THE COMPETITION OF THE UNITED STATES. 521 



good. The British tender to specification is usually lower than the 

 American. Locomotive works in England are usually smaller than in 

 America, since most of the large railways have their own shops, and the 

 outside constituency is small. In America few of the railroad com- 

 panies make their own locomotives; they buy them from the large 

 factories. 



The case with bridges is much the same as with locomotives. The 

 bridge companies build a number of bridges upon the same plan, hence 

 can supply the parts for any particular contract at a rapid rate and may 

 indeed have them on hand. 



The cost of transportation in the United States is very much less 

 than in the United Kingdom. The American cars are much larger, 

 carrying fifty tons, whereas the English cars carry eight tons, and the 

 American locomotives are enormous as compared with the English en- 

 gines. The average charge for freight per ton mile in America is less 

 than 0.75 cents, in Great Britain it is 2.4 cents, or more than three 

 times as much. Of course, the short journeys in Britain increase the 

 cost, because the terminal charges are the same whether the run has 

 been long or short. The complaint is made in Britain that the freight 

 on foreign goods is cheaper than on home productions, and that there 

 is thus a discrimination against the English producer. 



The United States has an advantage over the United Kingdom in 

 the technical training afforded. In this respect Germany leads the 

 world, but America far surpasses Britain. The total number of day stu- 

 dents over fifteen years of age taking a technical course of twenty hours 

 or more a week is in the whole United Kingdom only 3,873. In the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology alone the number of students 

 over eighteen years of age is about 1,200. It will be noticed that the 

 age in the American institution is higher than that in Britain, which 

 doubtless implies that a more advanced course of study is pursued. 



The question naturally presents itself, How is Britain meeting the 

 American competition? In some things it probably can not be met, 

 the advantage of natural resources can not be overcome. But the 

 English are awaking to the necessity of technical education and the 

 importance of making the best use of their conditions. More than 

 eleven years ago parliament placed at the disposal of the local author- 

 ities certain excise grants, commonly called 'liquor money/ Well- 

 equipped technical schools have been started all over Britain. Two are 

 being built in Ireland — one at Dublin, the other at Belfast — each to 

 cost $500,000. The new Manchester Institute of Technology has just 

 been opened. A school is being built in Glasgow to cost $750,000 for 

 building alone. In Birmingham over two million dollars has been sub- 

 scribed for a new technical training school. These expenditures are 



