Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-08-17
BUSINESS ACTIVITY.
FACTS ILLUSTRATING THE RE-
TURN OF PROSPERITY.

Large Increase in the Importation of
Commodities Used in Domestic Man
ufactures, Together with a Decrease
i'm Imports of Manufactured Articles.
Some interesting facts Illustrative OF
the marvellous revival Of industrial ac-
tivity which followed SO directly upon
the election of President Mckinley
and the enactment of the Dingley tar
iff reset forth in a statement issued
by the Treasury Bureau Of Statistics.
It is especially significant of prosper
GUS times among manufacturers that
articles required in manufacturing and
food stuffs not produced in the United
States form the largest items Of the
increase in importations shown by the
fiscal year just ended. The statement
covers all articles or classes of articles
in which the importation increased or
decreased as much as $1,OOO,OOO dur
ing the year, and shows an increase in
importations in nearly all articles OF
foreign production required by our
m a a turers. manufactured
fbers, raw silk, crude rubber, bar and
block tin, hides and skins, undressed
furs, cabinet and other woods, unman-
ufactured tobacco and chemicals for
use in manufacturing, all show
heavy increase, wool being the only
important item of material for the fac
tory which shows reduction in i'm
ports.
In the ten great classes of material
imported for use of the manufacturers
-fbers, silk, rubber, hides, furs, tin,
copper, tobacco, wood and chemicals
the increase amounts to about 3O,OOO,-
600, though the reduction of several
million dollars in wool brings the net
increase in manufacturers materials
to something less than that figure. In
food stuffs the principal increase is in
sugar, tropical fruits and cocoa, the
increase in these being above $3O,OOO,-
600. The very heavy importations Of
sugar just prior to the enactment Of
the tariff law of 1897 made the sugar
importations of 1898 extremely light,
so that those of 1899 show an increase
Of SO per cent. in quantity over those
than those of 1897.
Among manufactured goods the finer
grades Of cotton, silk and fibers show
the largest increase, though mating,
china ware, dressed furs and spirits
are slightly in excess of last year. Dia-
monds and jewelry show the largest
increase among the articles classed as
luxuries, though this is believed to be
due in part at least to a reduction in
duties under the act Of 1897, which
was made in the belief that it would
reduce smuggling and thus bring with
in the operations of the customs law
many million dollars worth of this
class Of goods which had formerly es-
capped taxation. In manufactured
goods there has been decrease in i'm
ports in a number Of important arti-
cles which come in competition with
American manufactures, especially in
wooden goods and tin plate. Coffee
also shows a decrease of about $1O,-
100000 in value of importations, large
ly due, however, to the decrease in
price rather than in quantity, the aver
age price per pound in 1899 being more
than 10 per cent. below that of 1898,
while there is also a slight reduction
in quantities imported, owing to the
very heavy imports of last year.
The following table includes the ar
ticles or classes of articles in which
the imports Of the year show an in
crease or decrease Of as much as ST.
100000, and compares the imports Of
the year with those of the two preced-
ing fiscal years:
IMPORTS.
1897. 1898. 1885,
Chemicals .$44, 94s, 1924, 40 773$42, 66s, 731