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Show . THINKS WE GO TOO FAST. Business in the United States as Seen by an Englishman. London, Sept.- 22. In the course of a two-column article from an . occasional American correspondent, the London Times; today printed an interesting review, re-view, of the development of .business in the United States. The writer, who "returned home after an absence of 'nearly two years." took an extended trip through "half the states in the Union." He says: . , . "Never were my , countrymen so . devoted de-voted to business. The average man in the United States is giving at least an hour niore per day to his business j concerns than he did ten or twelve ! years ago." . , . The writer attributes' this increased energy, first, to the "renewed national .spirit" . and the increased responsibilities responsibili-ties resulting from the" Spanish-American war, and. second, to the sense of 'economy . "imbued from the severe depression de-pression of lS!3-lSfl7." though he does not overlook the "display of vulgar ostentatlon and almost criminal waste by a small number of rich, idle people in the larger cities." In minutelv analyzing America's fu- J ture in the world of trade, the writer says; "In the matter of foreign trade the manufacturing American has great ambitions. am-bitions. He. would like to trade with all the world. "He ' could ' not explain; this aspiration, aspira-tion, but he might fall-back upon his belief in destiny,. which is as strong in him as it is in a Mohammedan soldier, whose death in battle carries him into Paradise. The - American has come to have the strongest faith in his gift for direction. He is convinced that other people somehow are losing that power and he is convinced thai it is only a question of time whom the ' financial center will be shifted to New York or .Chicago. He does not take into account ac-count the fact. that . he has not yet developed de-veloped ' a banking system flexible enough to adjust itself to a commercial crisis." Trades unionism, the writer declares, is weaker in the United States than before, and while the wages in skilled trades advance, those in unskilled trades decline. 'Replying to a question as to -how long the present period of prosperity is likely, to -continue, the write;- says the general feeling in the United States predicts it will last "until the next presidential election is settled." He concludes with the following remarks anent foreign trade: "To my mind nothing is clearer than that whatever chances many Americans Ameri-cans had at one time of getting slowly but surely a paying foreign trade in manufactured products have been lost for the present. ' "First, through ignorance in not knowing and not learning the conditions condi-tions existing in foreign countries ' Second, by trying to make a place . for their products in crowded conir munities whose peoples have great experience ex-perience and ample capital, instead of outside or neutral markets. "Third, by inability to seek or tak the iidvice of those who knew or who had the chance to know. I "Fourth, by inopportuneness of effort, ef-fort, and, as if these were not enough, "Fifth, by rushing, blindly Into combinations, com-binations, many of which" are purely speculative, and then proceeding. to advertise ad-vertise all over the world their intention inten-tion to take everything and leave nothing noth-ing for anybody else. This thundering in index has. not left much for the text to say or threaten and little for its authors au-thors to do. - "These, however, are mistakes that will be overcome in time. When the home demand declines, when prices and profits, both in America and everywhere else, have come down to their natural level, when half or three-fourths three-fourths of the so-called trusts have gone to the wall like other speculative companies, and. finally, when the overwhelming desire for publicity and advertising has given way to a careful study of the conditions in the four quarters of the giobe, then will American Amer-ican competition become profitable to itself without .being of necessity, hurtful hurt-ful or dangerous to" the industries of other countries." |