THE SELLING OF THE SURPLUS 



one comes closest in touch with the foreign 

 trade of the United States. Eighty-seven per 

 cent of our exports of the products of the 

 earth goes to Europe. I passed along this sea- 

 board studying the export trade situation, par- 

 ticularly in one of the greatest of the earth's 

 products, flour. I started in at Newport News 

 and made my way north through Baltimore, 

 Philadelphia, and then New York, greatest of 

 all American ports. Two facts of large signifi- 

 cance stand out as you study the movements 

 of the foreign trade from these and other 

 American ports: 



First. Before you, across this mighty free 

 highway of the Atlantic, lies what will remain 

 for years, it may be, if we do but arouse 

 ourselves, for centuries, the chief market of 

 America, though it is not possible for any one 

 to estimate the development of our Asiatic 

 trade. The millions of Europe must be fed; 

 they must be clothed; the supplies for both 

 should increasingly come from the United 

 States. Behind you, as you face the Atlantic, 

 lies a country which, with all its progress in 

 agricultural production, is but at the fringe of 

 its possibilities. But it will always be able to 



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