The Commercial Power of the United States--British Workmanship-- Tin-tacks and Conservatism--A Prophetic Frenchman--Imperialism in Trade--The Anglo-Saxon Spirit--About Chaperons--"Insist upon Thyself"--English and American Banks--Dealing in Futures--Dog Eat Dog--Two Letters--Commercial Octopods--Trusts in America and England--The Standard Oil Company--And Solicitors--Legal Chaperons--The Sanctity of Stamped Paper--Conclusions--Do "Honest" Traders Exist? CHAPTER XV THE PEOPLES AT PLAY 408 American Sport Twenty-five Years Ago--The Power of Golf--A Look Ahead--Britain, Mother of Sports--Buffalo in New York-- And Pheasants on Clapham Common--Shooting Foxes and the "Sport" of Wild-fowling--The Amateur in American Sport--At Henley--And at Large--Teutonic Poppycock. CHAPTER XVI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 429 A New Way of Making Friends--The Desirability of an Alliance-- For the Sake of Both Peoples--And of all the World--The Family Resemblance--Mutual Misunderstandings--American Conception of the British Character--English Misapprehension of Americans-- Foreign Influences in the United States--Why Politicians Hesitate--An Appeal to the People--And to Caesar. APPENDIX 451 INDEX 453 The Twentieth Century American "_If I can say anything to show that my name is really Makepeace, and to increase the source of love between the two countries, then please, God, I will._"--W. M. Thackeray, in _Letters to an American Family_. "_Certainly there is nothing like England, and there never has been anything like England in the world. Her wonderful history, her wonderful literature, her beautiful architecture, the historic and poetic associations which cluster about every street and river and mountain and valley, her vigorous life, the sweetness and beauty of her women, the superb manhood of her men, her Navy, her gracious hospitality, and her lofty pride--although some single race of men may have excelled her in some single particular--make up a combination never equalled in the world._"--The late United States Senator Hoar, in _An Autobiography of Seventy Years_.