The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-07
The Paris Exposition and American
Exports.


There are weighty reasons why unusual
efforts should be made by the Federal Gov
eminent and by our manufacturers to see to
1t that American industries are represent
ed worthily in the Universal Exposition
which will take place at Paris in the year
1900. The first quarter of the coming CEN
fury should witness a great extension Of
our export trade In manufactured articles,
and we should not miss the opportunity of
demonstrating our ability to excel our
English and German competitors in not a
few directions. as regards both the quality
and price Of our commodities. To con-
sumers all over the world, whose delegates
will congregate in Paris, the truth should
be brought home that many of their wants
may be supplied more adequately and moro
cheaply by the United States than by any
other manufacturing country.
Notwithstanding the high standard Of
wages which we are determined to main
tain, and have hitherto upheld by a pro-
tective policy, we can now undersell our
foreign rivals In certain kinds of man.
ufactures, thanks to the myriad applica-
tions Of American invention to the me-
chanical arts, and thanks, also, to the
superior intelligence and skill of American
workmen. This is known universally to be
true of cotton goods, and soon 1t will be
recognized as true, likewise, of woollen
and silk goods. 1t is true of furniture and
all articles into which wood enters largely
as the material, including railway cars
and tramcars. 1t is true of steel rails, loco
motives and stationary engines. 1t is true
of sewing machines, typewriting machines,
and bicycles. 1t is true of all the compli-
Gated machines devised for agricultural
purposes. 1t is true Of almost every kind
of hardware, from screws and nails to
shovels and hoes.
These facts are already beginning to be
acknowledged abroad, and it needs but a
concerted endeavor on a proper scale to
make them comprehended fully. AS it is.
we can sell our manufactures of iron and
steel in Russia and Japan, and the day is
not distant when we shall sell them to
Englishmen themselves. Our street cars
are to be seen in most of the cities of Gem
trail n South America; our cotton goods
find q mart in China; our agricultural i'm
PIGMENTS are sought for In Canada and In
Australia. 1t is only a question of time
and of wisely directed effort when our
manufacturers will find profitable markets
in oil those countries of the Old and the
New World which are agricultural rather
than Industrial, and, as being themselves
confined, for the most part, to the produc-
tion of raw materials, must look else
where for the results of invention, intelli.
gence, n skill.
The space originally allotted RI tho Irn;+a5
States by the managers of the coming Paris
Exposition has been, we are told, Increased
considerably, but it still falls materially
short of the needs of American exhibitors.
Timely and strenuous measures should be
taken by our Government to enlarge the
space at its disposal and to prepare, in other
ways, for an impressive and splendid DEM
onstration of the rank which our country
men have gained among the manufacturers
of the globe.