FOREIGN TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 627 



In an article in the New York 'Evening Post' of January 12, 1901, Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie says the United States has not only supplied its own 

 wants, 'but is competing to supply the wants of the world, not only in 

 steel, but in the thousand and one articles of which steel is the chief 

 component part,' and expresses the opinion that the increasing demand 

 from the world at large 'can be met only by the United States.' "The in- 

 fluence of our steel-making capacity," adds Mr. Carnegie, "must be mar- 

 velous, for the nation which makes the cheapest steel has the other na- 

 tions at its feet as far as manufacturing is concerned in most of its 

 branches. The cheapest steel means the cheapest ships, the cheapest 

 machinery, the cheapest thousand and one articles of which steel is the 

 base." 



CHEAPNESS OF AMERICAN GOODS. 



It is the relative cheapness of American steel that has given it pre- 

 eminence, and it is the same with other products that are winning 

 their way abroad. Economy of production is the master key that 

 unlocks for us markets that seemed a little while ago to be inexorably 

 closed. This economy of production implies not merely low prices to 

 the foreign consumer, but a greater degree of excellence, a superior 

 adaptation to his wants. As has been pointed out in the 'Eeviews,' 

 as well as elsewhere, the American workingman, though receiving 

 higher wages, produces, with labor-saving machinery, at a lower unit of 

 cost, and his greater application and ingenuity enable him to avail 

 himself effectively of the most recent inventions and appliances for 

 improving the quality of his special line of work. The American fac- 

 tory system is highly organized and more efficient than any other, and, 

 if our export trade were as well developed, there would be little to 

 fear. The only lesson our manufacturers need to learn, it would seem, 

 is the necessity of manufacturing especially for foreign trade; and the 

 great increase of requests for information from our consuls as to the 

 kinds of goods wanted in particular markets, and also of manufac- 

 turing processes employed in this or that line of industry, encourages 

 the hope that there is beginning to be a general perception of this 

 important fact. 



BRITISH ESTIMATES OF AMERICAN PROGRESS. 



It is evident that foreign observers are keenly alive to the greater 

 efficiency of our industrial methods, and are seeking earnestly to profit 

 by them. A writer in the London 'Times' of December 29, 1900, attrib- 

 utes the American manufacturer's advantages over the British largely to 

 the consideration shown to young men and the willingness to utilize 

 their energy and enterprise. He lays stress upon the fact that it is 

 customary for American fathers "to discuss their business affairs with 



