The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1901-02-01
FRIDAY. FEBRUARY !. 1901
American Competition.

The new century's opening days are
destined to furnish a good many tri-
butes TO the skill and resources of the
United States in the general business
field. The London "Times" having
American competition in view, sounds
a note OF warning to England. ut Is
useless to disguise the fact that Great
Britain is being outdistanced," it de-
clares. 1.-THE competition does not
come from the glut caused by mis-
calculation az to the home demand.
Our own steel makers know better,
and are alarmed. The threatened
competition In markets hitherto our
own comes from efficiency in produc-
tion such as never before has been
SEEM" "There are only two great
countries from which we have any
thing seriously to fear" says a Brit
ish industrial expert, writing a series
OF articles in the London Mail, ""and
these are the United States and Ger
many, aud 1 place them in their rela'
tive order Of importance in this re-
spect."
This is testinon to the superiority
of the United States in the industrial
field which is significant. 1t was pre-,
sumably known to the writers Of the
two expressions quoted that the I'm
tied States in 1900 had gone ahead OF
the United Kingdom in the aggregate
OF its exports Of all sorts. 1t was un-
doubtedly known, too, 20 both of them
that the exports of manufactures of
the United States are growing
faster than those of agriculture pro-
ducts and the raw material of man
ufactures. What makes this circum
stance of portentous consequence to an
old industrial country like England
is That the gain in the United States
has beer greater in the past two or
three years than it was before. 1t
promises to be still greater in 1901
Not only does the United States meet
the other countries in the competition
for the trade Of Asia, Africa and South
America, but it is making inroads In
to their home markets. The amount
of the American goods sold in Eng
land, France, Germany and the rest of
Europe is constantly on the increase,
Notwithstanding the fact that we are
Disseminated against in the tariffs of
the Continental European nations.
Germany is making great gains In ex-
ports, but the expansion in this re-
spect is much larger by the United
States than it is by any other country.
Until about dozen years ago Eng
land had virtually no competition in
Asia and Africa which caused it any
uneasiness. The writer in the Lon
don mail" who has been referred to
says that Great Britain exported to
South Africa in 1889 about S65, 900, 900
worth of goods, and, while there ha>
been an increase to only $4,000, 900
since then the United States sextupled
its exports to South Africa in the in
terval, and now ranks second to Eng
land In this trade. 1t is evident that
that British authority believes the
day Is close at hand when the United
States will take the lead in the expor-
tation to Asia and Africa which his
own country has had for generations.
His words are echoed by other writer's
for the great papers IN London, Liver
pool, Manchester and the rest of the
British trade centers. While Ger
many is making gains in its foreign
trade, as compared with England, it Is
the United States which is really fear
ed. Not only has the United States
a larger population and immeasurably
greater natural resources than Ger
many, but its people, as the British
experts testify, are displaying a gen
eral versatility and adaptability In
all their great industries such as those
Of 20 other country can approach.
Here are the reasons why, at the OPP
ening Of the new century, horoscopes
Of American industrial advancement,
in the near future are being cast bS
British and other Old World authori-
ties which are more glowing than even
those which the American prophets
have been framing.-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.
The Great Modern Newspaper.