The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-10-17
American Hardware in England.
LAmerican Cor. shefaeld Enq.) Telegraph.

lAMeENan SOT' onennelo NtAnR.l Telegraph
Thirty years ago there were few ar
ticles that went to make up the stock
of an American hardware merchant that
were not made in Great Britain. A few
articles of heavy weight and coarse con-
struction were made here. Gradually
from that day to this, the inventive
g, MUS of our people has been exercised
to devise new methods of manufacture,
new articles of utility, until the whole
line of a first-class stock of hardware
can be made up from goods of Ameri-
can manufacture. In conversation with
one of our merchants recently, he in
| formed me that the American-made
goods had superseded the English,
| being vastly superior in many cases.
He instanced the matter of locks. These,
he said, which formerly were imported
| of the cheaper grades, would be so i'm
| perfect that about one quarter would go
to the waste-box as old iron. Padlocks,
he said, that are now for sale at fifteen
cents, of American make, are perfect for
what they are pretended to be, and none
ever went to the waste-box, as formerly
did the imported goods of the same
| class. [ inquired of this merchant what
per cent. of his large stock was foreign.
He eplied not over five per cent, and
| he questioned if over half that were
| foreign goods. He stated that occasion
| ally they purchased job lot of Sheffield
goods, but that almost nothing came in
to their stock regularly of foreign make
''My own observation of the condition
of the the trade, in both England and
the United States, convinces me that for
neatness of design, beauty of finish, and
economy of material in manufacture, we
excel the old country manufacturers,
and that erelong we shall take possession
| of the markets of the world, / do feel
almost certain.
The general appearance of what is
| called an ironmonger's stock, at present
| in London, is that of a mass of clumsy
materials, little improved from what
might have made up the same kind of
| stock thirty years ago, unless you go
| into one of the better class of stores,
| where many of our goods are finding
| their way. Noticing hatchets and ham,
mers and various articles of American
manufacture for sale imam English stock
I enquired how it happened that so
many American goods were finding a
market in England. The reply was that
while the English goods were the best @
the American goods were lighter and
| handsomer, and hence the American
| goods sold as a matter of taste. You
could not expect an honest confession.
Ienquired why it wa that the English,
with their cheap labor, with all the
knowledge that long experience gives,
should permit the Americans to enter
their markets with their merchandise.
He replied that the English manufac-
J turers were generally unwilling to
, change their mode of work that in
goods that had once been pc ular and
found ready sale, they could see no ca
son why change should be made. This
CO. servatism of commerce is doing its
sad work for the English manufacturer
of iron goods, and, think, IN some
other departments. Another thing that
binders improvement is the unfriendli-
ness of their patent laws. While with
us an ingenious inventor can protect the
| produce of his brain labor at the patent
| office for some $35, it will cost nearly
| $500 to do the same thing in Britain.
| This will explain in part why the detail
of our goods is larger, and also why oul
devices for manufacturing by labor-sav,
ing machinery and for Superior finishing
are so much multiplied as compared
| with the English