Albert Perry Brigham, Cleveland Abbe, David Hale Newland, Alvin Sydney Johnson, Theophilus F. Rodenbough, Lewis Sayre Van Duzer, Isaac J. Cox, James Wilford Garner, Harry A. Cushing, and others

“ Congress had no power of maintaining an army or navy, no control over commerce, no means of actually raising public funds, and no effectual mode of enforcing its will even in matters over which it nominally had jurisdiction. In the words of Washington, it was “little more than the shadow without the substance.” Moreover, from its want of power, it soon became despised and neglected by those who should have been its chief supporters, and the ablest men preferred to devote themselves to the polities of their own States. ”

“ The United States is far in advance of all other nations in the magnitude of its domestic shipping, but in its foreign shipping, when the vastness of its foreign trade is considered, it holds a very low rank. Indeed, American foreign shipping presents a most marked contrast to all other groups of industry in the United States. Whereas, as has been seen above, other industries have had a most remarkable development since the middle of the nineteenth century, American foreign shipping has since that time suffered an extraordinary decadence. ”

“ Leaving out for a moment the narrow strip of Atlantic lowland, one may best view the United States as made up of two great uplands, with a broad lowland lying between. The country thus shows the physical plan of North America, for the Appalachian belt rises from the Gulf plains in Alabama and ends northward on the shores of Labrador. The Western uplands or Cordilleras begin virtually at the base of the continent; they rise to a great elevation in Mexico, maintain great heights and gain their greatest width in the Western United States; and thence continue through British America and Alaska. ”

“ Congress has steadily extended its powers in every direction, exercising functions which were probably never intended by the framers of the Constitution to be assumed by it. Thus under the simple power to lay and collect taxes (doubtless for revenue only) Congress has employed its power to destroy State bank currency, to encourage certain industries and destroy others, and to restrict commercial intercourse. In pursuance of the power to coin money and pay debts it has established national banks, issued bills of credit, and given the legal-tender quality to its treasury notes. ”

“ The popular choice of the executive and law-making branches makes the Government substantially elective, while the independence of the executive as over against the legislative makes the system congressional rather than ministerial in method of action. In distributing the powers of government the framers of the Constitution followed Colonial and English precedent, and confided to separate and distinct organs the exercise of those functions which were legislative in character, those which were executive, and those which were judicial. ”

“ In the first place, the balance of political power was passing rapidly into the hands of a party inimical to the interests of the South, a party pledged to the ultimate abolition of slavery and to a commercial system of protection which was peculiarly unfavorable to an agricultural community such as the South then was. The greatest statesmen of the South had often deplored the presence of the slaves as an economic and social evil ”

“ The conspicuous traits of the American regular are his individuality, fertility of resource, and unswerving loyalty to his Government; the officers especially exhibiting, since the Spanish-American War, an unexampled capacity for the administration of civil affairs, assuming at a moment's notice duties ranging in importance from those of Governor-General and Judge of the Supreme Court to collector of customs and chief of police, and discharging them with marked ability and fidelity. ”

“ Volunteers to the number of 50,000 men were authorized. On May 23d Mexico formally declared war upon the United States. Whatever view one might take of the political aspect of the war, the brilliant series of victories aroused widespread enthusiasm and pride; as against forces that outnumbered them, sometimes four to one and not inferior in training, in a hostile country, and against formidable obstacles, both natural and artificial, the troops of Taylor and Scott won successive triumphs by the most splendid courage and the most stubborn fighting. ”

“ The beginning of Madison's administration witnessed a further straining of relations between the United States and England. Though the acts of France had been, in the main, no less unjust and arrogant than those of England, she had never attempted the impressment of American seamen, which had been made easy for England by identity of language and by the fact that, in some cases, British deserters were actually found upon American ships. Moreover, the Republican Party, now in power, had been traditionally the friend of France. ”

