The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-03-02
old ENGLAND STIRRED Up
FEARS AMERICAN AND GERMAN
COMPETITION IN COMMERCE.
AND INDUSTRY
0UTSTRIPPED BY HER RIVALS
Unless She Adopts the More Modern
and Enterprisfng Methods of
Other Nations Her
a.l Fate Is Sealed.

That widespread interest is being
| aroused by the series of articles now
appearing in these columns on the urgent
necessity there is for England looking to
nef commercial laurels, is exemplified by
| the fact that both the press and our
standard magazines are taking up the
SUBJECT in most serious vein The ex-
tracts which are given below are cullad
from the Fortnightly, the Contemporary,
and Casters, all periodicals whose ut
'erances, emanating as they do from tie
pens OF experienced and expert writers.
! deserve attention and thoughtful cons d.
| eratlon Ihey may seem pess. m site, per-
| maps, out the warnings they convey ca =
| not be disregarded with impun:ty. Our
commerce is at stake; in other words. our
! empire
! In an article by "Calchas,, entitl ID
| VIII England Last the Century," VIII h
appears in this months For nghtlv. the
writer declares that IF we cannot Ike d
our trade we cannot keep our EMPIRE
THE ISSUE OF. THE CENTURY.
Ihe broad issue for the twentieth CEN
fury is whether Great Britain or the
| German empire at the end of the next
| TWO Or three genera tons will POSSESS tho
relative ascendancy in trade and it's in
| separable attribute of sea power. IT'S
obvious that either or both may he sur
passed by the United States. Between
.nese three the contest must be decided
Inc result IN our case absolutely depends
upon the timeliness and intensity with
winch we may realize that this must be
the actual problem of the new century.
| whatever view may be taken of the NTH
mate solution
Unless the empire is re-engined-the
metaphor is naturally suggested by the
Atlantic triumphs of the Hamburg
steamers-we shall be outstripped.
| we are, in short, nation in jeopar1y.
| put We are not nation in decadence. and
1t Is as certain that our future for an
otner century at least is in our hands az
| that of Prussia was in those of Stein and
scharnhorst in the period of reconstruct
| ton after the debacle of 1906
| IL we go on as we do now, there need
| OF course, be no difficulty in drawing our
| horoscope TO the nation which is SUI
| preme In the scientific spirit the twen-
t1eth century must belong, and if Eng
| land IS to remain the interna tional igno-
ramus and to be dependent more and
more upon America and Germany for her
electricians and chemists, and for all the
! newest appliances in her oldest trades.
then the Wavering balance in which the
future OF the country hangs must drop
| downwards. r7'' .',NN
The British empire as vet has tine.
, tllme' time, 70 send the stimulus of a
~.
deriving Its invaluable strength from is
urgent sense OF necessity throughout
every class of her people, from top IT,
schools. ~ 'eA 1'''"hI
Twenty. years hence it may-it prob
aoly WILDE already too late.
oUsTED FROM EVERYWHERE.
Mr.. William Clarke has This to cav =,
the Contemporary Review for Decembnr.
GetInan goods are not constantly ris-
Ing Ing IN intrinsic value, but they GUST Eng
world America has long passed Engand
In the iron and steel Manufacture hnr
ann a. product being. now almost double
1 nrsn Tune the American output of coal
SURPASSED that of England. In every
great International competition in ma
chiiinery America easily beats England
1T Is clear that the serious decline ne
england aagsia a, as a great Industrial center has
c ceguhr me ne energy Of Englshmen Will
e eeitni E,,t leaa them to make prodgious
eTgy, and Infinitely greater resources.
Will While bot both h. Germany and America dis,
than does England. All these consider
ttlons, therefore, point to English indus
trial decline. : - = '-
great industrial country, will be saved bV
her oversee empire. There can be no
g e1;ehas d delusion; Every British colony
dency to buy in the most Convenient
ENGLAND has been annexlne terri
tories which are. economically SPEAKING King.
Of no use. No effective demand can
CONE come from from the soudan or Uganda, and
glass continental city is Of more va value
to England, from the. economic point Of
miles, miles, imam In af tens of thousands of square
We may therefore regard the existing
schemes for maintaining England's ;ndnss.
tnal supremacy as all doomed to fail
Mr.. Louis Caster, writing in (-asst.r,.
magazine for the present month on s'1'he
Industrial Supremacy of Great Britain
ut t the following note Of warning:
ore among modern nations, but it is
open to doubt whether there is in Great
britain single blast furnace that can
naces now smelling iron in America
for shipment to Europe Britain was fhe
n ,,,an,,f maker Of coke for smelling and y
ovens have long been antiauated and
she Is only now tardily adopting ovens
and plant Of foreign design. There is
firm from having blast furnaces as large
I Iahon COKE ovens as perfect. and both as
they da ont do as Il IN ,nt, America Simply
then they may be too late''
In the same article the writer saws:
ceive that the real troabls n we ce n
summed up in four tf1ings-oveI y Nc
seryatism, imperfect distribution OF labnr
insufficient specialization, and the rvra
ny OF labor. The greatest blow to Rrit-
1sh industry was dealt when the trada
unions were allowed to get their handa
into works management The -sshnn
steward Is the curse of masters and naep
alike, for HIS mission really fs m ssa
that every man does the smallest nos
sible amount Of work spread over fIe
longest possible number OF hours No
Industrial system can survive the blight.
ing influence OF such practices as We're
revealed during the engineers strike.
and which prevail more or less-gene-a1Iy
more-in all the Industries in the co,in1 q
try In which trade unionfsfn is sfronp -
The century upon which we are now
entering will witness such a contest ~
u;rGj1,acy in trade that the wor,d -.
never yet seen. and unGer coaditia,s .sr q
which the world has only begun 70 ba, ~
experience. At the beginning Of 1the
nineteenth century the United States nc
an industrial factor in the words esons
Gm1es, were negligible quantity. At
the beginning of the twentieth Scenfnrv
they seem to hold the key to the situa-
The most formidable fact with wbic,,
industrial England is Confronted At tba
opening of the Twentieth centurr Is
american competition. That comps.ition
at the present time almost affects and
threatens the three staple British @1nd,1s
tries OF iron, shipbuilding and engineer
fng Never were these industries ca
active prosperous and expansive as in
the two or three closing years of#.the. !.
century We have just left behind US
Never We're these industries SO seriously 3