The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-05-17

The National Association Of Manu-
facturers viii hold their fourteenth
annual convention In New York to-
morrow. Perhaps the most Important
thing scheduled to come before them
is the question Of building up an ex-
port trade, especially with SCUM
America, 1t is probable that they WIN
decide to publish a journal devoted 70
export business, giving the American
manufs turer an advertising medium
which will be printed in the language
OF the countries in which IL Is to cir-
chlate. The manufacturer feels that
he has outgrown the home market and
that he must either get new business
from the other parts Of the world OF
tear down the sign of progress above
the door OF his establishment The
Association has recognized this neces-
sity for trade extension by estaphsn-
ing a bureau which serves to bring
the seller of this country and the buy
ers of other countries together. IL
translates fifty letters into English or
from the English into any other Ian
guage free of charge for its members.
1t also gives lists of wholesale Dealers
Importers, and agents In any one line
for five countries to each member an
nually and investigates ten foreign
firms free of charge for each member
during each year. -
1t will be seen from this that the
Association Is alive to the Importance
of building up the export trade IN
manufactures. and to the necessity OF
united action in the effort to do So
The services of the Association In this
direction are used far beyond the
amount of free service renderec. the
annual reports showing thousands OF
dollars turned in from the nominal fees
charged for extra services. One OF the
amusing things about the nicely with
which the manufacturer has to handle
his Spanish or Portuguese correspon-
dent is the fact that the American Is
scarcely able to write q letter that can
be translated to suit him. The Eng
lish is such q direct language that ia
thought literally translated from Ii
into the Spanish will often give Of
fence to the punctilious Castilian, so
that II has become advisable for the
exporters who seeks trade relations
with spaniarJs to have his letters
translated by someone whose native
tongue Is Spanish rather than by some
person who has simply, studied the
language.
Could the statesmen OF q bygone
generation arise from their graves they
would surely think . miracle had been
wrought. Before the Civil War 1t was
declared that America was first of all
an agricultural nation, and would al
ways remain so. But their sons have
lived to see the products of the farm
yield second place to the products of
the factory, and today the nation
which was to their minds destined to
be the agricultural nation Of the world.
has manufacturers aggregating In
value fifteen billion dollars a year. and
agricultural products whose total
value is eight billion. More than one
half of the entire product of the COM
bined energy of our 100000 people is
represented in the products of the
factories of the country. 1t Is
said that the total productive capacity
of the people of the United States ID
valued at 26,00O,000,000 a year. or
ss06 per capita. There are 100000
wage earners engaged in manufacture
ing. They convert nine billion dollars
worth OF raw and partly raw material
into $4,000. 100000 worth of finished
product. II will be seen from this that
their gross earning capacity is upward
of $1,000 year
One Is hardly prepared for the state
ment that In point of value of output
the slaughtering and packing industry
more men engaged I'M fuh}bef sads wood
wurtcing sfha11 fAgany 9other manufac-
turing Industry In the country, 404,-
600 of them being so engaged. The
manufacture of things to eat and
things to wear is about one-third OF
an the manufacturing being carried on
In the United States. Add the iron and
steel industry, and the result is just
about one-half of the total manufac-
turing output.
America now stands safely at the
head of the manufacturing nations of
the world. It lie over three billion doll