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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1898)
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-