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States. We have in the last half dozen years been manufacturing for ourselves a vast amount of goods, such as we have been accustomed to buy abroad.

"One can turn from a contemplation of these great totals to an examination of the records made in recent years by individual industries, and find in detail facts upon which to base a belief that the United States has acquired, or is acquiring, supremacy in the world's markets. So many industries have been sending rapidly increasing contributions to swell the rising tide of our foreign commerce that it is difficult to tell any detailed story of American commercial expansion without making it read like a trade catalogue. The increase in our exports of manufactured articles can, in the main, be traced to advances made in the manufacture of iron and steel, and to the display of inventive talent in the making of machinery. The development of our grasp on the world's markets for articles manufactured from iron and steel has been no surprise to those who early recognized the position of America in respect to the raw materials from which those articles are produced. America unquestionably possesses advantages, in respect to her iron ore and her coal mines, far superior to those of any other country, and, based solely upon that superiority, has already become the greatest producer of iron and steel in the world.

American Locomotives in Europe. "American locomotives running on American rails now whistle past the Pyramids and across the long Siberian steppes. They carry the Hindoo pilgrims from all parts of their empire to the sacred waters of the Ganges. Three years ago there was but one American locomotive in the United Kingdom; to-day there is not a road of importance there on which trains are not being pulled by American engines. The American locomotive has successfully invaded France. The Manchurian Railway, which is the real beginning of Oriental railway building, bought all its rails and rolling stock in the United States. American bridges span rivers on every continent. American cranes are swinging over many foreign moles. Wherever there are extensive harvests there may be found American machinery to gather the grain. In every great market of the world tools can have no better recommendation than the mark 'Made in America.'

"We have long held supremacy as a producer of cotton. We are now gaining supremacy as makers of cloth. American cottons are finding their way into the markets of every country. They can be found in Manchester, as well as on the shores of Africa and in the native shops of the Orient. Bread is baked in Palestine from flour made in Minneapolis. American windmills are working east of the

Jordan and in the land of Bashan. Phonographs are making a conquest of all tongues. The Chrysanthemum banner of Japan floats from the palace of the Mikado on a flag-staff cut from a Washington forest, as does the banner of St. George from Windsor Castle. The American type-setting machines are used by foreign newspapers, and our cash-registers keep accounts for scores of nations. America makes sewing-machines for the world. Our bicycles are standards of excellence everywhere.

Our Typewriters.-"Our typewriters are winning their way wherever a written language is used. In all kinds of electrical appliances we have become the foremost producer. In many European cities American dynamos light streets and operate railways. Much of the machinery that is to electrify London tram lines is now being built in Pittsburg. The American shoe has captured the favor of all Europe, and the foreign makers are hastening to import our machinery that they may compete with our makers. In the Far East, in the capital of Korea, the Hermit Nation, there was recently inaugurated, with noisy music and flying banners, an electric railway, built of American material, by a San Francisco engineer, and now it is operated by American motormen.

"One might go on without end, telling in detail the story of American industrial growth and commercial expansion. In the list of our triumphs we would find that American exports have not been confined to specialties nor limited as to markets. We have been successfully meeting competition everywhere. America has sent coals to Newcastle, cotton to Manchester, cutlery to Sheffield, potatoes to Ireland, champagnes to France, watches to Switzerland, and "Rhine wine" to Germany.

"Our public has generally looked upon the development of our foreign trade as only one of the incidents in the remarkable period of prosperity which we have been enjoying, and has not, perhaps, clearly analyzed its full significance. The European, I found, has come nearer to a real understanding of the situation."

Mr. Vanderlip met in St. Petersburg M. de Witte, the Russian Minister of Finance, and this man, who shapes the policies of Europe's greatest empire, said to him:

"America is already one of the richest countries in the world; perhaps in natural resources quite the richest. There we find not only remarkable natural richness, but combined with that wealth and most pronounced initiative met with anywhere. With such a combination the country is bound to make the very greatest progress. It will go on and on, and will be greater and still greater. America is especially fortunate in that she has no great military burden. Militarism is the nightmare and the ruin of every European finance minister."

"The American Danger."--On this same subject Frank H. Mason, consul-general in Berlin, one of the oldest and most experienced representatives of this Government in the consular service, confirms the observations of Mr. Vanderlip. In an official report on "The Commerce and Industries of Germany" made in November, 1901, Mr. Mason says:

