Agricultural Exports Quotes
Most Americans were just beginning to comprehend the importance of international relations to American agriculture and our food supply.
This was the classic weakness of colonies where the colonial power was only interested in importing a raw material—in this case, gold. Everything else tends to be ignored—even today. With independence, things often do not change and the export of raw material like oil, tin or lumber dominates the whole economy to the exclusion of the rest of the economy
This quotation is interesting as it shows that and the end of the 19th century, although the United States was over 100 years old, we were first beginning to be major world traders. Not that our merchant marine was not yet world class. Another interesting facet of the quote is that the President was claiming that foreign trade was good for the domestic economy. Much of America in its first 100 years supported protectionism for American manufacturers.