The sun., 1903-03-22

countries might concoiVeoy tNe W.
| United States a. producers OF raw ma
terials, but might lack tho power TO wor>
them up as vigorously and skilfully. Others
again, might have the industrial skill With
out the raw materials.
Our author recognizes that q successful
competitor Of the Americans will require
both. He reminds us, however. that II
ample supplies Of raw material and highly
efficient personnel are more than hall OF
the industrial battle. this is absolutely
true only when industrial combatants arc
allowed to fight II out by themselves. When
politics comes into play, natural conditions
may be upset and sometimes reversed.
In international trade, politics may become
the dominant factor. The United States
could scarcely complain OF such a state
OF things, seeing that the policy OF mixing
up politics and business lie peculiarly their
own. All over the commercial world a
business policy is now dem manded. Should
IL turn out that the United Kingdom prefers
American fiscal doctrines TO American
produce, it might no longer be so easy for
the United States to maintain a. fattering
balance Of trade.
1t Is perfectly true, as our author says,
that Americans have not yet reached the
calm. conservative frame Of mind which
regards fiscal questions without personal
anxiety. The mere thought Of a new tariff
sends a shiver through whole armies OF
manufacturers and importers. The man.
moth corporations are no less nervous
than the retailers. Any fiscal change
means the revolutionizing Of trade a. it
exists and an entirely new range Of values.
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inconvenient, IL not ruinous, to others.
II the great trusts should prove no less
vulnerable to fiscal disturbances than are
ordinary traders, the United States might
find themselves handicapped in inter-
national competition. Unquestionably.
fiscal stability is essential to steady COM
mercial progress Huge fortunes may
be made and lost amid fiscal transactions.
but a nation thrives best when there are
fewest Of such transitions. Mr.. Lawson
sees that, even II the great industrial cor
porations should be able to avert a fiscal
revolution on this side Of the Atlantic,
their troubles would not be over. Harder
to forecast than the vagaries and vicissi-
tudes Of American politics are the impend-
ing fiscal developments In Europe. Our
author deems 1t certain that these develop
ments will be more or less antagonistic
to American competition, though how
much so he does not pretend to predict.
What is said in another chapter about
the limitations of the area adapted to cereals
is well founded and constitutes the strongest
possible argument for tho application OF
irrigation on a great scale to the arid but
fertile soils possessed by the
States and Territories lying in what used
to be called the Great American Desert"
1t is unquestionably true that in the United
States the area under cereal crops does not
keep pace with the new land broken up.
To every increase Of titled land in the North
west there is an Offset in the older sections
where cereals are going out Of cultivation.
The result is that maize and wheat show
very little progress as regards their re-
spective aggregate area. For example,
the area under maize in 1900 was almost
the same as il had been in 1895. the respec-
tive totals having been IS $40 900 acres. and
81 ,078, 900 acres. The wheat area expanded
between 1895 and 1900, namely,
from "a 4,047 900 acres to 42,<o5 900 acres:
but the increase OF eight million acres 10
only fraction Of the fifty odd millions OF
public lands taken up in the interval. As
for oats. the acreage remains almost station
ary. The 77,se4 900 acres reported in 1900
indeed. . gain Of one million
acres over the Immediately preceding year.
but It was fully half million acres short Of
the total OF 1895. Barley shows actual
the area under crop in 1900
having been only 2.sel.0 900 acres as COM
pared with s,4oo 900 acres in 1892. and nearly
As much in 1891. In rye, a still heavier
is observable, the 1884 600 acres
cropped in 1888 having declined to l sci 900
acres in 1900 1t is undeniable that. had
there been an unlimited amount OF virgin
land available for cereals, the above re-
ductions could not have taken place. Ap-
parently the new land has done little more
than counterbalance the wasting of the old
Much the same thing may be said Of cotton.
Mr.. Lawson points out that. since the sharp
spurt which cotton planting took in 1894.
Il has made little progress either In area or
In weight of crop. The aggregate areas Of
1904 and 1900 were. in fact, within a quar-
Ter million acres Of each other the first hav-
ing been 2s ,Gss 100 acree. and the second
70, 800. 900 acres.
Our author is quite right in saying
hat. when the stimulus OF abnormal ac-
iivity cannot produce greater expansion
han this In the staple agricultural in
tustries Of a country. II must bc inferred
hat some serious obstacle. physical or
u therwise. has been la operation. He In
however, In pronouncing the
obstacle ins,ffmountablc. Il can he sur
mounted by the irrigation Of the arid lands
u the far West, According to a recent
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