The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-12-22
American Products in English Colonies.

American Products in English Colonies.
We have frequently called the atten-
ton of our readers to the magnificent
market for products of American inven-
ton and industry which is open in Aus
tralia. Progress on that continent only
finds its parallel in our own past history,
and its movement was never so rapid
as now. How our manufacturers and
inventors are taking advantage of the
opportunity offered is shown by the fol-
lowing, from the British Mercantile Gu
zette Beef, cotton cloth and hardware
have hitherto been chief among the pro-
auctions wherewith England has uni
formly distanced competition; but what
with importation of American beef, the
sale of American cottons in Manchester
itself, and now our large exports of
hardware and machinery to English
colonies, it would seem that the condi-
ton of affairs, so far as our English
rivals are concerned, is very truly, as
the Gazette states, one of serious i'm
portance. eve allude," says our con-
temporary, "to the ever-lengthening
list of American-made goods which not
only in foreign markets, but in our own
colonies, and even in this country, are
gradually displacing and superseding
English manufactures of the same de-
scription. In Australia and New Tea
land, which are now almost the only
shipping markets that exhibit any real
vitality, the successful growth of this
competition is especially alarming.
Every month, we are told, on the au-
thority of some of the oldest and largest
firms in the trade, adds to the list of
American and diminishes the list of
English made goods. Sydney, it is
stated, swarms with the representatives
of American hardware houses, who
spare no eXertions to wrest the orders
from English firms, and in too many
cases with success, and the reports from
Sydney are echoed from Melbourne,
and from the principal towns of New
Zealand, Canada, the Cape, and many
of the leading States of South America.
In Australia and New Zealand the
United States houses, we are assured,
are carrying all before them, and at the
present rate of progress it will evident
ly not be many years before these splen-
did and expanding markets are entirely
lost to the manufacturers and merchants
of the old country.
"The competition is not confined, as
formerly, to those articles for the pro-
duction of which the Americans enjoy
natural advantages, such as wood work,
but extend to leather goods, tinware,
machinery, every description of imple-
ment and edge tool, carriage aXles,
force-pumps, spades, shovels, axes,
forks, files, locks, scales, tacks, rivets,
pulleys, sewing-machines, stove CRATES,
guns, pistols, and other products too
numerous to mention. In all these
branches of manufacture the Americans
are rapidly increasing their Australian
business, whilst the English makers are
losing ground. Australian commerce,
as a whole, is certainly expanding, yet
the returns of many well-known En-
glish firms who supply the markets of
Sidney and Melbourne are not now one
tenth of what they were few years
ago. If we ask for an explanation of
this extraordinary falling off from those
who are in a position to answer us, we
are told that it is due to the successful
competition of the Americans, who beat
our manufacturers sometimes in price,
always in quality, and not unfrequently
in both. English manufacturers are
slow to adopt new patterns or to ac-
commodate themselves to the wants of
their customers, but their American
competitors spare themselves no pains
or expense in this way. They are con-
stantly on the lookout for novelty and
improvement, and by good trade organ
ization and close intercommunication
they are always kept well posted up in
what is being done by their rivals in
other parts of the world. Their illus
trated pattern books, which are dis
tributed with lavish hands among their
customers, are marvels of engraving
and Typography, and no amount of can
vassing or advertising is spared to bring
the merits of their productions before
the world. Above all, the Americans
take care that their goods shall CORE
spond to sample, and be turned out in a
| finished and workmanlike manner, UNI
like those of many English makers, who
never trouble themselves to inspect the
work they send away."-Scientifc
american.