The Penn's Grove record., 1912-12-06
ing for their secure administration Ind ID
establish reliable banks.
Agricultural Credits.

crease of the land under cultivation; that
agricultural production is fast falling be-
mind the increase in population; and that,
In fact, although these well-established
farmers are maintained in increasing
prosperity because of the natural increase
IN population, we are not developing the
Industry of agriculture.
The need of capital which American
farmers feel today had been experienced
by the farmers of Europe, with their CEN
turies-old farms. many years ago. The
problem had been successfully solved in
the old world and 1t was evident that the
farmers of this country might profit by a
study of their systems. I therefore order
ed, through the department Of state, an
investigation to be made b.@ the diplo-
matte officers in Europe, and I have laid
the results of this Investigation before the
governors of the various states with the
hope that they will be used to advantage
in their forthcoming meeting.
lr ease of Foreign Trade.
In nv st annua1 message I said that
the iso year ended June 30, 1911, was
notewort y as marking the highest record
of export If American products to foreign
countries. The fiscal year 1912 shows that
this rate # advance has been maintained.
the total Domestic exports having a valu-
alton apL!oxiamtely of 81, 200, Co., 900. as
compared with a fraction over $1,000, 900, 600
the previous year. 1t is also significant
that manufactured and partly manufac-
tured articles continue to be the chief
commodities forming the volume Of our
augmented exports, the demands of our
own people for consumption requiring that
an increasing proportion of our abundant
agricultural products be kept at home.
In the fiscal year 1911 the exports of artf-
cles in the various stages of manufac-
ture. not including foodstuf1s partly or
wholly manufactured, amounted approx
mately to 1901, 500, 900. In the fiscal year
1912 the total was nearly 81, 022, 0 10000, a
gain of $114, 00G, 600.
Advantage of Maximum and Minimum
Tariff Provision.
The Importance which our manufactures
have assumed In the commerce of the
world In competition with the manufac-
lures of other countries again draws at
tention to the duty of this government to
use its utmost e~ndeavors to secure i'm
partial treatment for American products
in all markets. Healthy commercial riv-
airy in international intercourse Is best
assured by the possession of proper means
for protecting and promoting our foreign
trade. It is natural that competitive
countries should view with some concern
this steady expansion of our commerce.
If in some instance the measure taken
by them to meet it are not entirely equi-
table, a remedy should be ound. In for
mer messages I have described the nego-
tiations of the department of state with
foreign governments for the adjustment
of the maximum and minimum tariff as
provided in section 2 of the tariff law of
1909. The advantages secured by the ad-
justment of our trade relations unde this
law have continued during the last year,
and some additional cases of discrimina-
tory treatment of which we had reason
to complain have been removed. The de-
partment of state has for the first time
in the history of this country obtained
substantial MISREPRESENTATION treatment
from all the countries of the world. There
are, however, other instances which, while
apparently not constituting undue dis
elimination in the sense of section 2, are
nevertheless exceptions to the complete
equity of tariff treatment for American
products that the department of state
consistently has sought to obtain fop
American abroad
These developments confirm the opin-
lon conveyed to you in my annual mes
sage of 1911, that while the maximum
and minimum provision of the tariff
law of 1903 has been fully justified by
the success achieved in removing pre-
viously existing undue determinations
against American products, yet expert
ence has shown that this feature of the
law shoul be amended in UGH way as
to provide a fully effective means Of
meeting the varying degrees of dis
criminatory treatment of American
commerce in foreign countries still
encountered, as well as to protect
against injurious treatment on the part
of foreign governments, through either
legislative or administrative measures,
the financial interests abroad of Amer
lean citizens whose enterprises enlarge
the market for American commodities.
I cannot too strongly recommend to
congress the passage of some UGH
enabling measure as the bill which was
recommended by the secretary of state
in his letter of December 10. 1911. The
object of the proposed legislation is, in
brief. to enable the executive to apply,
as the case may require, to any or all
commodities. whether or not on the
free list from a country which dis
eliminates against the United States, a
graduated scale of duties up to the
maximum of Is per cent. ad valorem
provided in the present law. Flat tar
ifs are out of date.
Congress should fully realize the condi-
lions which obtain in the world as we
find ourselves at the threshold Of our
middle age as a nation. We have
emerged full grown as a peer in the great
concourse of nations. We have passed
IhTOnSn various formative perlOQS. W.
have been self-centered in the struggle to
develop our domestic resources and deal
with our domestic questions. The nation
is now too mature to continue in its for
eign relations those temporary expedients
natural to a people to whom domestic af-
fairs are the sole concern. In the past
our diplomacy has often consisted, in
normal times, in a mere assertion of the
right to International existence. We are
-. --1- at ia
rights of our own and obligations to 9TH
ers thar ourselves. A number of great
guiding principles were laid down early in
the history of this government. The re-
cent task of our diplomacy has been to
adjust those principles to the conditions
of today, to develop their corollaries, to
find practical applications of the old prin-
ciples expanded to meet new situations.
Thus are being evolved bases upon which
can rest the sup~erstructure of policies
which must grow with the destined pro-
gress of this nation. The successful con-
duct of our foreign relations demands a
broad and a modern view. We can not
meet new questions nor build for the fu-
ture If we conf1ne ourselves to
dogmas of the past and to the perspec-
tive appropriate at our emergence from
colonial times and conditions. The open
ing of the Panama canal will mark a new
era In our ~rnatio life and create
new and worldwide conditions which.
with their vast correlations and conse-
uuences, will obtain for hundreds of years
to come. We must not wait for events to
overtake us With continuity
of purpose we must deal with the prob
lens of our external relations by a diplo-
macy modern, resourceful, magnanimous,
and ittingly expressive of the high ideals
of a great nation.
WIN. II. TAFT.
The White House.
December 4 1919.
None Of us could guess what thew