less wages. Fourth, that England would not be able to compete with foreign countries through the export of manufactures, partly because the foreign countries would raise protective tariffs and partly because wages were very low in foreign countries, and we should have to reduce wages accordingly. Fifth, that the reduction of wages was the real object of the masters who took part in the agitation. Sixth, that no good could be done until the profit-mongers were deprived of their monopoly of political power. Seventh, that the real solution of the problems of unemployment and surplus population was the land. It may be said that, even allowing for garbled reporting, the Free Trader's arguments were hardly good enough to convince a less prejudiced opponent than Leach.[1]
The Northern Star of course took a prominent part in the controversy. In January 1842 it produced the following argument to prove that the extension of foreign trade, so ardently desired by the Manchester men, was no matter for which the working classes should show enthusiasm. It gives the following statistics of foreign trade:
| Official value of exports. |
Real value. | Taxation. | |
| 1798 | £19,000,000 | £33,000,000 | £16,000,000 |
| 1841 | £103,000,000 | £51,500,000 | £53,000,000 |
Thus the extension of foreign trade meant that we had to give five times as much labour and raw materials to produce one and a half times as much goods in 1841 as in 1798. The labourer had to give five times as much labour for one and a half times as much wages. In addition to this he had to pay over three times as much in taxation. Arithmetically considered, the labourer was paying proportionately ten times as much taxation in 1841 as in 1798.
Suppose now, the argument proceeds, we abolished all our foreign trade, what then? We should lose fifty-one and a half millions a year. But we could easily reduce taxation by forty-eight millions, and our loss would only be three and a half millions. On the other hand, we should gain all the vast stores of food and clothing which are now annually exported; these would be divided out at home instead.[2]
Truly political economy was no mystery to the leader-writer of the Northern Star.
A very terse analysis is given by T. J. Dunning. The National Income as a whole is divided into Wages, Profit,
