St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-26
COUNTRY,s COMMERCE.
A. ID. Stickney Discusses 1t Before
Kansas City Men.


During his absence from the city
last week President A B. Stickney, of
the Chicago Great Western road, at
tended a meeting of the Kansas City
Commercial club held to commemorate
the one hundredth anniversary of the
signing of the commercial independence
treaty between this country and Great
Britain.
The representative men Of Kansas
City sat about the festal board and
Toastmaster Holden, in introducing
Mr.. Stickney, whose toast was "Our
Country and Its Commerce." spoke
of 1.-The tremendous development of
the inland commerce of the country.
though in its inception our commerce
was maritime" This growth, he said,
has been due to the great railway sys-
TENS of the United States. His re-
mark that the country is now in a po-
sition to maintain distinctively Ameri-
can comemrcial politics-"and the
Monroe doctrine"-was loudly applaud
ed. So was his compliment to Presi-
dent Stickney's road, which was: 'It
is maple leaf which never falls nor
fades"
Mr.. Stickney said in part: eve are
celebrating tonight the Tooth anniyers-
ary of the treaty made between the
United States and Great Britain, known
as the Jay treaty, and which has been
called the birthright of American COM
merce. What was the essence of that
treaty so far as it affected American
commerce? Did it add one iota to the
natural resources of our country, or
to the stock in trade of its merchants );
or did it build warehouse, ship or
any other instrumentality of commerce?
Or did it add to the natural right or
natural capacity of any American cit
1Zen to compete for the trade of the
world? Certainly not. 1t simply re-
leased, by negotiation, instead of by
war, American trade from few of
the restrictions, which some of the ma
tions of the world had, unjustly and
by exercise of arbitrary power, placed
upon the trade of the United States.
From time immemorial governments
have been In the habit of placing re-
strictions upon trade. The theory of
ages was tersely expressed by Raleigh.
when he said that 'whosoever COM
mands the sea commands the trade of
the world; and whosoever commands
the trade of the world commands the
riches of the world, and consequently
the world itself Acting upon this
theory, England, before the American
revolution, had placed embargoes upon
the trade of the colonies, ostensibly in
favor of the home merchants, which
were not removed by the success of
the revolutionary war.
"Under the Jay treaty, England
agreed, in consideration of certain con-
cessions on the part of the United
States, to allow vessels sailing under
the stars and stripes to enter certain
of England's colonial ports and trade
in limited number of articles. The
concessions in favor of American
trade were so meager that the treaty
was a great disappointment to the
American people. But meager as they
were, the treaty was regarded as an
offense by the French government and
came near involving us in a war with
France.
bridge Garry and John Marshall, were
sent to France to adjust the diftlculty
The French government refused to re-
cetve them, but intimated that if the
United States were prepared to pay a
large sum of money it might change
their position, and that a refusal to
pay would lead to war. 1t was then
Mr.. Pinckney made that memorable
reply, which afterwards became a
Millions for Defense but not a cent for
tribute War was actually commenced,
although not formally declared, be-
fore the difficulty was adjusted with
France.
'T would now call your attention to
the crowning achievements of Ameri-
can commerce, which is its internal or
domestic commerce. In no other coun-
try and never before has the world
witnessed the spectacle of 65,0O0,0N
people trading with each other freely,
without any governmental restrictions;
and such is the genius of the freedom
of trade that no other country has
developed an internal commerce so
great, either in the aggregate or per
capita, i'm so short space of time.
The domestic commerce which floats
on one of the great lakes (Superior),
which is only a fraction Of the COM
merce of the country, is such that
the vessel tonnage passing through
the Sault canal, which is the entrance
to Lake Superior, is greater than the
tonnage Of all the nations Of the world
passing through the Suez canal. The
vessel tonnage of the other great lakes
is even more than the tonnage of Lake
Superior. To this should be added the
vessel tonnage on the rivers and in
the coastwise service, and the en-
ormous carrying capacity of its. mag
nificent systems of railways and can
ais. These are but indiceS bf the
magnitude of the free domestic trade
of the United States"
The balance of Mr.. Stickney's re-
marks were mainly applicable and of
interest to Kansas City.