Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-04-18
WHAT the LoNDoN T,mEs says,

of trade has been with us--our ex.
ports have exceeded our imports. As
a consequence we have had a great
deal Of the precious metals brought
to us from Europe, and gold declines.
Toreprescnt great things by small
as a nation we are in the position, we
would be as city and county, if we
were more Of a manufacturing com.
munity and kept most of the money
at home which We now send abroad
for manufactured articles, especially
implements for tilling our rich
prairics. Our nation is, under these
circumstances, gradually recovering
from the great load imposed upon
her by the most stupendous war OF
the century, and is soon 70 reach an
era Of great prosperity. The balance
of trade in our favor is simply the
money we are making each year, just
as the Industrious, frugal man lays by
his profits.
The exhibition at Philadelphia, last
year, opened the eyes of the English
people to our attainmcnts in manu-
featuring, and our successful COM
petition in the markets of the world
calls out from the London Times the
following confession of our powers
in this direction:
1t may be thought that the objects
exhibited at Philadelphia were not of
q character to be reproduced in large
numbers SO as to enter into the lists
Of commercial competition with those
Of other countries; but the truth is
not SO. We Aaop that our markets
are regularly supplied scih articles
manufactured an and imported from
the United States. A singular illus
tration of this successful rivalry has
been recently forced upon the attcn-
tion of all who are interested in cur
rent political events. The Porte has
been providing for future con-
tingencies by laying in supplies of
arms and ammunition, and in order
to obtain them ii has gone across the
Atlantic. H0ac are ace TO account for
this fact, except ugon the hypothesis
that rites and cartridges canbe bought
better and cheaper an Rhode Island
than en- WaracfckshireP We may re-
tain the command of the world in the
manufacture of iron-clads, but we do
not possess it in the manufacture of
small arms and if VIC have lost ii in
the latter case, how long can we hope
to keep it in the former? 1t is not
improbable that some persons, ami
mated with healthy patriotic
jealousy, will declare that the Turks
may buy what they want in the States
and may believe they have received
good value for their money, but they
will find out the truth when their
purchases are put to the test, if, indeed,
they shall prove to be wanted. We
do not say that the comfort thus sug-
gested has no foundation in fact, but
the amount of truth involved in it can
easily be ovcrratcd. After all allor-
ances are made, the manufacturers of
arms in the United States are prooed
to be real competitors arith as IN The
markets Of the ,eorld. Nor is this the
only branch of industry in which
their rivalry is felt. Ecen ia the tea
tile fabrics they are found to bid
against as IN neutral markets srhcre no
hostile tariffs yield any discriminating,
duties IN their favor. That this should
be the case in Canada may be partly
explained by the contiguity of the
Dominion, but it is true of more dis
tant marts, where we might be sup
posed to have natural advantages.
We arc afraid the supply of skilled
labor has not been kept abreast of the
supply of capital. We have already
intimated that it is in the command
of wakeful intelligence that the pro-
ducers of the United States exceed
ourselves; and we must trace this to
something more than the education OF
common schools, in respect of which
it is doubtful whether Che citizens OF
the Union are much better off than
our own population. The problem
is, perhaps, political rather than edu-
cational, and it deserves the closest
attention of those who are interested
in the future well-being ofthe nation.
1t is most important, because it is not
to be denied that the advantage we
have hitherto possessed in the COM
mand of cheap power naturally tends
to diminish with coming wears.