The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-18
Remarkable Trade Figures.

The record of this, the most remark
able year in the commerce of the
United States, which has just been
becomes especially interesting when
compared with that of preceding years.
Not only does the years record sur
pass that of any previous year in the
total expectations and the exports of
manufactured articles, but for the first
time in the history of the country the
exports are twice as great as the i'm
ports. and the exports of manufactures
exceed the imports of manufactures.
The value Of the expectations of the
fiscal year 1898 Is more than seven
times that of 1855, four times as much
as in 1869. twice as much as in 1877,
sixty per cent. more than in 1887,
twenty per cent in excess of the great
commercial year of 1892 and s1S0, 900, 900
more than the greatest year of our ex-
port trade, 1897. The balance of trade
in our favor is more than double that
of any previous year and nearly equal
to that of the past five years COM
exceed those of any preceding year in
the history of the country, the total
gold imports in excess of exports be-
ing for the full year, Sl04, ,9S5279, in
Guiding coin, bullion and ore, while no
preceding year ever reached the $780,
100000 line in net imports of gold.
When TO this is added the fact that
the imports of merchandise of the year
are less than in any year since 1885,
and with this single exception, less
than in any year since 1879 it becomes
apparent that the record OF the fiscal
year 1898 is an altogether unusual one.
The balance of trade in our favor in
the year under consideration is $685.
259,O24 against 1856 263,1 in 1897, 1884,
66l ,666 in 1879, $3.50 ,71S in 1881, $751;
s14,234 in 1875 $237 1880 in 1894 and
s2O2, ,S75, $50 in 1892, while no other year,
except these mentioned, ever reached
the $500, 900 line in it's balance of
trade, or excess of exports over i'm
ports as il is termed by the official
reports of the Bureau of Statistics.
Indeed, IL is only since 1875 that the
balance Of trade has been as a rule in
our favor. From 1891 to 1876 there were
but sixteen occasions in which the eX-
ports of the year exceeded the i'm
ports. Since that time, however, the
balance of trade has been almost con-
stantly in our favor. only three years,
1888. 1889 and 1898, showing an excess
Of imports of merchandise over our
exports. The excess of imports over
exports in the So years prior to 1876
was s2,21j, ,4O4, $40, while the excess of
exports over imports since that time
has been s3191, PCS, 300. Thus the CEN
tennial year seems to have been a
turning point in our commercial rela-
tions with other parts of the world.
In the So years prior to that date the
balance of trade was almost constant
y against us, but since that time has
been almost constantly in our favor.
Agricultural productions, of course,
form a large proportion of the eXpor-
tations of this greatest year in the
history Of our commerce, yet they do
not form as large a proportion as in
cent of the expectations of the year
1898 are products of agriculture, while
in 1894 they We're over " per cent. of
our total exports; in 1893, over "A per
cent; in 1892, over rs per cent: in 1881,
more than SO per cent. and in 1880,
more than SO per cent of the total ex-
ports. In spite of the fact that the
manufacturers of the country had an
| unusual demand upon them from the
home markets during the past year by
reason of the unusually small impor-
tations of manufactures, they have not
| only supplied the home market but in
creased their exports over those of any
preceding year, so that the total ex-
portations of manufactured goods in
the year just ended reaches nearly
| $500, 100000 while in no year prior ia
| the centennial did they reach as much
as 800, ,OOO 900.
A comparison of the exports of 1895
with those of 1888 shows an increase
| of practically 100 per cent in that
period, the total for 1888 being $685.
954,507 against Sl,23l, ,311, S6S in 1898
This extension of our export trade has
| been in all parts Of the world, but es-
| pecially with distant points and with
those countries and continents which
but a decade ago purchased but little
| OF our productions.
| To Africa, which in 1883 bought but
a little over three million dollars
worth Of our productions we have, dur.
| ing the past year, sold seventeen mil.
lion dollars worth; to Japan, which
took but little over four million dol.
lars worth in 1883, our sales in the
| year just ended We're valued at twenty,
| one million dollars; to China, which
took but four and one-half million dol.
lars worth in 1883. we sold in 1898 ter
million dollars worth; to Austria Hun.
gary, which took less than half a mil.
lion dollars worth in 1888, our sales in
1898 were over five million dollars in
value; Belgium, which took less thar
ten million dollars worth in 1888, tool
forty-seven million dollars worth il
1898; Denmark increased from three
millions in 1883 to over twelve million,
in 1898; the Netherlands from sixteel
millions in 1888 to about siXty-five mil
lions in 1885, France from less thar
forty millions in 1883 to nearly one hun
dred millions in 1898; Germany from
fifty-six and one-half million dollars
worth in 1888 to over one hundred anc
fifty million dollars worth in 1898
British North America from thirty
eight millions in 1883 to about eighty
five millions in 1898, and the United
Kingdom from three hundred and six