Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1914-07-10
BIRDS EYE VIEW
OF WORLD CONDITION

a recent bulletin Of the depart
ment of commerce gives the fol-
lowing interesting data concerning
the economic progress Of the United
States:
In the basic elements Of economic
progTess the United States ranks
high among the nations of the
world, being one nf the five coun-
tries only which have an area in
excess of million So ,are miles,
and the only nation or the western
world (eXccpt Russia) having a
population of over 100 million. In
the interchange of products among
its own people it leads the world,
its home trade at the present time
being estima ed at nearly 40 billion
dollars or equal to the internation-
al exchanges of the world and ap-
proSimately 10 times the value Of
eur own foreign trade now valued
at a billion dollars.
That our present foreign trade
is far short of the immediate pos
sihIlities of the nation is evident
from a consideration of its area
commerce and other economic fac
tors in comparison with that of
other leading countries as set
forth in comparative abtlcs pub
lishcd in the Statistical Abstract of
the United States, 1918, compiled
BY the Bureau pf Foreign aud
Domestic Commerce, Department
of Commerce. Thus the present
export trade Of the ULited States
(2A Eiliion tnllars) repre.ents
about S25 per capi a. A per capita
basis equal to that of Argentina
would ;aisc the export power of the
United States to 5 billion dollars;
and one equal to that uf Belgium
would bring its exports to 10 billion
dollars year; while our aggregate
foreign trade when upon pei
capita basis as large as that OF
Canada would be considerably over
l3 billion dollars a year.
Other comparative tables in the
Statistical Abstract" further en-
phasizes the commercial power of
the United States and its strong
international position. In railway
mileage, for example, We possess
une-third of the worlds total, our
25S, 900 miles being ten times as
much as the mileage Of the United
Kingdom and six times that of Ger
many. One company alone has
23S, 900 mile of telegraph lines, or
double the total'in Russia, next in
order. More than one third Of the
worlds mail service is performed
upon routes located in the United
States, while our public debt Of
one million dollars is cmaller than
that IF Italy, Austria-Hungary,
Spain, Germany, AustraIis, Japan,
British India, or Great Britain
and is less than Onc-fourth that If
Russia.
Temporary receEsions have fire.
Qucntly marked the course uf
American commerce, but the tend
ency according to historical tables
in the Statistical Abstract, is ever
higher. IN II years from 1890 to
1901, our for cign trSde grew from
, billion to 2f billion dollars, an
increase Of so per cent. while in
the II years from 1902 to 1913 il
increased from II to 1t billions q
gain of 90 per cent.
The foundations of this growth
are laid deep in the soil and natural
resources Of our country and m
the character of our people. Thus
the American Onion. from 13 states
having 325 thousand square miles
and / million people has expanded
to dS states and the territories OF
Alaska, Porto Rico. and Hawaii,
with an area of g 2.3 million
square miles and 100 million pcO.
pie. In the period since 1870 the
value of our farm products has
risen from 2 billion to about 10
billion dollars a year; the output
OF coal from less than 80 to nearly
500 million long tons, copper from
l2h thousand to over one-half mill
ion tons; pig iron from 2 to 81
million tons: petroleum from 22l