in later years to two-thirds and
nearly three-quarters. This proportion declined somewhat in more
recent years, under the competition of Continental steamers, but it is
estimated that in 1913 British shipping carried over one-half of the
total sea-borne trade of the world, including nine-tenths of the trade
inside the Empire, nearly two-thirds of the trade between the Empire
and foreign countries, and nearly one-third (30%) of the trade between
foreign countries.
=450. Relative rank of English ports.=—The great commerce of the United
Kingdom was very unequally distributed among its parts, nine-tenths of
it going to England and Wales and most of the remainder to the lowlands
of Scotland. London still kept its place as the chief port not only in
the United Kingdom but in the world, mainly by reason of its import
trade; it was exceeded in the amount of exports by the second port,
Liverpool, which distanced all rivals in the important trade with the
United States. An immense gap separated these two leading ports from
the others, Hull, Manchester, Glasgow, Southampton, etc. Ports whose
names were famous in the Middle Ages and even in later times have
dropped into obscurity, with fortunate exceptions like Harwich and
Grimsby, which have recovered their positions in recent times. Their
places were taken by ports from which cotton and coal products are
shipped: Manchester, once an inland village but now united with the
sea by a ship canal and standing (1913) fourth on the list, the Tyne
ports, Cardiff, etc.
The importance of ports was measured in the preceding paragraph by
the value of the cargoes imported and exported through them. While
this appears to be the best standard by which to determine commercial
ranking it is proper also to consider not the value of cargoes, but the
volume of shipping entering and clearing from a given port. Measured
by the tonnage of vessels London was but little superior to Liverpool
before the World War, was inferior to New York and to Hamburg, and
about even with Rotterdam and Antwerp.
=451. Relative share of different countries in England’s
commerce.=—Taking up now the direction of England’s trade abroad and
the changes in its course during the last half of the century, we find
ourselves approaching questions which have roused acute political
controversy. Reserving for future consideration changes which have
shown themselves in the most recent period we may note conditions as
they were about 1900. England still found the trade with her European
neighbors the most important part of her commerce, making up about
two-fifths of the whole; this trade had increased by over one-half
during the last forty years of the century. Next in importance to
it was the trade with the British dependencies, a little less than
one-quarter of the whole, which had increased somewhat more slowly. In
the third place we may put, not a continent or group of countries, but
one country, the United States, between which and England the trade was
greater than between any other two countries on earth. England bought
from the United States in 1901 more than twice as much as she bought
from the next largest seller (France); and she sold the United States
in that year more than she sold to all the countries embraced in her
great Empire. This part of English trade, moreover, had grown more
rapidly than any other, increasing by once and a half in the period.
Grouping together all countries beside those enumerated, we find that
the trade with them had remained nearly stationary, and amounted only
to about one-eighth of the total.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
1. Treat the statistics, sect. 440, by graphic representation, in the
manner that has already been suggested.
2. Compare the reasons given for the increase of British commerce
with reasons that may suggest themselves to you for the growth of
the commerce of the United States. [See sect. 320 for a reference to
Gladstone’s views.]
3. The following list gives, in million pounds, the value of the chief
exports of home produce in 1900: cotton manufactures 62.0, do. yarn
7.7, woolen manufactures 15.6, do. yarn 6.1, linens and yarn 7.1,
jute and yarn 2.4, apparel and haberdashery 6.8, ships 8.6, iron and
steel 32.0, hardware and cutlery 2.1, copper 2.9, machinery 19.6,
coal, etc., 38.6, chemicals 9.2. Total exports of home produce 291.4,
exports of foreign and colonial produce 63.0, grand total 354.5. Treat
the figures as suggested under sect. 419. [The figures are from the
preliminary report for 1900, Statesman’s Year-Book, 1901, pp. 85, 87;
details of iron and steel exports will be found p. 88.]
4. Development of the iron industry. [Jeans, The iron trade of Great
Britain, London, 1906, or in Ashley, Brit. Industries, 2-37; Bell in
Ward Reign, 2: 196-237; Lady Bell, At the works, London, 1907.]
