The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-18
CURIOUS FACTS AS
 ID OUR COMMERCE
$11,0OO,0O0 Worth of Cotton
 is Imported Annually
SWAP AUTOS WITH EUROPE
United States Provides Half Worlds Copper Supply-AIso One of the Largest Buyers in Foreign
 Markets.

Washington, February 11-(Specal9-
 The ebb and flow of the commerce of the
 United States presents some curious
 facts, statistical and commercial. These
 are the more readily observed by eer- tain figures compiled by the bureau of sta
 tistics of the department of commerce
 and labor, and made part of it's monthly
 summary of commerce and finance coyer-
 ing the calendar year 1906.
 It Is interesting to observe. for example,
 that while the imports of automobiles
 during the year 1906 amounted to nearly
 million dollars in value, this figure was
 practically offset by the exports of au-
 tomobles, which amounted in value to
 a,4O9,1S6 Curiously, too, of this Az mill
 lion dollars worth of automobiles ex-
 ported over l million dollars worth went
 to that great manufacturing country the
 United Kingdom, and practically another
 million dollars worth to other manufac- turing countries of Europe The tropical
 sections of the world. where horses can
 not satisfactorily perform the service of
 local transportation, are already large
 purchasers of American automobiles, the
 total exports Of this class of vehicles to Mexico having been in 1906, S717523, against
 only S192 452 in 19O5; while the West Indies
 and Bermuda took S241 GOO worth South
 America $167.00O Australia nearly $20oOOO,
 and even the British East Indies S34111
 worth.
 Another curious feature of our foreign
 commerce is found in the fact that al- though the United States produces one half of the worlds copper and exports far more than any other country, it is also one of the largest importers of that com
 modity. The value of copper imported into the United States in 1906 was over 37
 million dollars, including in this total
 6A million dollars worth of copper ore, while we were at the same time exporting over 90 million dollars worth of that
 metal, including in this sum a little less
 than million dollars worth of copper
 ore, of copper ingots nearly S5 millions, and of other copper manufactures be- tween and million dollars. This anom-
 ally of the greatest copper producing coun-
 try of the world importing such large quantities of copper grows, apparently, out of the fact that the United States
 has superior smelling and refining facil- ities and that the copper from it's immed- fate nelghbors at the north and south Canada and Mexico-nows to It's smelling
 establishments and refineres. A consider
 able part of the pig copper imported is brought in for the purpose of extracting the precious metals which 1t contains and | part of this comes from European coun- tries. How much of this 37 million dollars
 worth of copper imported is re-eXported
 under the title of American copper can
 not be determined, as any imported article
 which has undergone a further process 1 of manufacturing after entering the Uni
 ted States Is, when exported, reported to
 the bureau of statistics as a domestic
 manufacture.
 Another curious and somewhat surpris. 1 ing feature of our commerce is found in
 the fact that the United States, which
 produces three-fourths of the worlds
 cotton, actually imported last year from l other countries nearly II million dollars
 worth of raw cotton, to say nothing or | cotton waste valued at over 1 million dol l lars, making the average importation Of l cotton into the greatest cotton producing
 country in the world about S1, 100000 worth
 per month. The cotton so imported is, 1 however, in most cases, of a different quality from that produced in the United
 States, being chiefly Egyptian cotton of
 which the long and silky fiber is utilized
 in the manufacture of hlgh-grade cottons
 and in some cases for mixing with SIX l in manufacturing.
 Equally remarkable in the line of cot
 ton imports Is the fact that although the l United States Is the great cotton produc- l ing country of the world, and one of the
 worlds largest manufacturers of cotton goods. the importation of cotton manu- factures in 1906 aggregated in round
 terms 80 million dollars in value, being
 more than % per cent in excess of the
 value of cotton manufactures exported l This importation of cotton manufactures
 was largely the high-grade articles pro- l duced by hand labor, such as laces, em- 1 broideries. edgings, insertings, etc, but l T q 1nl1
 bleached dyed and colored cloths, 3 mill l lion dollars worth of cotton thread and warns. 8 million dollars worth of cotton
 clothing and over 8 million dollars worth
 of knit goods
 One would scarcely expect to see the
 United States including coffee in it's state l ments of the exports of domestic prod
 ucts, but the bureau of statistics in its i statements of exports of domestic prod | ucts, includes 31, ,51S, 494 pounds of green or l raw coffee. valued at $9,S7O592. This ap- l parent curiosity of the exportation from l the United States of such large quan- i tity of green coffee of domestic produc-
 ton, is explained by the fact that Porto
 Rico and the Hawaiian Islands are now
 customs districts of the United States | and that their exports to foreign coun- l tries are now included with the figures of exports from the various customs dis 1 tricts of the United States. and that doubtless all of this S1Ha million pounds | of domestic coffee exported is the prod uct of Porto Rico and Hawaii, chiefly tho | former In addition to this, however, l there was re-exported 1872 million pounds l of coffee of foreign production brought | into the United States and sent to foreign 1 countries, chiefly Canada and Mexico | Another tropical product which forms
 not unimportant feature of the re-expor- l tations of the United States is bananas l of which 1Ie million dollars worth was | exported in 1906 classed as foreign mer- l chandse exported, the total importation | of bananas during the year amounting to l l1Ia million dollars
 | One of the eccentricites of the import I trade and of the domestic taste, as illus ] trated by the figures of importatoins is l the fact that despite the general pros perty and increased importations Of | many articles of luxury no material in- crease has come in the imporations of ! champagne. The figures of the bureau of | statistics show that both the quantity | and value of champagne imported in 19O6 | were in each case less than those of 1905 and practically no greater than they were | more than a dozen years ago. The bu- | reau of statistics records show an inl- | portation in 1906 of 394,727 dozen quarts | of champa gne and other sparkling wines, valued at $5,S55 425, while in the mme- l diately preceding year the number Of | dozen quarts was 401,514, valued at S5,995,- | 651; and an examination of the records of | earlier years shows that the quantity | imported in 1892 was S56, 495 dozen quarts, valued at $5,2561S. During the fourteen years from 1892 to 1906 the importation of | diamonds and other precious stones has grown from less than 14 million dollars | to A millions; of faces and embroideries from 16 millions to A millions. while of | champagne the total importation has n-