The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-06-25

editorial Note-Prof. Waterhouse was
| appointed delegate to the TRANSMITS
| sissippi congress by the mayor of ST.
| Louis, and also by the president of the
| Merchants exchange. No paper read be-
fore that body has been so widely copied
| as thiS.)
Mr.. President and Members of the
Trans Mississippi Commercial Congress:
The total foreign commerce of the United
States is now more than $1,000, 900, 900 a
year. But even this aggregate, though
| bewilderingly large, will increase. A
| growing population, constantly swelling;
the products of mine, field and work
| shop, will furnish still vaster freights
| for our merchant marine. Though the
/ United States far surpasses Great Brit
| ain in wealth, yet England has always
maintained it's commercial supremacy.
But this ascendency she will not much
longer retain. In 1899 the exports of do
| mestic merchandise from the United
States and the United Kingdom were,
respectively, 1928, 100000 and 81 2S7,9 600.
| The difference in favor of Great Britain
was less than $34,500O0O. In a very few
years the United States will stand at the
| head of the world not only in opulence,
but also in trade. Even now, in many
! branches of production, there is a sur
plus in manufactures. A broader de-
velopment of our mineral wealth, the
| increased yield of a wider tillage, and the
marvellous efficiency. of our industrial
machinery will soon produce commodities
that will far exceed the needs of domestic
| consumption. An extension of our for
eign markets will then become a com
we sell our surplus? Our excess of ce-
reals will mostly go to meet the INSULT
cient food supplies of Europe. The Eu-.
ropean consumption of American agri-
| cultural products now averages more
| than $6OOO0O,OO0 a. year. OF this total
! Great Britain alone annually consumes
upwards of $4O0, 100000 of American prod
uce. Ultimately the competition of Rus
STA, India, Australia and South America
may endanger our present control of the
cereal supplies of Europe But for many
years to come the farms of the United
States will furnish a large part of the
food of Transatlantic nations.
But, in the case of manufactures, the
| conditions are different. Though the Euro
! pean demand for special wares made in
! this country is largely increasing, yet
! American breadstuffs will always be a
| far more important element of our Trans
! Atlantic trade than American manufac-
! lures; for, in almost every branch of in
dustrial art, the manufacturers of Eu-
rope not only satisfy the wants of home
! consumption, but also invade the markets
! of other lands Even in the United
States nearly all of the abodes of luxury
are embellished with the eXquisitely
| beautiful fabrics which European skill
| which ought to be made in our own man
ufactores are now imported from the
| warehouses of Europe. Therefore, as
! European nations make more merchan-
| disc than they consume, and as they are
active competitors of the United States
for the trade of the world, it is idle to
expect to sell in their markets all the sur
plus of American manufactures.
In what part of the globe, then, shall
this country seek the expansion of COM
| merce which will absorb the oVer-pro-
| duction of Its manufactures? The gest-
ura of the famous statue which Benton
| imagined to be standing on the crescent
of the Rock mountains and pointing to
| the Orient implies the answer to this
| question. The Orient properly includes
Japan, China, the Philippines, Anam, the
Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo,
| CeleheS, New Guinea, Australia, Tas-
mania, New Zealand, and the thousands
of islets which lie in the adjacent waters
The archipelagoes which contain these
groups of islands are very extensive
! The, distance from the north point Of
| Japan to the south end of New Zealand
is more than 5000 miles. The population
of the mainlands and islands comprised
within these limits must ct the lowest
estimate, exceed 400 600. The annual
commerce of this vast region approx
mates $750,060,000. But. as even a cursory
discussion of so great subject would he
too long fer this occasion, the term
Orient" will, in the narrower definition
of this address, designate only Japan
China and the Philippines. But these
| countries are the best types of the dis
| tinctive traits and commercial conditions
of the far East. In all the years of its
earlier history, eXclusiVeneSS was the
chief feature OF Oriental life In former
times, foreign sailors, shipwrecked on the
coasts Of Japan, were either put To
death or detained for life, in order that
no knowledge of the island empire might
| be carried to other lands Till the in
stitution of modern reforms, no subject
might behold the sacred person Of the
Mikldo. Even ministers of state received
the orders of his august majesty from
behind a screen. This personal seclusio 4
typified the national isolation But, since
the expedition of Commodore Perry, in
1883, opened to mankind the gateways OF
Japan, the progress of that country has
been marvellous. The recent advance
ment of the insular kingdom IN corr
merce and manufactures, in education
and naval power, has surprised the world.
But China has not yet abandoned it's
ancient policy of isolation. 1t claims &c.
i have invented printing sunpowder, and
the mariners compass. Yet these great
inventions, which have so materially pro-
NOTED tho advancement of Europe, did
not cause an equal progress in the
fiowery kingdom. The literature did not
teach the Chinese people the wisdom OF
| international liberahty, the gunpowder
did not preserve the integrity of the &C.
lestial empire, and the compass did not
guide Chinese merchantmen to the ports
of distant lands.
But the reserve which has for thou
sands of years excluded foreign innoya>
tons is beginning distinctly to yield to
| the mighty forces of Western civilization.
The United States, England, Germany
| and France now hold spheres of inf1u-
| ence' on or near the coast of China, and
| these powerful nations will exert their
| influence to effect the abolition of the
| restrictive policy which has so long re-
| tarded the prosperity Of great, indus
| trious, and ingenious people. The result
| cannot be doubtful. The forces now at
| work are doing much to open China to
| the commerce of the world. There are
| perhaps, no larger and better equipped
| steamers than those which ply on the
| Yantse-Kiang. Regular lines Of spacious
| and we'll appointed merchantmen run be-
| tween Australia and the ports OF Japan
| and China The English, French and
German steamships which are engaged