FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 123 



market in apples would be wonderfully promoted, and it will 

 be d(Mie. just as soon as the demand is strong- enough to force 

 it. There are few businesses in the country which have the 

 jiower not only to supply the market, but to dictate what that 

 market shall sell. The apple growers have this strange 

 power in a marked degree. 



I have spoken about the possibilities of our local market, 

 but we must not forget those of the foreign market. Few 

 of us realize how the foreign trade in fruits has developed. 

 Last year we sent abroad $19,839,107.00 worth of fruits. Of 

 this. $8,058,908 represented apples, green and dried. This 

 is more than five times the value of the fruit exports of 15 

 years ago. To show how fruit ranks with other exports, I 

 can give, at random, a few figures of other articles. The 

 total value of all the corn exported in one year, up to Decem- 

 ber 1st, was only $25,257,143.00. The total value of all the 

 wheat was but $10,821,350.00, or only one-half the value of 

 the fruits. It will startle some of our farmers to realize that 

 the export value of apples alone was nearly equal to the total 

 export value of wheat. The total export value of all the 

 anthracite coal for one year was only $11,077,470.00. The 

 total value of manufactured cotton for 1903 was $19,733,070, 

 practically the same as the export value of fruit. The papers 

 are full of articles showing the great necessity of increasing 

 our exports of cotton. Without a word of comment, the 

 exports of fruit are increasing until they surpass those of 

 cotton goods. The total exports of builders' hardware, saws 

 and tools were $11,176,613.00. The total exports of boots 

 and shoes were $17,319,775.00. Yet what a noise has been 

 made about increasing our foreign trade in these goods. The 

 paper trade feels, with justice, that it has been restricted ; yet 

 its foreign trade is but $7,883,686.00, or less than the foreign 

 trade in apples. 



Here, at random, are a few figures showing exports of 

 familiar goods : 



Hams $20,560,889.00 



Bacon 24,865,126.00 



Butter 2,184.082.00 



Cheese 1,928.639.00 



Tobacco (Mfd.) 5.325.903.00 



