Vol. XII, No. 2 



WASHINGTON 



February, 1901 



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AN AROUND-THE-WORLD AMERICAN 



EXPOSITION 



By Hon. O. P. Austin, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics 



A FLOATING exposition, carry- 

 ing samples of our merchandise 

 around the world and putting our 

 merchants in touch with those of all 

 nations, seems to me a fitting Ameri- 

 can enterprise for the beginning of the 

 new century. The nineteenth century 

 has made the United States the greatest 

 ■exporting nation of the world ; why not 

 begin the twentieth b_v showing to all 

 the world what we have to sell and how 

 we can sell it ? 



Exhibitions of the products of indus- 

 try have proved beneficial to trade wher- 

 ever undertaken, whether the ancient 

 ' ' fair ' ' or the more modern ' ' exposi- 

 tion. ' ' The traveling salesman with his 

 sample cases has become a necessity of 

 modern mercantile success ; " commer- 

 cial museums " exhibit to the dealers of 

 one country the class of goods required 

 in other lands, and the \great European 

 nations now send out ' ' commercial mis- 

 sions " to inquire into and report upon 

 the trade opportunities in distant coun- 

 tries. 



But each of these methods has its 

 limit of influence. The fair or exposi- 



tion is dependent for its success upon 

 the number of people it can attract to its 

 doors, the traveling salesman represents 

 but a single establishment or industry, 

 the commercial museum conveys its in- 

 formation only to the seller and not to 

 the buyer, and the commercial mission 

 gathers information regarding the wants 

 of distant people, but is unable to offer 

 them samples of the goods which its own 

 people have to meet those wants. 



Why not combine the valuable features 

 of these various aids to commerce in a 

 single great enterprise — a " floating ex- 

 position," which shall carry samples of 

 our merchandise to the very doors of the 

 people whose trade we would foster, and 

 by bringing the buyer and seller into 

 personal contact, establish such mutual 

 understanding of wants and conditions 

 as to facilitate the interchange for which 

 each is desirous ? 



FIELDS AWAITING AMERICAN 

 ENTERPRISE. 



The imports of Asia, Oceania, Africa, 

 and the American countries south of the 



