The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1899-05-24

EXPORT TRADE GROWS
The United States Has Passed
Great Britain.
is NOW LEADING THE WORLD.
Sir Robert GIffen In n Paper Recently
Read Before Royal Statistical So
ciety Discusses Our POSI-
tion as Distributor Of
Manufactures.
IS NOW LEADING THE WORLD.

export country, anu 10 HOW '1duih6 TIC
world as distributor of manufactures
and OF natural products, is discussed
in an elaborate paper by Sir Robert
Gffen, recently read before the Royal
Statistical society of England and just
received by the treasury department
The paper says:
There are obvious reasons why the
United States should have an excess
of exports. In the first place the Unit
ed States has to pay in its exports for
the share of the carriage of goods in its
foreign trade which is performed by
foreign ships. This is a very large fig
ure. In recent years the proportion of
the imports and exports of the United
States carried in foreign ships has
ranged between rs per cent and so per
cent, so that the United States is a
country which has had to pay other
nations for the carriage of its goods in
the foreign trade. 1t may be men
toned, by the way, that the foreign
country which does the carrying trade
for the United States is mainly the
United Kingdom, and in this difference
between the two countries, accordingly,
we have an explanation of the excess
of the imports in the United Kingdom
and of the excess of exports in the case
of the United States. Next the United
States is a country which owes money
in various ways to foreign nations.
There is an annual stream of Ameri-
can visitors to Europe and there Is an
American colony permanently residing
in Europe whose expenses have to be
paid for. More important still, great
deal of capital has been invested in
the United States by Europeans-by
English people, by Dutch people and
Belgians, as well as by French and
Germans, not to speak of minor ma
tionalities in Europe. The interest
on this debt has, of course, to be paid
in exports unless to the extent that in
a given period reinvestments are made
in the United States. In these various
ways, then, an excess of exports from
the United States can'be accounted for,
and it may be questioned whether in re-
cent years, when the excess of exports
was so large, any great withdrawal of
capital from the United States was in
progress"
Discussing the changes in the export
trade of the United Kingdom, MI.
Giffen's paper says:
zone cannot but be struck by the
incessant changes that are going on
in the nature of our foreign trade. 1t is
one thing at one period, another thing
at another period, and a few years
suffice to make a great transformation.
Probably this has always been the rule.
At one time in the history of our for
eign trade the export of raw wool, to
use a common phrase, was king at
later the export of woolen manufact-
ures; at still later the export of cot
ton manufactures, and last of all, about
20 or 30 years ago, the export of iron
and iron manufactures. What we see
in the recent history is that other
things than those mentioned have
lately been developing the most rapidly.
Coal and other articles have been ex-
ported more largely than ever before
and they occupy a larger proportionate
place in our export lists. Some entirely
new articles such as cycles, appear
in these lists for the first time. At
the same time our shipping fleet, whose
work, as we have seen, is an export in
a special form, has developed prodig-
iously. Coal and shipping together, we
may say, now occupy chief place
such as was formerly held by wool,
then by woolen manufactures and then
by iron and iron manufactures"
Summarizing the causes of the re-
cent changes in the ferelgn trade of
various countries, Mr.. Giffens paper
says:
THE excess of imports is to be ac-
counted for in the trade of a country
like England in several ways, princi-
pally by the fact that England is a
ship-owning country, and does large
business all over the world in carrying
goods and passengers. This work is
really in itself in the nature of an ex-
port, giving the country a credit for so
much in its dealings with other coun-
tries. In addition, England is a coun-
try which earns largely commissions
of different kinds in it's trade with diff
ferent countries as the commercial and
monetary center of the worlds trade.
Last of all, England is one of the
countries which have become entitled
to the receipt of large interests and
profits from other countries on account
of capital which it has invested and
business which it carries on in such
countries including the sums receiva-
BILE by British subjects in the service
of dependency like India.
with regard to the earnings of ships
1t is pointed out that the increase al
lowed for is very much less than the
increase in the magnitude of the ship
ping feet itself In 1882 the calcula-
ton was that the shipping fleet con-
sisted of 100000 tons of sailing ships
and 100000 tons of steamers, the equiv
alent in sailing tons of steamers being
considered to be 10,0OO,0OO tons, making
the total in all 14.0OO 900 tons. At the
present time the shipping fleet consists
of a smaller number of sailing tonnage.
the number of tons being now only
2,5OOOOO But the humber of steam
tons has increased to 6,500,0OO equiva-
lent on the former computations to
26, 900, 900 tons, and making the total of
the fleet at the present time in the
equivalent Of sailing tonnage over 2S,-
900, 900 tons, or double what the figure
was Is years ago.
IF the earnings Of the ships had in
creased proportionately to what they
were in 1882, the figJre would now be
911O,00O0O0, as compared with an
amount between 10000. 900 and ESQ.,