AUTOMOBILE OR HORSELESS CARRIAGE.
The end of the century also finds the sheep industry in a depressed condition on account of over-production. The vast quantities of wool grown in Australasia and South Africa have clogged the markets to such an extent that Australian wool in the London market has dropped from 15d. per pound in 1877 to 8¼d. in 1897, and South African wool from 15¾d. to 7½d. during the same period. Other wools have fallen in about the same proportion. Although sheep are raised for the production of mutton as well as wool, and the tendency in the United States has been towards the breeding of mutton sheep, the value of these animals has been reduced about one half.
There have been periods of depression with the cattle and swine industries, but prices have been well sustained. The European markets are yearly requiring larger supplies, and the stock of beef-producing cattle in the United States, in proportion to the population, is rapidly diminishing. The decreased number is in a slight degree counterbalanced by earlier maturity; but when due allowance is made for this, it is plain that the United States has not the surplus of beef which it boasted a few years ago. At the same time, our meat trade in the markets of the world is threatened with more serious competition from South America, Australasia, and even Russia.
The century closes in a period of wonderful achievements in the extension of transportation facilities and in the education of the masses in all parts of the world. The producer in South America, Africa, and Australasia keeps abreast with the most enlightened stock-growers of Europe and America in his knowledge of the best breeds, the most economical methods of feeding, and the most desirable handling of his products. There is no animal product so perishable but that it can now be sent from the antipodes to London in good condition. All of this has brought surprising changes in the traffic between different countries and in the modification of industries to meet new conditions. The producers of the most distant parts of the world are aggressively entering our nearest markets. Competition is becoming more intense, and commercial rivalry is assuming more the appearance of warfare than heretofore. The nations of the world are actively engaged in assisting their people in this struggle. They diffuse information as to the best and most economical methods of production, they seek out new markets, they subsidize transportation lines, they assist in the introduction of new kinds of goods, they sustain their subjects in the most aggressive practices, they exclude the products of competing countries by tariffs and hostile sentiment, by discriminations, by unpacking, delaying, or damaging goods, under the pretext of inspection, and by burdensome charges and regulations. Some countries have gone so far as to absolutely prohibit competing products for comprehensive but indefinite sanitary reasons.
The outcome of this commercial warfare cannot be foreseen. The struggle has been, and is, fiercest over the international traffic in animals and animal products. The greatest forces of the world are to-day contending as to what the future shall be. The United States has only recently begun to realize that it also must take part in this commercial struggle, if it would retain markets for its products and secure prosperity for its people. Its trade has been unjustly prohibited and discriminated against, its merchants have been unfairly treated and insulted, and its protests have been treated with ill-disguised contempt. Notwithstanding all these efforts at repression, American trade has gone on increasing at an amazing rate, the forbearance of the government having been far overbalanced by the energy of the people. Having grown to be one of the greatest powers of the world, with magnificent resources yet undeveloped, the United States will no doubt maintain its position and continue to supply the markets of the world with the best animals, the best meats, and probably with the best dairy products.
LEADING WARS OF THE CENTURY
By MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER, U. S. ARMY.
I. WARS OF THE UNITED STATES.
The progress of the nineteenth century, in everything that pertains to civilization, arts, and sciences, has been greater than the total progress in any decade of centuries in the history of the world, and this is equally true in regard to the art and science of WAR; for the expenditure of blood and treasure in the prosecution of the wars and the fighting of the battles of this century far exceeds that of any other like period.