The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-09
IS HE AN AMERICANA


All that an Englishman or a German
or a Frenchman asks of the great man
of his country is is his allegiance to his
native country firm and abiding, and do
his acts carry out his faiths he Eng
Iish, is he German or French? Not alone
In his tongue, or his dress, or his man..
ner, but in his enterprise, in his projects
at home or abroad. If he fathers
commercial company, is he so much an
Englishman or a German that the results,
the dividends, will come into the nav of
the mother country? If he borrow
money for use abroad, will he borrow Of
the Dutch or of the English? If he Sc
cures a concession, will it rebound to
English or German control and trade in
f1uence? If his corporation secures
valuable franchises in Asia or South
America or the United States, will its
work absorb English or German or
French surplus talent and pay its div
idends to home subscribers of stock? If
he wishes to devote a portion of his
wealth to charity or education, will it go
to home or foreign eleemosynary insti-
tutions or universities? If he is a la
Dor agi.ator, does he keep in view the gen.
eral expansion of English or German
trade and the extension of home pay
rolls, or does he give up his country to
his discomfort? The strength of the Eng
lish has always lain in the love of them
selves, of the English; and the strength
of the German empire lies in the love
of the German for the fatherland and
the mother tongue.
A recent article in the Iron Age calls
attention to an inherent weakness in
American merchants and manufacturers
when seeking trade abroad. We are too
fond of our brag. We are too proud OF
underselling abroad at the expense of
the home market. And in underselling
We are too apt to play sharp" and turn
off inferior goods at the cost of a fu~
ture market. We also expose our hands
too freely. A new invention or new
J. process is freely exploited, and Is as
freely appropriated by the Germans or
French, though the English are English
enough not to care to steal some others
ideas or inventions. Our bicycle and
typewriter trade fell off in 1899 from that
of 1898, and the loss is attributed to both
these tendencies on our part. 1t cannot
be said that our -four or cotton trade has
suffered any on account of any such
weaknesses, but it is a safe assurances
that in flour or cotton we cannot cheat
the foreigner or give away a trade Sc
eret by exploitation or underselIing. In
flour it is perhaps true that we must
underseH the Hungarian -four, which is
of better meat" or lose the market.
But 1t is also true that the English must
have the -four, just as the home market
must, and that it would, If pushed, pay
better price Why not sell upon the
merits of the goods and the demand?
: That would seem to be true American
ism. That would seem to be caring for
home interests and home wages. But is
markets of our closest competitors? Is
1t necessary to teach Germany or Eng
land our methods Of selling or making
merely to be able to brag that we can
go into European markets if we choose?
Is the advertisement worth the loss Of
profits on the goods?
The laboring men of the country are
being asked to have some regard for ex-
portations, to regard the exodus of gold
when demanding higher wages and to
defer social revolutions until the mer-
chant Cdrine of the country has been
reyamped and reinstated and placed In
Its proper place among the nations of the
world. Trade journals are even raising
the question of whether the workman
ought not to forego his beer and his
weekly or monthly spree in order that
American workmanship and the capacity
of the American workman to turn out
finished products upon the quantitative
basis may not decay or fall away. The
test of patriotism promises to come In
ut every turn. Does prosperity spoil the