Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-03-19
Our Trnne ~ Enrona.


of One nitcd States and 1rpiiea prac-
ucaiIy onc-half OF the imports lh.
statement summaries 10 q single sentence
the general facts which have been de-
veloped by O series of discussions of the
trade of the United States with the coun-
tries OF Europe recently presented by ,hc
Department OF Commerce and Labor
through iis Bureau of Statistics. These
discussions have presented an analysis
OF the trade with each country of Europe
by principal articles. and when smmar-
lied show that Europe takes more than
a billion dollars worth of the exports
from the United States while all other
part Of the world take a little less than
a half billion dollars worth In no year
since. 1899 has the value of exports to
Europe fallen below one million dollars,
while that TO an other countries has never
touched the s5OO0O0,0O0 mark Prior
TO 1900 the exports to Europe had never
been as much as a billion dollars in value;
in that year hey crossed the billion dollar
line. being .OiOO00.O00. and have since
that time averaged about 81 O5O,O0OO00
per annum. ln 1900 the exports to nll
sections of the world other than Europe
were 354OO0OOO in value. but bave
grown year boy year until in 1905 they
were s49SOOO0OO, the growth since
1900 in exports to the non-European
countries having been proportionatoly
greater than that TO Europe
On the import side Europe supplies, as
already indicated, about one-half of the
merchandise brought into the United
States. Prior to 1890 the share of the
imports drawn from Europe averaged
about 55 per cent; after 1890 the average
was little more than so per cent; in 1905
It was asa per cent This reduction in
the percentage Of the imports drawn from
Europe is apparently accounted for by
the growing demand in the United State.
for tropical and subtropical product.
which are supplied almost exclusively
by the other grand divisions Of the world
The value Of tropical and subtropc9
products brought into the United Statei
in 1905 was S5OSOOOOOO, against s3O3.
100000 in 1895 and S2l8 100000 in 1885
Most OF this class of imports comes, O
course, from the non-European sections
Of the world much of il from Soutl
America, especially coffee and indi,
rubber; much OF it from the southern
part Of North America, especially sugar
sisal and tropical fruits; a considerable
part from Asia, including tea, raw silk
and spices, while Oceania contribute
sugar spices, cocoa and other product
Of this character and Africa, Egyptian
cotton, india rubber, hides and skins, an,
a small supply Of sugar.
The trade Of the United States will
Europe is composed on the import sid
chiefly of manufactures and material
for use in manufacturing; on the expor
side Of food stufis, manufacturers mater
ais, and manufactures. The manuiac
lures imported from Europe are chief
the higher grades of cotton, silk, and woo
fabrics into which labor, and in man
cases hand labor, largely enters; Will
chemicals, certain grades Of iron and ste,
manufactures toys, wines china an
porcelains, cut and plate glass, and othe
articles of this kind contribute largely {
the grand total In addition to thi.
however there are imported from Oh
European countries certain articles, th
product OF their respective colonial po.
sessions including india rubber, FIBER
tobacco hides and skins, wool, tin, ra'
silk diamonds, and various tropical am
subtropcal productions The articles eS
ported to Europe are chiefly breadstuai
meats and live cattle, and fruits for food
raw cotton for use in manufacturing, an
a variety of manufactures, includin
copper in pigs, bars and ingots, minor,
oil, agricultural implements, boots am
shoes, manufactures of wood, oil, cak,
cotton seed oil, vegetable oils, nav,
stores and various manufactures of iro
and steel