THE SELLING OF THE SURPLUS 



great railway routes ; while, when the canal is 

 cut, the Mississippi River and the Gulf will 

 furnish their supplies, and the Atlantic sea- 

 board will send its ships swiftly down through 

 the route that, but for our bUndness to our 

 our facilities, as in the case of the Mississippi 

 River, would long ere this have been opened 

 between the two oceans. 



While the trade with the Orient is yet in its 

 infancy, it is remarkably varied in character, 

 both outgoing and incoming, as may be seen 

 from the following partial list of articles which 

 we buy from and sell to the Asiatics. You 

 may see very many of these wares swinging 

 over the holds of every Pacific liner as you 

 watch the loading or the unloading of an 

 oriental cargo. 



Incoming goods embrace: Coffee, silks, co- 

 coa, goat-skins, raw silk, spices, tea, opium, — 

 sometimes one hundred and fifty thousand 

 pounds in a year; tens of thousands of dozens 

 of eggs, dates, starch, sugar, vinegar, wool — 

 these suggest the variety. 



Outgoing cargoes are made up of bread- 

 stuffs, flour, cotton goods, meat products, 

 lumber, vegetables, tobacco, ginseng — the root 



311 



