, . * . - * * 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