dent McKinley was quickly followed by the substitution of a protective tariff for the Democratic principles of free trade, under which the country had experienced unexampled suffering, and by the enactment of legislation firmly establishing the gold standard as the basis of the currency of the nation. The changes which have followed in the condition of the business of the country and of all classes of our citizens not only fully justify that action but have proved the most remarkable in the history of this country. Business Activity Under Protection. From a condition of the greatest business depression, lack of employment and suffering among those dependent upon our industries, the country quickly passed to a state of the greatest business activity, in which employment was given to all who might desire it, and at wages higher than ever before. With this came an unexampled demand for the products of the farm, the forests, and the mines, and a development of the manufacturing and other industries heretofore unknown. The home markets for manufactures were fully supplied and the surplus products of the workshops were sent into the markets of the world, until now the exportation of manufactures constantly exceeds the importation of manufactures, a condition never known in the history of the country prior to 1897. Meantime the manufacturers' demand for the raw materials not produced in the United States has so increased that manufacturers' materials now form about one-half of the total importations of the country.

Value of Products Increased. The demand of the busy and 'well-paid workman for the products of the farm has so stimulated production that the value of farm products has doubled, while the product of the mines has also greatly increased. With the surplus which these enlarged operations in the field and mine and factory have furnished, our domestic exports have come to exceed those of any other country of the world, and the United States has permanently placed herself at the head of the world's list of great exporting nations. The balance of trade in our favor has become the greatest known, not only in the history of the United States, but in the history of nations. The excess of exports over imports in the 108 years, from 1790 to March 4, 1897-from the first year under the Constitution to the inauguration of William McKinley-was $383,028,497, while the excess of the five years from March 4, 1897, to March 4, 1902, was $2,707,993,194, or more than seven times as much in this five-year period as in the entire 108 years preceding. The excess of exports over imports in each year since 1897 has been greater than that of the entire 108 years prior to 1897.

Advance in Wages.-The prosperity of the people which has accompanied this activity of production, manufacturing, and exportation has been equally marked in every branch of industry. Wages have advanced, the number of persons employed has greatly increased, the products of the farm have doubled in value, and the earnings and savings of the people have largely increased. The deposits in the savings banks of the country, those depositories of the surplus funds of the workingman, the pensioner, the widow, and the orphan, were $690,000,000 greater in the single year 1901 than in 1896. The individual deposits in the national banks of the country were $1,298,064,839 greater in 1901 than in 1896. Thus the individual deposits in the savings and national banks of the country now exceed those of 1896 by the enormous sum of $1,938,003,142. Official records show great prosperity among those engaged in each and all of the great industries of the country, the farmer, the manufacturer, and his millions of wage-earners, and those engaged in the mines and forests.

Increase in Farm Values.-The value of the live stock on the farms of the country, which was reported by the Agricultural Department in 1896 at $1,727,926,084, is reported at $1,981,054,115 by the Census of 1900, an increase of $253,128,031. With the increased activity, increased earnings, and increased consumption the farmer has received greatly increased prices for his productions. The Agricultural Department reports an increase of more than $350,000,000 in the farm value of the cereals alone in 1900 as compared with 1896, these figures being those of the actual value upon the farm before leaving the hands of the producer, while' other articles of farm production show an equal advance in value. The exportation of agricultural products increased from $570,000,000 in 1896 to $944,000,000 in 1901, an increase of $374,000,000 in the mere surplus remaining after supplying the great and rapidly expanding home market.

Mining Industries Prosperous.-In the great mining industries, so closely dependent for their prosperity upon the activity of the manufacturer, the increase has been equally striking, and the millions dependent upon them for a livelihood have shared in the general prosperity of the country. The number of persons engaged in coal mining alone has increased by more than 50,000, and the coal production of the United States has grown from 171,000,000 tons in 1896 to 261,000,000 tons in 1901, an increase of over 50 per cent in five years, thus making the United States the greatest coal-producing nation of the world. In iron and steel the United States has also taken front rank among the world's producers, the production of pig iron having increased from 8,623,127 tons

in 1896 to 15,878,354 in 1901, and of steel, from 5,281,689 tons in 1896 to 10,188,329 tons in 1900; while the exportation of iron and steel manufactures has increased from $41,160,877 in 1896 to $117,319,320 in 1901.

