The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-06
THE VALUE OF COLONIES
BRITAIN GETS A 5000, 900, 900 BENE-
FIT IN TRADE ANNUALLY.
Some Statistics That Throw Light ON
the Benefits to BE Derived
from Expansion.
Special to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-The non-British
world buys 10 per cent. of its total foreign
merchandise from the United Kingdom; the
British colonial world buys 43 per cent. of
it's foreign merchandise from the United
Kingdom. The total imports of the British
colonies amount to 9215, OOO,O 600 annually.
Great Britain by supplying S per
cent. of this instead of Is per cent, which
she averages in the of other coun-
tries, makes an additional market for $780,
0O0,c coo annually of her products. Her
total exports to foreign countries, emitting
the colonies, are G206, 100000, or 10
per cent. of the total imports, and if to this
were added a like percentage of the imports
of the colonies her total sales would be &23S,-
100000 instead of the grand total of
G296, 100000 which she enjoyed in 1896,
the year to which these figures relate.
1t is thus apparent that her sales are en-
larged through her colonial system in the
sum of about $50, 10000 in round fig
ures, or $500, 000,000 per annum, thus in
creasing by % per cent. her total exports
and creating by her colonial system a mar
ket for $500, eco. coo worth of her products and
manufactures.
These are some Of the facts shown in a
recent publication of the treasury Bureau
of Statistics on the colonies, protectorates
and dependencies of the world. French
colonies buy quite as largely from the home
country as do those of Great Britain, and
even the Netherlands colonies purchase
largely from the mother country. although
located on the opposite side of the earth.
Not only has Great Britain added to her
market by bringing the $50, 100000 people of
her colonies into the colonial relationship,
but there has evidently been, through the
material development which has followed
this relationship, a great increase in the
purchasing power. The construction of
highways, harbors~ railways and telegraphs
have evidently quickened the general bust
ness conditions and with the increased activ-
ity and prosperity enlarged the consuming
power.
That the construction of roads, harbors,
railways, telegraphs and the establishment
of postal and banking facilities must in
crease the activity, productiveness and con-
sequent consuming power goes without say
ing. The railways now in the British colo
MES alone are more than 5000 miles in
length, the telegraph lines nearly 10000
miles and the highways far in excess of
that = large proportion of the railway lines
is under the control and in many cases
operated by the government and 1t is an in
teresting fact that the lines operated by
the government expend a smaller proper
ton of their total receipts in running ex-
penses than those operated by private cor
porations. In nearly all the colonies there
are savings banks in conjunction with the
postofIices, and the deposits in the savings
banks of the colonies amount to more than
$500. 600, 600.
In the import trade of Great Britain the
colonies also TroVe advantageous from the
British standpoint. Over one-fifth of the
more than two billion dollars which Great
Britain sends outside of her immediate linn
its in purchase of supplies is spent among
the people of her colonies, and this largely
contributes to the prosperity of either Brit
ish coloniSts or British capital. That the in
dustries of the colonies are to a considerable
extent controlled by British capital goes
without saying, and that the expenditure of
nearly 500 million dollars of British money
in British colonies each year for the
products of those colonies must benefit the
capital thus employed and so reflect to the
business advantage of the nome country
whence that capital is drawn IS equally APP
parent. The total imports into Great Brit
ain from the colonies in 1896 were over
ninety-three million pounds sterling, and in
1891 over ninCty-1ine million pounds sterling,
or in round terms $500, 600. coo, form
ing more than one-fifth of the total i'm
ports into the United Kingdom. The fol-
lowing table shows the exports and imports
of the United Kingdom TO and from its
colonies in 1897: