Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-04-16
OUR COLONIAL TRADE
Growth of Commerce With
New Dependencies.
Biz Gains in Every DireCEIOn-Ex-
ports to philippines 20 Per
Cent. and Imports SO Per Cent
LARGER Than a Year Ago.

Washington April 10-AcunS Sec
retary of War Meikleiohn has just
given out for pu'bb.cantion some in
teresting statistics regarding the trade
of the United States with the islands of
Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines,
prefacing them by calling attention tn
the fact that normal conditions of
trade have not yet been fully restored
between the islands named. The re-
turns for February show an increase OF
imports from the islands into this
country announcing to $374,408, and a
corresponding increase of exports from
the United States to the islands of
$693, ,269, as compared with the same
month a year ago.
The trade Of the United States with
the Philippines, it is said, begins to
show the natural growth due to the
direction of the earnest attention of
American exporters to the archipel
ago. While the exports from our ports
20 the Philippine islands for February
of last year only amounted to $1,907,
for the same month this year they are
more than zen times as much, being
S19 529 For the eight months ended
with February %, 1898, they were
only $50 ,235, while for the correspond
ing period of the present fiscal yea!
they show gain of nearly 70 per cent,
reaching $177 O21. Our direct importa-
tions from Manila for February were
$277, ,033, a gain of nearly so per cent
over the same month last year. Not
withstanding the decline of imports
into the United States from the Philip
pines during the months of active war
fare, the imports for the eight months
preceding March reached $2,641, IFS, as
compared with S2,1O2, ,SS9 for similar
period the year before.
Our trade with Porto Rico shows an
excess of imports over exports to that
island For the eight months of the
fiscal year the imports from Porto
Rico to the United States gained $685.,
coo in value over the former year, be-
ing $5S5,SS4 against $525, OF this
gain more than one-half was in the
month of February, when the imports
of 1899 reached $124,61S, against $S9.-
1856 for 1898.
The trade balance between this coun-
try and Porto Rico is now in favor of
our exporters, as for tho same month
he exports were $267, ,619, or $17O,545 in
excess of those of 1898. For the eight
months of the fiscal year the exports
amounted to $1,326,596, a gain of S12,-
sos, developed regardless of the several
months when the ports of the island
we're closed to our wares and mer~
chandise.
Trade with Cuba has been in the
past several times as large as our
trade with Porto Rico and the Philip
pines combined, and now is already
showing wonderful gains over the
older figures. A year ago in February,
before the war, we imported from the
island of Cuba goods valued at $2,O59.@
729, while for the same month of the
current year the figures were S2,307,-
$40.
For the period of July /, 1898, to
February 28, 1899, the total imports to
United States ports from Cuba was
$9.17S,777. against $6,413.028 for the
like period a year earlier. This in
crease of more than two and three
quarters millions mainly occurred dur
ing the last several months when the
crops were being shipped.
The exports to Cuba have also pros
pered, those of January and February
showing an increase of over 81 900, 900
in value. For February, 1898, the
merchandise exported from this coun-
try to Cuba was valued at $1,166, 744,
while for the same four weeks of 1899
the figures were $1,671, ,646 The ag-
gregate worth of the exports from the
first of last July to the end of Febru-
ary is given at $1O142,9 949, an increase
of 33 per cent over the preceding year.