The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-24
THE TRADE OF THE PACIFIC.
AMOUNTS TO $1,000. 100000 YEARLYi
United States Control S2OO,O00,OOO.

We Take Forty Per Cent of Her
SILK and Tea and Furnish Nearly
All the Steel She Uses-Less Favor
able Conditions In China ana the
PhiIippines-OppOrt for In
crease.
washington. Oct 2S.-"The United
States should have no concern with mill
tarism or Imperialism, We are pacific
power" said a prominent American 10 d
Washington friend, "Of course, we are"
replied the other, but we intend to spell
pacific with a large p
In the westward course of empire the
Pacific ocean remains the last to be con-
quered Stretching for 1900 miles along
the equator, it covers nearly one-half of
the entire globe. Some idea of its size
may be gathered from the fact that from
San Francisco to Yokohama the distance
is 800 miles, and 1000 miles must be adj
ded to reach the Philippines, and 1900
more to reach Singapore. the extreme
southern limit of the Asiatic coast. From
San Francisco to Honolulu is 2,lOO miles,
and from Honolulu to Sydney, Australia,
$500 miles.
This vast ocean, connecting the newest
and the Oldest civilizations. is the coming
field in the struggle for trade suprema-
cy. On its western borders are Asia ana
Australia, with their islands. The CONT
nent of Asia and its islands have a popu-
lation of not less than $40 OOO 600. with an
area of 100000 square miles. The larg-
est of these countries is China with 4O3.-
100000 population, and over 1900, 900 square
miles. Then comes British India, with
$4,000, 900 people, and 100000 square miles
of territory. Asiatic Russia has 2s 900, 900
people in 6,5OO,OOO square miles, Japan has
100000 population crowded into less than
10000 square miles of area. The Dutch
East Indies have 100000 people, and the
French East Indies %, 100000
Another tributary to the Pacific on the
West is Oceanica, which, with Australia
and the neighboring Islands, has a popula-
ton of 100000 people in an area of $780,
wv square miles. With Asia and Oceantca
together, the population aggregates $50
100000 In an area of 100000 square miles.
The trade of these countries of the
Pacific is enormous. The latest figures
show that the aggregate imports are 81
Ooo'ooo'OOo' ana the aggregate exports, ST.
UoOOO'WV, making total foreign com
merce in this territory of S2.I27. OOOO 900.
50 much for the 'Old World" eide of
the ocean. On the New World side are
the two continents of North and south
america, all the countries of which are
contributing more or less to this Asiatic
trade First in importance stand the
United States, with 100000 population
ana an area, including Alaska of g. 800
600 square miles. Mexico has 767 600
square miles and 100000 people. and
Canada $500, 900 square miles and r coo
ia a MI II
Is an area of $4,000 square miles and $780,
Oo people. This makes total for North
America of nearly 100000 people and
area of 100000 square miles In South
America are 100000 more people in A
territory of 100000 square miles The
two Americas have 100000 square niles
of area and 12S,O0O,0 900 people With the
exception of that from the United States
only a very small part of the trade of
America goes to the Pacific. The imports
OF this country TO Asia and OceanIca ac-
cording to the latest figures were S11g
100000, and the exports $4,000 O0O,r making
total of $lS6 100000. Include the entire
trade of the western continent in the
Pacific, and total imports reach S26f. 600
600 and the total exports $212. 0O0O 900 Add
Ell 10 the trade of the older countries
the entire commerce of the Pacific is not
less than 100000 600 each year. which
means that one dollar in every seven of
the worlds trade now passes over those
waters.
OF this enormous traffic Great Britain
secures the lions share, importing $685.
10000, and sending out goods to the value
og 1895 10000 or a total trade of 5000 O0o
600. The United States stands next with
total trade in the Pacific of 500 900 coo
or one-third of that of Great Britain. Ger
many stands a close third with 500 900 GOO
OF imports and $i5,0Oo0OO Of exports France
is fourth on the list with about one-1alf
the trade of Germany. The greater part
OF the remaining trade Is divided among
the eastern countries which border on the
the Pacific
Important as is the trade of the United
States on the Pacific. this country is far
from living up to its opportunities Take
for example the trade with Asia and it's
nelghboring islands. Last year our i'm
ports from Asia reached $92, SOC, O0O and our
exports to those countries aggregated S44-
$4,000, making total trade of $751; OOOOOO
This is apparently a good showing. but
so Tar as our imports are concerned there
Is gain of only three millions over 1896
previously the best year of our record
For the past seven years our import trade
has averaged $S0,OO0,0OO and during the
past twenty-five years 1t has rarely drop
ped below $50,0O0,000. The relation can best
be seen In a comparison of the imports
from Asia with imports from other coun-
tries. Last year the percentage from Asia
was Is; in 1896 and 1897 the percentage was
1l12; but even in 1876 Asiatic goods formed
10 per cent. of all our Imports, and this
held as an average for the following six
years The highest percentage in the his
tory of this country, aside from that of
1897. was in 1926, over seventy years ago,
when nearly IA per cent of our entire i'm
ports came from Asia. In the export trade
the United States has made no greater i'm
provement. Last year the exports to Asia
amounted to $H,S000 900, but this was only
3ls per cent. of our entire exports
What is true of Asia as a whole is
largely true of individual nations. Our
largest trade with any one Pacific country
is with Japan which last year aggregated
$l6000,00o in exports and imports. This is
the largest total trade With Japan in our
history although our imports from that
country aggregated more In 1893, being S27-
600 in THAI year against $25, 200. 900 dur
ing the past year Forty years ago there
was not dollars worth of trade between
the two countries, and ten years later the
J. ar4-I 49, a