But is it not the fact that every year sees an increase in
the exports of English goods,--that English workmanship is not
considered the worst, but the best, in the general markets of the
world,--and that numerous foreign makers place an English mark upon
their productions in order to ensure their sale?
It is by means of English workmen and English tools and machines that
continental manufactories themselves have been established; and yet,
notwithstanding their cheaper labour, we should command the foreign
market, but for the prohibitory duties which foreigners impose upon
English manufactures. Mr. Brassey, in his book on _Work and Wages_,
says, "It may be affirmed that as practical mechanics the English are
unsurpassed. The presence of the English engineer, the solitary
representative, among a crew of foreigners, of the mechanical genius of
his country, is a familiar recollection to all who have travelled much
in the steamers of the Mediterranean. Consul Lever says that in the vast
establishment of the Austrian Lloyds at Trieste, a number of English
mechanical engineers are employed, not only in the workshops, but as
navigating engineers in the company's fleet. Although there is no
difficulty in substituting for these men Germans or Swiss, at lower
rates of payment, the uniform accuracy of the English, their
intelligence, their consummate mastery of all the details of their art,
and their resources in every case of difficulty, have entirely
established their superiority.
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