The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-06

our share in the foreign trade of that continent Africa is three times as big as Europe, and its population, by some estimates, is almost as large It already buys goods amounting to many millions of dollars. and prospectively 1t Is one of our 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 direct.
 American goods are already well known in Abyssinia. The people use American petroleum, and cottons to the amount of millions of dollars t'ery year. It is es- timated that one-third of all the goods imported by the Abyssinians come from the United States, and of these the cot tons alone amount to five million dol lars.
 Abyssinia has a population of three and a half millions. The people wear a sort of a toga made of white or gray cotton.
 It Is about nine feet long and six feet wide. They wear close-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 a camel, another a tigers head, and a third a Somali warrior. At present the trade is dominated by a firm of Greeks fin Marseille, who buy directly from the Americans. 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 it now h.s the bulk of the traue, notwithstand- Ing the English and Indian cottons att tempt to compete with 1t.
 A Merchant King.
 The expedition to King Menelik is a happy thought. The king controls the trade of the country. He can put on tariffs or take them off at will, and can give all sorts of rebates to his favorites. He will probably make the treaty so that a good share of the profits of the business wlll come to him. 1 understand this is so of most of the Abyssinian trade. The king has an army of 10000 men. and if the clothing for the soldiers could be made of American cotton it would materially increase our exports.
 Consul General Skinner will bring back the patterns most liked by the people. and some of our factories may work di- rectly for the trade. The Abyssinian women wear a mixture of blue and red cotton. They are fond of turkey red ca..co and have printed cotton handker- CulGlS. OA AOySSlIldH HOIuG- made cottons are white with red stripe twelve inches wide running through the middle of each piece. They could be cas- fly 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 pa pers are full of it, and I saw frequent references to it in the journals of Bel gium, Germany and France. Our trade there is growing about as rapidly as in any part of the world. We are now SC = Ing something like $25,OOO,0OO worth of goods every year to 1!atal. Cape Colony and the other countries of that region. ais is more then we sell to all South America and more than our sales to L.-.na, the East Indies, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Austria and Norway and Sweden.
 lNot only that but these countries are on the edge of their development. They are having an immense immigration from England; new farming terr. ..ories are being opened up every day, new rail- roads are being built and public works instituted. Thousands of farm houses which were destroyed during the Boer war are rebuilding, and our hardware is in demand. There is a market for corn