The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1900-07-20
rENzFyr Of COLONIES.
Their Value rs Market for Produ'"
of Parent

of Parent.
The non-British world buys 10 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 $l,075,OOO,-
900 annually, and Great Britain, by
supplying 40 per cent of this instead OF
10 per cent, which she averages in the
commerce of other countries, makes an
additional market for $500, 900 an
nually Of her products. Her total ex-
ports to foreign countries (omitting
the colonies) are 81 100000, or 10
per cent of their total imports, and II
to this were added like percentage of
the imports of the colonies her total
sales would be 81 100, 100000, instead Of
the grand total of 81 ,4S0, 000, 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 $30O,0O0,00 in round figures per
annum, thus increasing by 25 per cent
her total exports, and creating by her
colonial system market for $500, OOO,-
900 worth of her products and manu-
features.
Not only has Great Britain added to
her market by bringing the 350000,OOO
people of her colonies into the colonial
relationship, but there has evidently
been, through the material develop
ment which has followed this rela-
tionship, a great increase in the pur-
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,
Stunning power goes without saying.
The railways now in the British colon
les alone are more than $1,000 miles in
length, the telegraph lines nearly $780,
900 miles in length, and the highways
far in excess of that. 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 smaller pro-
nnv Of hot tnto intC in,
ming expenses than those operated by
private corporations. In nearly all the
colonies there are savings banks in
conjunction with the postoffices, and
the deposits in the savings banks of
the colonies amount to more than
In the import trade of Great Brit
ain the colonies also prove advantage
GUS from the British standpoint. Over
one-fifth of the more than two billion
side of her immediate limits in pur-
chase of supplies is spent among the
people of her colonies, anu thus large
ly contributes to the prosperity of Ell
Their British colonists or British cap
ital. That the industries of the col
onies are to considerable extent con-
trolled by British capital goes without
saying, and that the expenditure Of
nearly $5OO,OO0,0OO 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 &93, 000,0 00
and in 1891 were over e99,000,0 600, or
in round terms, S5O0,OOO,O 600, forming
more than one-ffth 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 it's colonies in 1897:
EXPORTS.
BRUSH INDIA. ............. j q, 009, $50
............. 80. Z0,OJ0, JlU
Mouth ,,,ariooD NOIOpic- e fctoon