berment of the empire. I am disposed to think that due compensation may be made in part by increased guaranties of security for foreign rights and immunities, and most important of all by the opening of China to the equal commerce of all the world. These views have been and will be earnestly advocated by our representatives. "The government of Russia has put forward a suggestion that in the event of protracted divergence of views in regard to indemnities the matter may be relegated to the court of arbitration at The Hague. I favorably incline to this, believing that high tribunal could not fail to reach a solution no less conducive to the stability and enlarged prosperity of China itself than immediately beneficial to the powers." The American policy had an important influence in modifying the treatment of China by the allied powers. Its benevolence and firmness surprised the world and won for the youngest among the nations universal respect and admiration. HIS LAST GREAT WORK.-President McKinley's last effort for his people consisted in paving the way for an abrogation of the Bulwer-Clayton treaty, thus securing for his country the right to build and control the Isthmian canal, which is to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, a gigantic undertaking of invaluable importance for the development of our country's resources, commerce and civilization. This great achievement constitutes one of the most brilliant victories in American diplomacy. CHAPTER XIV POLICY OF NATIONAL EXPANSION William McKinley will go into history as the president under whom our nation assumed its rightful place among the great powers of the world. The three chapters of American history which stand out above all others are those which relate to Washington, to Lincoln, and to McKinley. Washington created the nation; Lincoln preserved it; McKinley made it a leading world-power. With President McKinley's entrance into the White House the industries of the country took on new life and the United States entered upon an era of industrial growth and universal prosperity without a parallel in the world's history. From the keenest depression the country rose at a bound to its highest pinnacle of prosperity. The President was wise enough to see the benefit to the masses from commercial expansion, and his earnest efforts were put forth in that direction. At the threshold of his first term he committed his administration aggressively to the policy of Hawaiian annexation, and the acquisition of the Philippines, Guam and the Spanish West India islands followed as a result of our war with Spain. Then Tutuila was added to our territory by the partition of Samoa, which supplied the needed stepping-stone by the United States to the world's commerce lying beyond the Pacific. The pos session of islands in the Pacific opened up to the United States a new destiny-that of the commercial supremacy of the world. Commercial America has been expanding ever since territorial expansion was an accomplished fact. It expanded $338,874,084 in foreign commerce in 1900 over 1897, the year before the war with Spain. In iron and steel exports alone the expansion in 1900 over 1897 was $64,361,039. During the three years which have passed since the breaking out of the war with Spain the foreign trade of our country has grown by leaps and bounds. American goods are making their way into every market of the world in increasing quantities, but most remarkable of all has been the development of the commerce between this country and the islands over which the sovereignty of the United States was extended as a result of the Spanish war. Not only have the exports of breadstuffs, meat products, cotton, petroleum and other products which are exported in their natural state, or nearly so, largely increased, but there has been a still more striking increase in the exports of manufactured goods such as machinery of all kinds, textiles, and boots and shoes. Until within the last few years exports of American manufactured goods were made up largely of what were termed "Yankee notions." Now the country is exporting everything, from steel bridges to be erected in Egypt or India, and locomotives to be run in Siberia or South Africa, to typewriters, cash registers, pocket knives, and pins and needles. For the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1897-the last complete fiscal year before the Spanish war-the exports of merchandise of all kinds, including silver bullion, amounted in value to $1,112,024,562. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900 the total reached the amount of $1,450,898,646. This rate of increase is still keeping up, and for the first eight months of the fiscal year 1901 the total exports to foreign countries foot up $1,015,193,489, against but $735,085,143 for the same period in 1897, and this notwithstanding the fact that the commerce between the United States and Hawaii and between the United States and Puerto Rico is no longer considered foreign commerce, and is not included as such in the statistics of the Treasury Department. If a comparison between the year 1901 and 1897 is to be made on a fair basis, the exports to Hawaii and Puerto Rico must be added to the foreign commerce, and this would bring the figures for the first eight months of the fiscal year 1901 up to $1,031,488,442, or a gain of $296, 404, 299 over the same months in 1897. Although there has been a greater proportionate increase in exports to other parts of the world, Europe still continues to be the best customer of the United States, taking, in 1900, goods to the value of $1,040,167,312, against $813,380,332 in 1897. In the same period exports to Asia have increased from $39,268,755 to $64,913,984, while in exports to Oceanica the increase has been from $22,652,773 to $43,390,927, and the exports to Africa have increased from $16,953,127 to $19,469, 109. The increase in exports to South America has not been so satisfactory, the growth being from $33,768,493 in 1897 to $38,945,721 in 1900. The exports to other countries in North America in 1897 were $124,963,773, and in 1900 $187,299,318. |