tury the island is poverty-stricken and flaming with discontent, what are we to think of the economic wisdom of that country, and of her pretences to guide and direct our voters and our

legislators as to what is necessary to promote our welfare as a people? Shall we go to the rulers of Ireland to learn how to make a country prosperous?

I desire to say a word to you about the industrial situation in France at

the present time. I have, as you know, a factory in Grenoble in the Dauphine Alps and the general manager of that factory, "The Dauphinoise," is now here on a visit with me. There are in France, as everywhere, two kinds of people,—those who work and those who agitate who pretend to work, but whose principal business is agitation. In the past years those who engage in the making of war materials have increased wages and this has tended to make the general price of labor greater than before the war. Then the large number of deaths and casualties has greatly decreased the help in different lines. For instance: Grenoble is noted for the amount and quality of its gloves; it is now impossible to get glove makers to produce the gloves wanted.

The high cost of living is another factor; the rise in prices is greater there, in proportion to the former scale, than in this country. It may be said that for the workers there is no sugar and little food, and for manufacturers no metal, no raw materials, and no coal. In fact, the want of coal is the great factor. It might almost

be said there is no coal. In Paris work is stopped one day per week for want of coal.

One

The situation produced by this state of things is that manufacturers cannot meet the demand for goods that are wanted in France and so can export but little practically nothing. fourth of France is destroyed and that portion was where some of the great factories were situated, so with this. destruction one-fourth of the industries are in ruins. There is in Paris a great power to produce a great variety of goods, and Paris is unhurt, but the people cannot get material with which to work. There are starting in textile centers a large number of new plants, but the great cry is for coal and in all industries the want of iron is a great drawback.

In the Dauphine Alps and in the regions about the mountains electric power is obtained from water, and the want of coal is not felt there so much as the shortage in raw materials. In the provinces or country regions of France, the old soldiers are coming back to the factories and are working well; on the whole, the workmen are doing well. It may be said that conditions as to labor are much the same in France as they are

in America, only there is not the unrest there that there is here.

In speaking of France it must be remembered that the agricultural interests are as great as the industrial interests, and the prosperity of France depends as much on farmers as on the factory industries; farm laborers are working and are willing to work from fourteen to fifteen hours per day and the frugality of the land workers of France is proverbial. They are both industrious and economical. Bank deposits are everywhere on the increase. It follows that in from six to ten years France will be again a prosperous nation.

The wages in France are considered high, but when you reckon them on the value of the present embargo they are much below ours; glove cutters get eight francs per dozen and make 12 or 18 francs per day or $1.32 or $1.98 per day, the present value of the franc being II cents. In Gloversville, N. Y., cutters get $2.00 per dozen and earn three or four dollars per day. The best mechanics in Grenoble average $2.75 a day. In America mechanics get from $7.20 to $8.00. The average workers in Grenoble receive from 15 to 20 francs per day or $1.65 to $2.20. Women in Grenoble receive from 7 to 12 francs per day, that is 77 cents to $1.32 per day. In Boston women receive from $2.30 to $3.00 per day. Brass in Grenoble costs 30 cents per pound. In Boston we pay for brass 25 1-2 cents per pound. Foremen in Grenoble get 30 francs per day, or $3.30; in Boston $50 to $60 per week, $8 to $10 per day. All men and women employed in a factory practically get the same wages in Grenoble; it is so hard to get them,

in fact, almost absolutely impossible. The following are the hotel prices in Grenoble :

Grand Hotel-Grenoble :

Rooms, 15 francs per day, $1.65. Lunch, 7 francs per day, 77 cents. Dinner, 7 francs per day, 77 cents. Breakfast, 2 eggs with bread and coffee, 5 francs per day, 55 cents. The following are the prices for food in Grenoble :

Sea fish, 30c. per pound.

Trout, 70c, to $1.00 per pound. Eggs, 77c. per dozen to $1.10 per dozen.

Beef, 65c., 77c., and $1.00 per pound.

Lamb, about the same price as beef. France has come out of a fiery trial, but it has emerged with honor and glory. glory. The heroic qualities that enabled France to triumph over a mighty and determined foe will bring about the reconstruction of the nation on broader and better lines. France will recover and again be strong, and we who fought by her side in the greatest of all wars will rejoice in her prosperity and development.

We need in this country the same high spirit of patriotism and the same devotion to national ideals that held France together as one man in the face of the enemy and saved the land from conquest and dishonor.

We need unity of purpose and of action in this country and a re-dedication to the ideals of the Republic. We cannot permit here the fomenting of disorder or the undermining of the government. Our wage-earners are the best paid workers in the world. They should be the largest producers in the world. Capital should be fair to labor; labor should be fair to capi

tal. With intelligent and honest cooperation this country can advance and prosper as it never has before.

All we need is for each to do his part, and do it faithfully. It is still true that in union there is strength.

The year has been one of steady progress for the Home Market Club. On November first a year ago we had 727 members. During the year we lost by deaths and resignations 22 members. New members added during the year number 86, so our present membership is 791 compared to 727 a year ago.

Our receipts show a gratifying increase. Special attention has been given to the improvement of our monthly magazine, The Protectionist, both in the character of the articles printed and in the revenue derived from the magazine. A year ago we had a deficit on the Protectionist account of $173. This year we have a surplus of $1317. It is an encouraging showing, particularly when the higher cost of paper and printing is considered. This better showing is due in part to the increase in the number of subscribers, but chiefly to the increase in advertising from an average of 12 1-2 pages last year to an average of 21 pages this year. This is the first year since The Protectionist was published that it has shown any considerable credit bal

ance.

