THE SELLING OF THE SURPLUS 



export products of the earth, in their order, 

 were: breadstufFs, cotton, meat products, live 

 animals, tobacco, oil-cake and oil-cake meal, 

 vegetable oils, fruit and nuts, dairy products 

 and seeds. These ten items made up ninety- 

 five per cent of the total agricultural exports. 

 Our best customer for the year was Great 

 Britain, who bought to the extent of 

 $408,000,000, Germany being second with 

 $134,000,000, the Netherlands next with 

 $52,000,000, and, following in the order 

 named, France, Belgium, Italy and Japan, 

 with other countries buying from a few 

 hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth each 

 up to several millions of dollars' worth. 



It takes long for a nation to work up a for- 

 eign trade ; it takes tact and patience and a high 

 grade of diplomacy to maintain and extend 

 this trade, once established. It takes long, 

 sometimes, also, for a nation to learn to take 

 advantage of its own facilities. In making a 

 study of transportation via the Mississippi 

 River, for example, one is struck with the 

 wastage of facilities. Here is a natural high- 

 way for the products of the earth, much of its 

 course open the entire year to traffic, while 



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