Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-05
OUR AFRICAN INVASION
Uncle Sans ExDedition to
AbVssiuia.
EFFECT UPON TRADE
MENELIK'S PEOPLE MAY BECOME
EXCELLENT CUSTOMERS.
American Machinery in Demand-our
Goods on the West Coast
New Railroads.
EFFECT UPON TRADE

CCopyrignt. 1902. by Frank g. Carpentero
Written for The Evening star.
Our consul general at Marseille. Robert
p Skinner. is now on his way to Abyssinia
to make a commercial treaty with King
Menelik. He goes as a representative of
the American government on an American
g1lnboat and with d company of American
marines His route will be across the Med
iterranean to- the Suez canal and down
through the Red sea to Jibouti. in French
Snmaliland. Here he will take the new
railroad which was completed last year
from Jibouti tG Harar, in southeast Abys-
siria a distance of 1856 miles. At Harar
lie will make up caravan of mules and
cameis to go across the country to the
great camp-ike capital of Ads Ababa,
where King Meneik has his court He will
spend some time there making the treaty
and investigating trade conditions, and Will
then return to Europe or the United States.
This expedition will be of great advan-
tage to American trade. 1t is the first gov
eminent step in our commercial invasion
of Africa. and it viii probably be followed
by others, which viii give us our share in
the foreign trade of that continent Africa
So three times big as Europe. and its
population, by some estimates. is almost as
large. 1t already DQyS goods amounting
TO many millions of dollars. and prospec-
lively ii Is one of best customers. At
present most of our exports go via Europe.
but In the near future there will be lines of
American steamers TO the African ports and
the trade will be direct.
American goods already well known
in AbyssiEia. The people use American
petroleum, and cottons to the amount
of millions of dollars every year. 1t
is estimated that one-third of all the
goods imported by the Abyssinians come
from the United States. and of these the
cOttons alone amount to five million DOL
lars.
Abyssinia has :. population of three and
half millions. The people wear a sort
of toga made of white or gray cotton
1t is about nine feet long and six feet
wide. They wear cIose-fitting cotton
trousers and cotton shirts. Much of our
goods Is sold in the form of gray shirt
ings. and there are certain makes which
are especially popular, being known by
their trade marks. One of the marks is
camel. another a tigers head and third
u Somali warrior At present the trade
IS dominated by firm of Greeks in Mar
Seille, who buy directly from the Ameri-
cans. They have a branch house In Wall
street and ship from New York to
Jibouti. They formerly bought most
Of their goods in Manchester. but the
American cotton was found to be strong
er. cheaper and more popular. and 1t now
has the bulk of the trade. notwithstand-
ing the English and Indian cottons at
A Merchant King.
The expedition to King Menelik is a
happy thought The king controls the
trade of the country lie can put on tar
IFS or take them off at will, and can give
all sorts of rebates to his favorites He
will probably make the treaty so that
good share of the profits of the business
will come to him. 1 understand this is so
f,Ft, of \ i,ia Tha III
has an army of 80 go men, and if the
clothing for the soldiers could be made OF
American cotton il would materially in
crease our exports.
Consul General skinner will bring back
the patterns most liked by the people and
some of our factories may work directly
for the trade. The Abyssinian women wear
mixture of blue and red cotton. They
are fond of turkey red calico and have
printed cotton handkerchiefs Some of the
Abyssinian home made co+tons are white
with a red stripe twelve inches wide run
ming through the middle of each piece
They could be easily initiated and sold at a
profit.
Yankee Goods in South Africa.
The American invasion OF South Africa
causes the British and German exporters
many sleepless nights. The London papers
are full of it, and l saw frequent references
to 1t in the journals of Belgium. Germany
ana France. Our trade there is growing
about rapidly in any part of the
world. We are now selling something like
s25,000OOO worth Of goods every year to
Natal, tCape Colony and the other coun-
tries of that region. This is more than we
Sell to all South America and more than
our sales to China, the East Indies. Russia,
Denmark. Spain, Austria and Norway and
Sweden.
Not only that but these countries are on
the edge of their development. They are
having a immense immigration from Eng
land; new farming territories are being
opened up every day. new railroads are be-
ing built and public works instituted.
Thousands of farm houses which We're de-
stroyed during the Boer war are rebuild
ing and our hardware is in demand There