NATIONAL RESOURCES. 27 



vantage, but the possession of the best machinery im- 

 plies much more; viz., that we have also the best 

 mechanics in the world. 



In close competition, any one of the three advantages 

 enumerated ought to insure supremacy, provided labor 

 were as cheap here as in Europe. The coincidence, then, 

 of these three great essentials of manufactures, each in 

 such signal measure as to constitute together a triple ad- 

 vantage, ought to offset the difference in the price of 

 labor, and with favorable legislation ultimately deliver 

 over to us the markets of the world. Already have we 

 won the first rank as a manufacturing people, our prod- 

 ucts in 1880 having exceeded even those of Great Britain 

 by $629,000,000. So soon is Mr. Gladstone's prophecy, 

 uttered a few years ago, finding its fulfillment. Speak- 

 ing of the United States, he said: "She will probably 

 become what we are now, the head servant in the great 

 household of the world, the employer of all employed, 

 because her service will be the most and ablest." And 

 it is interesting to note not only our position, but our 

 rate of progress. While the manufactures of France, 

 from 1870 to 1880, increased $223,610,000, those of 

 Germany $416,210,000, and those of Great Britain 

 $561,440,000, those of the United States increased $997,- 

 040,000.1 Moreover, the marked advantages which we 

 now enjoy are to be enhanced. While England's coal is 

 growing dearer, ours will be growing cheaper, and the 

 development of our vast resources will greatly increase, 

 and hence cheapen, raw materials. 



And while our manufactures are growing, our markets 

 are to be greatly extended. Steam and electricity have 

 mightily compressed the earth. The elbows of the na- 

 tions touch. Isolation — the mother of barbarism — is 

 becoming impossible. The mysteries of Africa are being 

 laid open, the pulse of her commerce is beginning to 

 beat. South America is being quickened, and the dry 



5 Our total agricultural products for 1880 were $;2,S11, 000,000; our manufact- 

 ures for the same year were $4,297, 920,000.— Mulhall. 



