The Advocate and news., 1898-02-16
BEATS FORMER RECORDS.
Exports for 1897 Better Than ANY Previous
Year in Our History.

washington, D. c., February l5.-An
important bulletin of the foreign trade
In agricultural products has been pre-
pared by Frank H. Hitchcock, chief OF
the section OF foreign markets, and will
soon be sent out by the Department OF
Agriculture. 1t shows that during the
fiscal year 1897 the United States ex-
ported domestic merchandise amounting
in value to 81, ,032 ,007 ,6OS, thus Outstrip-
ping all previous records in our foreign
ping all previous records in the history
OF our foreign trade OF the various COM
mOdities comprised in these enormous
exports, 66.84 per cent, or total value
of S689, ,755 1893, had their origin IN agri-
culture. Only two preceding years, 1881
and 1892 each marked by abundant har-
vests in this country coupled with mea-
ger ones abroad, show larger expectation
Of agricultural products than Is recorded
for 1897.
Compared with the agricultural ex-
ports during 1896, the shipments Of 1897
disclose a total gain of SHE, 5,356,929, or
about 20 per cent. AS a result Of this
unusual gain the growth Of our export
trade In farm products for several years
kept pace with the remarkable expansion
i'm our exports of manufactured articles
and other nOn-agIicultural commodities.
In 1896 agricultural products constituted
1884 per cent. OF the domestic merchan-
disc exported, whereas in 1897, as stated
above, they formed 66.84 per cent. This
small but significant increase in the rel
atiVe Importance of the agricultural cat
egOry, taken In conjunction with an ac-
tual growth in value of more than $780,,
OOO,0OO makes the fiscal year Of 1897 an
important one in the development Of our
export trade in the products OF American
agriculture. AS regards our import trade
the fiscal year 1897 shows a total valuh-
tiOn of all kinds of merchandise of 1884,
730,412, and Of this amount the imp0r-
tanr sum Of $400, ,871 ,468, or AZ per cent.
of the total, was expended for agricul-
tural imports. Although our total i'm
ports of all commodities were less during
1896 by about $15,OOO00O, our purchases
Of foreign agricultural products were
nearly $10000,000 greater than In that
year. TlH8S exceptional growth OF our
agricultural imports, however, Is prob
ably attributable i'm large measure to the
fact that in 1897 in order to escape the
prospective import duties Of the tariff
legislation then pending, certain prod
ucts we're imported much more extern
sively than would otherwise have been
the case. Among the various products
showing enlarge impOrtatiOns that were
undoubtedly made in anticipation of a
higher tariff, the most prominent are
mOn1 opd eYIcrhr I'm rho i'm nntttea Of mOO1
there was an increase during 1897
amounting to more than $20,0O0,00O
while the receipts of sugar were larger
by nearly $10,00O,0OO than i'm the year
preceding, making a total gain for the
two items of about $S0,000,000
If these abnormal gains made in the
cases of wool and sugar be excluded
our agricultural imports of 1897 instead
of showing an increase Of nearly $10,-
100000 exhibit all actual falling off Of
more than $2O,OOO,OOO, which was pro-
pOrtionately a much greater decline
than that occurring during the year in
the importation of nOn-agriculturAl COM
modities.
The falling off that took place in a
considerable portion of our agricultural
imports for 1897 may be accounted for
in part by the recent introduction into
the United States and the successful
propagation here of certain products we
were formerly obliged to purchase else
where. There is undoubtedly wide Op-
pOrtunity in this direction for the fur
ther diversiicatiOn Of American agri-
culture.