iving promise of holding her own against the best of her
competitors. The question arises whether it is something in the
people, or something in their natural and commercial environment,
which makes differences between their several rates of progress.

_Inventive Abilities widely Diffused._--In so far as originating
important changes is concerned, mental alertness and scientific
training without doubt have a large effect. Some races have by nature
more of the inventive quality than others, but within the circle of
nations that we include in our purview no one has any approach to a
monopoly of this quality. Any people that can make discoveries in
physical science can make practical inventions, and will certainly do
so if they are under a large incentive to do it. Moreover, alertness
in discovering and duplicating the inventions of others is as
important in actual business as originating new devices. At present it
is a known fact that the Germans not only invent machinery, but
quickly learn to make and to use machinery that originates elsewhere
and demonstrates its value in reducing the cost of the production; and
the remote Japanese have not only surpassed all others in the quick
adoption of economic methods that have originated in Western
countries, but have put their own touch upon them and revealed the
existence of an inventive faculty that is likely to make them worthy
rivals of Occidental races.

_The Importance of Inducements to make and use Inventions._--Granted a
wide diffusion of inventive ability, the actual amount of really
useful inventing that is done must depend on the inducement that is
offered. Will an economical device bring an adequate return to the man
who discovers it and to the man who introduces it into productive
operations? If it will, we may expect that a brilliant succession of
such devices will come into use, and that the power of mankind to bend
the elements of nature to its service will rapidly increase.

_The Usefulness of a Temporary Monopoly of a New Device for
Production._--If an invention became public property the moment that
it was made, there would be small profit accruing to any one from the
use of it and smaller ones from making it. Why should one
_entrepreneur_ incur the cost and the risk of experimenting with a new
machine if another can look on, ascertain whether the device works
well or not, and duplicate it if it is successful? Under such
conditions the man who watches other