“ Many of the most common trees, shrubs, and herbs of the Eastern States are unknown on the Pacific Coast, some of them being not even represented by cognate species. On the other hand, most of the characteristic species in the West are absent in the East. It is in the East that one finds the greatest local variety in vegetation, hundreds of widely different forms growing in luxuriant profusion side by side within narrow areas, while in the West there is much greater uniformity, immense areas being almost monopolized by a single species or at least a single type. ”

“ The United States wheat crop varies in amount from one-third to one-half that of Europe. Wheat can be successfully grown in every State of the Union. However, the competition of certain favored regions has limited its cultivation in others. A hardy crop and of quick growth, it is the principal crop in the far North, and also in the West, wherever the climate is unseasonable for corn. The climate and soil are less favorable to its growth in the South. Wheat, more easily than most other crops, may be handled by machinery, and therefore by capitalistic methods. ”

“ The United States has accomplished more in the development of new and superior breeds of hogs than in that of any other farm animal. Indeed, in both the quality of the breed and in absolute number the United States stands almost alone in this branch of industry. In 1900 the United States had as many hogs as the entire Continent of Europe.
The hog is the largest consumer of American corn, and where there is an abundance of one there are large holdings of the other. The hog is ready for the market at an early age, and is therefore a ‘quick-money’ animal. ”

“ The unfavorable one-sided trade with South America and some other countries, mostly tropical, has a partial explanation in the fact that they are the great producers of the raw products which are for climatic or other reasons insufficiently produced in the United States; nor do they need the raw products of the United States, and have not yet advanced to an industrial stage requiring much of our manufactured products. ”

“ About the time of the Civil War, which was in itself a serious blow to the industry, the British shipbuilders were changing from sail to steam and from wood to iron in the construction of vessels, neither of which changes was adopted by the American builders. In consequence American shipbuilding failed to hold its own absolutely, and relatively fell far behind foreign countries. For many years American shipyards have done little more than supply vessels for the large domestic water-borne trade, which has by law been restricted to vessels built in the United States. ”

“ In several of the States where there has been a traditional fear of the executive power, the Governor's prerogatives are very narrow—he has no veto power and but little power of appointment. To aid the Governor in the administration there are in every State a number of executive departments, at the head of which are officers usually chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same term as himself. ”

“ One may note also that in the South, where the plantation system formerly prevailed, a rapid readjustment is taking place to suit the family unit. But the size of farm that a family can cultivate varies with the methods used in cultivation, that is to say, whether capitalistic, intensive, etc. Thus the same labor that will suffice for a grain or stock farm of a given size is sufficient for only one-half or less of that amount when a cotton farm is in question. There are certain kinds of farms that for special causes tend to depart more or less from the system above described. ”

“ Mulhall says that nearly all American manufactures are produced by machinery, while in Europe more than one-half is hand work. With respect to the completeness of organization, the minuteness of its subdivision, and the rapidity with which work is expedited, the United States also excels. The United States has developed a system of ‘interchangeable mechanism’ which has proved of inestimable value to the progress of the manufacturing industry. ”

“ Shipbuilding was, after agriculture, the first industry to develop in colonial America. The possession of an abundance of timber has always given the United States a great advantage in the building of wooden vessels. Vessels constructed in the United States carried the bulk of the American trade until after 1860. The zenith of the shipbuilding industry was reached between 1850 and 1860, at which time the superiority of the American-built ‘clippers’ for endurance, speed, and safety was conceded. ”

“ It was at about this time, moreover, that machinery began to play an important part in the agricultural and other industries—a movement which is carried to such an extent that the per capita production of American laborers is greater than that in any other country. In consequence there has been a large surplus of products for foreign shipment, and an increasing ability to purchase those products which are not produced at home. From the foregoing table it may be seen that there has been a change from an excess of imports to an excess of exports. ”