"The trade balance of the United States at the close of the fiscal year 1901 produced a profound impression in this country. It seemed to confirm the direst predictions of a certain class of economic writers, who since 1898 have been saying that the time was rapidly coming when European nations would be forced to combine for mutual protection against the American Republic. The financial and daily press were filled with dissertations on The American Danger,' and the Central Bureau for the Preparation of Commercial Treaties at Berlin published a brochure by Baron von Waltershausen, professor of political economy in the University of Strassburg, which discussed elaborately the whole subject under five heads, viz: (1) "The United States trade balance," (2) "Exports of manufactures," (3) "Nature of United States imports," (4) "The United States as creditor in the world's economic system,” and (5) "Measures of protection for European countries, notably Germany." Rarely if ever elsewhere has the new position of the United States among nations been more powerfully and vividly pictured than in this memorable essay, in which it was shown, among many other things, that whereas hardly six years ago the Deutscher Bank took about one-fourth of a $100,000,000 loan issued by the United States Government, the American trade balances of the last three fiscal years, 1898, 1899, and 1900, has reached the amazing total of $1,622,000,000-almost double the war indemnity paid by France to Germany and has reversed the position of the Union and made it the creditor instead of the debtor of Europe." The learned professor sees in the future only increasing indebtedness of Europe to America; the absorption by American capital of European state, municipal, and industrial securities, with the resulting diminished ability of the Old World to endure taxation; the growth of unproductive indebtedness; emigration of manufacturers and skilled operatives; transplanting of industries; diminished employment for labor; and, finally, weakening of national financial and military strength. "The United States, on the contrary," says the memorial, "will, with increasing growth of their economic power, gain in political might. Already they enlarge their Army and Navy. They will in the future acquire colonies, call the Pacific Ocean their own, and realize their ideal of international arbitration by becoming themselves the arbitrators."

European Customs Union Suggested. "Against this ominous

future Professor von Waltershausen-who on this point voices with substantial accuracy the most intelligent opinion of Germany and confirms the enunciation made by Dr. VosburgRekow a year ago-concludes that the formation of a European customs union against the United States is impracticable, owing to international and racial rivalries and jealousies, and that it only remains for the different European states, when negotiating commercial treaties between themselves, to differentiate against the United States by excluding American imports from the special rates granted to each other, and, further, to agree upon measures to be adopted by all European states in case of a tariff war between any one of them and the American Republic. Finally, the Professor recommends to Germany a general or maximum tariff, with elastic facility to increase the rates to any point that may be necessary for protection against the American invasion."

Frederick Emory, Chief of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce in the State Department, in his review of the "World's Commerce in 1901," says that "the commercial reports of diplomatic and consular officers for the calendar year 1901 record continued growth in the sales of many lines of manufactures from the United States in foreign markets, and the increase of the general concern in Europe as to the possible results of our industrial competition."

In Austria-Hungary, as well as in Germany, the imports from the United States are increasing rapidly, in spite of the agitation for a tariff union of European countries against America. At a recent conference in Vienna to take measures against American competition, Consul-General Hurst says, "it was openly acknowledged that the commercial policy of the present time is dictated and controlled by the United States."

Supplying Europe with Goods We Used to Import.-"The same concern is felt in France, in Belgium, in Switzerland, in Great Britain-in other words, in all of the highly developed manufacturing countries of Europe, and it is a most significant fact that, even in specialties which were once thought to be exclusively their own, the United States is becoming a more and more formidable competitor. Who would have imagined a few years ago that we would make such rapid progress in the manufacture of silk that we would soon cease buying silks from France, with the exception of highly finished goods, and would actually be exporting silks to that country? Yet that is what has happened. So of tin plate in Wales. At one time it was doubtful whether we could manufacture tin plate profitably, and it was confidently asserted that the Welsh must always control the American trade. But we now manufacture all the tin plate we need, and the Welsh have recently imported tin bars from us.

"There are, indeed, surprisingly few of the articles which used to be obtained exclusively abroad that are not now produced in the United States. The woolen as well as the silk industry of France. and the hosiery industry of Germany are said to be suffering severely from our competition, and the Bohemian glass industry is feeling the effect of the increase of glass manufacture in the United States. Our cottons are steadily gaining in taste and finish, and are now sold in England in competition with the Manchester product.

"Says the Leipziger Tageblatt of April 10, 1901:

'Even in fancy articles, in which the European market has set the styles for the entire world, the American manufacturers are beginning to compete with the European. British calico prints are already receiving competition from America. We hear that travelers of a well-known American house have offered American cotton stuffs in England with much success, and the London authorities declare them to be tasteful and worth their price.'

American Cottons.-"A New York company manufacturing cotton stuffs intends to found a Paris house which shall introduce its fancy woven stuffs for women's dresses, and trimmed women's hats are being exported from the United States to Europe. "The reversible cloths which are made in the United States,' said Consul Sawter, of Glauchau, in a report sent in 1900, 'are now the style in highpriced goods in the German capital.'

"In agriculture, as in manufactures, we are constantly widening the sphere of our production. The orange and lemon growers of southern Europe are feeling the effect of California's competition. 'It is ridiculous,' exclaims a Spanish newspaper, 'to think that fruits and vegetables raised on the slopes of the distant Pacific should compete at the very doors of Spain with those produced in this country. *** Shall we live to see American oranges on the Valencia market itself?' We are producing our own raisins, our prunes, our wines, our olive oil, and are sending them abroad. California prunes now compete in Europe with Bosnian prunes, once a staple article of export to New York.

"In the busy manufacturing district of Liege, Belgium, according to the annual report of Consul Winslow, more American goods are consumed than ever before, in spite of business depression. 'Our sales in general,' says Mr. Winslow, 'have doubled in the past three years, and it is now common to see articles marked 'Americaine' in the shop windows.' Spanish journals complain that steel rails are imported from the United States, notwithstanding the production of iron is one of the important industries of Spain. ViceConsul Wood, of Madrid, says our goods are to be seen everywhere,

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