The Conservative.
AMKItlCAX ASSOCIATION FOR TIIK
ADVAXCKMUNT OF SCIENOK.
Treatl.sc Milunittcd at tin * MreUnjr Held
In ISoston , August JJfl , 1808.
IIV KDWAUl ) ATKINSON.
HOW TO IXCUKASE JXPOUTS. :
It is a common remark that the ma
chinery which is now applied to pro
duction in the United States is so effec
tive on nearly every line of work that a
few months' time , varying in different ,
estimates from six to nine , would suflice
to meet the necessar } ' consumption of
the people of this country under normal
conditions. Hence the necessity for
foreign markets. I believe all these es
timates are exaggerated. There is but
one product , cotton , of which more than
one-half is exported. There are miscel
laneous products of agriculture , such as
grain , provisions , and daily products
of which the export varies from ten (10) ( )
to twenty (20) ( ) per cent of the farm
value , changing according to conditions
and according to the relative product of
this and other countries. There are
very few branches of what are called
manufacturing industries of which we
now export in excess of ten (10) ( ) per
cent , and from that down to a fraction
of the total product.
Yet with here and there an excep
tional period duo to special conditions ,
such as the wide discredit and paralysis
of industry which followed the silver
craze of 1893 , it is not often that the
means of production of manufactured
goods have been largely in excess of the
consumption. The real truth is that it
is now possible to increase productive
mechanism either on the field , in the
forest , in the mine , or the factory , with
very great rapidity , thus very quickly
meeting a renewed demand after a
period of depression or any new export
demand which may bo opened. Supply
is , therefore , pressing on demand , and
the relief of export is , therefore , a con
stant need. It is also true that with the
exception of a very few branches of in
dustry , such as the woollen and worsted
manufacture , in which , however low
the prices may be , the cost of domestic
production is yet greatly enhanced in
this as compared to competing countries
by heavy taxes on wool and other ma
terials of foreign origin which are sup
plied to our competitors free of taxa
tion , there is hardly a branch of pro
duction fitted to the climate of this
V *
country either in agriculture , forestry
metallurgy , or manufacturing , in whicl
wo have not now such an advantage
over other countries as to enable us to
increase our exports in very large meas
ire so far as the power of export rests
on the cost of the production of any ar-
icle which is in demand in foreign
lountries.
VAST INCKKASi : IN EXPORTS.
The exports of the fiscal year ending
Tune 80 , 1897 , before the fore'gn scarcity
of grain had exerted any considerable
nfluenco , exceeded a thousand million
dollars ( $1,000,000,000) ) in value. The
exports of the last fiscal year exceeded
Avelvo hundred million dollars ( $1,200-
000,000) ) in value ; the gain in the export
of manufactured goods being relatively
almost as great as the gain in the exert -
} ort of the products of agriculture even
under the influence of the scarcity
which prevailed in Europe. These goods
lonsist of nearly every crude , partly
nanufactured , and finished product of
.he . country with the exceptions named ;
lamely , those of which the cost has
> een relatively enhanced by taxes on
he import of the materials. These
joods are sent to every corner of the
jlobe.
Large quantities go to the nmnufac-
; uring states of Europe with which we
jompeto , notwithstanding the fact that
lie wages which are recovered from the
sale of these goods in this country are
rwenty-five (25) ( ) to one hundred (100) ( )
jer cent higher than they are in the
manufacturing countries of Europe.
Our goods are also sent in competition
with the manufacturers of Europe to
continents , nations , and states , in which
ihe rates of wrages are not one-quarter ,
and in some cases not one-tenth , as
much as the wages earned on wheat and
on other similar products are in this
country. If the rate of wages governed
the cost of labor , not one dollar's worth
of any of our products could be sent to
any part of the globe in competition
with the products of the labor of other
countries.
TO WHAT OUH SUPKEMACY IS DUE.
Our manifest supremacy is due to
several causes : First , this is the only
manufacturing country which produces
within its own area an excess of food , of
fuel , of timber , of every metal except
tin , an excess of cotton , the most impor
tant fibre. We do not produce an excess
of wool , but whenever common sense is
applied to the production of wool in the
cotton states , alternately or concur
rently with cotton on the same fields ,
we shall become largo exporters of wool.
It is not probable that wo shall ever
produce our own raw silk ; certainly nol
so long as the reeling of the silk from
the cocoon must be done by hand.
Our second paramount advantage is
this : Our national taxes do not exceed
two and a half (2 ( } ) per cent upon our
annual product , of which they cousti
tute a share set apart for the support o
government. Even with the increase o
taxation which may follow the presen
war , our national taxes cannot exceed
four (4) ( ) per cent of our product. I com
pute the national taxes of Great Britain ,
vhich are double ours per head , and
vhich are derived from a lesser product ,
it six (6) ( ) to seven (7) ( ) , possibly eight (8) ( )
> er cent ; Germany at ten (10) ( ) per cent ;
Trance at fifteen (15) ( ) to eighteen (18) ( )
per cent ; while in poor Italy it is al-
eged that the national expenditures ab-
orb a third of the entire product. Such
ire the relative disadvantages of militar-
sm.
sm.From
From the best information and study
of the systems of taxation of all coun
ties I am of the opinion that the ad
vantage of this country in the ratio
which taxation for national purposes
bears to the the total annual product islet
lot less than 4 per cent in our favor , as
soinpared to Great Britain , and from 8
o 15 per cent as compared to the manu
facturing states of continental Europe.
Our average advantage is not less than
j per cent upon our total product. Now ,
as 6 per cent is a large margin to be car
ried to profit and loss account in this
jouutry , where other countries would
lave no margin , we may deem our ad
vantage in tin's matter apparently estab-
ished unless we ourselves have the folly
: o enter upon a period of imperialism
and militarism , with the consequent
result of a very large increase in the
burden of taxation.
Our third advantage is in the stim
ulus of climate applied throughout the
more northern or distinctly manufac
turing sections of the country to the
most versatile , energetic , and well-
trained body of workmen taken as a
whole that can be found in the world.
Under these conditions high wages have
become a synonym for low cost of pro
duction , and we are now seeking how to
extend the benefits of our commerce
throughout the world.
PUBLIC MIND GRAVELY MOVED.
The public mind is being gravely
moved on this question. Each section ,
each -state , and the representatives of
every branch of industry are turning
their attention to the widening of their
market. Admitting that the homo mar
ket is and will always be the largest and
most important , yet the representatives ,
especially of agriculture , have found
out that the price of their entire pro
duct is fixed by what the surplus will
bring for export. The export demand is
the balance wheel of the whole traffic of
this country. The prosperity , indeed
the very existence of our present system
of agriculture , depends upon the dovol-
nieut of exports , and since half the pop
ulation is occupied either directly in
agriculture or in the secondary proces
ses of converting the crude products of
the farm into their secondary forms for
solo , the prosperity of manufacturers
depends upon that of the farmers , who
are their principal customers. May
their not bo a great deal of misdirected
energy unless the principles which gov-