XVI 
AMERICAN PREFACE. 
nothing in the case of those manufactures which embodj’ a large 
degree of skill and taste, since the cost of transporting them is a 
mere trifle compared with their value. 
The question then arises, How can foreign competition in 
products emhodying a large degree of skill or taste he best met 
in the home market? Bj' taritfs? certainly not. By cheapening 
labor? certainly not; but by properly educating labor. Espe- 
cially is this true in the case of art-manufactures whose market 
value is wholly or largely dependent on their beauty. A tariff 
may, indeed, compel one to refrain from purchasing the beautiful 
foreign product, but it will not necessarily make him purchase the 
ugly object of home manufacture. The latter does not meet the 
demands of the aesthetic sensibilities, and so is not wanted at any 
price. Can a man who is thirsty be satisfied with bread, however 
good it maybe? Can the ear that longs for melody be made 
content with the sound of a quartz-mill, however abundant the' 
gold it stamps out? Assuredly not. Neither can the desire for 
beautiful tliings be satisfled with komeiy objects, tliough made of 
the costliest materials and in the most durable manner. Iheie is, 
indeed, but one etfectual way for any country to ineet loieign 
competition in its home market; and that is, to put as mach taste 
and skill into its own manufactures as the foreigner puts into Ins. 
What is true of the home market is true, with a little more emphasis, 
of the great market of the world. 
A LESSON FOR AMERICANS. 
Now, to mention nothing more, can it be doubted that the three 
things named, — 1, the great relative inerease of the manufactur- 
ing Fnterests and of the artisan classes ; 2, the greater desirability 
of manufaetures which involve skill and taste; 3, the greatly 
widened and intensifled competition of the market, can it be 
doubted that these three things alone fully justify the efforts made 
by- European governments in behalf of general art and industrial 
education? And can it be doubted that this country ought to take 
seriously to heart the example of its great industrial rivals ? While 
we guard the traditional “ Monroe Doctrine ” so vigilantly, waim- 
ing up to a white heat, as we are so apt to do, whenevei a foieign 
power shows an inclination to appropriate to itself a foot of soll,