188 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



the United States, England's possession of the 

 carrying trade and prestige in the markets, and 

 the power of her accumulated capital, give suf- 

 ficient cause for fears on one side of the ocean 

 and hopes on the other that the United States 

 will some day share the world's markets with 

 England and become a great industrial nation, 

 receiving substantial rewards from all parts of 

 the earth for the well-directed and energetic 

 application of the acute and laborious practi- 

 cal genius which Americans long ago won the 

 name of possessing. The increase in the ex- 

 ports of the most finished manufactured prod- 

 ucts has been within the last year or two even 

 greater than in the exports of agricultural prod- 

 uce. This must be looked upon not so much 

 as a vantage actually gained, for a severer 

 struggle with the enormous capital of Euro- 

 pean manufacturers and labor, compelled to 

 accept lowered wages there while in America 

 it can find other employment, may check for a 

 time the export of staple manufactures ; yet it 

 is a certain sign that America will at some not 

 distant date rival the foremost industrial na- 

 tions in the main branches of mechanical pro- 

 duction. The exports of all classes of iron and 

 steel products and of cotton manufactures in- 

 creased nearly 6 million dollars in 1878. The 

 markets for American manufactures are of two 

 kinds : the old countries whose mechanical 

 arts are of a primitive order, and the new 

 countries whose only products are crude ma- 

 terials, on the one hand (the so-called neutral 

 markets), and the manufacturing countries of 

 Europe on the other. In the neutral markets, 

 owing to the want of direct commercial com- 

 munications, American manufactures have not 

 gained the footing which they deserve. 



The similarity in its natural condition of 

 America to the sparsely populated and unde- 

 veloped new countries has led to the invention 

 and manufacture of such implements and other 

 articles as best suit their requirements. In 

 many articles of utility which are adapted to 

 European needs also especially those in which 

 cheapness, durability, and strength are com- 

 bined, those in which manual labor has been 

 superseded by mechanical production, and 

 those which embody ingenious mechanical de- 

 vices the active spirit of improvement has 

 developed an American product which is su- 

 perior in form, in the distribution of weight or 

 the selection of material, or in ingenious con- 

 trivance. Another important quality for which 

 American wares have thus far been distin- 

 guished in foreign markets is their honest gen- 

 uineness. Even in the style of packing, the 

 wakefulness of the American mind leads to a 

 saving of labor and trouble. When the Shef- 

 field hardware merchants ask the reason of 

 orders which they receive from English and 

 Australian retailers for American small cast- 

 ings, they are informed that it is partly due to 

 the paper boxes in which the goods are packed, 

 from which they can be readily taken out and re- 

 placed. All American improvements when once 



introduced in foreign markets are soon adopt- 

 ed or imitated by European makers. Even the 

 American trade-mark is copied. "When infe- 

 rior imitations are foisted on any public, the 

 fraud is sure to be detected and the genuine 

 article to come out victorious. It is said that 

 there are more American calicoes made in 

 Manchester than there are imported ; yet the 

 export of American piece-goods to England is 

 still increasing. The ordinary qualities of cot- 

 ton goods of American make, though of lighter 

 weight, wear better than the British, and are 

 always free from the clay and size with which 

 the English goods are often adulterated. If it 

 should prove possible to export cottons from 

 the United States more cheaply or as cheaply as 

 the Manchester product can be exported, the 

 vast markets of the Orient and of all the out- 

 lying nations are already opened to American 

 manufactures and alienated from the English 

 by their dishonorable practice of adulteration. 

 The inhabitants of Madagascar, it is said, will 

 take American cottons at any price in prefer- 

 ence to others. They are already shipped, 

 mostly in small quantities, to all nations. Of 

 the 11*4 millions of exported cotton goods in 

 1878, 2'5 went to China and Hong Kong, 1-5 

 to the United Kingdom, 1-3 to Mexico, 1-2 to 

 British America, 0'8 to Africa and Madagascar, 

 0'5 each to Chili, Colombia, and Brazil. 



The American locomotives and railroad cars 

 are the only kinds adapted to new countries, 

 where railroads must be laid cheaply, with un- 

 even beds and winding curves. The American 

 agricultural machinery goes to all countries 

 where farming on a large scale is practiced, 

 and it has not yet been successfully copied in 

 Europe. The superiority of the simpler tools 

 made in the United States, in material and 

 workmanship, and above all in form and the 

 nice adjustment of weight and parts, is rec- 

 ognized in the British colonies to the conster- 

 nation of English makers. The form of the 

 American axe is admired as a marvel of inge- 

 nious adaptation to the work to be performed; 

 the plow has been subjected to equally impor- 

 tant modifications ; and in saws, spades, hoes, 

 and mattocks, and all the implements of agri- 

 culture and forestry, improvements have been 

 wrought in this country while Europe has con- 

 tentedly clung to ancient models. In locks 

 and other building hardware, a strong demand 

 has sprung up in England as well as in the col- 

 onies, on account of their superiority to the 

 ordinary Birmingham products in strength 

 and finish, and in handy and practical utility 

 of design. All new inventions of remarkable 

 utility are certain to be adopted in Europe, 

 more rapidly usually than European improve- 

 ments are introduced into America. Thus, the 

 hotel and goods elevators are being introduced 

 in Germany and Holland ; and celluloid is al- 

 ready affecting the ivory industry in England 

 and France. 



Whether the protective policy has helped or 

 retarded the sound and healthful development 



