New-York tribune., 1907-05-23
OLE PL4CE " COMMERCE.

The country's foreign trade continues to eX-
pand at q rate which must perplex the theo-
rists who hold that we living in a state OF
pitiable and barbarOus Isolation" Returns OF
imports and exports for the nine months OF the
fiscal year ended March 81 show that our sales
of commodities abroad in that period amounted
In value TO 81 450 065 SOFA gain of Sl07 ,000000
over the sales for the same period In 1860
Imports have reached a valuation of Sl.O65. .S46,-
ella gain Of S152OO0OO0 over the record OF
the year preceding For the full year ending
June so next exports promise 10 reach the rec
ord breaking total of more than S1.900.GO0,O00,
while imports will probably rise In value TO
more than 81 Sl.4o0.O00.o00. To the old fashioned
anti-tariff stand patters." who are continually
lsmenting our supposed commercial aloofness,
these figures may may not convey any prac-
teal illumination. The confirmed CObdenite al
ways prefers theories to facts But to any fair
minded observer they must suggest the utter
breakdown OF the contention that the Dingley
tariff was meant 10 strangle foreign trade and
has. in fact. stranged il, leaving the United
States TO play a "deiuded role of folly and
selfshness in our little corner of the world
When the Dingley law passed. in 1897.
we were annually exporting merchandise valued
at Sl050000.000 and importing merchandise
valued al S764. 100000. The cry was raised BY
economists of the Morrison Cleveland
school that the higher protective duties carried
In certain schedules OF the Dingley tariff would
operate to restrict foreign commerce in two
ways. In the first place. they would directly
check importations, and in the second place by
reducing our purchases abroad would indirectly
narrow the foreign market for our own prod.
ucts- Yet these confident and automatic detluc-
tons have proved absolutely misleading Trade,
both outward and Inward. has steadily increased.
until low. after nearly ten years under the
Dingley act, the volume of both imports and
exports has practically doubled. If this is re
suietion." the United States should be crate
tul for il and ready TO welcome more of IL
Our foreign commerce for 1aos-'07 will reach
total value of about S3.5OooO0Ooo. This will
exceed the foreign commerce OF any other coun-
try except the United Kingdom and Germany.
We sell much more abroad now than Germany
does, and in most years more than the United
Kingdom. But we import less than either, for the
simple reason that we are practically self-sus-
tanning iE agriculture and industry while the
United Kingdom cannot feed its own people and
has TO import vast quantities of the materials I,
uses for manufacture. Germany is also largely
dependent on the outside world for manufact
uring material, and its larger import trade Is
due, as In the case Of the United Kingdom. to
handieaps OF nature under which we do not
labor. II we have somewhat neglected foreign
trade, IL is because were not driven to cul-
hrate II by necessity, as Great Britain and
Germany have been. But as we develon opr
industrial opportunities we shall find il easier
ana easier 10 forge ahead: for in all the ela-
men's which go TO constitute industrial Elf