Commercial Prize of the Orient 



should not only retain but increase our 

 trade in this article. In iron and steel, 

 in which the Orient is rapidly increasing 

 its imports, we are the largest producers 

 in the world, and should therefore en- 

 large our share in supplying that trade. 

 The natural advantages which we have 

 in supplying that section of the world 

 were shown by the large orders for flour 

 and meat and many other articles which 

 were poured in upon the dealers of the 

 United States at the opening of the 

 Russo-Japanese war, and these hurry 

 orders came from both governments, 

 which thus agreed at least upon one 

 point — that the United States is a nat- 

 ural source of supply for that great sec- 

 tion, at least in these important require- 

 ments. 



THE ADVANTAGES WHICH WE HAVE 



But there is another condition which 

 should and will give us marked per- 

 manent advantages in the commerce of 

 the Orient. We are about beginning 

 the construction of the great Isthmian 

 Canal, for which the world has waited 

 so long, and which, when completed, 

 will place our great producing and man- 

 ufacturing sections of the Bast and South 

 in direct water connection with all parts 

 of the Orient. Our Mississippi Valley 

 is the world's greatest producer of 

 breadstuff s and meats ; the South, the 

 world's greatest producer of cotton ; 

 our great iron fields are the world's 

 largest producer of that important metal, 

 and our manufacturing system is the 

 greatest in the world. When all of these 

 great fields of supply are given direct 

 water communication with the Orient, 

 they should be able to largely increase 

 our contributions to her requirements, 

 and the i oo millionsof merchandise which 

 we now send each year to the Orient 

 should grow to at least 500 millions. 



Not only have we marked advantages 

 in the fact that we are the. world's chief 

 producer of the articles which the Orient 

 requires, but we have other natural ad- 



vantages in our relations to the Pacific 

 Ocean, which is to prove the chief high- 

 way for the commerce between these 

 two sections and peoples. We have a 

 much greater frontage on the Pacific 

 Ocean than any other nation, and better 

 harbors, not only upon the mainland, 

 but also the principal island harbors of 

 the entire ocean. Our national frontage 

 on the Pacific, considering only the 

 number of nautical miles to be protected, 

 patrolled, or lighted, is 12,500, while 

 that of the United Kingdom is 10,000, 

 Russia a little over 6,000, Japan a little 

 less than 5,000, and China little more 

 than 3,000 miles, so that our frontage 

 upon the Pacific exceeds that of any 

 other nation. 



Not only have we marked advantage 

 in frontage harbors, but in facilities for 

 direct communication the developments 

 of recent years have been of great im- 

 portance. The experience of cable build- 

 ers and operators shows that ocean 

 cables cannot be operated more than 

 3,000 miles without relay stations, and 

 the fact that the islands scattered 

 through the Pacific were formerly under 

 the control of foreign nations with va- 

 ried interests delayed greatly the con- 

 struction of a trans- Pacific cable. Now, 

 however, that the United States flag 

 floats over Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, 

 and the Philippines, it has been practi- 

 cable for American capital to string 

 upon these great natural telegraph poles 

 a line of wire which now connects all 

 parts of the United States with the 

 great business centers of all Asia and 

 Oceania. 



I cannot close this discussion of our 

 natural advantages of our trade with 

 the Orient without again calling your 

 attention to another condition presented 

 in an address before the Society in 1902, 

 an address which the Japanese govern- 

 ment has done me the honor to reprint 

 in its own language for distribution 

 throughout Japan. In that address I 

 said : 



