Evening star., 1899-04-10
INCREASE IN COMMERCE
Growth of Trade With Cuba, Porto Rico and
the Philippines.
Normal Conditions Not Yet Fully Re-
Observation-Disclosures Given Out by
the War Department..

Acting Secretary of War MeiklejOhn has
Just given out for publication some interest
ing and valuable statistics regarding the
trade of the United States with the islands
of Cuba. Porto Rico and the Philippines
Secretary Meiklejohn calls attention to the
fact that normal conditions of trade have
not yet been fully restored to the islands
named. Nevertheless he believes that the
showing made is sufficiently fatter.ng as
to warrant close scrutiny on the part OF
commercial men everywhere.
The returns for the month of March are
not yet compiled, but those for February
show an increase of imports from the is
lands into this country amounting to S3I4,
40s and corresponding increase of exports
from the United States to the Islands of
$685. 2Gi. as compared with the same month
year ago.
The trade of the United States with the
Philippines begins to show the natural
growth due to the direction of the more
earnest attention of American exporters to
the archipelago. While the exports from
our ports TO the Philippine Islands for Feb
ruary of last year amounted only to S.90I,
for the same month this year they are more
than nine times as much, being S19529. For
the eight months ending with February Is.
1S!'S they were only 500, 20 while for the
corresponding period of the present fiscal
year they show gain of nearly 30 per cent,
reaching $11I ,u21.
The American export trade to Manila.
however, still has before il an era of Won
derful development as American vessels
again become engaged in the trade. before
the exports shall equal in va ue our imports
from the islands. This is shown by our di-
rect impOrtationS for February, which We're
worth S2IT.n q gain of nearly 30 per cent
over the $iSG25S worth of goods imported
the same month last year. Notwithstand-
ing the decline of imports into the United
States from the Philippines during the
months of active warfare, the imports for
the eight months preceding March reached
$2,G4l,lI5. as compared with s!,1e1.sS9 for
a similar period the year before.
Trade With Porto Rico.
Our trade with Porto Rico likewise 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 sGu,04 in value over
the former year, being $5s:.SS4. against
$50 SS4. OF this gain more tEan one-haIf.
or, to be exact, S;i55,2. was in the month
of February, when the imports of 1889
reached sl2461 in value. as against $50, 1856
for 1SyS. The gain for this month alone
was ~ per cent
The trade balance between this country
and Porto Rico is now in favor of our
exporters. as for the same month the eX-
ports were S26I,6i9, or $40. 0..JiJ in excess of
those of 1898, when the returned value was
fiscal year the exports amounted to S1,32G,-
5!4 a handsome gain of $12.j9G developed
regardless of the several months when the
ports of the island We're closed to our wares
and merchandise.
Gain in Cuban Trade.
Trade with Cuba has been in the past
several times as large as our trade with
Porto Rico and the Philippines combined.
Yet great is the latent power of the
island commerce, it 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 S2o5g, 10. while for the same
month of the current year the handsome
increase of nearly a quarter of a million
brought the figures up to S2,3DI,oi0. while
for the period of July l, 1888, to February
~. 1879, the total imports to United States
ports from Cuba We're $9,1IS. III. against
s.. HOOPS for the like period a year earlier.
This increase of more than two and three
quarter millions mainly occurred during
the last several months, when the crops
were being shipped
The exports to Cuba have also prospered,
those of January and February showing
an increase Of over d million dollars in
value. For February. 1898, the merchan-
disc exported from this country to Cuba
valued at 81. 1856 IA. while for the same
four weeks of 1899 the figures We're S16I1 =
SIG. The aggregate worth of the exports
from the first of last July to the end of
February is given at 80, ,949 an increase
of 33 per cent over the preceding year.