New-York tribune., 1905-02-13
NEW RECORDS IN EXPORTS.

CONGRESS was recently asked by the State De-
nartment 70 create a staff Of commercial agents,
with Diplomatic rank, whose function II ShouId
he TO facilitate the sale abroad OF American
manufacturers The step proposed has been
generally commended as timely and practical;
for In spite of the shopworn contention OF the
Cobdenite school of economists, that under
high protective tariff we cannot possibly Gre
ate market abroad for our manufactured prod
ucts. the American people are waking up to the
fact that we have already created such mar
ket and that the time is ripe for cultivatinS
and expanding it. A bulletin just issued by
the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of
Commerce and Labor gives an excellent idea of
the growth in the last decade of our export
trade in manufacturers growth which the
Cobdenites have a thousand times declared TO
be a fiction and a chimera. In violation or all
the laws of free trade logic we have been sell
ing enormous quantities of manufactured goods
abroad, and under the Dingey tarif-the most
protective in our history-we have increased
the value of such sales to over $500000,000 an
nually.
In the calendar year 1904 all records for ex-
ports of manufactures were broken. The total
reached-S502 764 729-is the highestever known
and the gain for the year-$S1 900, 0,000-exceeded
any gain hitherto recorded. The increase in
our sales of manufactures has been indeed phe-
nomenal In 1894 we sent abroad manufact-
ures valued at SIT, 7,SO0969. In 1895 and 1896
under the Wilson-G German law-the totals were
a little larger-S201, ,153, ,663 in 1895 and $685.
6S1, ,541 in 1896. In the last eight years, under
the DingIey law, the increase has been greatly
accelerated. The total for 1897 was $279,616.-
S9S, for 1899 $780, 7S7 S91, for 1902 $410, 967
and for 1904 $500, ,764, ,729.
1t cannot be said that this expansion has
been in any sense forced or artificial. On the
contrary, it has come through wholly natural
causes, and certainly without any concerted ef
fort on the part of American manufacturers. 1t
has been the general complaint of our consuls-
a complaint voiced vigorously in the January
Bulletin Of the International Bureau of the
American Republics that American manufact-
urers have not hitherto taken sufficient trouble
to familiarize themselves with trade conditions
abroad, and have failed signally to consult the
special wants and tastes of foreign purchasers
The trade we have has been built up in spite of
such shOrtsightedneSs, and in competition with
rivals like the Germans, who earnestly seek to
adapt themselves to foreign market conditions
1t Is so much the more evident, therefore, that
our export trade needs only TO be cultivated in
telligently in the next decade or two to insure
1t an extraordinary expansion. The zeal. pa-
tience and judgment our rivals have shown in
this field WILL if initiated by u.s. easily double
the value Of our exports of manufactures; and
with the initial obstacles removed this trade will
go on steadily gaining headway. The State De-
partment has wisely recommended the creation
Of staff of agents to study foreign trade condi-
tons and bring the American manufacturer into
closer touch with them; for only a greater
knowledge of and greater interest in the foreign
market seem TO be needed to lift the United
States to vastly more important place as an
exporter of manufactured products.