Iii.—: Linen.

In 1892 very high tariffs were set up for flax spinning and linen weaving. The stimulus of Protection led to over-production. In the 1902 Reports of the Customs Commission, edited by M. Widmer, President of the Linen Committee, it runs as follows: “Exports passed the high total of 1900, and rose to more than twenty-two million pounds. Such an unprecedented total shows that something is wrong at home, for such sales abroad could only be effected at a heavy loss—an evil that must be endured in order to clear the market, but still an evil.”

Linen, hemp, and jute spinning employ 86,000 people, to 96,000 employed in weaving, rope-making, &c.