5. Development of the textile industry. [Soc. England, 6: 589-599.]
6. The cotton industry. [Slagg in Ward, Reign, 2: 153-195; Helm in
Ashley, 68-92; S. J. Chapman, The cotton industry and trade, London,
1905.]
7. The woolen and worsted industries. [Hooper in Ashley, 93-119;
Graham in Lectures, chap, 10; J. H. Clapham, The woollen and worsted
industries, London, 1907.]
8. Linen and flax. [Patterson in Ashley, 120-150.]
9. Pottery. [Soc. England, 6: 379-392.]
10. England as a wheat market. [Edgar, Story, chap. 5.]
11. The food supply of London. [Quarterly Review, Oct., 1899, 190:
467-486; Jan., 1900, 191: 117-137.]
12. England’s food supply in time of war; need of the navy. [H.
Seton-Karr in North Amer. Rev., 1897, 164: 651-663; W. E. Bear in
National Rev., 1896, 27: 133-144; Quarterly Review, 1905, 203-572-598.]
13. Project of national granaries for storing a supply of food. [R.
B. Marston in Nineteenth Century, 1898, 43: 879-889; Yerburgh in Nat.
Rev., 1896; 27: 197-207.]
14. British capital abroad and the balance of trade. [Mulhall in No.
Amer. Rev., 1899, 168: 499-505; Crammond in Quarterly Rev., 1911; 215:
43-67; C. K. Hobson, The export of capital, London, 1914.]
15. Development of the merchant marine. [Ginsburg in Ashley, 173-195;
Taylor in Forum, 1900-01, 30: 463-477.]
16. British shipping subsidies. [Root in Atlantic, 1900, 85: 387-394.]
17. Growth of British ports. [Ackland in Nineteenth Century, 1897, 42:
411 ff.; Browne in Contemp. Rev., Feb. 1918, 113: 190-199.]
18. The port of London and improvements. [Owen in Lectures, chap. 4;
Quarterly Rev., 1903, 197: 252-269; Marchant in National Rev., 1902-3,
40: 715-737, with map; Miller in Fortnightly Rev., 1902, 78: 796-805.]
19. The supply of British seamen. [Cowie in Contemp. Rev., 1898, 73:
855-865; Tomlinson in English Rev., 1911, 9: 114-121; Longford in
Nineteenth Cent., 1912, 72: 1114-1130.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The course of English commerce has attracted interest in increasing
measure, and publications upon it multiply, as we approach the end
of the century. Only a few books can be noticed here; the reader is
referred to the topics for references to other books and periodical
articles.
Ward, *Reign of Queen Victoria, contains good chapters on the
industrial development of the reign. Stephen Bourne, *Trade,
population, and food, London, 1880, is a careful analysis of the
decade 1870-80, and furnishes a good starting-point from which to
survey the course of recent trade. J. W. Root, Trade relations of
the British Empire, Liverpool, 1903, provides a survey of English
commerce at the close of the period, with special reference to the
pending question of tariff changes. Similar books have been written by
Edward Pulsford and L. G. Chiozza Money. A useful statistical survey
is provided by John H. Schooling, *The British trade book, fourth
issue, London, 1911. Lectures on British commerce, with preface by W.
P. Reeves, is mainly a description of the present organization. A. J.
Sargent, *Seaways of the Empire, London, 1918, is a good survey of the
geography of British trade; and Adam W. Kirkaldy, **British shipping,
London, 1914, includes both history and recent organization. **British
industries, edited by W. J. Ashley, is, however, the book deserving
of the warmest recommendation; nowhere else will the reader find such
good descriptions of the leading industries of Great Britain. Each
industry is described by a specialist of recognized authority, and
though the book does not go far into history it gives indispensable
information on the recent results of historical development. More
popular and less valuable is Great industries of Great Britain,
London, Cassell, no date (about 1880?), 3 vols.