The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-08
Capital Chat.
Washington Gossip, Political and
CtherwiSes for the Readers
of the Globe.

| WASHINGTON, May 7-(SpeciaI. Mr.
| Frank H. Hitchcock. chief of the section
| of foreign markets, has submitted to the
| state department an interesting report in
| regard to the sources of the agricultural
| imports of the United States 1694-189S, in
which he says:
During the five fiscal years. 1S94-1S98.
| the agricultural imports of the United
| States had an average annual value of
1858, T4S. As. Sugar, coffee, hides and skins
wool. silk, vegetable fbres, fruits, teas.
| tobacco and wines were the articles i'm
| ported most extensively. Measured in
| value these items formed over four
fifths of our total import trade In agri.
cultural products for the period men
| toned.
"Of this sum more than one-half was
! paid for two commodities-suga and
coffee. The average yearly value of the
sugar imports for 1S94-1S9S amounted to
| $9o.41S,6S5 while that of the coffee i'm
ports was recorded at $500, 106
THE countries that contribute most to
| the supply of these two products are
naturally the leading factors in our agri-
! cultural import trade. According to the
| statistics for 1S94-9S, Brazil, which fur
nishes about two-thirds of the coffee i'm
! ported into the United States, headed the
] list, our agricultural imports from this
South American country during the five
years having an average annual value of
! So9,6Ii ,o24 Aside from coffee, the leading
articles were sugar and hides
Cuba, which heads the list of the North
American countries as the principal
source of the sugar purchased by the
United States, ranked next to Brazil in
Importance. The average yearly value
for iSe4-eS of cur agricultural imports
from the island amounted to 10 per cent
| OF the total. After sugar. the most i'm.
portant items were tobacco. and fruits
So
Under normal conditions, our imports
Of agricultural imports from Cuba are
much larger than is indicated by the
| average for lS94-98. During the period
| mentioned there was remarkable fall
| Ing Off, the import value for 1928 amount
| ing TO only $E, ,158 636. as compared with
S12,45l,s 1856 for 1894. In 1894 Cuba stood fore.
| most among the sources of our agricui-
;ural imports, the products received from
| the Island during that year exceeding III
value those Of Brazil
After Brazil and Cuba, according to
4 the returns, the United Kingdom was tho
| most important contributor 10 our import
trade II the products Of agriculture The
average annual value of the trade pro-
dom amounted to S33,084, ,0G5. "A large part
OF these imports consisted of produce of
! British dependencies that was re-exDorteI
| by the mother country. Wool and hidea
were the leading articls. Feathers, cot,
| ton, tea, fax, sugar. and spurious liquors
were also items of considerable import
ance.
Germany ranked fourth among tha
sources of supply, the agricultural i'm.
ports from that country during lS94-98
having an average yearly value Of $23-
0oi,fo7. Aside from beet sugar, which
formed the principal item, the most inl-
portant articles were hides. hops. rice and
rice flour, wines. bristles. coffee, and
| spurious liquors Some of the leading
| products received from Germany were re-
exports.
China was fifth in Importance among
the sources of our agricultural imports.
furnishing nearly per cent of the total.
with an average yearly value of 81, ,27S,-
o4 Tea and six were the principal items
! ~ the tea imported during 1S94-9S more
! tha2 one-half came from China.
| Our agricultural imports from japan
| In the period mentioned were nearly as
| large as those from China Silk was
decidedly the most important item About
| one-half of our importations of this prod
uct for 1898 came from Japan. Japan
\ CAoO Iul lllSllc0 over d InlrQ OF the tea
! imported. Aside from silk and tea the
only article of much importance was rice.
rom France We imported during the
! hVe years products of agriculture that
| averaged $l6,606,Sf6 year in total value
| Wines, hides, wool. silk, fruits, nuts and
vegetable oils were the leading items
Italy sold us agricultural products
| The principal articles We're silk, fruits
| and nuts. argols, vegetable oils. hemp.
| macaroni, cheese and wines.
The agricultural imports from Mckee
| had an average yearly value of Sl3,09f-
| l62. Coffee constituted the largest item
| The imports of vegetable fbers were sec
| ond in value sisal grass being the lead
ing variety. Other items Of Importance
were cattle, hides, vanilla beans, fruits
| and tobacco.
From the Dutch East indies there were
/ agricultural imports to the average value
yearly of $12,600.l72. A large part of the
! sum was paid for sugar cane The only
| other imports of much Importance were
! coffee and spices.
THE Hawaiian islands were the source
| Of agricultural imports, hayirg an aver
| age of $12. .073. .440 a year. After sugar.
| which formed the principal part of the
| trade, the items were rice, coffee, ba-
| napas and hides.
| From Canada we imported a large
! variety of farm products. The leading
Items included cattle, sheep and horses,
| hides, wool. hay, potatoes, beans and
| peas. tobacco, barley and fax.
''Fhe Netherlands furnished agricultural
| products to the average yearly value of
| IS, ,961, ,119. Sumatra tobacco comprised
about one-half of these imports, the re-
Inainder consisting chiefly of sugar, cof-
! fee cocoa, vegetable oils, rice, bulbs,
seeds, spices, hides. cheese and fax
From the British Indies agricultural
! imports, with an average annual value
| of 81, ,910,O11 were received. Jute, indigo,
| hides, vegetable oils, coffee. tea and
! spices were the principal items.
| from Egypt there were agricultural
| imports averaging $5,o20. T65 a year. Egyp-
| tian cotton was the leading factor. Sugar
! and goat skins were about the only addi-
| tional items of value.
"Our agricultural imports from the
| Philippines, consisting chiefly of Manila
hemp and sugar, averaged very close to
! s., 100000.
"Of the remaining sources of supply
/ the most important are Belgium, Colom-
! bia, British Guiana, British Australasia.
Costa Rica, European Russia. Uruguay,
| Spain, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, Guat-
amala and Austria-HUngary.
although the total value Of the agrf-
| cultural imports amounted to only $314.-
| e91. .79G in 1888, as compared with 1854 433. :
| 627 in 1894; a considerable increase was
recorded from several of the leading
! sources of supply. Japan. China and the
Hawaiian islands offered the most strik-
| ing instances Of growing trade.
'tOf the sources from which products
/ We're received i'll diminished quantities
| during the five years, Cuba was the most
conspicuous. AS a result of the disturbed
conditions that prevailed on the island