Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-27
SEND ABROAD
FOR LUXURIES
WHERE SOME FRUITS OF OUR
PROSPERITY GO
Great Increase Of ProdigaI Expendi-
tures Shown in Records Of the Gus
toms Service - s4o,oooooo a
Year for Precious Stones
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26.-The theory
that the profits Of commercial success
throughout the United States are turned
back Immediately into circulation here,
so that everyone down to the humblest
wage Garner receives his share in due
season. is not borne out by the GUS
toms returns. From this ndisputable
source il appears that close to $4,000, 900
goes out of the country annually for
the two items of diamonds and auto
mobiles. What the total for these and
other luxuries amounts to can likewise
be estimated from a little further in
quiry into some other lines, and is
found to aggregate nearly 100000 900.
According TO the records OF the GUS
toms service the other chief items in
this lavish outpouring of American
money abroad are, approximately, $40,-
000 900 for laces, edgings, embroideries
and ribbons; about $7,000,000 for natural
and artificial feathers: more than &c.
900, 900 for champagne, and other
amount reaching into high figures for
perfumeries, toilet articles, cigars and
opium for smoking. Should there be
included the value of imported tobacco,
cigars and cigarettes, the total for lux
uries of the classes mentioned would
be increased to $125,000,000.
Increase In Expenditures
Whether or not these figures throw
an illuminating light upon the increase
in prodigal expenditures in this coun-
try can best be seen by a comparison
with the similar figures of exactly a
decade ago. At that time all the
items here mentioned aggregated only
S51, ,000 900, so that the current years
record Is two and one-half times that
of ten years back. This proportion of
increase runs so steadily, with little
real variation in the various lines
mentioned, that the growth of luxury
which. can be gratified by foreign pur-
chases is shown not to have been due
to any particular cause or passing fad.
Rather has 1t been merely the evil
dence of enormous sums of money be-
| ing sent out of the country to foreign
lands for articles entirely outside the
usual necessities of life.
The great increase In the importa-
ton of diamonds is perhaps the most
noteworthy feature of the official
record of extravagant spending. 1t Is
quite a jump from the 1896 figures of
81, ,944, ,O32 to the 1906 tabulation of $42,-
120,715 worth of these and other
precious stones and jewelry, This ten
years record has been one of great
variation. When England became en-
broiled with the South African burgh-
ers over the audacious commercial
plans of the Uitlanders and the disas-
| trous Boer war ensued, diamond i'm
portations into this country fell off
immensely. After this big slump there
was only slight delay before the
trade began to mount up again. 1t
can be safely assumed that the largest
proportion by far of the total of forty
odd millions worth of diamonds and
jewelry brought in last year repre-
| sents diamonds imported direct from
South Africa or else forwarded from
there through French or English
houses.
New York's Diamond Trade
New York is, of course, the port at
which nearly all this import trade in
diamonds and precious stones is
handled. Practically 9S per cent of
monds-those cut but not yet set
which were declared at that port last
year aggregated s23,2S2,S97 for the
whole country. Uncut and not set
stones which are admitted free
amounted to $10.56S,OS4 there, which
was all but $11,0 900 of the entire value
of uncut importations In uncut
precious stones of other sorts New
York imported $115,S96 worth out of
dust $104, ,953 out of $133,752. Precious
stones which had been cut, but not
set, and including natural pearls in
this class, amounted to $4,S66,240 out
of $5,25S,412 as the record of the entire
country in this special class.
1t is a somewhat remarkable fact
that the diamond trade is limited to so
few American ports of entry. AS COM
pared with New York's importaticns of
nearly twenty-four millions of dollars,
Chicago imported direct only $132, ,5S3
worth in this class. San Francisco
slightly less, and the only other port
which showed figures of appreciable in
terest was Newport, with $11,72S. Sim
ilarly with uncut and unset stones,
which come in free, New York's total
Baltimore pressing close for second
place with less than $4,000 apiece. Phila-
delphia's direct importations are only
one fourth of this latter total, and Chi
cago's only half of Philadelphia The
only other place i'm the whole list of
ports of entry which reported uncut
diamonds for free entry was the little
border town of Paso del Norte, Tex,
which owned up to $34 worth of stones
on which free entry was claimed be-
cause of being uncut. In the class of
precious stones cut but not set, Provi-
dence, r. l., gave evidence of It's large
jewelry trade by importing $217235
worth of material, which was far in
excess of that of any other town out
side of New York itself.
Spent for Automobiles
Automobiles have carried away So
73S,000 in American gold for foreign
firms i'm the period from January l to