Arizona republican., 1899-09-19
VENEZUELAN TRADE
Our Goods Are Growing in
 Popularity
But Somehow Our Export Business is Slightly Falling Behind. The Problem Solved by inc British Minister at Caracas.

faw days by reason of events trans piring in that republic lends interest to
 a statement just prepared by the treas
 ury bureau of statistics showing the
 commerce Of the United States with
 Venezuela during a term of years and the growing popularity Of goods from this country as testified to by the
 British minister to Venezuela. Ven
 ezuelan imports now amount to nearly l $15,000,000 annually, having grown
 from s4,O5S, ,6O9 in 1870 to $12,O53. 5O2 in
 1887, and s13,241,O in 1897. The United States furnished in 1870, 37.24 per cant Of the imports of Venezuela;
 in 1887, it furnished 30.42 per cent, and
 in 1897, 26.95 per cent. The experts to 1 Venezuela from the United States have
 not made the progress that they have to ether parts oi the world. h 1890, they were $4,O2S, ,583; in 1895, S3,74O, 464, and in 1899, $2,851, ,634.
 Just what is the cause Of the falling eff in exports frcm the United States to Venezuela and in the percentage which the United States furnishes Of Venezuelan imports is the more dit1i- cult t1 understand in view of the fact that foreign testimony indicates that goods from the United States are par ticularly popular. A statement sent to the British foreign cffice by the British minister at Caracas, MT. w. H. D. Haggard, discussing the relative popularity scf Am msrican goods in Ven ezuela compared with those of Euro pean production says:
 While this year there has been very large general decline in the inn ports into the port of La Guaira, and the proportion of this decline in Eng fish goods has been infinitely larger than that of the United States, amounting in the former to more than one-fourth, while in the case Cf the latter it Cnly amounts to about Cne- tenth. the manager Of the Caracas and La Guaire line-an English corpora tion-ltells me that he does not attri- bute this to the fact ttas the imports of the British goods, in which there is competition between Great Britain and the United States, has declined in greater ratio than that Of American goods of the same nature, but rather to the want of purchasing power which las prevented the import ot British goods more than it has that of chiefly Of articles which the people can net manage to do without. Cotton cloths even, for instance, are not an absolute necessity in this climate for l the mass of the population, while 1 American imports, although they have | infiuenca to the same extent, as the | bulk Of them are articles Of the prime | necessities of existence, such as flour | and other fcodstuffs.
 The question Of American competi- | tion will, imagine, be mere serious in | the future American manufacturers have hitherto found B sufficient mar ket in the United States. It is only lately that they have seen their pro ducticn larger than their local demand and they have consequently begun U export in any large quantities. It is to be expected that the imp5tus given by the result Of the war, and the con realization of the fact of the existence of other markets besides the Unitsd States, will increase this ef- feet It may, indeed, be said to have already done so. The countries which will feel this first will naturally be those on the same continent.
 l. holds the bulk of the trade, but can, when an intelligent manufacturer is found undersell German and Ameri can goods. A very experienced com nerciaI agent told me last December hat he had within the previous twelve ( months undersold certain German made drills at prices varying from five 0 ten per cent below German quota ions, and that he had within the pre- , yious six weeks sent home orders for hese goods amounting to over Z 5000, which for one class of goods from a malI market like this was a large mount, especially in view Of the fact hat twelve months before these g--ds I we're net made in England. He added ' hat other travellers were also selling ( hem, so that during the year a large business will have been taken from Germany by Great Britain, thus re- 'ersing the state Of things so long 4 Of This gentleman also tated to me that they had, moreover, eaten the Americans in drills, which he latter had hitherto supplied, so hat Great Britain is now selling to h his country 75 per cent of all printed s' rills imported here, which formerly u Il came from the states s
 b Washington, Sept. 1S.-A cable s ram received at the navy department D