Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-05-04
FARMERS AND EXPANSION.

accomplish these great results.
FARMERS AND EXPANSION.
Frank Hitchcock, chief of the sec
ton Of foreign markets, shows where
the farmers benefit from commercial
expansion. He says:
Our sales of agricultural products
abroad during the past three years,
1S97-1S9D. were over 100000, 900
greater than in the preceding tlxee
years, 1S94-lS9G. This enormous gain
affords some idea of the possibilities
that await a further development of
our agricultural export trade.
Wider markets are becoming
not only an advantage, but a neces-
sity. The products of our farms, like
the products of Il factories, are in
creasing far beyond our own require
ments, and the surplus thus resulting
must be disposed of abroad, or we shall
have a constant glut in the home mar
ket. To avoid such a condition, we
are striving as lever before to increase
our shipments to foreign countries. We
are searching the world over to find
new markets in order that the Ameri-
can farmer may have a reader and
more profitable sale for his products.
Our control of the markets of Cuba
and Puerto Rico Will mean money in
the pockets Of IL farmers. Under
normal conditions these two islands
purchase annually $5O,OO0,OO0 worth of
agricultural produce, chiefly bread
stuffs and provisions. and practically
all of this trade should come to the
United States.
In due time, the Philippines also
will furnish an important market for
the produce Of American farms. This
group of islands is particularly import
ant, because Of it's relation to the valu-
able IN of the orient. All the
great commercial nations are expect
antly looking toward China, with her
4OO.OO0.0O0 people, as the most promis-
ing field for trade development the
world now offers. The American farmer
wants Il share of that trade. With a
commercial foothOld in the Philip
pines, and a naval base there to insure
the protection of our on the
Pacific, we shall be better able to reach
forth into the coveted markets of
China, Japan and the rest of eastern
Asia.
The foreign trade of. China, Japan
and the East Indies, even under the
present undeveloped conditions.
amounts to more than a billion dollars
a year. and of this vast m the
United States enjoys less than 10 per
cent. The possibilities of commercial.
expansion in this direction are simply
enormous. Our exporters are begin
ming more fully to recognize this fact
and to take advantage of it. The re-
suits already obtained are significant.
Five years ago our exports to China
were valued at little more than S12,-
OOO.OOO: last year lucy amounted to
nearly S4O.0OO.00O. Products of the
farm enter extensively into this rapidly
growing trade. The cotton planter Of
the south and the great wheat grower
OF the north and west are alike bene-
fitted. During the past year more than
1oo.OOo.Om pounds of American cotton
We're shipped to Japan, as compared
with only II ,O0O,OOO pounds five years
ago. Our exports of wheat flour to
Asia, in the meantime, have increased
from less than a million barrels to over
a million and a half. Many other ag-
ricultural exports of the United States
are finding a new and profitable market
in the Orient, and all indications point
to the development there Of an extern
siye trade in the products of agricul-
ture.
The farmers benefit from
clal expansion, however, is not meas
ured merely by the larger scale of his
own products abroad. He profits
knearly as much from the growing ex-
%portation of manufactured wares. The
increased production of manufactures
in the United States to meet the re-
quirements of a broadening export
trade naturally creates a larger home
demand for the products of the farm.
Every additional pound of cotton cloth
sent to Asia means a better market at
nome for II raw cotton; every addi-
tional pair Of Shoes sold abroad means
a better market here for hides of cattle:
and so on through the long list of ag-
rlcultural products that form the ma
terlals of manufacture. Then, too, all
the various industries that are ex-
tended to meet a growing export de-
mand require additional workmen, and
these workmen must be fed from the
produce of the farm. Thus the Amer
lean farmer finds that the policy of
commercial expansion results to his
great advantage in the home market
as well as in the foreign market.
We are pleased to note that the
Smith family still holds it's lead. Out
of $4,000 civil EMPLOYEES of the govern.