FOREIGN TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 633 



provided with a variety of information which cannot be acquired except 

 by academic instruction. The knowledge gained in the workshop or 

 the counting house will not suffice to meet a rivalry which is seek- 

 ing to equip itself, so far as it can, with our machinery, our industrial 

 and trade methods — with everything, in short, that now gives us 

 supremacy — and will add to these the mastery of details of trade con- 

 ditions and industrial processes throughout the world, which we are 

 only beginning to study. 



FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



There is another feature of American influence in the world's mar- 

 kets which is, perhaps, even more notable than our industrial prog- 

 ress, and that is our suddenly acquired financial independence. The 

 'Hamburger Fremdenblatt' article previously quoted from points out 

 that it is the logical result of our growth in industry and trade and 

 especially of our successful competition in foreign markets. As soon 

 as American industries, through various causes, found themselves in 

 a favorable financial condition, "they likewise undertook the task of 

 freeing themselves from foreign capital — in other words, of reclaim- 

 ing the industrial securities which were in European hands." "The 

 change in the condition of the United States," adds the 'Fremdenblatt' 

 "can best be characterized by the statement that the industries, trade, 

 agriculture, railroads and finances of the Union each and all climbed, 

 one upon another, through and by each other, steadily upward. And 

 to what a height they have climbed!" 



During the past year, the point was reached where the United 

 States became a lender of money to other countries instead of a bor- 

 rower from them. "Speaking roughly," says the London 'Statist' 

 (January 5, 1901), "the holdings of American securities in Europe 

 now are immensely smaller than they were ten years ago, and the pur- 

 chases have been made by the Americans out of the vast savings accu- 

 mulated, first, during the anxious period from 1890 to 1896, and, sec- 

 ondly, during the prosperous period that has followed. Many countries, 

 however, are able to buy back their own securities without being in a 

 position to take an important place in the international investment 

 market. For example, Spain has bought back a very large proportion 

 of her own securities. In the United States, not only has the buying 

 back of American securities been on the great scale indicated, but 

 during the past year or two, American capitalists have lent largely to 

 Europe. At the end of 1899, when there was great pressure in the 

 money markets of Europe, about four millions of gold were allowed 

 to be shipped from New York to London; and during the past year 

 it will be recollected that gold was sent in considerable amounts, while 

 about five millions sterling were invested in [British] Government 



