New-York tribune., 1900-08-01
AMERICAS GROWING COMMERCE.


Statistics prOyerbially dry reading, but
the human animal seldom gets so blase that an
accumulating bank account or a growing bal
ance sheet with the profit entries constantly in
the ascendant fails to arouse his enthusiasm.
If this be true of the Individual it ought to
hold good with the Nation when the figures for
our growing foreign trade are appreciated. The
story of its steady growth has perhaps become
an old one, especially since the defeat Of Bryan
ism with all It's possibilities of disaster four
years ago Month by month since the shadow
of ffty-cent dollars, lower wages, reputation
Of debts and all the other fantasies of the new
DemOpOpracy was lifted from the country in
November, 1896. the figures have rehearsed the
same tale Of business activity extended mar
kets, steady employment, general prosperity and
increased opportunities for wage Garner and in
vestor alike. Nevertheless, the completed sta
tistics for the foreign trade of the United States
in the fiscal year just closed are pregnant with
meaning and promise, and deserve more than a
mere passing thought from the voter Of 1900
however old he may think the story or how we'll
taught It's lesson.
In the fiscal year ended June 80. 1900, the
foreign commerce Of the United States passed
the $2,O00O00000 mark, with exports of 81, ,394,
1851 and imports of $S49, ,714,67O. While this
bald statement alone carries with IL to those
familiar with the relation which foreign COM
merce bears to domestic n wonderful message
Of commercial development. It is only by
analysis and comparison that the entire signifi-
canoe of the figures may be grasped by the lay
man. An exhaustive analysis of the annual re-
port of the Chief of the Treasury Bureau Of
Statistics has already been printed in The
Tribune. but the salient features in the case
stand out more strikingly when shorn Of the
mass of detailed figures as there given. In 1860
manufactured articles made up less than 13 per
cent of the total export trade of the United
States. In 1900 manufactures constituted over
81 per cent of the total. In other words. while
the total exports of the country in 1900 were
only four times as large as in 1860. the total Of
manufactures exported was ten times the total
of 1860 As compared with 1891 the total of
exports in 1900 was 90 per cent in excess only.
while the export Of manufactured articles was
80 per cent greater And this is In Protectlonst
America. Free Trade England, in the mean
time, has increased her exports of manufact-
ured articles only from S613, 100000 in 1860 to
S936O00000 in 1898, the latest year for which
statistics are available, or scarcely more than
30 per cent, as against a record of 1000 per cent
increase In the United States during the same
period
Scarcely less remarkable and gratifying are
the figures for the import trade. OF the total
increase in imports more than two-thrds was in
the two great classes known as manufacturers
materials OF these two classes that which in
cludes only articles in crude condition shows
an increase of about Ss0OO0O00 over 1899. or
nearly 40 per cent while the importation of par
tally manufactured articles for use in manu-
featuring shows constant falling off Other
increases in imports come from tropical and
sub-trOpical countries. where our export trade
is also growing in most gratifying ratio, espe
cially with the islands that have recently come
under the direct influence of the United States
These are facts for the voter to ponder care
fully. The verdict at the polls in 1896 made
them possible. Does the wage Garner, espe-
cially, want to see that record reversed?