“ Carl Schurz wrote to Secretary of State Bayard saying that he had been asked by several gentlemen to join them in an enterprise that required the approval of the State Department. This was to publish one or more volumes containing a series of short essays on the agricultural, mining, and manufacturing products of the country, and, in addition, the advertisements of manufacturing and other firms who are already engaged, or wish to engage, in the export trade. ”

“ Among the literary contributors are Mr. Schurz, the Hon. S. S. Cox, the Hon. David A. Wells, Edward Atkinson, President of the Merchants' Mutual Insurance Company, and Paul Loeser, editor of the Staats-Zeitung. ”