and Affghanistan, Burmah and Borneo, with British goods. Pauperism
lies necessarily at the root of such a system. "It is," said a speaker
at the late Bradford election for representative in Parliament--

"Its root. That system is based on foreign competition. Now I assert,
that _under the buy cheap and sell dear principle, brought to bear on
foreign competition, the ruin of the working and small trading
classes must go on. Why?_ Labour is the creator of all wealth. A man
must work before a grain is grown, or a yard is woven. But there is
no self-employment for the working-man in this country. Labour is a
hired commodity--labour is a thing in the market that is bought and
sold; consequently, as labour creates all wealth, labour is the first
thing bought. 'Buy cheap! buy cheap!' Labour is bought in the
cheapest market. But now comes the next. 'Sell dear! sell dear!' Sell
what? _Labors produce_. To whom? To the foreigner--ay! and to _the
labourer himself_--for labour not being self-employed, the labourer
is _not_ the partaker of the first-fruits of his toil. 'Buy cheap,
sell dear.' How do you like it? 'Buy cheap, sell dear.' Buy the
working-man's labour cheaply, and sell back to that very working-man
the produce of his own labour dear! The principle of inherent loss is
in the bargain. The employer buys the labour cheap--he sells, and on
the sale he must, make a profit: he sells to the working-man
himself--and thus every bargain between employer and employed is a
deliberate cheat on the part of the employer. Thus labour has to sink
through eternal loss, that capital may rise through lasting fraud.
But the system stops not here. THIS IS BROUGHT TO BEAR ON FOREIGN
COMPETITION--WHICH MEANS, WE MUST RUIN THE TRADE OF OTHER COUNTRIES,
AS WE HAVE RUINED THE LABOUR OF OUR OWN. How does it work? The
high-taxed country has to undersell the low-taxed. _Competition
abroad is constantly increasing, consequently cheapness must increase