The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1912-05-06
QU|N|NE IMPORTS
OF UNITED STATES

1
quinine and the material from which
il 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 l9OO-1l. inclusive, fully 40
million ounces Of quinine and nearly
90 million pounds of cinchona and
other quinine-bearing barks have been
imported, their aggregate value being
about II million dollars. In the cur
rent fiscal year the imports of Gin
chona bark will probably be about ~
million pounds, valued at about one
quarter million dollars; and of quinia
and its various salts. million ounces
valued at approximately half million
dollars
While quinine has long been
staple product OF Importation into the
country, no marked growth in its i'm
ports has occurred in the last quar-
ter of century. In 1882, for example,
over 5 million pounds of cinchona bark
were imported; in 1892, 80 million:
| in 1902, 81 million; and in 1912 will
probably be about 3h million pounds.
In 1882 the imports of quinine and the
various salts of quinine amounted to
$4,000 ounces; in 1sS4sSzk million
ounces; in 1892, Sc mifif6n; in 1902.
2 sc million; in months of the cur
rent year for which figures are at hand
point to total of about 3 million
ounces in the IL months ending with
June.
Meantime the price of quinine has
steadily fallen. In 1882 the average
import value per ounce was little
less than So; in 1902 it ha&dropped to
2S cents, and in the first 8 months of
the current fiscal year was but Is
cents. Likewise cinchona bark, the
botanical source of quinine, has drop
ped in average import value per pound
from &c cents in 1882 to less than s
cents in 1912.
The decrease in imports OF quinine,
despite the growth in population mean
time, is aserihed 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
which quinine was and is still largely
used, while the development of the
chemical industry has brought into
use a 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,I
generic name of a number of trees in
digenous 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 cinchona trees was transplanted
from South America to Java, India,
Ceylon. and certain other countries and
its 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
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 5 million pounds. nearly million
pounds were imported from Colombia,
l-3 million from England, about 600.-
600 pounds from South America ex-
elusive of Colombia, 100000 pounds
from Mexico, and smaller quantities
from the British West indies, the
British East Indies, Central American
States, France, Germany, and the
Dutch West Indies. In more recent
years, however. Netherlands is nomi- |
nally the source of practically all the |
cinchona and other quinine-bearing
barks imported. In the fiscal year
1911 the total imports of the class
named were 3,S26,O00 pounds, Of which |
3,769,000 We're stated as from Neither
lands. nearly $4,000 from Germany, |
and the remaining $4,000 pounds. from
England. Presumably a large part of |
the einchona imported from Neither
lands is from Java, whose exports Of
that article, chiefly to Netherlands, |