Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-07-21


crease Was Chiefly In Nanufac-
turned Products.
The nations balance sheet for the
( year ending In June shows Increases In
the foreign trade that. all things CON
sidered. are marvellous. In spite OF Il
war that disturbed the run of things.
IN spite of abundant crops In other
countries and consequent decrease
/ in the demand for food stuifs, the total
/ OF the foreign trade Of the country
/ reached the enormous sum of $l.92I,-
/ 52O.Sl3. which is $50 100000 greater
than In any previous year in the coun-
try's history, and the figures show the
United States to be on the right side
of the ledger by the enormous sum OF
/ $500, 366.03T. We sold to other coun-
tries that much more of our product
/ than we bought Of theirs. At the
same time we purchased from other
countries SSl ,O27,734 worth more OF
their products than we purchased in
the preceding year, says the New York
Sun.
The Importance OF the showing Is
here. Whereas in other years the i'm
ports Of the products OF other countries
have consisted largely Of their manu-
featured products, in the year Just past
the imports have consisted largely Of
the raw material Of other countries,
which we have taken into our facto-
ries, worked into the finished product
and sold back to the countries from
which we made the original purchase.
In 1898 20 per cent of the exports Of
the United States consisted of agricul-
tural and food products. Crops in 9TH
er countries had been bad. The war
was threatened and with II there SEEM
ed n possibility of n blockade of Amer
lean ports that would hinder the eX-
porting of breadStuffs and all other
products. For that reason Europe made
haste in her purchases OF wheat. corn
and the like. The storehouses were
increased in size and they were filled
to Overtiowing with American grain
before the war. Our wheat for the
year averaged $3.50 cents n bushel and
our cotton 5.9S cents pound. During
the past year our wheat has averaged
only T4.TT cents q bushel and our cot
ton 500 cents n pound. We exported
this year 34,0OO,0OO bushels less OF
corn than we did last year and our OK
ports Of agricultural products general
ly footed up $4,000, 900 less than In
1898 These figures emphasize the Won
derful progress that has been made by
the American manufacturers. In spite
Of the great reduction In the value OF
agricultural products exported the to-
tai exports are within 81 100000 of the
total Of 1898. That is, $4,000, 900 OF
the $4,000, 900 loss in agricultural ex.
ports was made up by the increase 10
the export OF manufactured products.
The American manufacturers, while
paying higher wages than the manu-
faCturers of any country on the face Of
the globe have been able to send their
products abroad and sell them success
fully in competition with the products
Of the lower paid workmen Of the 9TH
er countries.
A large part Of the increased exports
OF manufactured products has OF
course been in iron and steel. the de-
maud for which in all parts Of the
world has been unprecedented.
OF the imports Of the year, about
$500 100000 were admitted free Of
duty and about $4OO,00O00O worth
We're dutlablc. There was an increase
of $S717,32S in the value Of the duty
free imports and an increase of $101,-
20O3G0 In the dutiable imports. The
duty free imports are made up largely
Of raw materials of the old world sent
to our manufacturers to make into fin
ished products. The report of the bu-
reau Of statistics shows an increase Of
$45,00O000 worth of raw material for
the use Of our exporting manufacturers
in the last II months, and that gives |
some idea of the revolution in trade
that IS going on. When Americans
gain markets for their goods they sell !
dom lose them. and the increase in
the exports of manufactured articles |
Is certain to continue
With Americas tremendous excess
of exports over imports and the con-
sequent balance of trade the gold Of |
other countries must necessarily travel .
our way. The figures Of the gold ex-
ports and imports for the fiscal year
are interesting. During the year we
imported $51, 432,517 more gold than
we exported. During the year also we
produced $GO,00O,000 worth Of gold In
our own mines, so we have got $110,-
100000 more gold than we had a year
ago. In the last three years we have
imported S201,071,0OO more gold than
we exported. In that time we have
produced $150,00O,oO0 worth of gold
from our mines.
Those readers who like figures might
study with profit the following table Of
exports and imports for the past ten
years
Excess OF
exports
Exports Imports over imports
1870 ...... 1857 S2S, 6s4 $3.50 $1,000 $6S SIS 975
1921 .,...... SSi,4SoSlo s44,916I96 So50+Gl4
1892. ...1, $50, 27s14s s27. 402, 1862 2o2 s75 CSC
1898. ...... SI7, 1856 1874 SOC 400 900 IL 7%7 T9s