'"ff'J'J t V
The Cpmrnonef;
MAY, ,1915
15
has been organized "within the last year whoso
solo duty it is to build up American trade. Tho
suggestion that this force bo created came from
a democratic executive. It was approved by a
democratic congress, and now in ten of the
world's great centers in four different continents
trained commercial attaches are busy promoting
tho commerce of this country. To it they give
their wlible time. They have no other duties.
Their services are at the free use of American
commerce. They are trained commercial men,
speaking the language of the country to which
they are assigned, or one which is current in
commercial circles therein. They have received
tho warmest commendation from our diplomatic
service, with which they fully co-operate. Thoy
work in closest accbrd with the consular Service.
Thoy have been of great service to many Amer
ican manufacturers and exporters. Tlds is all
new1. Is this andther evidence of democratic in
difference to trade?
It is not long since American cdment was ex
cluded from the markets of one of our ''sister '
peoples by specifications which shut it out. By
the tio-operatlon of the state department and that
of commerce, the specifications have been al-(i
tere'd, and now not only are those market's open
to this American product hut many thousands of
barrels of it have entered the doors wliich once
were closed. Is this a further proof of our in
difference to trade?
It is not so many weeks since the shortage of
sisal threatened not only the .prosperity of the,
binder twin industry, but menaced our farmers
with an absolute famine of that necessary ma
terial for harvesting the huge crops with which
a kindly nature promises to bless us.(
The source of supply of this material lies in
Yucatan, and in that country conditions threat
ened at once the stoppage of transit for sisal and
the possible destruction of the material itself.
The affect upon American -agriculture would
have been disastrous, and upon some of our in
dustries most hurtful, is it not because of 'tho
active support given by several branches df the
administration to the needs of American industry
and agriculture in this important case that today
the supply of sisal movds freely into out mills
and -through them to our farms? 1 fear' few 6f
our farmers know the intense activity ndce&sary
to bring- about this happy result; but' those' Hvhp
know it do hot say that the administration is 'In
different to the needs of business ' ' '
PRACTICAL Alt) TO INDUSTRY
Through the bureau of standards more has
been done in recent months than there is time .
to tell .in tho way of practical aid to our indus
tries, , . '
A , Michigan manufacturer had his products
stopped by tho Australian customs, which
claimed the goods were not what they were al
leged to be. The result of tests made, by us were .
transmitted by cable to Australia and the em
bargo promptly removed thereby. ,
A supply of tracing cloth, hitherto obtained
largely from Great Britain and Germany has
been directed into the hands of American manu
facturers since we tested the material made at
home and gave out Qfficial evidence that it was,
good.
It would be .easy to add more. Suffice to. say
that any one who questions whether the spirit
and the acts of the department of commerce are- .
helpful to the .business world may go if he will
to the bureau of standards and see for himself In
the morning mail what the business world, has .
to say. ,i
And .now, finally, let us turn to the position -of
wonderful dignity and power which our na
tion. holds in the eyes of all the world. We are
the one great nation among the larger powers' of
the-world which Is at peace and intends to stay
at peace. The alarms of war beat harmlessly'
upon our shores. Our purpose Is' helpful, our
minds are quiet. Our emotions are calm. We
refuse to get excited and angry. We are friends'
to all the peoples that are at war. We wish them
all good and not evil, and we have observed to
ward all .strict impartiality, and wd have 'acted
toward all within the accepted rules of interna
tional law, Tho suggestion may be permitted
that the .oificial communications from this gov-
ernment to others in recent months are such as
to bring lionest pride to every American. In
them not only have the dignity of law and the
obligations of international courtesy been main
tained, but tho rights of America have been as
serted with friendly firmness and with sober re
straint. This lias been don in such a way as to
win the Approval even of those with whom we
have disagreed. It has shown to the world the
spectacle .of a great nation too mighty to be other
than quiet, preserving its calm in tho midst of
a world on firo; fearless at onco in stating what
it deems its rights to be, and courteous in recog
nizing tho painful conditions under which the
assertion has to be made.
Tho shock of war fell on us at a-time when wo
were ill-prepared for it. We were debtors to
foreign peoples. Wo owed perhaps five thousand
millions In the form of funded debt and perhaps
four hundred millions In the form of floating
debt. The former could be sold at will In our
exchanges for what it would bring. Tho latter
was payable in gold at call. Both of these pro
cesses were tried upon us. Either brought to an
extreme might have brought serlouQ trouble, if
not disaster. Neither has occurred. Tho floating
debt has been paid In goods and not In gold. Tho
funded debt has boon in some part purchased
'backand so far as this process has gorid It'meahs
that we shall pay Interest to ourselves Instead of
to foreigners hereafter.
I must not let this subject pass without ex
pressing again as I have often done before my
Bense of the thanks which are due to tho hankers
and business men of the country who so ably
co-operated with the government in tho stormy
days of August and Septomber last, in putting
the country on a safo basis.
A BRIGHT PAGE IN HISTORY
When time enough shall have elapsed to per
mit writing the history of this period, it will
prove one of tho bright pages in our country's
story. I have yet to hear a voice lifted up in
condemnation of what the administration did at
this time of trial. I venture to think there are
none so bold as to dare attack upon this subject;
Nay, it seems to ho the fact that our onomles
leave the larger things that have been done out
of account, and yelp at the smaller and tho lesser
things.
