SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 85 



these treaties must be negotiated within two years from the passage ot 

 the act; and a large number of them were, some 12 or 14 treaties were 

 negotiated within the two years. But that time has expired, those treaties 

 fell to the ground by senatorial inactivity. That section is now inopera- 

 tive by force of the time limit, we have no power to act now under that' 

 section. And yet here we are face to face with an exclusion by the great 

 continental countries because we do not play a fair game, they say. 



Now one idea that has been in the minds of a great many of our pub- 

 lic men for a great many years is this, that they have got to buy their 

 bread and meat of us, and you cannot starve a nation, they will buy of 

 ns anyhow. That is no longer true. The world has moved on. To-day 

 the Argentine confederation is the strongest and most dangerous com- 

 petitor that we have found for the trade with Great Britain, and they 

 are crowding us closely. It is the greatest natural cattle country that 

 the world ever sa\^'. It so happened that I spent four years down there 

 as a boy, and I never will forget the impression which those magnificent 

 pampas made upon my mind. It is the State of Illinois multiplied by 

 100. when you come to consider it. In the northern part of the country 

 you can grow figs and oranges easily in the open air, and it extends in 

 an unbroken plain to the south for 2500 miles, and it is all rich prairie 

 land practically. Tbey are spending more money, and have been in the 

 last ten years, then any other people on earth in order to improve their 

 stocks of cattle. They are lavishing fortunes upon the best bulls and 

 cattle that Great Britain can produce, and they are able to raise cattle 

 that would astonish the American citizen. They also have enormous 

 sheep interests. They have learned how to ship dressed beef. For 

 a while we rested secure in the idea that they had to pass through the 

 tropics to reach the continental market, and that they could not ship 

 dressed beef in the chilled condition that was required; and that was a 

 great difficulty for awhile. But they came to Chicago and took down the 

 best experts they could get in that line of business, and they have built 

 up packing houses there that now send in dressed beef and mutton to 

 Liverpool and London and they are cutting our throats in the English 

 market, to say nothing of the Continental markets. The Continental market 

 prefers to deal with Argentine. Why? Because Argentine buys things 

 of them, and the balance of trade is kept in a fair and even condition. 

 Great Britain of course imposes no duty upon anything, that is upon any 

 f(3od product at least; she considers that the policy of open doors is 

 better for her interests. And we all meet on the same plane in Great 

 Britain, but neverthless there is a natural tendency to trade with those 

 who trade with us upon the fairest terms, and Great Britain would 

 rather see the Argentine meat take possession of her markets than to see 

 the American meat take possession of them because Argentine puts up no 

 barrier of exclusion against English manufacturers. That is natural. 



Now people who examine the statistical abstract and the various re- 

 ports of the government say our imports are increasing every year, and 

 we cannot help but be prosperous. We exported 1,500,000,000 in round 

 numbers we exported an enormous quantity of manufactured product. 



