Page 498

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, ,876.
countries,  but these
have a well-defined po-
sition  entirely  apart
from what we have
referred to as the fur-
niture of a house.
It is questionable
whether we could find
in any other country so
general a fashion as
that which prevails
here, of furnishing the
best houses, from for-
eign sources, with all
objects implying in
their design and manu-
facture the highest
taste and the most ex-
perienced skill in exe-
cution.
Such a condition of
things as this is neither
creditable to the enter-
prise of manufacturers
nor profitable to so-
ciety from a purely
economical point of
view. If with a severe
protective tariff main-
tained for the purpose
of excluding foreign
manufactures, it is still
to be found that they
are here, competing
Swedish Ornamental Iron Door.
more than successfully
with native products in
industrial art, and prac-
tically monopolizing the
vast sums annually ex-
pended on objects of
use and ornament by
the ever-increasing
wealthy classes, there
must be some radical
deficiency either in our
manufactures or our
education which per-
mits so remarkable a
circumstance.
The simplest ex-
planation of this may
be found in the ab-
sence of opportunities
for the development
of skilled labor in
America. Whilst other
countries have been
establishing  schools
and  institutions for
secondary  education,
thereby ensuring for
their industries and
manufactures the po-
tent influence of skill
and knowledge in art
and science, we have
been content to go on
inventing labor-saving
498