Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/635

Rh 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 influence of our steel-making capacity," adds Mr. Carnegie, "must be marvelous, for the nation which makes the cheapest steel has the other nations 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."

It is the relative cheapness of American steel that has given it preeminence, 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 'Reviews,' 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 factory 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 manufacturing 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.

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, attributes 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