Interest in tariff legislation during the year has centered in the hearings held by the Committee on Ways and Means under the chairmanship of the staunch and able protectionist, Hon.

Joseph W. Fordney, and in the tariff bills that have been passed by the House of Representatives.

Hearings have been held on 24 subjects, starting June 10, 1919, on potassium salts, potash, etc., and closing October 22 with a hearing on antidumping legislation. In connection with the tariff hearings the Tariff Commission prepared and presented for the information of Congress numerous reports on the subjects under investigation. The subjects of chief interest considered at the hearings and in the reports of the Tariff Commission were potash, magnesite, zinc and tungsten ores, graphite, pearl buttons, optical glass and laboratory porcelain and glassware, dyestuffs and coal tar products. These hearings were in harmony with the Republican policy of protection to American industries and in line with the suggestion in President Wilson's message of May 20, 1919, when he said:

"The experiences of the war have made it plain that in some cases too great reliance on foreign supply is dangerous, and that in determining certain parts of our tariff policy domestic considerations must be borne in mind which are political as well as economic. Among the industries to which special consideration should be given is that of the manufacture of dyestuffs and related chemicals. Our

complete dependence upon German supplies before the war made the interruption of trade a cause of exceptional economic disturbance. The close relation between the manufacture of dyestuffs on the one hand and of explosives and poisonous gases on the other, moreover, has given the industry an exceptional significance and value."

In accordance with this recommendation of President Wilson and as a result of the facts brought out at the hearings of the Committee on Ways and Means and by the reports of the Tariff Commission, the following bills were introduced in the House of Representatives and passed by emphatic majorities:

Aug. 2. A bill to establish and maintain the manufacture of laboratory porcelain ware, optical glass, scientific and surgical instruments. Aug. 21 A bill to promote the production of tungsten ore and manufactures thereof. Sept. 2 A bill to establish and maintain the production of zinc ores and the manufactures thereof.

Sept. 2 A bill increasing the duties on buttons of shell and of pearl.

Sept. 26 A bill to regulate the impor

tation of coal tar products and to promote the establishment of the manufactures thereof.

Oct. 9 A bill to repeal the Canadian reciprocity act.

Owing to the long-continued debate over the peace treaty in the Senate the upper branch of Congress has taken no action on these measures; ex

cept that a resolution has been introduced by Senator Penrose to continue the control of dyes and coal tar products by extending to January 15, 1920, the provisions of the Trading With the Enemy Act which prohibit or control the importation into the United States of dyes or other coal tar products, and with the exception also of an anti-dumping bill presented by Senator Smoot.

World conditions brought about by the war still operate as protection to American industries from serious foreign competition. When normal conditions return the need of higher duties on competitive products will become apparent. Our industrial safety and the maintenance of American wages demand wise and careful preparation for that eventuality. The world will in time resume normal production. The American market will be the goal of foreign manufacturers. If we are to have industrial stability and a reasonable measure of prosperity we must safeguard our industries and the wages of our workers by a fair, just and reasonable application of the policy of protection.

And we need, too, a readjustment of the relations between capital and labor, between employer and employe. We do not want a continuation of industrial warfare. Have we not had enough of war? Shall America be turned into a battleground like Europe?

There were three and one-half years of frightful carnage, and what came of it? Graves where there should be workshops and mourning where should be joy. Verdun is the most brilliant military episode in history; but the victors in that heroic de

fence were just where they were at the beginning. They could not turn their triumph into an offensive that would hurl back the foe. Stupendous as was the German drive in the spring of 1918 it failed to bring them victory. The war was a deadlock until a new force was thrown into the conflict, and only then did the scales of battle turn. The countries of Europe were left exhausted and prostrate at the end of the war.

Industrial conflict in the United States is a hopeless, a suicidal pro

Both

cedure. Neither capital nor labor could win in such a contest. would be impotent at the end. Each would lose and all of the people would be losers, too.

We need to get together for the good of the country, for the welfare of the people, for the peace of the world and to bind up the wounds of The spirit of a new age, of a new brotherhood, should guide and inspire us to work for the happiness and prosperity of America and the recovery and redemption of the world.

war.

The experiences of two Canadian manufacturing industries—those producing agricultural implements and woolens-present a clear case for adequate protective duties. Farm implement production in the Dominion probably is the first among Canadian manufacturing interests to graduate from the infant stage, and it only needs the comparatively small protection which it enjoys today because certain primary Canadian industries are still unable to supply its raw materials at as low prices as are paid by agricultural machinery concerns in the United States.

On the other hand, Canadian woolen factories, although much strengthened in organization, equipment, and efficiency as result of their splendid war service, have not yet fully recovered from the disastrous competition of British wool

ens as a direct result of tariff reduction, under the preference extended to products of the British Isles. Present limitations of the Canadian woolen industry have been brought home to the people of this country as a result of hearings before the Dominion Board of Commerce, but it is not generally appreciated that such limitations are the direct result of illadvised legislation in the later nineties.

Some thirty-five years ago the Canadian agricultural implement industry was protected by a high tariff, the rates running up to 35 per cent ad valorem. Such rates attracted capital, with the result that scores of plants in Ontario and Quebec engaged in the manufacture of farm machinery. At no time were there more than nine companies making binders in the United States, but in Canada