The Portland daily press., 1899-02-23
the Trade IN CHEMICALS.
An Item OF American Commerce ths
Further Growth Of which Seems
Probable,


/: The incorporation In Albany of chem
ical company with q capital Of s2s, t00. 600
and directors from New York, Pennsyl-
ysnis, Ohio and Illinois calls attention
TO the gradually increasing volume Of the
trade In chemicals In the United States,
trade which IL seems certain will be in
creased still further by she extension of
American sovereignty over other coun-
tries. The chief chemical Imports into
the United States heretofore have been
loswood. chiefly from the West Indies;
potash, opium, chiefly from AsiAtic coun-
tries; indigo, gum, soda, sulphur, chiefly
from Sicily; o; clinical, crude tartar. coal
tar products lioorlcs and sumac. The TO-
tai value of the chemicals imported into
the United states was In excess OF
s4o, 600. 0c0 for the fiscal year OF 1888; the
largest part Of these chemicals came In
duty fres The American exports OF
chemicais,a amount to about si0,0Oo.0o a
year, or one-qusrtsr as much as the value
of those imported. but to this total, pat.
ent medicines and proprietary articles en-
ter to the extent Of about ~, 800, 600 year.
The other American exports In this line
are made mp chiefly of sulphnte of cop
PER, acetate of lime and ginseng. The last
is sent almost exclusively to China.
by the last Federal census the branch
of American industry known rs the man
ufacture Of chemicals was distr ibuted
through nearly 5000 establishments hav-
ing n capitalization OF S20a 1000 700. CIV
| Ing employment TO $4,000 persons, and
using materials to the value of about
90, 10000 u year. In respect to the
amount OF business done in the line of
chemical manufacture Philadelphia
stands first among American cities. and
| In thu actual NUMBER OF employees the
city of Syracuse, n. Y, comes second.
Other American cities giving employ
| ment to many persons In the line of chem
| icaI man ufactures are Detroit, Newark,
N. j.; Baltimore, st. Louis, and, of
course, New York, for the industrial In
terests OF this city are now % varied as to
| include practically every branch of pro-
ductive trade In America.
The business Of the United States with
the countries of Asia and Oceanica has
been considerably Increased by recent
events and seems certain to be still furth-
er increased In the future, but In tho line
| of chemical IL was already considerable
with those regions. In the year 1897,
when the internal affairs of tho United
States were engaging a much larger share
| of public interest ana concern than for
eign matters, from British India alone
| the Importation OF Indigo amounted to
| 81, 800, 600, of shellac to ESQ. 600 and OF
saltpetre to nearly s400. 000 From Japan.
cam phor and sulphur TO the value IN the
year Of nearly 81 600 cash were imported
| Into the United states. From Turkey In
Asia and from China came crude opium
to the value of o. $50, 0G0 each, and from
Australia gums to the value Of more than
| 81 900, COO, exclusive Of other chemicals
worth $500 0o0 additional while with
French. Dutch and Spanish possessions
| in the East considerable business In
chemicals was done Many chemical
products heretofore sent to the United
States from the countries OF South
America can hereafter be obtained in
| like amount, in similar quality and I'M
der more favorable trade arrangements
and with less expense of transportation
from Cuba and Porto Rico. and the trade
of this country In chemicals, already con-
siderable, seems likely to be further en-
larged, for. generally speaking, the coun.
tries from which chemicals are exported
to the United States have no local manu-.
features and few facilities for pu tting
chemical products into the most desirable
form OF salable merchandise.