The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-11
science, national honor. business ex-
perience and common sense.
A Mighty Commerce.

The whole country is surprised and
before the senate committee on for
eign relations by Mr.. J. J. Hill, re,at 'ng
to the growth and present dimensions
Of our Oriental trade. The eyes Of tie
people have been turned constantly in
the opposite direction; and our foreign
commerce has been measured by ship
ments to and fro across the Atlantic.
While we have had regard to this
alone, and have directed our legisla-
ton with reference to it, the silent
forces Of commerce and the far-sight-
ed efforts of sagacious men have Gre
ated. without outside assistance, a
business with the Orient which is al
ready of imposing magnitude. The
figures which are given in our special
that make trade, but intelligent effort
to discover demand and to supply it.
One Of the most interesting features
Of this showing is the wide diversity
Of product exported to China, Japan
and the other countries across the Pa
ciflc. These people are customers not
only for the wheat Of the Pacific slope
and the nearer Northwest, and the
flour of Minnesota, but for the iron Of
Pennsylvania and Alabama, the cot
tons of New England and the South,
H.
ly every state in the Union. A market
which is difficult of access to the ma
tions Of Europe is put in direct COM
munication with US by our transcon-
tinentaI lines and the steamships that
ply in connection with them. That
market is capable of almost indefinite
first It is a tremendous field that is
open to American enterprise; and,
large as are the totals of the last
years traffic, they represent but the
beginnings Of a commerce whose
future it is not yet possible to foresee.
Nor is there a discouraging reverse
to the picture, in an anticipated inter-
ference with home industries. The
goods that are brought from Europe
are mostly those that come in competi-
ton with interests already established
here; and the protective notion takes
| the alarm, with, however, little rea-
son. The imports from the far East
are largely composed of commodities
| that we should purchase abroad in any
case. Tea and cheap mattings and
other products which must be supplied
from without play the most important
part. Even the ardent protectionist,
therefore, will find no occasion for
alarm in this new development Of
trade; while for those of us who be-
lieve that the greatest good of the
greatest number is consulted by the
freest interchange of products the out
lcok is unclOuded. 1t is to the West
that we may look for the greatest COM
mercial expansion of the future, and
of the northern portion of the United
States have played in opening the
| country to settlement and cultivation
is soon to be lost sight of in their
larger role as carriers of the business
done by one hemisphere with another.
The lesson of it is the power Of splen-
did achievement that lies in American
enterprise and American perception of
commercial opportunities, and the
strength Of this reliance as compared
with a weak dependence upon foster
ing legislation. Leave American indus
tries and those who direct them I'M
hampered, and the commercial supre-
macy Of the world cannot be diverted
from it's destined seat.