From the shock of August there has been a
wonderful recovery. Not only is our floating
debt paid and our funded debt In part absorbed,
but we have accumulated In the last four months
a balance in our favor with European,, nations
amounting to over six hundred millions of dol
lars. -. Today the nations of the earth turn to us
for money and for goods, for there Is almost no
' where else that they can go. . We are the cynos
ure of every eyo the wide world round, the envy
of every 'statesman in lands' embroiled in war.
' 'Men Wish they Wore as We aro. Compared with
others we know not what taxes or distress means.
Our sons are busy in produdtive work and 'not
being led like lambs to tho slaughter. Thermo Is
no posted list In your fair town of your children
that have been killed or wounded or made pris
oner. ' Yet no one dares say that America lacks
power, and no one' with temerity would venture
or with discourtesy desires to offend us.
There is about to gather a conference which
will be a landmark In the history of our foreign
commerce and influence. It has fallen to this
administration to gather at Washington ndxt
month tho official financial representatives of tho
nations of Latin America. They came as U a
friend, fearlessly. Thoy know we seek neither
their land nor tho increase of our power save in
the peaceful paths of commerce. They know that
our conception of commerce 1 not one of iricltM
trial war but of mutual exchange for mutual
gain. Thoy look to us for the sources of credit
to roplaco those which have been torn from them
by war, and thoy offer to us goods wo nocd In ex
chango for tho credits which thoy hope we snail
establish.
It is not only from this sourco that tho invita
tion has como to us. Wo have loaned in one or
another form to foreign peoples In the last six
or eight months sums exceeding two hundred
millions of dollars, and with Uhmu loans has gone
abroad tho Influonco of our country in a peculiar
and practical way. It Is perfectly well known
that tho gun Is not behind tho loan; that we are
not of those .who seok to foreclose a mortgage.
It is understood that our spirit U friendly; 'that
tho gain we frankly hone to make is conditioned
upon tho equal good of those with whom we deal
In making it.
It Is not nccossary to pursue this subject in
detail longer. The story of our rise from the
days of shock into tho days of power, of the
growth In tho minds of other peoples of appre
ciation of our spirit and our helpfulness, of the
turning of all men's eyes hltherward as to friends
who can and will help, this story I Bay, is one
that should make Amoricans proud, and in it
there Is no happiness for thoso who would do
evil to tho administration.
Lot it be that criticism shall come. We shall
bo tho bottor for It; but let it be that tho criticism
shall be fair, and truthful and candid; that it
shall state the facts and draw its inferences fair
ly from those facts. If It is not so, the criticism
will fall of Its own folly. If It is so, the criticism
will do good. And when we shall approach In
the coming year the decision for the future, let
it bo approached not with a scowl or a whine,
not with the partial statement of half-truths, but
let tho facts bo known in all their roundness to
tho American people, and then In God's name lot
the best man win.
HAVE FAITH IN AMERICAN PEOPLE
I venture to take for the democratic party
these words from tho statement by a Now York
bank as a portion at least of our creed:'
"Wo believe in tho American people, their
genius, their brain, and their brawn. Wq be
lieve in their honesty, their integrity and de
pendability. We believe that nothing can stand
In tho way 'of their commercial advancement and
prosperity; and we believe that in our country
aro being worked out great problems, the solu
tion of which will be for the benefit of all man
kind." Believing these things, let us approach them
with openness of mind, with candor, of speech,
and with balance of judgment. This being-done,
the democratic party looks fearlessly forward.
The Work or the President's Cabiniet
DEPARTBIENT OF COMMERCE
BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC
COMMERCE
American Trade in Cheese,
American" cheese, of which the exports had
decreased from nearly 150 million pounds In the
fiscal year 1881 to less than 2 million in 1914,
is again finding its way to foreign markets in
rapidly increasing amounts, the aggregate for
eight months of the current fiscal year ending
February, 1915, being 13 million pounds, or
.more than in any fiscal year since 1907.
England is now and for many years has heen
the largest foreign market for American cheese.
In the fiscal year 1894, when our exports of
cheese were much larger than at present, we
exported 61 million -pounds to tho United
Kingddm, 10 million to Canada and other Brit
ish North America, and Nearly a half million
pounds to South America. Last year's exports
were distributed not only to the foregoing coun
tries but also to Panama, -the British West In
dies, Cuba, China, Hongkong, and other oriental
-countries.
Federal and state laws have tended to restrict
the salo of cheaper grades of American cheese.
The most recent general legislation affecting
. its sale was the pure food and drugs act of Juno
30, 1906, which requires manufacturers to state
specifically on the label the character pf the
goods offered for sale. "Filled cheese," by
which Is meant cheeso from which the hutter
fat has heen removed and foreign fats added,
has been legislated against in several states,
though it is understood that certain grades' of
cheese which may not he lawfully manufactured
for sale in the United States may he manufac
tured for export In response to foreign orders for
those grades.
In the period from 1893 to 1902 Imports at
cheese fluctuated between 10 and 17 million
pounds annually; from 1903 to 1906, between
20 and 30 million, and from 1907 to 19X3, be
tween 30 and 50 million, while in the fiscal year
1914 the total was 63,784,313 pounds, valued
at $11,010,683.
Italy and Switzerland are the leading sources
of our imported cheese, having supplied last
year 26 million ami 22 million pounds re
spectively, as against 6 million from France,
3 2-3 million from the Netherlands, 3 from
Greece, 1 million from Canada, and smaller
amounts from Norway, Germany, England, an
Anstria-jaangary. The most popular varieties
according to special reports made by the collect
ors of cwtonu in connection with an InvUgt-
s.
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