The evening times., 1899-12-11
OUR TROPICAL IMPORTS.
The United States Benefited by the
New Islanl P0aaennfQaa.


New Island Possessions.
The capacity Of Cuba. Porto Rico, Ha-
waii and the Philippines to meet eur con-
stantly growing requirements for tropical
products and the markets which they can
supply for our farm productions and manu-
factures in exchange are attracting renewed
attention with the re-assembling OF Con-
gress and the questions naturally coming
before that bocy. The annual importations
Of tropical products into the United States
amount on an average to fully $250. 900 900.
and are composed of raw materials required
by our manufacturers or foodstuffs demand
ed by the general public. The most i'm
portant items in the fiscal year 1899 were
sugar. ss5. .o0o. 600: COFFEE. $s5. .ooo. 900; rub.
Der, So. 900 600; fbres, $20, 900 900: tropical
fruits and nuts, SIS, ,000, 900; tropical gums.
drugs. and dyewodds, 10 .000. coo; tobacco
and manufactures, SIS, ,000, 900; cacao. cho-
colate. etc.. $5.00G0C0: spices $2.500, 600;
cabinet woods. $2.000. 600, and cork and
manufactures Of. 81, 100000. Most Of those
articles are produced I'M greater or less de-
gree In the islands In question and form q
share In our importations from them. Su-
gar. coffee. and tropical fruits, as is we'll
known, are the principal productions Of
Cuba, Porto Rico and the Hawaiian ISL
ands. while these items with hemp added
form the chief exports Of the Philippines,
hemp alone forming the largest item of our
present importations from those islands.
The demands Of these islands for the
classes of agricultural production and
manufactures produced in the United States
Is also very great. In the past, Cuba,
Porto Rico and the Philippines have
drawn most Of their supplies OF those ar
ticles from Spain. The importations into
Porto Rico from Spain in 1896 amounted to
over $7.O00,000, into Cuba from Spain in
that year. $4,000, 900. and into the Philip
pines from Spain in the same year. nearly
$s,O00,00O and all of these were either pro-
ductions OF agriculture or manufactures.
Adding to these the supplies drawn by
those islands from other European coun-
tries, the market which they offered for
agricultural products and manufactures.
aside from those which they already drew
from the United States, was in that year
over s5O, ,000, 900.
In response to demands for information
along these lines the Treasury Bureau Of
Statistics has prepared a series of tables
showing the imports into the United States
from Cuba and Porto Rico, and the i'm
ports into those islands from Spain and
other European countries. In the state
ment OF the imports into the United States
the years 1893, 1896. and 1898 are separately
shown. those Of 1893 being under the re-
ciprocity agreement, while those Of 1896
show the trade Immediately preceding the
war. In the statement of imports into
those islands from Spain, 1895 and 1896
are selected as fairly typical years prior
to the interruption by war. The amounts
are as follows:
For 1893. s4,OOs, s23; for 1896. 81, 2s6 653;
far fro ~ duty
in 1896, 1894 .673; in 1898, s4s sos; in 1898,
s50,s67; dutiable. 1893. s13,s5O; in 1896,
81. 24s,Oi5; in 1898. 81 363. $50.
The total sum of the imports into Spain
from Porto Rico in 1896 was $3.50. 451. The
decrease in free, and increase in dutiable
imports into the United States from Porto
Rico in 1896 and 1898, compared with 1893
are due to the transfer in 1894 of sugar and
molasses from the free to the dutiable list.
The commercial reports of Germany, Eng
land, and France do not state separately
the imports from Cuba and Porto Rico. but
the total imports were: In 1896. into the
United Kingdom. s179,22 Germany, 3d.
337, ,205; France 50. 204, SO. The principal
French imports were coffee, manufactured
tobacco and sponges; the German, tobac-
CO in all forms, and the United Kingdom,
mahogany. The United States imported
from Cuba in 1893. total sum of SIS, ,06.-
SOC: in 1886, s40.017, ,730, and in 1888. sl5.-
232 Al. Those free OF duty in 1893, amount
ed to s66, ,0i9. .s39; in 1896. s2.074,763; in
1898, $276.00O; dutiable in 1893. sl2,651,-
1871, in 1896. s37.9i2. .967; in 1898. 1885,
All. The decrease in free. and increase in
dutiable imports in 1896 and 1898, compar-
ed with 1893, are due to the transfer in
1894. of sugar and molasses from the free
to the dutiable list.
Spain imported from Cuba in 1898. ma
terial TO the amount of 6,551 204.