“ Mulhall also estimated that if the extra value of United States products due to a protective tariff be included, the United States produced about one-third of the total manufactures of all nations. He claimed further that American manufactures multiplied twenty-fold between 1840 and 1894, while those of Europe only doubled. Manufacturing is absolutely the most rapidly growing of the American industries, and has become of coördinate importance with, if not of greater importance than either of the two other leading American industries—agriculture and trade and transportation. ”

“ The transportation facilities include 18,000 miles of navigable rivers and a railway mileage that is greater than that of all Europe and that is over 39 per cent. of the railroad mileage of the world. The competition of the waterways with the railways gives the country the advantage of cheap rates. Another advantage about which little is said, but which, nevertheless, is great, is the freedom of interstate commerce. In no other equally large area in the civilized world is trade unrestricted by customs, excises, or national prejudice. ”

“ It also is influenced by the fact that the Western European peoples do not produce enough to supply the whole market, thereby creating a demand for the American surplus products. The American exports consist, therefore, of raw or slightly manufactured products sent to Europe and manufactured products sent to all parts of the world. The imports into the United States consist of raw products which cannot be produced in this country—or which are produced in sufficient quantities—and products which can be produced more economically in other regions. ”

“ Until about 1860 there was no other industry more flourishing. Shipbuilding and shipping dates from the very beginning of the colonial period, and together with fishing was the most important industry of the New England colonies. The navigation laws of the mother country tended, on the whole, to foster colonial shipping. The first Congress under the present Constitution, in order to provide for and protect American shipping, placed discriminating duties on goods imported under foreign flags, and tonnage taxes upon the vessels which bore it. ”

“ Thus it appears that the Western United States have had a composite history. It began with island nuclei which grew by sedimentation and uplift. The several great ranges of mountains mark several periods of folding, faulting, and uplift, while both mountains and plains rose by massive and wide-ranging or continental movements, thus adding to the height of the mountains and making the plains into plateaus of from 3000 to 8000 feet in altitude. With these disturbances, especially in Tertiary times, were the most extensive outflows of lava of which this continent shows any record. ”

“ The United Kingdom accepts our exports free of duty, and constitutes by far the greatest market of the world for American products. In 1903 the exports to the United Kingdom amounted to $524,691,638 as against $504,896,090 for the remainder of Europe. If with the United Kingdom are included the other parts of the British Empire, it is found that the American exports to the Empire constitute more than half of the entire American export trade. ”

“ Probably in no other mines in the world does massive machinery play so great a part in mining operations and hand labor so little. Work in the Mesabi Range began in 1892, and the output grew rapidly until 1901, when it amounted to 9,303,541 long tons. The Southern iron region shares with the Northern Appalachian region in the advantage of having coal and limestone, two essentials in the reduction of the ore and found in close proximity to the ore itself. The South has the additional advantage of cheap labor, but it is under the disadvantage of having a limited local market. ”

“ They are at the basis of the great stock-raising interests of the country. Since the bulk of both crops are consumed on the farm and not placed upon the market, and hence are not ‘money crops,’ their importance is usually lost sight of in discussions of American agriculture. Corn stands without a rival either in respect to area or value. It is indigenous to America, and its production is still largely confined to this continent, the United States producing about three-fourths of the world's supply. It is the distinctive American crop. It has a larger acreage than all other cereals combined. ”

“ There is no other territory under one government in the world with so much productive power. The abundance of raw material required by the manufacturing industries, the degree of availability, including transportation facilities, and the capabilities of the producers are unequaled. Both food supplies and agricultural materials for manufacture are cheaper, more abundant, and more varied in the United States than in any other manufacturing country. ”

“ Congress consisted of scarcely more than twenty members, few of whom in its closing years were men of any great influence. The evils of this lack of system were soon made evident, when, after some difficulty, twelve States had assented to a general system of import duties, and the thirteenth, New York, resisted, and thus alone was able to defeat a measure which was essential to the credit and security of the whole nation. ”