The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-06-22
Commerce of Africa

 Washington Correspondence Of the New York Tribune. F. The declaration of peace fn South Afri- a, which is to be followed by the reop- ming of the greatest gofd-producing hines of the world, and, presumably, by
 general revivial of business in that treatest consuming section of Africa ends special interest,to monograph en- tiled Commercial Africa in 1901" just ssued by the treasurysbui eautof statis. les
 The commerce of Africa, according to he publication of the buro 1u%of statistics Dmounts to over SEQ 000,OOO, of which s42s'- O0, 900 represented the value of the im- ports Necessarily in so large afh area with so manc tribes and peoples Fho keep n lecnrds of their transactions consdtfahlc amount of commerce must pass without Icing recorded in any way. Th, :otal moaY;s at the ports where records arc kept amounted ;n the iatess Available year to S429. .4el,0o0. ana the eS- co,ts to $253.9t- GOO. Of the exports a largo share especially those from the South, is gold ard d.tmonSE; in tue tropical re- Eion, ivory, rubber palm nuts ana gums, and in the North | falr share Of the ex- 50, ts sre products of agriculture, cotton, . coffee. coaco. spices. dates, etc. Inc eN- port figures O. reoent years arc less man these of former years, owing to the nos ,tiities in South Africa, which have ootn reduced production rnd increased local consumption.
 About three-fourths of the imports or Africa ere through the ports of the ex treme North ard South of the continent tbcse at the North being for the con Sumptton of the more deEseiy populated nf1 and consdera bic quantities going to the interio. by caravans-a large part across the Sahara to the densely populated re- gions os the Soudan. At the south large share of the imports is, under nor maj conditions, for use at the gold and diamond mines, which lie lew hundred miles North of the Cape. and are reached py railway lines from Cape Colony and Natal at the South and from ports or portuRuege East Africa on the Southeast. 1ns class of imports in the South differs materially from that at tEe North, the demand c! the mining region being TOT machinery, mining tools, dynamite. pow der, flour, meats and clothing while at the North cotton goods tobacco, spirits, clocks and trinkets form a larger share of the in ports, as Is also the case on the coost of the tropical regions.
 A very large proportion of the trade Of Africa is with England. There are nu-
  portant. however, being that her colo nies-Cape ColAny and Natal-on the South are the avenues through Whlch pass most of the goods for thac section and that a very large share of the grow ing trade is also carried by British Ves- sells, while the bulk of the mining as well as the stock raising and general deVefop- ment of that section, Is in the hands or the British colonists or capitalists. In the North a large share of the trade of Egypt is given to Great Britain, whose influence in the management of Egyptian affairs IS well recognized while in Algeria, Whlcn has large trace a very large proportion is with France, the governing country.
 The total recorded imports into Africa, aggreglting in the latest available year S429 461 GOO were distributed as follows: Into British territory, $157, 575,0OO; French territory. S930O4.OO0; Turkish territory, $77 7S7 GOO; Portuguese territory. $2O l95'OOo; German territory, $S,336,OOO or this hn- portation of $429. 461, ,000, about per cent was furnished by the United States, the total for 1901 being 261S. Our total exports to Africa nave grown from So- 877S42 in 1895 10 ,424 in 1899, and $2o,- 542 SIS in 1901. This apid increase IS large | ly due to the fact that orders sent to the United States for mining machinery ana l other supplies so much Tn demand In South. Africa are promptly filled with goods of the latest pattern and most ac- ceptable character.
 Africa occupies fourth place In the list | of the grand divisions of the world in its | consuming power in relation to interna- | ticnal commerce, the imports of the grand | divisions, according to the latest avaia- | ble figures, being as follows Europe. sS, ,3O6 COG, coo; North America, S1300, GOO GOO; Asia S900 OO0, GOO; Africa, s430, 900 900; South America, $375, 000 and Oceania, S325- | 0O0,0O0. Of this total of $11, $50 00O,cO0, the in 10 | case of Africa, 10 per cent of the imports | of South America, 10 per cent of those | of Asia and Oceania, IA per cent of the | imports Of Europe, and 40 per cent of the imports of North, America, exclusive of the United States.
 Railroad development in Africa has teen rapid in the last few years, and seems but the beginning of a great sys- tenn which must contribute to the rapid development, civilization and enlight- enment of the dark continent. Already railroads run northward from Cape Col ony about 1500 miles and southward from Cairo about 1900 miles, thus completing 27O0 miles of the proposed Cape to Cairo Railroad, while the intermediate distance is about three thousand miles. At the north numerous lines skirt the MediterIa- mean coast. especially in the French ter ritory of Algeria and in Tunis, aggregat- ing about twenty-five hundred miles,
 
 ing those under construction, about fif- teen hundred miles in length. Those of Cape Colony gre over three thousand miles in length. and those Of Portuguese East Africa and the Transvaal are an- other thousand miles in length. Inclad- ing all the railroads now constructed or under actual construction. the total length of African railways Is nearly twelve thousand five hundred miles, or half the distance around the earth. A large proportion of the railways thus for constructed are owned by the several colonies or states which they traverse, about two thousand miles of the Cape Colony system and nc arly all of that or Egypt belonging to the state.
 That the gold and diamond mines of South Africa have been and still are wonderfully profitable is beyond question The Kimberley diamond mines, about 600 mi from Cape Town, now supply 9s per :cnt Ct the diamonds or commerce. although their existence was unknown prior To 1887, and tho mines have thus been iil operation only thirty years. It Is estimated that $350, 000. 900 worth of rough diamonds, worth double that sum after cutting. have been produced from the Kimberley mires sirce their opening in l66S-69, and the enormous production would have been greatly increased but for the fact that the owners of the va- rious n ines there formed an agreem