The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1900-07-19
BENEFIT Of COLONIES.
Their Value a Market for Produsts
OF Earent.


Parent.
The non-British world buys Is per
cent of its total foreign merchandise
from the United Kingdom; the British
colonial world buys 43 per cent of its
foreign merchandise from the United
Kingdom The total imports OF the
British colonies amount to 81 ,075, 0Go,-
OG0 annually, and Great Britain, by
supplying 43 per cent of this instead of
Is per cent, which she averages in the
commerce OF other countries makes an
additional market for $500, 0o0, 900 an
nual1y of her products. Her total ex-
ports to foreign countries (onitting
the colonies) are S1.130, 600 900, or Is
per cent of their total imports and if
to this were added like percentage OF
the imports of the colonies her total
sales would be 81, 100, 900 .ooo instead OF
the grand total of 81 ,4SO. 900 900 which
she enjoyed in 1896, the year to which
these figures relate 1t is thus appar-
ent that her sales are enlarged through
her colonial system in the sum of
about $500 ,OO0, 600 in round figures per
annum, thus increasing by 25 per cent
her total exports, and creating by her
colonial system a market for $500, 000,-
600 worth of her products and manu-
features.
Not only has Great Britain added to
her market by bringing the $50, 900 900
people of her colonies into the colonial
relationship, but there has evidently
been, through the material develop
ment which has followed this rela-
uonship, great increase in the pllr-
chasing power The construction of
highways, harbors, railways, and tele-
graphs has evidently quickened the
general business conditions and, with
the increased activity and prosperity,
enlarged the consuming power.
That the construction of roads, har-
bors, railways, and telegraphs and the
establishment Of postal and banking
facilities must increase the activity,
productiveness, and consequent con-
Stunning pcwer goes without saying
The railways now in the British colon
les alone are more than So coo miles in
length, the telegraph lines nearly $780,
600 miles in length, and the highways
far in excess Of that A large proper
ton of the railway lines is under the
control of, and in many cases operated
by, the government, and it is an inter
esting fact that the lines operated by
the government expend a smaller pro
portion of their total receipts in run
ming expenses than those operated by
private corporations In nearly all the
colonies there are savings banks in
conjunction with the postofices, and
the deposits in the savings banks of
the colonies amount to more than
$500, 900 600.
In the import trade of Great Brit
ain the colonies also prove advantage
one-ffth of the more than two billion
dollars which Great Britain sends out
side of her Immediate limits in pur-
chase of supplies is spent among the
people OF her colonies, anu thus large
~ contributes to the prosperity of Ell
Their British colOnists or British cap
ital That the industries of the col
onies are to a considerable extent CON
trolled by British capital goes without
saying, and that the expenditure of
nearly $500, 900 900 of British money in
British colonies each year for the
products of those colonies must benefit
the capital thus employed and so re
fleet to the business advantage of the
home country whence that capital is
drawn is equally apparent The total
imports into Great Britain from the
colonies in 1896 were over sea, 900, 600
and in 1891 were over 6 99, 900, 900, or
in round terms, $500 900 OOO forming
more than one-fifth of the total i'm
ports into the United Kingdom
The following table shows the ex-
ports and imports of the United King
dom to and from its colonies in 1897:
EXPORTS
British India .-..-.....G2S ,O09. 1856
Australasia -.-.-..-.-.. -. %, 695, $40
North American Colonies 6464 $50
Cape of Good Hope. 1O,766,168
Straits Settlements. 1888
Hongkong -.-------- 2,079, ISL
Natal -..-.-- -.-- 1921, 1873
Ceylon -----.--.. - 1,07O, 932
West India Islands ..... 27O9 497
Channel Islands .-.-- 1908, 259
Lagos .-..-..--- --.-..-- 521 ,204
Malta --.....-..- =. $50, 694
Gibraltar -- 677,7s1
Niger Protectorate COS, 1913
Gold Coast -----.-------.. 4s2,37S
Leone