The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-02-14
TR aDE EXPOSITION.

The growth of our foreign trade is US
founding, and yet, when the resources and
advantages oil this country are taken into
account. the wonder is that we for SO long
a time lived within ourselves and did SO
little business with the outside world. Our
supplies of coal and iron and timber and
other raw materials are inexiaustible, and
with the Atlantic Ocean en- the one side
and the Pacific Ocean ON the other, we
have great advantage of location. We
are convenient to the markets OF Europe on
the one hand and TO the markets OF the
Orient on the other. The only reason why
we We're SO long in seeking foreign trade
was that as "a young and growing coun-
Try we had a. market al home for most
of our products and did not need the
foreign markets, because there was very
little surplus. But rs we have grown we
have outgrown the home market and the
..llornle market idea our capacity TO pro-
duce greatly exceeds our capacity to con-
sumo, and us necessity is the mother Of
invention we learned by the necessities Of
the case how TO dispose of our surplus pro-
ducts in the foreign markets.
The first lesson that we learned was how
10 reduce the cost of production. For
years it Was argued that we could not
compete with the 'pauper labor of IIu-
rope without dragging our workmen down
that idea has now been abandoned as a
relic OF the past. We learned that by our
superior machinery and cur superior labor
and our superior methods generally we
decreasing the wages of our workmen or
lowering the standard of our goods.
When that lesson was learned the rest
was simple. The only question after that
was as to the character of goods to be
s11anufa ctured for foreign markets, and as
Americans are great travellers and of an
inquiring turn OF mind, they We're not
long in investigating conditions abroad
and in learning whit sort Of goods for
eigners demanded.
In Illustration of this, a writer in Har
per's Weekly says that it was his fortune
a few months ago to meet q typical -Amer
can travelling man at Nassau, in the Ba-
hama Islands. he was selling paper bags.
The merchants of Nassau would not buy
any OF the bags of which he had samples,
because they We're too large. But this did
not discourage the American drummer. He
told them that he would make tlor their
trade an ounce bag, and that was just
what the Nassau merchants wanted. He
did make such a bag, printed the names
OF the merchants on them, and soon built
UP a large trade in his goods AZ Nassau.
American locomotives are now very popu-
lar abroad, and the London Engineer
frankly confesses that Americans more
fully understand what is wanted for rail-
way service IN a new and cheap country
than EngMshmen do. and that English
men ought not TO be too proud to learn
from their American cousins.
The writer in Harper's Weekly also notes
the met that the whole world has sudden
" discovered the excellence and cheap
ness OF American boots and shoes. 1.-The
old cohbler,' he says, lis giving way be-
fore the machinery of Yankee ingenuity.
In 1889 the value oia our boots and shoes
scld in foreign lands was about $780, 600: in
1889 the value WIS over s., 7i1.Oeo fve-eoid
increase in ten years He also notes the
remarkable fnct that the export of iron
and steel products in 1900 was sl2o,ooo.coo
in value.
Our trade with China shows great gains,
and this is particularly true OF the trade in