CAUSES OF MANUFACTURERS' SUCCESS 299 



at the thought of what is likely to be the effect on the race 

 of making millions of workers little other than machines. 

 Now and then I have been unable to restrain an open smile at 

 the tremendous conceit of the American manufacturer and his 

 colossal ignorance about things European. But it is not by 

 pooh-poohing his braggadocio, nor by moralizing about the 

 grinding conditions of labor, nor by complacently saying 

 British ways are good enough for us, that British manufac- 

 turers will stem the tide of American industrial success, which 

 is already more than threatening fields of commerce we had 

 considered exclusively our own. It is not sufficient to point 

 to the fact that British trade is increasing, and so dismiss 

 foreign competition as the nightmare of pessimists. Increase 

 of trade can only be considered comparatively. And while 

 we crawl, America bounds. 



