Class Book Author TiUe Imprint 1. Uir-^tfi^-^ «»• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDQQ5D77bbfl m en. >^Se ^^f I^ast Speech President McRinley Delivered at The Park-American Exposition Buffalo September 5tl\. 1901 (the day- before His assassination) THis ss>eecK accompanies a set of stereoscopic vie'ws tHat ■were made by special permission by one of otir special artists -wHile otir President 'Mras delivering tHis most celebrated address. We ■were allo'W^ed on a stand tHirty feet in front of tKe President and permitted to maKe tHese negatives ■ivHile He ^vas speaRin^. JAMES M. DAVIS 21 AVasKington Place NE'W YORK Liverpoolt En^>> 21 Sai:\doi:\ Buildings, Old Post Office Place 1207 Dolman Street ST. LOUIS. MO. Toronto, Can., 52 Bay St. Sydney, Australia ^1 *" NOV. ». 1^59 "Problem of More Markets Requires our urgent and immediate attention "Must encourage our Merchant Marine" WE MUST HAVE MORE SHIPS; THEY MUST BE UNDER THE AIMERICAIN FLAG " — " Reciprocity Treaties are In Harmony with the Spirit of the Times; Measures of Retaliation Are INot." President Milburn, Director General Buchanan, Commissioners, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am glad to be again in the city of Buffalo and exchange greetings with her people, to whose generous hospitality I am not a stranger and with whose good will I have been repeatedly and signally honored. Today I have additional satisfaction in meeting and giving welcome to the foreign representatives assembled here, whose presence and participa- tion in this exposition have contributed in so marked a degree to its interest and success. To the commissioners of the Dominion of Canada and the British Colonies, the French Colonies, the Republics of Mexico and Ceutral and South America and the commissioners of Cuba and Porto Rico, who share with us in this undertaking, we give the hand of fellowship and felicitate with them upon the triumphs of science, educa- tion and manufacture which the old has bequeathed to the new century. Expositions are the time-keepers of progress. They record the world s advancement. They stimulate the energy, enterprise and intellect of the people, and quicken human genius. They go into the home. They broaden and brighten the daily life of the people. They open mighty storehouses of information to tlie student. Every exi)Osition, irreat or small, has helped to some onward step. Comparison of ideas is always educational; and as such instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry follows, which is the spur to industrial improvement, the inspira- tion to useful invention and to high endeavor in all departments of human activity. It exacts a study of the wants, comforts and even the whims of the people, and recognizes the efficiency of high quality and low prices to win their favor. The quest for trade is an incentive to men of business to devise, invent, improve and economize in the cost of produc- tion. Business life, whether among ourselves, or with other people, is ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so in the future. Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy and antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and methods of business of long ago, and the Twentieth century would be no further advanced than the Eighteenth century. But though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be. HAS DONE ITS WORK WELL. The Pan-American Exposition has done its work thoroughly ; pre- senting in its exhibits evidences of the highest skill and illustrating the progress of the human family in the Western Hemisphere. This portion of the earth has no cause for humiliation for the part it has performed in the march of civilization. It has not accomplished everything ; far from it. It has simply done its best, and without vanity or boastfulness, and recognizing the manifold achievements of others, it invites the friendly rivalry of all the powers in the peaceful pursuits of trade and commerce, and will co-operate with all in advancing the highest and best interests of humanity. The wisdom and energy of all the nations are none too great for the world's work. The success of art, science, industry and invention is an international asset, and a common glory. After all, how near one to the other is every part of the world. Modern inventions have brought into close relation widely separated peoples and made them better acquainted. Geographical and political divisions will continue to exist but distances have been effaced. Swift ships and fast trains are becoming cosmopolitan. They invade fields which a few years ago were impenetrable. The world's products are exchanged as never before, and with increasing transportation facilities come in- creasing knowledge and larger trade. Prices are fixed with mathematical precision by supply and demand. The world's selling prices are regulated by market and crop reports. We travel greater distances in a shorter space of time, and with more ease than was ever dreamed of by the fatliers. Isolation is uo longer possible or desirable. The same important news is read, thou^^h in ditTorent lan^uaKes, tlie same day in all Cliriston- dom. The telegraph keeps us ailvised of what is occurring evcrywlien- anil the press foreshadows with more or less accuracy the plans and purposes of the nations. Market prices of products and of securities are hourly known in every commercial mart, and the investments of the people extend beyond their own national boundaries into the remote parts of the earth. OIN THE TICK OF THE CABLE. Vast transactions are conducted and international exchanges are made by the tick of the cable. Every event of interest is immediately bulletined. The quick gathering and transmission of news, like rapid transit, are of recent origin, and are only made possible by the genius of the inventor and the courage of the investor. It took a special messenger of the government, with every facility known at the time for rapid travel, ninteeen days to go from the city of Washington to New Orleans with a message to General Jackson that the war with England had ceased and a treaty of peace had been signed. How diflferent now ! We reached General Miles in Porto Rico by cable and he was able through the military telegraph to stop his army on the firing line with the message telling him that the United States and Spain had signed a protocol suspending hostilities. We knew almost instantly of the first shots fired at Santiago ; and the subse- quent surrender of the Spanish forces was known at Washington within less than an liour of its consummation. The first ship of Cer- vera's fleet had hardly emerged from that historic harbor when the fact was fiaslied to our Capital, and the swift destruction that followed was announced immediately through the wonderful medium of teleg- raphy. So accustomed are we to safe and easy communication with distant lands, that its temporary interruption even in ordinary times results in loss and inconvenience. We shall never forget the days of anxious waiting and awful suspense when no information was per- mitted to be sent from Pekin and the diplomatic representatives of the nations in China, cut off from all communication, inside and outside of the walled capital, were surrounded by an angry and misguided mob that threatened their lives ; nor the joy that thrilled the world when a single message from the government of the United States brought through our minister the first news of the safety of the besieged dip- lomats. A CENTURY'S DEVELOPMENTS. At the beginning of the Nineteenth century there was not a mile of steam railroad on the globe. Now there are enough miles to make its circuit many times. Then there was not a line of electric telegraph, now we have a vast mileage traversing all lands and all seas. God and man have linked the nations together. No nation can longer be indifferent to any other. And as we are brought more and more in touch with each other, the less occasion is there for misunderstandings and the stronger the dis- position, when we have differences, to adjust them in the court of arbitra- tion, which is the noblest form for the settlement of international disputes. My fellow citizens : Trade statistics indicate that this country is in a state of unexampled prosperity. The figures are almost appalling. They show that we are utilizing our fields and forests and mines, and that we are furnishing profitable employment to the millions of work- ingmen throughout the United States, bringing comforts and happiness to their homes, and making it possible to lay by savings for old age and disability. That all the people are participating in this great prosperity is seen in every American community and shown by the enormous and unprecedented deposits in our savings banks. Our duty in the care and security of these deposits and their safe investment demands the highest integrity and the best business capacity of those in charge of these depositories of the people's earnings. We have a vast and intricate business, built up through years of toil and struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, which will not permit of either neglect or of undue selfishness. No narrow, sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest skill and wisdom on the part of manufacturers and producers will be required to hold and increase it. Our industrial enterprises which have grown to such great proportions affect the homes and occupations of the people and the welfare of the country. Our capacity to produce has developed so enormously and our products have so multiplied that the problem of more markets requires our urgent and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. In these times of marvelous business energy and gain we ought to be looking to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial and com- mercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain. WILL EXTEND OUTLET FOR SURPLUS. By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home production, we shall extend the outlets for our increasing suri)lus. A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our export tra