The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-11-19
OUR BEST CUSTOMER
AND FRIEND

| The break up Of the British EN-
pire, the decline o. Great Britain t.
the rank of a second rate power, &C
companied by permanent shrinkagt
in national wealth. productive power
and consuming capacity would, in
one respect, be severe economi:
blow to the United States. In ar
analysis of our foreign trade in tho
products of farm and foes, the de.
partment of agriculture gives fig.
ures showing that Great Britain ha.
for many years been this country's
chief foreign market.
Thirty-nine per cent of all the
exports in the five years ending in
1914, went to the British Isles. In
that period, Britain bought three
fourths of our hops, one-half of our
cotton, one-half of our glucose, sugar
and grape-sugar, Cne-half Of our live
animals and packing house product )
one-half of our grain, our tobacco
and our dairy products
No other foreign country in those
five years bought of us so much as
Britain did. Germany took only Is
! per cent of our farm and forest ex.
ports in the ten-year period ending
with 1914. France took less than
Germany. Nor would Germany and
France ever buy our products on tht
British scale since they are protec.
tionists countries, while British free
trade makes lucrative open market
for American goods.
What external condition could
have been more favorable to the
economic development of the United
States during the past 70 years than
the existence of an overseas country
like Great neutrality-suspicious., rich
and progressive, although very slnan
in area. and drawing heavily upon
/ American farms and forests for raw
materials in manufactures and for
/ food supplies? The rapid economic
development of our own country has
been LARGELY due to the existence Of
the British market. Wipe out Great
Britain, and what would be the ef-
feet on America? Let Great Brit
ain be seriously, permanently Grip
pied by the loss of the chief sources
+, of her commercial and financial
power--what then would be the eff
feet upon America?
However much we might gain in
some directions by such a catastro-
phe to the British people, we should
lose enormously jim the foreign mar
ket for our annual exports of the
products of farm and forest. The mo-
ment the sources of British wealth
began to dry up, the British pOpula-
ton would begin to decline and the
imports of raw materials and food
would shrink No other foreign
country, ACCORDING to the appear
ances, would take Great Britain s
place on free trade basis as our
best customer. Where is the coun-
try, new or old, insular in shape, re-
/ stricted in area and geographically
located at the end of an easy ocean
route, that could or would play to
America the British role of the past
century? From an American poiE
of view, the possibility of another
Britain lies beyond the reach of the
ina 9 nation.
A dominating central Teutonic
empire in Eurole, extending vir-
tually from Antwerp to the Persian
gulf, would be protectionist aud self
sustaining. Its power in various
parts of the world, through its coli
onies and dependencies won as
spoil of war from broken down
France and Britain. might be well
nigh controlling. At least, the 20
litical equilibrium between the new
and the old worlds, which we know
in the days of Britain's greatness,
would have vanished; and with the
former political equilibrium would
have gone the special economic and
commercial equilibrium established
by British empire founded on free
trade
j Never could Americans reason
ably desire the downfall of Britain.
Such an event could contribute
nothing Of permanent value to our
country's political or economic
greatness. Not only should We lose
our best customer; we should lose
onr best friend; for Great Britain is
the one great power that must be
cur friend. Springfield Republican