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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