export trade. Waldron, G. B., in Chautauquan,3I (Igoo), 499-504. Digby, W. P., in Engineering Mag., 29 453. Commerce and Shipping. — The industrial and com- Great develmercial development of the period following the war with opment of Spain naturally affected our foreign trade very much. The increase in our exports from 1896 to 1906 was almost one hundred per cent and the excess of exports over imports for the ten years following 1896 was little less than five billions of dollars. This great " balance of trade " in our favor was due principally to the great demand, particularly in Europe, for our agricultural products, such as cotton or breadstuffs, for our meat products,1 and mineral productions, especially refined petroleum, and iron or steel manufactures. Our market for machinery has expanded perhaps as rapidly as 508-518, that of any of our other exports. In many cases machines 673-682. have been sold abroad for much less than the price in the United States in order to open the way for later sales. American locomotives have competed successfully with those of foreign make in distant Russia and Japan. trade with Cuba and Porto Rico has grown rapidly and that of the Pacific coast is increasing constantly, but we still enjoy but a small proportion of the exports to South American countries, the Philippines, and eastern Asia. The (1905). 321-333. Although our favorable position commercially among the Shipping and nations of the world is a matter of pride to us, the dependence ship subsidies. of the United States upon other countries to carry our exports and imports is not pleasing. We have found other occupations more profitable than that of shipping and, therefore, have neglected to build ships for foreign trade. this account large sums are paid annually to foreign shippers. On 1 Our exports of raw cotton for the year ending June 30, 1906, were $401,005,921; of live stock or meat products, $251,376,410; and of grain and flour, $166,161,160. 2 The figures for petroleum for 1906 are $77,025,196; for iron and steel manufactures, $160,984,985. The tonnage of American vessels is greater to-day than ever before, about six and a half million tons; but the tonnage of vessels engaged in foreign trade is less than one million tons. As our foreign shipping in 1856 represented two and one half million tons, the decline has caused very serious criticism. Review of Rev., 180 (1905), 360-374. Garner, J. W., Our merchant marine has declined so that less than one in No. Am. tenth of our foreign trade is carried in American vessels and our flag is seen comparatively little in the ports of the world. To remedy this unfortunate though not serious state of affairs, to provide fleets of vessels that can be turned into transports or auxiliary cruisers at short notice in time of war, to build up again a large merchant marine, ship subsidies have been suggested. Several bills have been passed by one house of Congress during recent years, but have failed to receive the approval of the other house. Panic of 1873. trial Hist., 286-289. Burton, Crises, 286-289. BUSINESS AND LABOR CONTROVERSIES 454. Prosperity and Panics since 1865. - Since the Civil | War there have been successive waves of business prosperity Coman, Indus- and depression. The excessive expansion of business during the years from 1865 to 1873 caused one of the worst panics in our history in 1873. Speculation had been conspicuous in manufacturing, in railway extension, in purchase of public lands, and in commerce. Collapse followed the manipulation of the stock market. The failure of Jay Cooke of Philadelphia started the panic, which affected every line of industry. There was no sale for property, prices fell everywhere. The gravity of the situation increased as the years passed, for the number of failures in 1877 and 1878 was much greater than in 1873. In 1879 there was a return. to normal business conditions and times continued prosperous until 1885. After a slight depression, business revived and continued very active until 1892. Larned (ed.), Panic of 1893. The immediate cause of the panic which occurred in 1893 was undoubtedly the fear among business men that the Burton, Crises, government might not be able to redeem its notes in gold (§ 412). To this cause was added the doubt about possible changes in the tariff. The underlying cause was un 292-296. 1 If the government were obliged to use silver for this purpose, the business of the country would then be transacted on a silver basis. As the intrinsic value of the silver in a dollar was only about fifty cents, the loss to merchants who sold on time would be appalling. Finance, 182-196. doubtedly the abnormal inflation of values and the increase Noyes, Am. of speculation. The first serious failure occurred in May, 1893. Banks, factories, and railways were affected. In many cases business houses were forced into bankruptcy simply because they were asked to pay their debts and could not collect from those who owed them money, their assets often being much greater than their liabilities. The total indebtedness of those that failed during 1893 reached the enormous total of nearly $350,000,000. Receivers were appointed for railway companies that owned more than twenty-five thousand miles of railroad. Factories closed or reduced their output so that many hundreds of thousands were added to the ranks of the unemployed.' This condition of affairs continued with comparatively little improvement for two years, and, as in the great panic twenty years earlier, normal conditions were not restored for four or five years, but about the time of the war with Spain business became more active than at any preceding time. 301-306. 455. Labor Unions and Strikes (1877-1886).