Waterbury Democrat., 1901-02-13
OUR ENORMOUS TRADE.
X Remarkable Gain Has Been shown
 in Recent Years.

l NlSnlQStOI, Y eD lo.-luc SeHeidl survey of foreign trade Introductory to
 the volume on commercial relations with the United States, which formed
 the subject of special letters from the president and the secretary of state to
 congress, has just been published by Frederick Emory, the head of the bu-
 reau of foreign commerce and compiler
 of this marrer ill the shape of spe-
 cial number of the advance sheets of . consular reports
 1 The survey is d compact prescnta-
 tion of the most important and instruc-
 tive features of the enormous mass of trade information which has been col llected by the United States consuls
 throughout the world during the past year. The publication says that along
 with q natural note of satisfaction in
 the annual reports of our consular of
 ficers for last year there is q strong
 hint of q most strenuous competition
 and opposition to American trade ad
 vancement abroad which may finally
 counterbalanea our superior advan |tageS to q considerable extent and
 check our progress in tie worlds mar tkets, unless We equip ourselves mean
 time for the ultimate phases of the
 struggle.
 Our foreign trade today as com-
 pared with that ot recent years shows
 Il gain. remarkable because 1t has been lachieved with but little effort. for it
 is set forth that the appearance of the
 United States as perhaps the most for . midab}e of all competitors in the fight
 for trade supremacy is as aStoMishin.
 to ourselves as to our foreign oppo- nents. The question for the future, says the publication, is whether we . can hold the position we seem about to gain by means of our economy of production, greater labor efficiency and cheap raw materials, or whether We . shall have to arm ourselves With |. weapons especially fashioned for con trolling foreign trade. such as more . scientific export methods. better facil- | ities of banking and tranSpOrtatlOnf more liberal credits and manufactur- , ing for particular markets with intelli- gent regard to climatic and race re- : Iquirements.
 According to United States treasury
 returns the imports of this country for
 last year ill round numbers amounted
 to SS30. GOO, ,OCO and the exports S1 ,4iS- , lOU0. .OOO. an increase of over s;5O GOO ,OuO I lin the import trade as compared with . the preceding year. and Of $2tJ2 4SO, 900 | . centage of manufactured goods rose to Q q very considerable extent. and our in' ; dustrial growth continued last year ut Q q rapid pace. enabling us to take less l. finished goods from other countries r and to furnish more. The relative
 cheapnesS of American products has | given them pre-eminence, it is shown. } and the remarkable growth of the for eign demand for our iron and steel is :, :, cited as q striking instance of what a aa under-cutting in prices will do.
 n Foreign observers, particularly the a British and the Germans, are shown h to be keenly alive to what is being ac- I complished by the greater efficiency of f our industrial methods and exhibit d d purpose to profit by them and then tO e fight us with our own weapons. \ s- great number of expressions from r various sources are presented. show T. ing the wholesome respect and feal r. with which the powers of the world l. look upon the United States in the y trade arena of the universe. The con <. centration of capital, our suddenly ac 2 uuired financial independence. the eX U cellence of our foreign consular servict el and as most important, the valuable ss' practical business education which ou, n sons receive. are reasons advanced by 1 foreign commentators for our remark ,a able advancement in trade. AS par a ticularly significant, a Writer in the II London Times tells of q few evenings D. spent with some students of a large d American college, where. to his grea V amaZement. the youths. instead of dis
 cussing the lighter sides of life, dis
 coursed cleverly on questions tha
 arose out of the business in whicl
 their fathers were engaged. This
  ' bad form at an English university, bu
 to it is attributed American success il 10 business.
 e. The importance of building up a mer e. chant marine to further our trade witt Id foreign nations is touched upon at som In length and the benefits of direc I'll steapship transportation emphasized O. the good effects of the latter bein n stated t6 be particularly apparent il oi the cases of Peru and Turkey, in eacl ''t of which the establishment of bette ai'I, steamship transportation facilities in ~, mediately led to a marked increase Ii Ine trade To a lack m this respect is al ", tributed the slow growth of our trad = with South Africa
 The entrance of the south into tn
 trade of the Orient is spoken of as
 novel feature of our expansion. | |, the production and exportation of co, M ton the southern states have made g
 gantic strides of late. The acquis f. ton of the Hawaiian and Philippin in islands it is declared, has converte ITS our Pacific slope from mere outpos ms of trade into q hive of commerce, whil he Cuba and Porto Rico offer the souther he states convenient stepping stones ed Latin-A American trade.
 nd Taking the great geographical divi .s. ions in alphabetical order, it is state ne that Africa is rapidly becoming a pron ls' Iising field for American enterpris 15e wherever artificial restrictions are nt ;, II imposed In the west there is an il ''' creasing demand for American good
 In East Africa it is noticeable that . Madagascar, where France imposes
 tariff discriminating in favor of h'
 own products, our cotton goods trad ed once considerable, has been practical
 destroyed; whereas in Zanzibar, u
 Somali country and Abyssinia, whe | xs, x1