Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1906-08-16
our BIG TRADE.

lished, and which far surpass those for
any previous years, while his language
is trife fervid, his estimate is scarcely
overdrawn.
The total value of our exports for the
twelve months was 81, 743, 1853, 612. The
total value of the imports was 1925,
615, 379.
These figures mean little, perhaps, to
the average mind. 1t is easier to COM
prehend the fact that the gain in ex-
ports over the previous year was more
than $225, 900, 900, and the gain in i'm
ports more than $l09, 100000.
In each direction a new high-water
mark was established.
The balance of trade in favor of the
United States was S517, 148, 22S, as
against a balance of $4O1, O49,O 900 for
the year before.
The increase is not confined to any
particular line of commerce. There was
heavy increase in agricultural sales as
we'll as a substantial addition to the sale
of manufactured products.
The country is making remarkable
progress not only as an exporter of raw
materials, but as a seller of manufact-
ured goods.
The growth of the country's trade
can be still better understood when it is
said that since the present century be-
gan the increase of exports and imports
has been rs per cent, since 1870 25O per
cent, and since 1850, 600 per cent.
But more marvellous still is the in
crease of our trade with the countries
to the south-Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and
Argentina. Our sales to Cuba have
been multiplied by six in ten years, our
sales to Mexico have trebled, to Argen-
tina they have grown fvefold.
When we see what has been accom-
plished, in spite of every obstruction to
commerce that high tariff ingenuity
could invent, the imagination fairly
reels when we think of what would
have been done had our commerce not
been thus burdened. Richmond Jour
nal.
Yes, and how unfortunate that the req
ord has not proved a mind-opener as
we'll as an eye-opener. The remarkable
progress and growth Of our country's
trade, to which our Richmond contem-
porary refers, have come under the
Republican protective system, which
Democrats say is running the country.
They claimed when the Dingley bill
was enacted that it would destroy
our foreign trade; and it was confident
ly asserted that President Roosevelt's
"big stick" would practically annihilate
our commerce with the South American
republics. See what poor prophets the
Democrats have proven.
1t is strange, but nevertheless
fact, that when Democratic news
papers undertake to assail the
Republican tariff they are forced
to precede their assaults with
just such an array of facts and figures
as are presented in the above by the
Richmond Journal. This is in keeping
with the utterances of Mr.. Bryan when
his attention was called to the fact that
our country had prospered and grown
great under gold standard money sys-
TEN. He tried to discredit that system by
saying that when he saw the marvellous
progress his country had made while
walking on one leg, he wondered what
it would have done if it had been walk
ing on two legs. So, our Richmond con-
temporary declares:
"When we see what has been accom-
plished, in spite of every obstruction to
commerce that high tariff ingenuity
could invent, the imagination fairly
reels when we think of what would have
been done had our commerce not been
thus burdened.
1t is useless for our contemporary to
trespass upon its imagination to find out
what would be done to the country if
what it calls obstruction to our COM
merce were removed. The country has
had a recent experimental knowledge
on that line. The so-called distractions
to commerce were rudely torn away by
a Democratic Congress in 1893. 1t re-
quires no play of the imagination to re-
alize the disaster that came from the
removal of the distractions.
The Democrats are trying to induce
the people to put them again in control
of the government and have the great
folly of 1893 repeated. What sane
man wants to try the experiment again?
NEWSPAPER ROMANCING.