Arizona republican., 1899-08-01
SPAIN'S SOFT THING
An Annual Market Worth
$@O.OOO.OOO.
With Help of Interested Major ST c
VIII Struggle TO Retain a Part
of This Trade by Ceiling Tariff
Advantages.

Washington, July 31-(Special)-
Cuba, Porto Rico ard the Philippines
afforded market for over S4O.00O,0 900
worth of Spanish goods per annum, ac-
cording to a statement of the British
consul at Barcelona, just received by
| the treasury bureau of statistics.
About three-fourths of this amount
was in manufactured goods. Snd con-
s:derab-y more than one-haIf of this
market was that of Cuba alone. Ac-
| cording to the statement which Mr.
Consul Roberts sends to the British
foreign office, dated June Is, 1899, the
exports of Spain to Cuba IN 1896
amounted tc 134,461, ,675 pese5as; 20
Porto Rico, 3T,660.S pesetas. and TO
the Philippines, IS. Sol, 757, making a
| total of 210,4S0,241 pesetas. and ac-
ceDting the value of the peseta at 20
cents, makes Il total of So, ,096.U4S. OF
the 134. .461 .675 pesetas value OF goods
| exported to Cuba in 1896. s.. .652. .Os3
pesetas, according to Consul Roberts.
consisted of manufa ctured goods. 80
SoO,556 provisions, and 959.O26 of raw
materials. OF the 81 1850, 500 pesetas
value of goods exported from Spain
| to Porto Rico in 1896 the vllu4- of 70.
| 107,9I7 peSetas was manuf Il ctured
| goods. S.4O1, ,501 provisions. and 151.-
321 pesetas raw materials. To tie
Philippines. of the 3S,357.757 pesetas
value of goods exported from Spain.
r'he value of 81 go S92 pesetas was
manufactured goods. 4OTO.55T pro-
visions, and 3630S raw materials. To-
talizing the three colories. Consul Rob
ertS finds that of the 210.4S0.2 .241 pese-
taS value of goods exported from
Spain to Cuba. Porto Rico and the
Philippines in 1896. the value of 146,-
010,962 peSetaS was manufactured
goods. 63. 500, ,624 provisions and ], 1,146,-
655 pesetas raw materials.
To this marker for $40. 100000 worth
I of Spanish produce. which the three
colonies supplied. Mr.. Consul Roberts
adds $1,000 600 peseltas. or S4,6OO,OOO
for money paid to the Spanish steam
ship companies for the carrying trade
to and from the colonies. The imports
into Spain from the coonies Sc says.
amounted in 1896 to 260.S1T tons from
Cuba. 26.O11 tons from Porto Rico and
4O,9S5 Fons from the Philippines. and
computes that the amount paid in
| freight amounted in the commerce
with Cuba TO 7,S26.31O pesetas: Porto
Rico 1872. 13O. and the Philippines.
2.254, ,175, or total of 1O.S62,615 pese-
tas. and says: If to this be added
the value of passage money to and
from she colonies, putting it at the low
! average of 250 pesetas a head, it
shows a further 13,OO0,OOO pesetas per
arnum, giving a total of 100000
pesetsis per annun paid in freight and
passage money to the steamship COM
panies for the carrying trade to and
from the colonies"
Coasul Roberts expresses the opln-
ion that Spanish manufacturers and
| dealers are not going 70 give up the
markets of Cuba. Porto Rico and the
Philippines without struggle. He
also intimates that other natiOnalities
have in the past participated in the
so-called Spanish srade with these
islands by locating in Spain and thus
getting che advantage of low tariff
rates into the islands which Was orig
inal1y given to commerce originating
i'm Spain. On this subject, he says:
In the year 1892 the Spanish customs
tariff on manufactured goods was very
considerably increased with the view
of virtually giving Il monopoly to
goods manUfa ctured here for eNporta-
ton to the colonies; this, of course,
gave an enormous impetus to manu-
facture in this province, factories in
creased largely in u1umber and the
Catalan manufacturers grew rapidly |
rich. The only way in which foreign
ers who had good clients in the col |
onies colt.d meet this competition and
ra3in their markets was by starting |
factories in the country. the goods
thus being manufactured iD the penin-
sula entering the Spanish colonies on
the same terms as those of the Span
ish manufacturers. whereas if ship
ped from England or elsewhere, the
prohibitive duty rendered competition
impossible; or by having a resident
agent IN this city who, purchasing
from the Catalan manufacturers, eX-
norted from here free of duty