Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-21
GROWTH OF UNITED STATES
TRADE IN JAPAN

Inc rapidly growing share OF the
United States in the commerce of ia
pan is illustrated by statement just
prepared by the department of COM
merce and labor through it's bureau
of statistics. This statement is COM
piled from an official document of the
Japanese government just received, en-
titled Financial and Economical An
nualIof Japan" 1t shows the COM
merce of Japan with the principal
countries of the world for a long term
of years, ending with 1902, while from
another document, just received, the
bureau is able to obtain figures Of the
comm cree of Japan with the United
States the United Kingdom, China,
and India for the calendar year 1903.
These tables show that the United
States is the largest customer of ia
pan. The value of exports from ia
pan to her most important customers
in 1902 was: To Germany, 4,737,000
yen (yen equals 1913 cents); Italy, 49,
$4,000 yen; British India, 1887 900
yen; Great Britain, 4, 17,346,000 yen;
Hongkong, 25,s76,00O yen; France, H.
2S3 900 yen; China, 6,S3S, 900 yen, and
to the United States, SO,233,0O0 yen.
Thus the United States takes as much
of the products of Japan as all of Eu-
rope and nearly twice as much as
China, Japan's second largest custom
er.
In imports the United States stood
second in 1902, and at the end of 1908
was but S1,227,000 below Great Britain,
which still holds the lead. For 1902,
the latest year for which the import
figures of Japan are available with ref
erence to all countries, the imports
from leading countries, stated in the
order of magnitude, were: From Brit
ish India, 5O,977,000 yen; from Great
Britain, 50,3G400 yen; from the Unit
ed States, 4S,653,000 yen; China, 40
sol 900 yen; Germany, 25,S13000 yen;
and from France, 4,746,000 yen. In
1903 the imports from the four prin-
cipal countries were: From India, TO-
095,000 yen; from Great Britain, 48,
1877 900 yen; from the United States,
46,273,0 yen, and from China, AS
45S,000 yen.
The feature OF this official state
ment which is of especial interest in
it's relation to the growth of American
exports to Japan is the fact that the
United States has made much more
rapid gains in the imports of Japan
than any of her principal rivals. Com
pairing conditions in 1902 with those
of 1890, for example, the United States
shows a gain from G,874,000 yen in
1890 to 4S,653,000 in 1902, while the
figures of imports from Great Britain
are in 1890. 26,619,000 yen, and in 1902,
50,364 900 yen; from Germany, in 1890,
6,S57 900 yen, and in 1902, 25,S13,000
yen; from China, in 1890, S,S50,000 yen,
and in 1902, 40,591 900 yen; and from
British India, in 1890, S,911,0O0 yen, and
and in 1902, 50,977,0 900 yen.
Considering only the five principal
countries from which Japan's chief i'm
portations are obtained, the United
States has made much greater gains
than any of the others. 1t will also be
seen from these figures that the chief
rivalry for the classes OF merchandise
for which the United States is seeking
a, market in Japan is between the Unit
ed States and tire United Kingdom, the
class of goods imported into Japan
from China being chiefly noncompetl-
| tive so far as relates to the United
States. while in the case OF India the
sole competitive article is cotton, of
which Japan takes freely from India in
years of large supplies in that country
lowing to the fact that prices of Indian
| cotton are lower than those of cotton
from the United States.
This is especially true of the year
| 1903, when prices in the United States