The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-02-05
TRADE With THE ORIENT
The Growth of American Commerce
With Eastern Countries.
Exports to and Imports From Asia
Great Gai,,s for the Past Year
Chinn Heavy buyer of Cotton
Goods-Sugar From the East Indies.

American commerce with the islands and
countries of the Pacific shows a greater
gain ia the year 1899 than that with any
other part OF the world. Our total exports
! increased $4,000 600, and our exports to
Asia and 0ceanica alone increased over
$40, 600; our total imports increased
1854 coo, 600. and $4,000, 900 Of this in
crease was from Asia and Oceaniea. Ex-
ports to Asia and Oceanica increased "a
per cent, while imports from that part Of
the world increased 40 per cent.
OF this increase of S20.o0o.oOo in exports
| TO Asia and oceanica, over $4,000 900 went
TO British Australasia, s4,O0O,000 TO the
Hawaiian Islands, 100000 to China, and
the remainder distributed 10 the various
| countries and islands of that part of the
Western Pacific, while of the imports from
Asia and oceanica, 100000 were from
the Dutch East Indies. s1l 600, 000 from ia
pan, 81, 900 600 from the British East Indies.
s7,000,Oe0 from China, and s6,000,000 from
Hawaii.
OF the increase In exports, the large pro-
portion was in cotton, cotton goods. ma
chinery. and other manufactures OF iron
and steel. The increase in our exports %
China was largely in manufactures of cot
ton, and that to the Hawaiian Islands and
Australia. manufactures of all kinds, the
large proportion. however, being machinery
and general manufactures of iron and steel.
OF the increase OF s46,000.O00 in imports
from the countries OF the Pacific, raw silk,
tin, fibres, and sugar we're the most i'm
portant items. From Japan. the lmporta-
tons of raw silk increased $4,000. 600, and
there was also a considerable increase
mating; from the great tin mines of the
Straits Settlements there was an increase
of 5000 900 worth OF pig tin for use in
manufacturing tin plates. and from Brit sh
East Indies there was an increase in jute
and jute bagging and other productions of
this character; from China there was an
increase of over s. 600. 900 in raw silk for
use in manufacturing; from the Philip
pines an increase in hemp and other ar
ticles. and from the Hawaiian Islands
small increase in sugar, while the most i'm
portant and suggestive increase from the
Pacific countries is that of sugar from the
East Indies, chiefly the Dutch East Indies,
which amounted in the year just ended to
1.iS5, 460.670 pounds, against $50. 651. 79I
pounds in 1898. and 536 227 ,703 pounds in
1897, the value of the sugar imported from
the East Indies in 1899 being $40 $50. 4Sg,
1891.
This rapid increase of our imports from
the Dutch East Indies suggests a new field
for our expectations which have been. TO
that particular spot. very light up to the
present time. The French Consul at Ba-
tavia, Java, in a report which has just
reached the Treasury Bureau of Statistics,
suggests that the Dutch East Indies offer
an especially fertile field for those desiring
to make sales of agricultural machinery
and implements, which at present, he says.
are of an extremely primitive character
in those islands. Most OF the implements
used in small farming come from Germany
and England, and are in many particulars
unsatisfactory; the handles of the sickles
are not properly fastened to the blade,
while agricultural machinery, properly So
called, including machinery for planting,
reaping, binding, and thrashing, are prac-
tically unknown. Even sugar-cane pianta-
tons have as yet made little progress in
the adoption Of modern machinery. The
difficulties which have been encountered ia
attempts to introduce agricultural ma
Chinery are, first the cheapness Of manual
labor; second the climatic conditions, I'M
der which the articles of iron and steel
grow rusty and unfit for use in short
time if exposed to the open air, and, third, |
the fact that the white ant destroys nearly |
all kinds of wood except teak. which is |
therefore necessarily used in the construc- |
ton of machinery for use in the island. |
The fact. however, that there are in Java |
and Sumatra 2sO sugar factories which sup
ply one-thrd of the sugar imported into
the United States. and that the total i'm
ports of the Dutch East Indies average
SOS coo. eco. and our own exports to them
less than s2,0OO,O00 annually. while our
imports from them in 1899 were over $32,
600 600, suggests valuable and important |
trade possibilities in that direction, if prop
erly cultivated.