e journalists who take the labor side of the
question, the trades-union leaders, and a large number of the workmen
themselves, hold that we have little or nothing to fear from our
foreign rivals; that the depression, like those atmospheric ones of
which our American cousins are constantly warning us, will pass away,
and leave us with better times to follow. I will, therefore, as far as
possible, keep out of the region of speculation, give you a few facts,
show you some examples, and leave you to draw your own inferences.
Some two or three years ago ordinary axle pulleys of English make were
difficult to get; the price was scandalously high, and the quality as
scandalously low. Out of a dozen probably four would not turn round
without sticking, and the casting was--well, simply vile. I show you a
sample rather above the average, and the retail price for this
inferior article was 22s. per gross. All at once the Americans deluged
the English market with the pulley which I now show to you, and it
needs no explanation of mine to satisfy the mechanical minds present
of the superiority of the transatlantic article; but when we also bear
in mind that the price of the American was from 25 to 33 per cent less
than the English pulley, you can understand how the builders exulted,
and how the Volscians of the Birmingham district were fluttered. Then,
and not till then, would the English maker condescend to believe that
it was possible to improve upon the wretched things which he had
foisted upon his customers, and he at once commenced to copy the
American pulley. He has not yet succeeded in producing such a
beautiful casting, but I venture to say that he has improved the
quality more in the last eighteen months than in the previous eighteen
years.

Now take the ordinary door furniture. For generations the English
builder and householder has had to be content with the stereotyped,
with all its aggravating propensities. First, the little screw (so
small as to be scarcely perceptible to touch or to sight) shakes loose
from its countersunk depression in the spindle, gets lost, and lets
the knob go adrift; or next, the knob itself, formed of a bit of sheet
brass, turns round on its shank and the door cannot be opened, or the
shank, not having a sufficient bearing on the spindle, works loose,
and the whole thing is out of repair. It is the same thing to-day as
it was when it tormented my grandfather; for, of course, no
improvement could