Does free trade need cheap labor?

ehartshorn77: Richard Cobden perhaps the the greatest orator , and organizer for free trade
one of the most tenacious anti labor laws person ever, the man who led the Anti Corn Law league, the opponent of slavery, lover of free trader, and well paid by the Manchester industrialists gave an answer to this.


“Upon the prosperity, then, of this interest, hangs our foreign commerce. To what are we indebted for this commerce? We answer in the name of every manufacturer and merchant of the kingdom- cheapness alone of our manufacturers.Are we asked, how is that trade protected, and by what means can it be enlarged? The reply is by the cheapness of our manufacturers. It is inquired how this mighty industry, upon which depends the comfort and existence of the whole empire can be torn from us? We rejoin, only by the greater cheapness of the manufactures of another country.” Protection and Prosperity George Boughton Curtiss page 201

Fog Swept Glade: Sorry to hear it. Crying shame we have to have cheap labor for the sake of industrialists to continue a calling or profession. If they were any good at what they do they would already be doing it because of their wealth. No man is an island an relations are somewhat important but a job done well is a well paying job. Sometimes my clothing makes me feel like I am hurting somebody. The fact remains, in some places that is the custom and in others you can cause a disturbing rebelion with a lack of safety or just compensation. I‘m not going to stunt my village so anybody can have slaves just to see a reframed renaissance due to a forgotten lesson either. I have me reason of immediate comfort to console me.