September 25, 2013.

America's Toilet Turnaround

"'Yes," I says to 'er,  'that's all very well,' I says. 'But if you'd of been in my place you'd of done the same as what I done. It's easy to criticize,' I says, 'but you ain't got the same problems as what I got.'"

PERRYSVILLE, Ohio----In previous management jobs, Jim Morando watched Chinese imports engulf the U.S. market for vinyl tiles, wood flooring and window blinds.

"Ah," said the other, "that's jest it. That's jest where it is."

Now, as president of Mansfield Plumbing Products, a toilet manufacturer here, Mr. Morando says he has decided to "stand and fight."

The strident voices stopped abruptly. The women studied him in hostile silence as he went past. But it was not hostility, exactly; merely a kind of wariness, a momentary stiffening, as at the passing of some unfamiliar animal. The blue overalls of the Party could not be a common sight in a street like this. Indeed, it was unwise to be seen in such places, unless you had definite business there. The patrols might stop you if you happened to run into them. "May I see your papers, comrade? What are you doing here? What time did you leave work? Is this your usual way home?"----and so on and so forth. Not that there was any rule against walking home by an unusual route: but it was enough to draw attention to you if the Thought Police heard about it.

After decades of losing out to foreign rivals, U.S. manufacturing of toilets is making a surprising, if modest, comeback----mostly under foreign ownership.