The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-29

Mediterranean sea, the Atlantic ocean
| and the Scandinavian waters. The
| Drawn developed by the moist airs that
circulate over this great peninsula, min
| Cling with the swift currents Of the in
terror mountain ranges, have made the
European, made the Englishman-made
the Western world And the Western
world has been inventive for 400 years,
| and for 200 years has drawn raw stuffs
! from the frontier countries to make up
| into goods to be reshipped to the agricul-
! tural sapheads who glory in their ship
ments Of wheat and corn and cotton to
| a low-priced market.
1t is said that the machinery houses of
the United States could not by any pres
ent equipment produce more than 2,5OO,OOO
| spindles in one year, and that it would
| take them thirty years to make as many
| spindles as Europe now operates, even
| increasing their equipment each year. AT
! that rate of increase, and taking Into
| consideration possible increases in cotton
production in the South, it would take
cotton mills enough to consume all the
cotton produced in our own lands Yet
to that consummation must we devoutly
tend ourselves, il We are to cut off even
by slow degrees those small balances Of
trade which envelope us at every turn
and which create gold balances against
us in London, in face of an apparent
| enormous export excess.
In the last ten Years the United States
| has almost doubled it's cotton production.
In the same time it has increased its con-
sumption a trile over one-third But
| there was the margin Of 100000 bales ex-
ported abroad in 1899 that brought us in
5000, 0O0, 900, but which afterwards brought
! Europe more than 81, G00 OO0,0OO If we are
to accept their exports OF cotton goods
as a measure Of profit on the transac-
ton
The rehabilitation of the Southern
states can only be brought about by tho
active and hearty cooperation of North
ern financiers on patriotic grounds, de-
building and operating cotton mills. To
buy and sell Southern cotton in the mar
ket is to deal solely In the necessities
of the country. without regard to It's fu-
ture welfare But to build q cotton mill
is to wipe off so many chatteI mortgage
plasters from Southern counties and cut
off so many thousand dollars per year
from that dreadful gold balance that con-
fronts each succeeding secretary of the
| treasury. The gold balance Is the final
arbiter. Whether it comes from coffee
or sugar purchases, or from our own fail
ure to properly and wisely finance our
own opportunities, 1t must finally be
| dealt with as a serious problem in states
manship.
Puerto Rican and Philippine coffee plan
tations may make necessary a tariff on
coffee from Brazil, but only after those
| plantations have passed into the hands
of people who will not squander their
profits In France and Spain. II the Ding
ley reciprocity provision is as wise as 1t
has been foretold, the president cannot
too soon impose what tariff he chooses
on Brazilian coffee in order to enforce
Brazilian purchases of Yankee steel and
| cotton goods. This Is not sentiment-this
is business; and, If 1t Is properly attended
| to by that archprotectionist who now oc-
cupies the White house, it will soon DEM
! onstrate whether the law Is of any value.
For it ought If it is valuable, to furnish
| a South American market for some mil
lions Of Yankee cotton goods, displacing
just that much of the European product
Twenty three million dollars In cotton
goods Is the high-water mark of our ex-
| pOrtations for any one year. Two hun
dred and ninety million dollars In raw
cotton has been the high-water mark for
any one year. Europe adds fourfold in
value to this last figure by spindle work
and sells over half of 1t abroad-sells
great quantities to South America I'm
der the very shadow of the Monroe doc
| trine we are annually clipped" certain
ly not less than $1OO,OOO,O 900 on cotton
| goods sales that we ought to make In
| legitimate exchange for our coffee and
sugar purchases-sales that Europe
makes by virtue Of our cheap cotton and
our chattel-mortgaged cotton farmers.
Flour exports are truly better than
wheat exports, pig iron better than iron
ore, copper bullion better than copper
ore, kerosene better than crude oil; but
steel billets, finished tinware, electrical
| apparatus and fine cottonwear are bet
ter than either. And to that end the
financiers of the country should exert
themselves to the utmost. The watch
word of the f1nanciers should be, not
| large raw cotton exports, not 5000, 900, 900
London exchange for one line of agricul-
tural products, but $500, 100000 to $500, OOO,-
600 for cotton goods.
| With the Republican papers attempting
| to belittle the Macrum incident, and Lord
| Salisbury aOOlOgIZine for the sauna tha