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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1898)
, . * . - * * J f frffi , , * p 10 'Che Conservative. for no other other , in order to keep our largest market we must open up our ports free from any obstruction except what is made necessary in imposing duties for revenue only , or else the whole of the present undertaking to in crease our export trade will utterly fail. The non-nmchine-using nations of the world have not the purchasing power to relieve us of our excess , and will not have it for decades and perhaps gener ations. f OUR GREAT CONSUMING POWER. In making an effort to increase our exports we must give regard to the fac tors which make the consuming and therefore the purchasing power of na tions greater or less. The consuming power of the people of the United States is greater than that of any other state or nation , for the reason that its power of production in ratio to numbers is in ex cess of all others. Wo number about five (5) ( ) per cent of the population of the globe. Yet we consume more than a third part of the commercial product of iron and steel , and are rapidly increasing our proportion while at the same time making heavy exports. We consume more than twenty-five (25) ( ) per cent of the commer cial product of cotton , producing about sixty ( GO ) per cent subject to variation. We consume nearly twenty-five (25) ( ) per cent of the commercial product of wool , being for the present slightly de ficient in prodxiction. We consume nearly twentj'-five (25) ( ) per cent of the commercial product of sugar , nearly half the commercial pro duct of coffee. What proportion of the meats and other animal food we con sume as compared to other nations it is impossible to say , but it is enormously in excess. In respect to food products in general , wo produce vastly more than wo can consume , and our potential in production cannot yet be measured. We have the greatest capacity in the production of coal at low cost as yet developed in any part of the world , especially of the coals suitable for con version into coke , and thereby for the manufacture of steel. But in this mat ter inventions which give an almost cer tain promise of success in the conver sion of coal into power without wasting energy upon light or heat may ere long change all the conditions of the world in the development of power. In dealing with the purchasing power of other states we may be governed by the same rule. In the states in which the potential energy has been most fully developed wo find the most abundant consumption of food of high nutrition , thereby giving the staying power of men who are occupied in the direction of machinery and modern tools. As wo pass from one state to another wo find its consuming and therefore its purchas ing power diminishing with the lessened quantity and lower quality of the food consumed , and the lessened staying power in the application of labor to the direction of mechanism. Relative nu trition and innutrition are prime factors in the application of labor to all arts. WHO OUR REST CONSUMERS ARE. Following these lines , where do we find in fact our best consumers in ratio to numbers ? First in British North America , where approximately five mil lion (5,000,000) ( ) well-endowed , well-fed , and well-bred men and women mainly of the same origin with ourselves bought from us goods and wares of every kind in the last fiscal year at the rate of nearly seventeen dollars ( $17) ) per head of the whole population , being relatively to numbers our largest customers. Next. The English-speaking people of the United Kingdom of Great Bri tain and Ireland , approximately forty million (40,000,000) ( ) in number , bought from us at the rate of thirteen dollars and a half ( $13.50) ) per head , by far our largest customers on the aggregate second in amount per capita. Next. The people of British Guiana , of the British West Indies and 'of the Bermudas under the just and equitable rule of the English common law were enabled to buy from us in excess of six dollars ( $6) ) per head. The people of Australia about five million (5,000,000) ( ) in number , far away , with industry as yet biit slightly developed , whoso pro duce of wool we fine heavily thereby reducing their power of purchasing our products , yet bought from us in excess of three dollars ( $3) ) per head. We may not measure the purchases of British Africa and British Asia because the goods thereto sent are distributed among those who rely upon the English protec tion for their increasing prosperity , the greater part of our exports being to British Asia and Africa. ENGLISH SPEAKERS THE BEST BUYERS. Suffice it , that either the English speaking people themselves or those of other races who have come under the protection and just administration of the English law have developed the greatest purchasing power in respect to the excess of oxir own products. It would therefore bo consistent with the ordinary rules which govern the conduct of business that we should look to the people of Great Britain and her colonies for the greatest development of our ex ports , and in order to promote wider and increasing markets we might rightly remove the legislative obstructions with which we have attempted to restrict the import of the goods with which they might pay us for larger and larger quantities of our own products. There are about five million (5,000- ( 000) ) in the Dominion of Canada , and there are somewhat in excess of five million (5,000,000) ( ) people in the state of Now York. The people of the state of New York exchange the products of thnt state with the people of other states on the east , west and south. No one can measure in terms of money the volume of tiade for mutual benefit which unites the people of this country for mutual interest. One may bo very certain that the volume of the exports from the "state of New York to Now England , to other Middle states and to the Western states vastly exceeds the share of the exports of the state of New York to the people of the Dominion of Canada. It may be possible that all Canada consumes two ( $2) ) or three dollars lars ( $3) ) per head of the products of the state of New York. How much does all New England consume , and all the other Middle states ? Yet if there were no grotesque obstructions to the mutual service which the people of Now York and Canada might render to each other , the trade with these two sections might be equal to the trade with the neighbor ing states with which I have com pared it. LARGE MARKET IN A SMALL SECTION. Reverting to the purchasing power of other states , the people of France , Ger many , Holland and Belgium now num ber about one hundred and five million (105,000,000) ( ) . They bought from us under the pressure of a great scarcity of grain in the last fiscal year at the rate of three dollars and a half ( § 3.50) ) per head. It will be observed that so far we have dealt with the purchasing power of the states which have applied modern science and invention to a greater extent than the people of any other countries except our own. All that have been named , except Great Britain , are customarily deficient in the kinds of food which ap pear to be necessary for the development of the greatest physical energy , mainly animal food , and in proportion to their deficiency , or we might say to their innutrition , is the purchasing power of nations reduced. Yet in this relatively small section of the world with which I have dealt , we found our market for ninety (90) ( ) per cent of our total export. WANT OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. Another prime factor in the develop ment of purchasing power or in its dimi nution is the existence or want of good government , of sound money and free dom from militarism. Militarism is the curse of modern Europe ; bad money the greatest evil next to bad government among the Spanish-American countries , while the necessity of ardxious condi tions of hand work still existing through out the greater part of Asia and Africa greatly limits the purchasing power of the greater part of the population of the globe. Wo can witness elements of progress and change among the Spanish- American states , the increasing purchase of Mexico coincidently with the estab lishment and maintenance of good government , the constructions of rail ways and other modern inventions , and yet our traillc with Mexico in proportion