The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-04-01
OUR COMMERCIAL INVASION OF EUROPE.

Ibis Is bu6 pnEhSO uS6N % OOSOG4QC
one of the most important develop
ments of recent years. It is agitat-
ing all Europe, and should be a source
of as much qualification to Ameri-
cans as it is of annoyance to Euro
peans.
And what Is il and what does it
mean? It is and it means a notable
change in the commercial relations
of America and the rest of the world
"a change that can be best ex-
pressed by this outline of the prog
ress of American manufacturing and
commerce:
Roughly speaking, from the be-
ginning of our government till 1850
we bought the manufactured goods
of Europe from 1850 till 1900 we
were building up our own manufac-
turing industries and preparing to-
supply our own wants ; now we have
entered upon a new era and I'll
manufacturers meet and undersell
European manufacturers in Euro
pean markets. This Is ''the com-
mercial invasion of Europe"
Inevitably, this sale of American
manufactured goods to European
purchasers has brought about a
change in the balance of trade we
now sell the rest of the world more
than we buy. We r paying all e.
penses and laying up a surplus in
banks. This is a new phase-or
rather the new phase. Balancing
our accounts from 1890 to 1897, it
appears that we just barely managed
to sell as much as we bought: there
was a balance for the 1O7 years of
only 1857, 600, 900 in our favor. But
in the last four years our excess of
exports over imports has been 3d.
354, 900, OOO-nearly four times as
much as for all the other 1O7 years
of our history.
This is a truly marvellous showing,
and suggests some important ques-
tions. Can this state of affairs con-
tinue, or shall we return to the old
system of selling only as much as
we buyP Clearly, we think, it would
be foolish to expect the balance of
trade TO continue so largely in our
favor as it has for the last five years
but it does appear likely that we
shall for generations dominate the
markets of the world.
To the inoredulous we commend
DR.. Josiah Strong's book on "Expan-
sion," with it's striking array of sta
tistios and arguments as to the re-
SOURCES of America and the Ameri-
can people. 1t is on DR.. Strong's
authority that we give the figures
that follow.
Our agricultural supremacy, as
everybody knows, has been for years
undisputed the United States pro-
duces 80 per cent. of the worlds food
supply, though it has only 5 per cent.
of the worlds population. And the
consciousness of her inferiority in
agriculture causes Europe to view
with greater alarm our rapid strides
in manufacturing.
So the question of questions with
the captains of industry on both sides
of the Atlantic may be put in this
form:
Do the natural resources and ad.
vantages of America compared with
those of Europe indicate that Amer
ica' g commercial supremacy will be
permanent
DR.. Strong furnishes a very inter.
esting answer to this question. SIN
modern manufactures" he asserts,
"coal ia king and iron is his sceptre.
Of both these minerals, America has
a larger supply than has any COM
petitor. Take coal: England's sup
ply will probably be exhausted in so
years. She has 5000 square miles to
draw on for coal Russia, %, 900 Ger
many, $500; France, 1900; other
European countries, 1,4CO. Compare
these with the $4,000 square miles
of coal measures in the United States
Of iron our supply is practically in
exhaustible. In 1850 our output of
pig iron was only 821, 900 tons in
1890 it was 1923, 900 tons, and in
1898, IL, 962, 900 t~ons--about one. third
OF the worlds supply ard 5000, 900
tons more shan VA produced by
Great Britain, which stood next TO
US. OF steel we make ali even larger
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