Cudahy, and Schwarzschild and Sulzberger--had so
concentrated the packing business that, by 1905, they slaughtered
practically all the cattle shipped to Western centers and furnished
most of the beef consumed in the large cities east of Pittsburgh. The
"Tobacco Trust" had largely monopolized both the wholesale and retail
trade in this article of luxury and had also made extensive inroads into
the English market. The textile industry had not only transformed great
centers of New England into an American Lancashire, but the Southern
States, recovering from the demoralization of the Civil War, had begun
to spin their own cotton and to send the finished product to all parts
of the world. American shoe manufacturers had developed their art to
a point where "American shoes" had acquired a distinctive standing in
practically every European country.

It is hardly necessary to describe in detail each of these industries.
In their broad outlines they merely repeat the story of steel, of oil,
of agricultural machinery; they are the product of the same methods, the
same initiative. There is one branch of American manufacture, however,
that merits more detailed attention. If we scan the manufacturing
statistics of 1917, one amazing fact stares us in the face. There are
only three American industries whose product has attained the billion
mark; one of these is steel, the other food products, while the third
is an industry that was practically unknown in the United States fifteen
years ago. Superlatives come naturally to mind in discussing American
progress, but hardly any extravagant phrases could do justice to the
development of American automobiles. In 1899 the United States produced
3700 motor vehicles; in 1916 we made 1,500,000. The man who now makes a
personal profit of not far from $50,000,000 a year in this industry
was a puttering mechanic when the twentieth century came in. If we
capitalized Henry Ford's income, he is probably a richer man than
Rockefeller; yet, as recently as 1905 his possessions consisted of a
little shed of a factory which employed a dozen workmen. Dazzling as is
this personal success, its really important aspects are the things for
which it stands. The American automobile has had its wildcat days; for
the larger part, however, its leaders have paid little attention to Wall
Street, but have limited their activities exclusively to manufacturing.
Moreover, the automobile illustrates more completely than any