The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-03-06
OUR EXPORT TRADE.
How We Are Capturing tho Mar
kets OF the World"
Driven Our of Tisir Home Markets Man-
ufAcfurors are Forced to Hunt For
sign mnrkcts-Not q GAUGE
Tor Rejoicing.


There Is ripple of pleasurable and
surprised excitement at present among
the lonely devotees OF the markets OF
the world fetish concerning the tire
mendous increase" in the export OF
American manufactured goods. IL 10
estimated that these exports will reach
this year the "unparall sled total" OF
S260. 100000. IL was lust year S226.-
$50 1893, as against S1S3, S05.743 in 1898.
The percentage OF manufactured prod
rcts in all exports rose from 2l.i4 to
90 az per cent. between the years 1894
aud 1896. The fiscal year ending June
so is, of COURSE contemplated in al:
these statements.
These are large figures when print
ell by themselves. They always are
printed by themselves in journals
" hich sec in them the long looked-for
opening OF the markets OF the world.
Put they shrink-they shrink piteous-
ly-when arrayed beside those OF the
value of the total manufactured prod
ucts OF the country in a prosperous
year. thus:
Estimated manufactured ex-
Actual manufactured products
bsO ...................s'....s S,uuO'VVV'VVv
Leaving as home market alb
Sorptlon ...-.-..................s. f4U,VVV'VVV
Our concern with the markets OF the
world is seen to be considerably less
than 3 per cent. OF our concern with
the markets OF ourselves in this which
was once well called by William Nc
Kinley the greatest free trade system
eAtant, the internal commerce of IS
states and territories.
But there is no doubt about the in
crease, infinitesimal as IL is seen 10 be,
in comparison with the sum total of our
manufactured product What is the
cause of it? The largest item in it was
due entirely TO an increase in the price
OF petroleum. Another is the sudden
rise in the bicycle trade, phenome-
non which warns the cookies of the
Yankee heart in it's new demonstration
of the old national superiority in fine
workmanship. Mere native lSnack, the
mechanical genius Of the race, has in
this instance ludicrously distancej all
tho labored efforts of the expensive
technical educational systems Of Eng
land and Germany.
But we have no desire to rely on spe-
cial pleadings for the explanation of
this increase. We look for a general
reason why, with all lines OF manufac-
lures growing less profitable for every
year Of the last three and with n steady
increase in the number of bankrupt
manufacturers, we are securing the
markets of the world-to the extent of
one-thirty-thi of our home markets.
A manufacturer-not protection Shrek
ing cati1f, but one who has been all
through South America with n commit
tee of his fellow producers in quest OF
foreign markets-thus states IL in the
first paragraph of his report on the adj
venture in the current issue OF the
North American Review:
Interest In the development OF foreign
trade In American manufactures has been
greatly stimulated during the past two
years Manufacturers have found the
capacity OF the home market insufficient
TO absorb their moral output, and the
only avenue OF relief has presented itself
IN an enlarged export trade. Concurrent
ly with this diminished home demand has
come a marked shrinkago In the prices
OF material and wages, with n conse-
quent reduction IN the cost OF mRnufac-
ture.
A perfectly self-evdent proposition
when you come 10 look at it. Manufac-
turers have had to hunt foreign mar
kets simply because they were driven
out of their own markets. Here Is the
cause Of the increase. Here is the
reason why Theodore c. Search, presi.
dent of the National Association of
Manufacturers. and dozen Of his col
leagues Travelled 10000 miles through
tropical countries in the summer time
in the hope Of increasing that increase.
Is this n cause Of rejoicing among
sane men? Certainly not Then,
why is IL made such by men who are
otherwise sane enough for the success
full conduct of newspapers and maya
zines? Simply because the markets
OF the world" cry is, like the free raw
materials" cry, n squawking echo Cd