The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-27
LARGE INCREASE
 IN IRON AND STEEL Value for Fiscal Year Will Be
 About $175,000,000 IS NOW IN THE LEAD Cotton Manufactures Which Formerly Stood Second in List of Exports
 Is Now in Fourth
IS NOW IN THE LEAD

Washington, May 2s.-(speciaL)-1ron
 and steel exports from the United States
 in the fiscal year which ends with next
 month will aggregate approximately 175
 million dollars in value. against 57 mill
 lions decade earlier and 16 millions two
 decades earlier. Figures issued by the
 bureau of statistics of the department of
 commerce and labor show the value of
 iron and steel manufactures exported in l the ten months ending with April, 1907, al 1 about 150 million dollars, and these figures
 seem to justify the estimate of 175 million | dollars, speaking in round terms, as the
 value of iron and steel exports for the
 fiscal year 1907. In the fiscal year 1897 the total value of iron and steel manufae-
 lures exported was only 57 million dol lars, and in 1887, a decade earlier, the total was a little less than 16 million dol ars.
 This rapid growth has brought iron and steel manufacturers far in the lead of any other group of manufactures in the ex- port trade of the United States. During
 the twenty-year period from the beginning
 of 1875 to 1885, wood manufacturers ex-
 ported amounted to 413 million dollars.
 while iron and steel manufactures
 amounted to but 4O9 millions With 1895 began a marked increase in the exporta- ton of iron and steel manufactures, and from the beginning of that year to the close of the fiscal year 1906 exports there of amounted to 1137 million dollars. while
 those of wood manufactures during the same period were valued at 536 millions, or. less than half the value of iron and steel
 manufactures exported. Cotton manufae-
 lures were a close second to iron and steel during the earlier period, but now stand forth In the list of great groups of man ufactures exported, iron and steel rank ing first, copper second, wood manufac- lures third, and cotton manufactures
 fourth. For the nine months of the fiscal year 1907, for which figures are now avail able, manufactures of iron and steel ex-
 ported aggregated 132 millions; copper
 manufactures 70 millions, wood manufac- ] lures 56h millions and cotton manufac- lures 251a millions, the figures for cotton
 manufactures being about 15 million dol
 lars below those for the corresponding period of last year, while iron and steel copper and wood manufactures show in each case a marked increase over the cor responding months of last year. Mean time, leather and manufactures thereof have outranked cotton goods, the value of leather and manufactures thereof ex- ported in the nine months of the fiscal year 1907 being 34A million dollars, against 251z million dollars value of cotton man ufactures exported.
 Finished Manufactures.
 This rapid growth in the exportation of | iron and steel manufactures Is especially interesting, in view of the fact that fin- ished manufactures form a larger per centage of the grand total in this group than is the case in many other of the great groups of articles classed man. .ufactures by the bureau of statistics. In copper exportations, the group of second rank, a large proportion of the value
 occurs in a class which has undergone
 but slight process of manufacture, namely, copper in ingots, bars, and plates; and this is also true of wood manufac-
 lures, of which lumber, sawed timber.
 and shocks form a large percentage of the total exports In the case of leather, l
 and manufactures thereof, sole leather
 and upper leather form more than half
 of the total expeditions In the case Of iron and steel, however, finished articles 1 form large share of the rapidly grow ing total. Of the 132 million dollars
 worth of iron and steel manufactures exported in the nine months ending with
 March, 1907, nearly ' million dollars
 worth consisted of locomotives; nearly 6
 millions. sewing machines; AZ millions, typewriters; over millions, electrical machinery nearly millions, metal-work- ing machinery; over 17 millions, miscel- laneous machinery not separately speci- fled; nearly Il millions. builders hard ware. including locks, hinges, saws, tools,
 etc.; more than millions, steel rails; and about millions, structural iron and steel.
 Are Very Popular.
 The high grade manufactures of iron and steel exported from the United
 States find a wide distribution and are
 accepted in every part of the world. Of
 the nearly million dollars worth of
 locomotives exported during the nlne months under consideration, Japan. Mexi- O. the Central American states, and Can ada took each more than 1 million dol
 lars worth, while Cuba, Argentina, Bra gil, and Australia also purchased consid- | erable values. Of the 4ih millions dol lars worth of typewriters exported, the
 United Kingdom was by far the largest
 purchaser, taking more than one-fourth
 of the total, while Germany ranked sec ond France third and Mexico fourth in
 the purchases of this class of iron and steel manufactures. Of the nearly mill
 lion dollars worth of sewing machines sent out of the country in the nine
 months under consideration, more than l million dollars worth went to the United | Kingdom. three-quarters of a million dol | lars worth to Germany, over half mil- lion dollars worth to MeXlcO. ana nearly | a half million dollars worth to Australia. l Of the more than million dollars
 worth of electrical machinery exported, | Canada was the largest purchaser, the
 exports thereto during the period under
 consideration having amounted to 1h mil
 lion dollars, while those to Mexico, Japan
 and the United Kingdom, the next largest purchasers, were valued at nearly mill lion dollars each.
 Builders Hardware. Of the nearly II million dollars worth of builders hardware exported in the nine months ending with March last Can
 ada, the United Kingdom and Australia
 were the largest purchasers, the total to Canada being nearly } million dollars, that to the United Kingdom IF millions and to Australia 1 millions. while three fourths of million dollars worth went to Germany and more than half million
 dollars worth to Argentina. Of the Is
 million dollars worth of steel rails ex- ported during the period under considera- tion. 2h million dollars worth went to ! South America and over three-quarters of million dollars worth each to Mexico, Canada and Japan. Of the million dol lars worth of structural iron and steel ] exported. Canada took nearly one-halt,
 and of the more than million dollars | worth of wire sent out of the country,