Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-19
ABOUT HUNDRED MILLIONS
i If
Imports Of Cuba, Porto Rico and Our Pacific
Possessions
Increase in the American Exports t.
Those Observation-Disclosures of Last
Sevehs Months.

The prospective value of Cuba, Porto
Rico and the Hawaiian. Philippine and Sa-
moan Islands as markets for the products
of the farm and factory in the United
States is illustrated by recent publication
in the Moniteur oficiel du Commerce. an
official publication Of the French govern
ment, which discusses at considerable
length the consuming powers Of those Is
lands and their consequent economic value
to the United States and the prospective in
crease in their consuming powers through
enlarged production under American capt.
tai: The statement is as follows:
AT present the imports of these coun-
tries amount to about S10O, 200, 600. Those
of Cuba were in 1882, which was an aver
age good year. So. 1O1 ,6s2: of the Phil
ippines in 1896. SIS. s15,O75: of the Hawaiian
Islands in 1898, $11 $50, 800, and of Porto
Rico in 1896. s., 656.578. The imports, how
ever. show already an increase, as Is seen
by the American export figures to these
Islands, those to the Hawaiian Islands for
1899 being s., 3O5.47O. as against S, 9O7, 155
for 1898 and "a ,eeoo75 for 1897; those to
$50 in 1893. and $s259,I 76 in 1897; the re-
spective figures of exports to Porto Rico
being s., 6S5 S4S for the year 1899, as COM
pared with S.505. 948 for 1893 and LOSS. sss
increased productive power. which must
naturally be followed by increased con-
sumption, the volume of the foreign trade
Of these Islands IS likewise bound to- in
crease considerably.
THE consumption of foreign products by
these islands is made up almost equally of
articles Of manufacture and of agriculture
of the temperate zone.; Out of $50. 125, 1921
United States to Cuba in 1894, the value of
$9.44O,953 was in products Of agriculture.
and out Of $1S616.3T worth of exports for
the year 1899, 81, 799. 513 worth belonged to
the The rts
United States to the Pearl Of the Antilles
are made up principally Of cereals. live
animals, salt meat. cotton goods, machin-
cry, footwear, instruments, etc
Spain, under normal conditions, sold an
nually to Cuba. Porto Rico and the Philip
pines about s40,0O0,OOO worth of goods,
principally manufactured articles, besides
wines. oils. -four. meats and vegetables.
Out of 135.OOO,0O pesetas worth of mer-
chandise shipped from Spain to Cuba in
1896 about 100000 represented the value
was nearly the same In the case of Porto
Rico and the Philippine Islands.
speaking generally. we may assume that
under normal conditions the surplus pro-
the war amounted to about $125 900 600 an
nually, and their consumption to $1OO, OOO,-
wv. but that their productive power is
capable of great increase. which in turn
will cause siIsilar increase In consump-
ton About ond-half Of the imports into
these islands was Of Spanish origin and
the other half came from other countries
proportionate to their proximity or dis
lance. Thus the United States furnished
the greater part of the imports into Cuba
and Porto Rico, while the Philippine Is
lands received whatever Spain was I'M
able to furnish them with, from Hong
Kong. Shanghai. Yokohama. Singapore
Calcutta and Australian ports"
Comparative Statement.
The following statement, prepared by the
treasury bureau OF statistics, shows the
exports from the United States, by prin-
cipal articles. to each of the islands mem
toned in the above discussion. The state
ment covers the seven months ending with
January. 1900. and compares that period
with the corresponding period in earlier
years thus indicating the growth in ex-
lands since 1897: