The Washington times., 1901-09-05

| trous to the manufacturing industry.
and therefore fearful blow at the ma
tion's prosperity. This was well illus
trated by the experience of England
| when the American civil war shut off
! the supply of raw cotton. Again, such
| a country may be badly hurt by any
! thing which interferes with its outside
markets. In the case mentioned Eng
land suffered by her inability to get an
adequate supply of cotton, and also by
/ TIE closing of the Southern ports to her
| manufactured goods.
! 1t is out of the question for England
! ever to take the lead in agriculture.
! The country is too small. In mineral
wealth she is great in proportion to her
size and it is valuable. in fact, indis-
pensable adjunct to her manufacturing
industry. But in mining she has lost
the first place, and, it may be said
mainly through the smallness of her
territorial area. For similar reasons
Germany can never with her present
| territory take first rank as an indus
trial nation. Although larger than
Great Britain, the German Empire is
still too small to supply food for the
vast non agricultural population which
is necessary to make her first in man
ufacturing. Even more serious is her
disadvantage in being deficient in both
coal and iron. while, of course, in the
raw material for textiles she is almost
wholly dependent upon other countries.
These suggestions show the tremen-
dous advantages possessed by the
United States. First of all, its agricul-
tural area and diversified soil and eli
mate are such that il is not only indie
pendent of all other countries in the
matter of great food staples, but after
supplying an immense non-agricultural
population at home, it has an enor-
nous surplus for export. This may be
considered the basis of our national
strength both in war and peace Not
a dollar do we have to send out of the
country to pay for food products that
are vitality necessary. Almost every
thing of the kind that we buy abroad
is in the nature of a luxury, which, on
a pinch, we could get along without
Then, one of our greatest agricultural
products is also the most important raw
Our cotton belt is the ,broadest and best
in the ,yorld, and not even a foreign
war of colossal proportions could de-
prive us of n full supply for home use,
at least. Next We have the largest de-
posits of iron ore known to exist in the
world, and here we have the raw ma
terial for the iron and steel industry
which lies at the foundation of all man.
ufacturing. saving nothing Of the i'm
portant part it plays in shipbuilding
and general construction work upon
houses. bridges, railways. etc. OF cop
per. which up to this time has been the
chief metallic instrumentaiity used in
electrical science, the United States
turns ont considerably more than one
half of the worlds eutire product. Less
important, perhaps, but still of great
moment, are lead and zinc. both of
which are produced in large quantities.
But in the utilization of these and ali
other raw materials in manufacturing
an abundance of fuel is indispensable.
This we have in the greatest coal fields
of the known world, and everything
now indicates that this great fuel prod
1uct is to be bountifully re-enforced by
vast supply of mineral oil.
AS a result of these manifold advan-
tages, combined with the native ener-
gies of our people, the American Re
public has advanced with giant strides
along many industrial lines at the same
time. until, while still almost In it's in
fancy, it stands first in agriculture,
first in mining, first in manufacturing,
first in the value OF it's export trade.
first in the amount of its domestic COM
merce, and first in the grand aggregate
of its wealth. Even in its output of the
precious metals the United States leads
all other countries, so that In case of
stern necessity we could not only sup
ply ourselves with all the leading sta
pies OF domestic consumption, but we
could also take enough gold and silver
from our mines each year to give us
more than our distributiye share of the |
worlds money.
If each. nation were to endeavor TO |
live exclusively by itself, the United |
States would be far better able to do so |
than any other. At the same time such |
an attempt would be in the highest de- |
gree unwise. Although we are so far !
in advance, taking our industries as d
whole, there are still some things which |
other countries can do better than we |
can. under existing conditions. 1t |
would be bad policy for us to withdraw |
any portion of our energies from the |
profitable enterprises to which they are |
now directed, in order to build up by |
forcing process some minor and com
paratively unimportant industry. In |
other words, there are some things that
at present ii is better for US to buy
than to make. Besides all this, it must |
be remembered that we are also anx-
ious to sell-not merely farm products, |
but manufactures as well. Therefore.
trade relations with other countries are
in the highest degree necessary, and
they should be made to rest upon the
broadest basis of fairness. We should
never lose sight of the natural truism
that other people have the same right |
to live and to prosper that we have.
The Increase of Imm grafton.
Immigration into the United States !
during the fiscal year just ended was
larger than in any other year since 1898.
That year ii viii be remembered saw !