In the years from 1880 to 1910 the Pacfiic Northwest went through a development that appears to have been broadly typical. This boom stage, a nonrecurrent frontier phenomenon, is actually the process of integrating the developing area with the national economy. The patterns set in the pliant boom era by forceful “ground floor operators” are likely to harden into long-term permanence.

The pragmatic origins of government policy toward business are well illustrated in this study of the reduced-rate provisions granted to certain American railroads during the 19th century.

Students of planning may profitably ponder the myriad difficulties faced by the British aircraft industry in the decade before the outbreak of World War II. On a small civilian aircraft industry, provided with hardly any opportunity to gain military aircraft experience between World War I and the early 1930s, the Air Ministry tried to impose a nearly anarchic system of strategic military planning in which the very philosophy of the use of aircraft in war was at issue. Forced to work under conditions that included a “shadow industry” of civilian plant space that was theoretically capable of quick conversion to military aircraft production and that in the meantime turned out automobiles, the aircraft industry somehow ended up with two superb heavy bombers, the Halifax and the Lancaster, and a highly dependable prime contractor, A. V. Roe. Basing his narrative on both government and industry sources, Dr. Smith concludes that this was an outstanding example of British wartime “muddling through.”

In the manner of the Creole tradesmen of Louisiana, whose lagniappe to their patrons is legendary, the Editor offers a similar bonus to readers of the Review. Instead of trifling presents added to a purchase, however, our lagniappe will he notes and documents illustrative of the evolution of business enterprise.

In this article Dong-Woon Kim continues his investigation of the multinational activities of the British thread-making company, J. & P. Coats. Dr. Kim previously published “J. & P. Coats in Tsarist Russia, 1889-1917” in the winter 1995 edition of this journal (pp. 465-493). Here he explores the experiences of J. & P. Coats in the United States. Coats began selling its thread in the U.S. soon after the company's founding in 1830. From a modest start, it established a system of agencies to sell its own “Coats” brand and, in 1869, began local manufacture of thread in Rhode Island. Through a careful series of direct investments and the development of a flexible managerial structure, Coats eventually came to dominate the American cotton thread market.

The following paper was prepared by Mr. Tinsley, Vice-President and General Manager of the Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, to be delivered at the annual meeting scheduled for December 8, 1932. With his consent it is printed here.