—Periods Strikes of 1877. of marked industrial development or depression are usually accompanied by conflicts between capital and labor. When Wright, Industrial Evolution, times are exceptionally good, the workers believe they are not receiving a just share of the unusual profits. When hard times come, the employers feel that they cannot afford to pay as high wages as formerly. The hard times of the 70's caused a reduction of wages which in time led in several cases to strikes. The greatest of these began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway in July, 1877. Railway strikes 1 The winter of 1893-1894 was very trying to the laboring classes. Hundreds of thousands had been thrown out of employment by the business depression and the suffering of their families during the winter months was very great. When spring came, several bands, the most famous of which was known as "Coxey's army," started for Washington to demand relief from the government. In Europe the impression was general that the United States was witnessing a great insurrection, but the danger was so slight that the armies almost disbanded before reaching the capital and the movement reached its anti-climax when the survivors were arrested for walking on the grass of the capitol grounds. Labor union movement. Wright, Indus trial Evolution, 241-263. Labor legislation. Wright, Indus trial Evolution, 273-282. occurred at the same time on the Pennsylvania and other lines. Pittsburg was the center of the rioting and disorder, and the mobs in that city were dispersed only by the use of Gatling guns. A large amount of property was destroyed, order being restored finally when United States troops were ordered to Pittsburg. After 1877 more interest was taken by the workers in the formation of labor organizations. Many joined the Knights of Labor, the largest of the unions, which in 1885 had a half million members. The American Federation of Labor was organized in 1881 and several other national labor organizations have been formed since. The principal objects of these bodies have been to raise wages and reduce the hours of labor, through coöperation, by strikes if necessary. More than one half of the strikes undertaken by the unions have been won by the workers, although they have lost many of the larger strikes. Among the prominent strikes after 1877 were those occurring in 1886 on the Gould railways in the southwest, the one in Chicago in connection with which the Haymarket riot occurred,' one at Homestead in Pennsylvania in 1892, strikes in the mining regions of the West, and those considered in the following sections. The influence of the labor unions in securing changes in the state or national law has been very great. As early as 1882 they had secured a law restricting immigration and in 1885 succeeded in persuading Congress to pass a bill forbidding altogether the importation of laborers under contract to work in America. In the states the unions took the Stimson, Labor lead in obtaining laws which declared eight hours a legal day's work. More than any other bodies of citizens they have striven to exclude the Chinese. in Relation to Law, 1-16. Strike in the Andrews, Our Own Time, 722-730. 456. The Pullman Strike (1894). In 1894 there occurred the greatest strike in the history of the United States. The original strike was among the employees of the Pullman Car Company, of Pullman, a suburb of Chicago. Many of the employees of this company had joined the American 1 See Andrews, The United States in Our Own Time, pp. 529-535 trial Hist., 313-317. Cleveland, Railway Union, which was composed of employees on rail- Wright, Indusways throughout the West. The Union decided finally to declare a sympathetic strike on all of the lines using Pullman cars. June 26, this was done and for several weeks few trains were operated on the railways from Lake Erie Pres. Problems, to the Pacific. Rioting occurred in Chicago and at other 79-117. points, the local authorities in many cases being unable to preserve order or protect property. President Cleveland ordered United States troops to Chicago to prevent interference with the carrying of the mails or with interstate commerce. Against this action Governor Altgeld of Illinois protested, as he maintained that the national government had no right to send troops unless he called for them. He was unable to see that the troops were enforcing simply national law. The strike collapsed eventually without gaining any concessions from the employers. During the progress of this strike and others during the year 1894, the national courts had made free use of their power to issue" injunctions." For example, the employees of the Northern Pacific Railway had been enjoined from striking. During the progress of the "Pullman Strike," the leaders of the Railway Union, Eugene V. Debs and his associates, were arrested and later imprisoned for disobeying injunctions, which had been served upon them with an idea of preventing further interference with business. Use of injunctions in strikes. Andrews, Our Own Time, 732-734. Stimson, Labor Law, Coal strike Review of 457. Recent Labor Controversies. — Numerous labor controversies have occurred during the opening years of the twentieth century, at least three of which were prominent: that of the anthracite coal miners of Pennsylvania in 1902, that of the miners in Colorado, and that of the coal miners in 1906. The anthracite miners' strike of 1902 was due to the refusal of the mine operators to recognize the unions and grant an increase of wages. It involved nearly 150,- (1902), 642-645. men and lasted over five months. In fact the shortage of coal during the winter of 1902-1903 on account of the dispute caused great suffering among the poor in eastern cities. Through the intervention of President International Year Book, Peck, Twenty, |