The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-05-10
.QU|N|NE IMPORTS
OF UNITED STATES

Nearly 10 million dollars worth of
quinine and the material from which
it is extracted has been imported into
the United States during the past
dozen years. Figures compiled by The
Bureau of Statistics, Department of
Commerce and Labor, show that in
the period l90O-11. inclusive, fully 40
million ounces of quinine and nearly
80 million pounds of cinchona and
other quinine-bearing barks have been
imported. their aggregate value being
about IA million dollars In the cur
rent fiscal year the imports of Gin
chona bark will probably be about SIs
million pounds, valued at about one
quarter million dollars; and of quinia
and its various salts, million ounces.
valued at approximately a half million
dollars.
While quinine has long been a
staple product of importation into the
country, no marked growth in its inn
ports has occurred in the last quar-
ter of a century. In 1882, for example,
lover million pounds of cinehona bark
were imported; in 1892, 3k million;
IN 1902, 3% million; and in 1912 will
lprobably be about 3Ia million pounds
In 1882 the imports of quinine and the
various salts of quinine amounted to
7S5.O00 ounces; in 1884, IL million
Iouneesi in 1892, 2 sc million; in 1902,
2 80 million; in months of the cur
rent year for which figures are at hand
point to a total of about million
LOUNGES in the 12 months ending with
June.
: Meantime the price of quinine has
, steadily fallen IN 1882 the average
import value per ounce was a little
less than So; in 1902 it had dropped to
2S cents, and in the first 8 months of
) the current fiscal year was but Is
J cents. Likewise cinchona bark, the
botanical source of quinine, has drop
j lped in average import value per pound
/ from 36 cents in 1882 to less than
cents in 1912
The decrease in imports of quinine,
despite the growth in population mean
time, is ascribed to a variety of causes
Among them may be mentioned i'm.
proved conditions of sanitation and
? drainage throughout the country, thus
decreasing the prevalence of malarial
and other fevers for which quinine has
long been known to be specific and in
the treatment of which it was formerly
the chief reliance. The drainage of
! swampy districts, the better screen
ing Of homes, and the discovery of the
relation between mosquitoes and fevers
generally have had large part in re-
ducing the prevalence of diseases for
i which quinine was and is still largely
used, while the development of the
!. chemical industry has brought into
use large body of coal tar and other
: preparations which share with quinine
:, its popularity as a remedy of fevers
:, and as a general tonic in professional
and domestic practice.
Cinchona or Peruvian bark, is the
: generic name of a number of trees in
Idigenous to Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia,
formerly the chief producers Of that
article. In the 18th century, however,
it was first imported into Europe,
where its value was quickly recogniz-
ed and its use largely extended Later
the cinehona trees was transplanted
from South America to Java, India.
Ceylon, and certain other countries and
it's cultivation developed until Java
and the British East Indies have be-
come the worlds chief producers Of
cinchona bark. With this development
of its culture in the orient has come a
marked change in the source of the
cinchona bark imported into the coun-
try in the last thirty years. Back in
1882 when the annual imports exceed
ed million pounds, nearly million
! pounds were imported from Colombia,
/ 1-9 million from England. about 600
600 pounds from South America ex-
al elusive of Colombia, 100000 pounds
N from Mexico. and smaller quantities
d from the British West indies, the
!. British East indies, Central American
States. France, Germany, and the
= Dutch West Indies. In more recent
le years, however, Netherlands is nomi-
IN nally the source of practically all the
i'd cinchona and other quinine-bearing
Of barks imported IN the fiscal year
" 1911 the total imports of the class
IS named were 3,S26,OOO pounds. Of which
xt 3,769, 600 were stated as from Neither
IN lands, nearly $4,000 from Germany
and the remaining 10000 pounds, from
in England. Presumably large part OF
p the cinchona imported from Neither
is lands is from Java, whose exports OF