THE INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL FUTURE OF

THE UNITED STATES.

BY FRANK A. VANDERLIP.

[Frank A. Vanderlip, banker; born Aurora, Ill., Nov. 17, 1864; educated in public schools, University of Illinois and Chicago, began his business career as a reporter on the Chicago Tribune, of which he later became financial editor; associate editor of the Economist, 1894-7; became private secretary to Secretary of the Treasury Gage, 1897, and later in the same year. assistant secretary of the treasury; became vice-president of the National City bank, 1901. Author of many articles on economic topics.]

It has seemed to me fitting to attempt to review, in the briefest manner, a few of the figures illustrative of our material progress and to try to draw some deductions from them. In order to get a setting for our comparisons, let us for a moment glance back at conditions during the years when we were just emerging from the depression of the panic year of 1893, and when we were facing a great political and economic conflict over the silver issues. The whole world was filled with distrust in regard to the future of our standard of value and the chilling shadow of that distrust was falling heavily on our commerce and finances.

Then came the definite verdict of the people, declaring for a sound currency, and following that began an unexampled era of prosperity such as no other country, in any age, has ever known. The expansion went beyond all the experiences of men of affairs. We had learned lessons of economy, of careful management and of cheap production in the depression whch followed the panic of 1893, and now we suddenly waked to the fact that we had obtained a grasp on the markets of the world. Our exports of manufactures ran up from $183,000,000 to $433,000,000 in half a dozen years, and this increase of $250,000,000 in the annual average of our exports of manufactured products made Europe stand aghast at what was denominated the American commercial invasion. Our general foreign trade balance assumed such totals as to cause economists seriously to consider what was to happen to the rest of the industrial world if this march of progress went on.