Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-07-07

What n Foreigner Thinks of Us.


What n Foreigner Thinks of rs.
From Chambers Journal
There is in the business atmosphere Of
the United States an electric intensity
not found i'll the most frenzied centres OF
Europe. The flood of highly educated
youngsters, now being thrust into it,
must add to the desperate conflict, and
young immigruting Britishers must be
prepared for difficulties that their elders
have not known there is q combat wait
ing them far sterner than any waged in
tumultuous, competitive Europe
Against tine operations of the confeder
ated lions of trade, the ablest man, single
handed, is as powerless as before n tidal
wave. Honesty counts for nothing pre-
vision is worse than blindness, for COM
binations of spectators defy all calcula-
tion. The corner" is now the mode of
making great wealth. And wealth is the
object OF an infinite majority of all Amer
icans the spending of it lavishly the
bcaU idcai Of enjoyment.
This makes excitement necessity of
existence. From childhood to age, in
cessant mental activity must be had and
it is curious to observe that speed of mind
is accompanied by great bodily quiet
unc. The lolling, lounging, armchair
loving Yankee has long furnished amuse-
mont to British athletes and pedestrians.
But this corporal laziness is the neces-
sary result of restless mental exertion.
Brains have so much to do that limbs arc
compelled to be quiescent. ''To get on"
III the United States, mind not muscle,
is the prerequisite. Intenning emf
grants should ponder this
For artisans there are just now excel
lent prospects. A great impulse OF ac-
tiyity prevails; everything is blooming
i'll the most encouraging manner. But
British tradesmen must be ready to eX-
change old methods for new ones, to for
get much and to learn much. l have
heard bitter repinings from men who
were too rigid to yield to American
ideas. Such should remain at home.
Anglo Americans have to work harder
than any other people in the world.
Whn | was III Cincinnati, bricklayers
were earning pound day, and the same
rate prevails i'll many other cities. But
the work was far more exhausting than III
England. Here bricklayer is''reckoned Il
good hand if he sets nine hundred bricks
per day thousand is high-water mark.
In the United Statas fifteen hundred is
the average, and some smart fellows have
set two thousand per day. Now, at the
outset, some Englishmen find this rapid
style simply destructive. And there is
no doubt that it taxes the energy of the
strong and clever Yet such is the Gus
tom OF the trade. For the weak and in
competent, it means exclusion from first
class employment and Punishment to
places remote from thriving cities, where
speed is slower, competition feebler, and
wages low Altl ough the standard is so
much higher than in England, our immi-
grants after Il period OF probation and
Gardening" are found equal to all COM
ers. Al instance of this will be APP
propos
A German master builder was erecting
a block Of houses. and his employees
were exclusively Germans. -Four Young
English bricklayers applied for work.
They were newly arrived, and met with
several refusals. At length, two were
tax en- on trial. BY the end of the week
the four were engaged by the end OF the
fortnight, all the Germans We're dis
missed and the Englishmen carried the
building to its completion. Their power
of work, quickness and steadiness gave
them n marked advantage oveI the Ger
mans. But their determination mot to
be licked was the real cause of their
triumph. The British characteristic tells
prodigiously i'll favor of the Anglo-Ameri-
can, and makes him fucHe princeps amid
natives and strangers. These Young
bricklayers told me they never worked So
hard III their lives before, and We're glad
that crucial test had revealed to them
"whnt they could do After this break
ing in they were equal to the highest
standard of American labor. One Of them
soon became an employer, and was max
ing sure tracks i'll fortune when last saw
him.
What have said of the building trades
applies to all others Indeed, the higher
deyterity, taste and skill II business re-
qulres, the more does the American work
man respond to the demand The plas-
ticity OF type to which have referred is
nowhere seen SO plainly as in the domain
of the useful arts. Germans an,t Frencll-
men have given IL finish to American
manufactures that is wanting in our own.
Besides there is n native neatness, the
result of high ideal of excellence. This
matter deserves the serious attention of
British manufacturers who are losing
many markets simply from the clumsiness
of their goods. There is rising in the
United States race of artists, designers
and artiticers who promise to surpass
those Of all other nations.
The fervor OF the climate develops the
aesthetic side of man. the clash of mil
lions of eager, inventive minds is produc-
ing a standard of excellence that is both
novel and exalted. The possibilities of
wealth are vastly beyond those of any
European state, and the love of the ele-
CANT and the beautiful pervades all
classes. The inevitable sequence of these
conditions must be widespread, all-domi-
mating art. 1t is seen in the gorgeous
public buildings, in the exquisite villas,
! in the light yet strong furniture, in the
: beautiful appointment of drawing-rooms
} and table equipages while every Amer
lean lady, yea, though black, is living
, evidence of an innate taste in dress that
, makes the English suffer by contrast.
, Into every avenue of life this character
istic of taste goes modifying manners and
behavior as much rs architecture, furni-
> ture, dress, ornaments and tools.