Activity in Manufacturing.-In the great manufacturing industries the activity of the manufacturer and the earnings of the workingman show equal and striking improvement. The cotton manufacturers have increased their consumption of domestic cotton from two and a half million bales in 1896 to over three and a half millions in 1901. The number of iron furnaces in blast has increased from 159 in 1896 to 266 in 1901, and the manufacture of tin plate has grown from less than 40,000,000 pounds in 1894 to 678,000,000 pounds in 1900. The number of wage-earners engaged in the manufacturing industries alone increased from 4,251,613 in 1890 to 5,231,687 in 1900, and their wages from $1,891,228,321 in 1890 to $2,330,273,021 in 1900. The home market has been more and more supplied with home manufactures, and the exportation of manufactures has grown from $228,000,000 in 1896 to $412,000,000 in 1901. Foreign Trade.-The manufacturers of the United States continued to send large amounts of their goods to foreign countries. The exportation of manufactures during the eleven months ending with May, 1902, is greater than that of any preceding year, except in iron and steel. The total exports of manufactures for the eleven months ending with May amount to $371,647,609, against $378,533,496 in the eleven months of 1901, or only $6,885,887 less than those of last year. The exports of iron and steel manufactures for the eleven months are $90,780,571, against $109,483,827 in the corresponding months of last year, a reduction of $18,703,256. From this it would appear that the exports of manufactures other than iron and steel are $11,817,369 greater than in the corresponding months of the preceding year. The exports of manufactures other than iron and steel are, for the eleven months ending with May, 1902, $280,867,038. For the eleven months ending with May, 1901, they were $269,049,669. For the eleven months ending with May, 1900, they were $283,050,704, but when it is remembered that these figures included the exports to Porto Rico and Hawaii, which are not included in those of 1901 and 1902, it becomes apparent that the exports of manufactures other than iron and steel in the eleven months of the present fiscal year are greater than those for the same period in any preceding year in the history of our commerce.

While the exports of iron and steel have been decreasing, importations of iron and steel have been increasing.

The following table shows the imports and exports of iron and steel manufactures in eleven months of each of the fiscal years 1900, 1901, and 1902:

From this it will be seen that the importations of iron and steel manufactures have materially increased during the three years, and the exportations of iron and steel materially decreased. The cause of this change in the condition of the foreign commerce in iron and steel is discussed in the report of the Iron and Steel Association, as follows:

"A marked change has taken place in our foreign trade in iron and steel since this subject was prominently referred to in our annual reports in 1899 and 1900. In 1899 and immediately preceding years the iron and steel industries of Europe were exceptionally prosperous; there was an active demand and prices were high. In the years just prior to 1899 the prices of iron and steel in the United States were lower than they had ever been. Under these conditions we naturally found opportunities to dispose of our surplus iron and steel products in neutral markets and even in the home markets of our European competitors. But these conditions have materially changed; the European demand and European prices have declined and the home demand upon our own iron and steel works has greatly increased, while our prices have advanced; hence sharper competition in neutral and all foreign markets and increased foreign competition in our own markets.

"The figures of increased imports and decreased exports of iron and steel should not be hastily dismissed by our iron and steel manufacturers. We hope that they will lead them instead to dismiss the thought that the world's markets for iron and steel are to be easily captured and held. The activity in our export trade in iron and steel in the last few years was exceptional and abnormal. Not only is Europe adopting our improved methods of manufacture, but it will always have cheap labor, and by these agencies it can hold its own markets and actively and aggressively contend for the possession of neutral markets. For our iron and steel industries, as well as for all other domestic manufacturing industries, our home market must always be our best market."

The following table shows the exports, by principal classes, during the eleven months ending with May, 1901, and 1902, respectively:

AMERICAN INVASION OF EUROPE-THE UNITED STATES COMPETING WITH EUROPEAN MANUFACTURERS IN THEIR HOME MARKETS.

"In the last six years we have sold in merchandise, produce, and manufactures $2,000,000,000 more than we have bought, while in all our history, from the beginning of the Government up to six years ago, the foreign trade balance in our favor had aggregated a net total of only $383,000,000."

This is the deliberate statement of Frank A. Vanderlip, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, in an article on "The American Commercial Invasion of Europe," after nearly a year's travel and study of this subject in all the leading countries of Europe. Mr. Vanderlip went abroad to study the causes of the agitation in some continental countries for tariff combinations against the United States. He found, as have our American consuls in Europe, that it was due to the rapid recovery of American industrial development under the Dingley tariff and Republican protection to our industries. In the last two years there has been much agitation in Austria and other continental countries of Europe against “The American Peril” and the "American Danger." This agitation was due to the American invasion of European markets with American manufactures as well as American produce. By protecting our home industries we have not only taken from the European manufacturers the American market, but we have invaded the European market as serious competitors for their own home trade.

Mr. Vanderlip was offered unusual facilities for obtaining the views of men most influential in political life and commercial affairs in Europe, and he says:

European Statesmen Alarmed.-"The subject I discussed with these distinguished foreigners is one regarding which our public