Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-12-18
OUR INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
An Interesting View from a German
Source.
Hanoverian Courier.

al fiOH JlO uC1 Ill all
Source.
Hanoverian Courier.
Though the progress in the sphere
OF politics may be great, that in
the industrial sphere by far surpasses
it, and especially here is the astonishing
growth of the United States noticeable.
Some thirty years have passed since
the American sewing machine was in
troduced here as the American ma
chince industry which was then begin
Ing to gain ground in Germany. Our
readers will doubtless remember how
much this invention was then talked OF
an invention that was doubly import
ant, entering as it did, into the homes
and families, and opening at the same
time new branch of ofindustry to many.
Few persons had the slightest idea then
that the machine was so to speak, the
pioneer of American industry, the COM
mencement of the long series of con-
quests which the the manufacturers on
the other side of the Atlantic have gain
ed over their competitors in old Europe.
Who would have thought then that
American products could or would ev-
er become dangerous to the then super
ior and stable European manufacturers?
America was an excellent, steadily grow
ing market for the European States, and
no one dreamed that the relative posi-
tions could ever undergo total change
and yet in less than two decades that
change has taken place not only in the
manufacturing but also in the farming
interests, and the effects are felt espe-
cialiy in Germany and England, more
and more every day.
1t must be left to the historians of the
worlds progress to ascertain all of the
many causes which have produced this
rapid growth of American industries.
What we have to deal with are facts,
which lay open to all the world. We
see q land, rich in all the products and
means of subsistence of the different
zones, with population brought togeth-
er from all nations. with form of gov
eminent which gives to persons as well
as corporations the highest degree of
freedom and which tends to advance
above all things the unfolding of indi-
viduality; with enormous tracts of the
best of land, which only wait the tilling
to yield their rich resources. What
European nation can show anything
like the same favorable factors for a
rapid industrial growth? 1t cannot,
therefore, be considered surprising if q
land like this can show idly-increas-
ing success. Not only have our exports
to the United States dwindled down in
the course of years to the lowest pos
sible figure, but We also find at every
turn American products in our own
country. We eat bread made from
American grain; American lard and
meat form another important article in
the subsistence of our people. Amer
lean machines, tools, fancy goods, toys,
household utensils, etc., are for the
most part, on account Of their good
qualities, in far greater demand than
homemade articles, and lately the
American textile industry has also be
gun to gain ground with us. How
enormous the American exports to
Europe really are is best shown by the
amount of gold sent from here to that
country. The interest on the American
bonds has long ceased to cover the
necessary remittances, and in default
of sufficient cOunter-orders for exports
from our side of the ocean nothing re-
mains but to make up the deficiencies
with gold. Raising the discount can
help nothing against these acts, for those
who buy goods must necessarily also
pay for them.
If we represent to ourselves this
change in our situation and ask our
selves in connection with the same, the
question: "Where will it lead to ?"
there appears before US a perspective
which, for our own industries, does not,
at the first glance, seem very promising.
1t is even harder in the industrial than
in the political sphere, to fight down a
superiority after it has once gained an
existence, and especially SO if, as in the
present case, wealth of natural re-
sources stands on the side which has
the upperhand. One might assert, to
be sure, that Americas productive i'm
pulses will cease when it can, like
rich man, retire and rest on its iaurels,
for it is a fact supported by experience
that there is, in this respect, a great
similarity between the psychological in
clinations of the individual and of the
mass; but before that day comes many
a decade may slip away and bring for
us new disadvantages. We spoke in
the beginning of ''series of conquests"
of the American industries. In such
cases the weaker must give way, as
long as it is impossible for him to COM
mand power equal to his adversary's.
But this very feeling is sharp spur for
the strengthening of his own power to
do. That the German manufacturers
are not unaware of this necessity is
well known, and, if we now touch again
upon this subject, we do it with due ap-
probation of all the attempts which
have been made for the ennobling OF
our German products. In uninterrupted
activity in this direction less our chance
of competition, Germany's hope for the
future!
The Wheat Region of the Northwest.
New York Sun.
Tho oo,,, ~, oroioI condition of tho