The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-26

Every country has it's philanthropists
| in politics-its weak sisters in the play
/ Of craftsmanship; it's men who are weak
enough to hesitate and cavil and doubt
and bubble about the trouble and danger
| of certain lines of conduct The admins
tration at Washington is now hesitatfng
about the army in the Philippines, out of
deluded Difference to the laboring men.
AS if it had been possible to accomplish
anything in the line of the open door,
in China without show of force at some
point in the Orient
In the twenty years commencing with
1880 and ending with and including 1899,
the United States imported from the Phil
ippines merchandise to the value>of $780,
$685. mainly in sugar. hemp and tobac-
co, but not including cargoes of hemp
that were transhipped by way Of Liver
pool and Hamburg. In the same time we
exported to those islands goods to the
value of $2862, 030, leaving a balance
against us Of $153, 704, 931-GOLD, payable
upon our London account in cheap wheat,
flour, cotton and barcon.
In the five years commencing with 1892
and ending with 1886, the mother country.
Spain, imported from the Philippines to
the value of 10OO0O,0OO pesetas (worth 1875
cents), or at the rate of Loco, 900 per year
In the same five years Spain exported to
the Philippines to the value of 124 0OO. OCo
pesetas, or at the rate of about $1,000. 900
per year. The net gain to the mother
country being about s1,OOO,OO0 per year. to
be checked off at London against the
American account in London for wheat.
flour, bacon and cotton
In cotton goods Great Britain has been
accustomed to contribute three-fourths
of the inportations of the islands, but
Spain has sold to them as high as $4OoO,-
600 worth in one year
Of the shipping of the islands to and
from the United States, our own custom
house returns show that in the seven
years, inclusive of 1892 and 1885, we zen
tered" ia American vessels from those
islands and 1875 foreign vessels with car
goes. In the same time we cleared"
seven American vessels and sixteen for
eigners, with cargoes for those ports.
From this our discrepancy in trade is
clear and our losses apparent We sold
but little, and what we did sell was car
ried in other peoples boats Yet we
bought over so per cent of the hemp ex-
ported by the islands to the Western ma
tons in the ten years ending with 1897.
The annual importation of cotton goods
at Philippine ports varies from $4,000, 900
to 100000 in value The annual impor-
tations of the same lines into Cuban ports
vary from $6,0O0,0aO to $9,0OOOOO Spain,
Great Britain and the United States have
sold the greater part of the latter goods,
both of the others overselling the United
States.
To the Philippines Spain shipped in one
year paper and paper goods, leather and
leather goods, flax and hempen goods,
canned foods, flour, iron and steel to the
value of million dollars, and umbrellas
q to the value of $123, Ala, or almost as
much as the entire shipments of the
United States in the same year to the
same islands.
So that it would seem that the. Puerto
Rican and Philippine problem resolves
itself into this Gf the Puerto Rican tariff
means anything more than a makeshift) /:
American cotton goods VS.. island sugar;
exorbitant wages and high prices for
goods VS.. expectations; European VS..