Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-13
GREAT EXPORT RECORD.
Manufactures Worth $40, ooo, 900
Sent Abroad In April.
EUROPEAN MARKETS INVADED.

Z
| ade-Greatest Advance Was In Met
| ais and manufactures Thereof-Re-
1 markabIe Growth In Iron and Steel
/ Rails.
| manufactures in 80 days is record I'M
paralleled for American manufactures.
That is the record for the month of
April, 1900, according to the details of
the April expectations just completed
by the treasury bureau of statistics at
Washington. This gives assurance
that the exports of the fiscal year
which ends with June will consider
ably exceed 500 900, 900 and be nearly
three times as much as a decade ago.
This phenomenal increase in exporta
ton Of manufactures is especially
striking when compared with the prog
ress made by European nations, our
rivals in the attempt to supply the
worlds market with manufactured
goods. Great Britain's exports of man
ufactures show but slight increase
since 1890, and an examination of the
export record of the principal Euro
pean countries fails TO disclose an in
stance in which the increase has been
as much as % per cent, while that of
the United States, meanwhile, has been
more than 80 per cent.
An examination of the details of our
own expectation of manufactures
shows that it is in the production, man
ufacture and expectation of metals
that we seem to excel. In 1889 manu-
features of metals formed less than 20
per cent of our total expectation of
manufactures, and in 1900 will be
about 40 per cent. The increase In ex-
portatiOn of metals and manufactures
thereof in the decade 1SS9-1S9S was
800 per cent, while the increase in the
expectation of all manufactures in that
time was but 40 per cent, and the in
crease in manufactures other than
those of metal during that time was
those articles composed exclusively of
metals are included; those made up in
part of metals, such as railway cars,
agricultural machinery, etc, being in
cluded in the other manufactures. The
rapid increase in the expectation Of
manufactures of metals is shown by
the fact that the exports of brass and
manufactures thereof in 1889 were but
1921, 1877, and in 1900 will reach $1,70O,-
600; instruments for scientific purposes
increased from S1.O33, 33S 10 $2,770, SOB,
and in the year about to end will reach
nearly S6,00O,0O0; copper and its manu-
features, which amounted in 1889 to
81, 34S ,954, will be more than $4,000
600 in 1900: iron and steel increased
from S21, 156,0I7 in 1890 to $40, 406, $50
in 1898, while in the fiscal year 1900 it
will exceed S1OO,OOO,OOO.
Another interesting fact developed !
by the examination Of the figures is |
that the European countries in which |
manufactures have been long eStab- |
lished furnish as satisfactory a market |
for our manufactured goods as do the |
countries where manufacturing has !
not yet been largely developed. In |
reapers and mowers, clocks and watch !
es, sewing machines, bicycles and the !
various manufactures of iron and steel !
and many other articles Of the higher |
grades OF manufacture the European
countries in which manufacturing |
plants and machinery and skilled work
men abound furnish a market for a |
large share of our exports, thus failing |
to justify the expressed fear that de-
of manufactures in coun-
tries where we are now seeking foot
hold for our commerce would destroy |
their value as permanent market.
As already indicated. the largest
growth in our export of manufactures
Is in those of metals. The largest class
Of manufactures OF metals exported is
that of iron and steel. In 1880 the ex-
port OF manufactures of iron and steel !
was S14, 716,524 and in 1900 will exceed
500, 100000, or more than seven times
that Of 1880.
In no feature of our export trade has !
there been n more remarkable growth
during the decade than in rails for rail
ways, especially those of steel The
total expectation of iron rails in 1889
was but seven tons and in 1898 2,769
tons, the value rising from $40 in 1889
10 S37, $50 in 1898. In steel rails, how
ever, the growth was even more re-
the number of tons exported
n 1889 being 1898 and in 1898 229, 1913.
while the value Increased from S235, 1857
n 1889 to 81, 613, 376 in 1898, and in the
iscal 1900 seems likely to reach S.
100000. This increase has been espe-
tally marked during the past three
years, the exports of steel rails in the
iscal year 1896 being $40. 797, those
II 1897 2,4S2, POS and those of 1893
4, 613,376, those of 1899 $5.29S, 125,
while the first ten months of the pres
mt fiscal year show a gain of about
:, 100000 over the corresponding
months of last year. While this rapid
Increase is due to a generally increased
demand, the countries showing the |
most marked growth in their purchases
II steel rails from the United States
ne Russia Canada and Ianan