The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-12-06

national finances and from the ever
present danger OF international COM
plications due to disorder at home.
Hence the United States has been
glad to encourage and support Amer
lean bankers who were willing to lend
helping hand to the financial re-
mobilization Of such coutries because
this financial rehabilitation and the
protection of their custom houses from
being the prey of would-be dictators
would remove at one stroke the men
ace OF foreign creditors and the men
ance Of revolutionary disorder
The second advantage to the Unit
ed States is one affecting chiefly all
the southern and gulf ports and the
business and industry Of the south.
The republics Of Central America and
the Caribbean possess great natural
wealth. They need only measure OF
stability and the means Of financial
regeneration to enter upon an era OF
peace and prosperity, bringing profit
and happiness to themselves and at
the same time creating conditions
sure to lead to fourish1ng IN
| terchange Of trade with this country
wish to call your especial attention
to the recent occurrences in Mica
ragua, for | believe the terrible events
recorded there during the revolution
! Of the past summer-the useless loss
Of life, the devastation of property,
| the bOmbardment Of defenseless cities,
the killing and wounding of women
and children, the torturing Of non
combatants to exact contributions,
and the suffering of thousands Of hui
man beings-might have been avert
ed had the department Of state,
through approval Of the loan conven
ton by the senate, been permitted to
carry out it's now well-developed policy
Of encouraging the extending Of fl
nanciaI aid to weak Central American
| states with the primary objects Of
avoiding just such revolutions by as
sisting those republics to rehabili-
tate their finances, to establish their
currency on a stable basis, to remove
the custom houses from the danger
of revolutions by arranging for their
secure administration, and to estab-
lish reliable banks.
Agricultural Credits.
A most important work, accom-
| plished in the past year by the Ameri-
can diplomatic officers in Europe, Is
the investigation of the agricultural
credit system in the European coun-
! tries. Both as a means to afford relief
fo ho OP
| through a more thorough develop
ment of agricultural resources and as
a means of more sufficiently maintain
| ing the agricultural population, the
| project to establish credit IA .ilities for
| the farmers is concern Of vital I'M
! portance TO this nation. No evidence
| of prosperity among weilesta blished
! that lack of capital is preventing a
development Of the nations agricul-
| tural resources and an adequate in
crease Of the land under cultivation;
that agricultural production is fast
| falling behind the increase in popula-
| ton; and that, in fact, although these
well-esta blished farmers are main
tanned in increasing prosperity be-
| cause of the natural increase in pOpu-
lation, we are not developing the in
| dustry of agriculture.
The need of capital which American
| farmers feel today had been expert
| enced by the farmers of Europe, with
ago. The problem had been success
| their centuries-old farms, many years
| fully solved in the old world and it
was evident that the farmers of this
country might profit by a study Of
| their systems. l therefore ordered,
through the department Of state, an
| investigation to be made by the diplo-
matte officers in Europe, and l have
laid the results of this investigation
| before the governors Of the various
states with the hope that they VIII
| be used to advantage in their forth
coming meeting.
increase of Foreign Trade.
In my last annual message l said
nat the fiscal year ended June 80,
s511. was noteworthy as marking the
highest record of exports Of American
products to foreign countries. The
fiscal year 1912 shows that this rate
Of advance has been maintained, the
total domestic exports having a valu-
alton approximately of s2,200,000,0
as compared with a fraction over
$2,000,0O0,000 the previous year. It
is also significant that manufactured
and partly manufactured articles con-
tinue to be the chief commodities form
ing the volume of our augmented ex-
for consumption requiring that an in
creasing proportion of our abundant
agricultural products be kept a. home.
In the fiscal year 1911 the exports of
articles in the various stages of man
ufacture, not including foodstuffs part
~ or wholly manufactured, amounted
approximately to S907, 500, 900. In the
fiscal year 1912 the total was nearly
81 1922 100000, a gain of s114,000,000.
Advantage of Maximum and Minimum
Tariff Provision.
The Importance which our manufac-
lures have assumed in the commerce
Of the world in competition with the
manufactures of other countries again
draws attention to the duty of this
government to use it's utmost endeav-
ors to secure impartial treatment for
American products in all markets.
Healthy commercial rivalry IL inter
national intercourse is best assured