The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-07-12
COMMERCE 0F=W0RLD;
INTERNATIONAL BALANCES
Interesting Facts and Figures That
Come Direct From OnlciaI
Sources.
WHAT TRADE BALANCES MEAN
Table OF Great Length, Reduced to
Plain English Reading Matter,
Tells an Interesting Story OF Trade
and Commerce.

Washington. u. c.. July 1.-THE
recent phenomenon of an excess of
mlpor Trade eS.r bNpors s,ad u he for
April and May, 1914, coupled with large
outward shipments Of gold made in
teresting table showing, I'm cpitonized
form. the commercial and financial sta
tistics or the principal countries COM
piled by the Bureau OF Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, Department OF
Commerce, and published as Il part Of
the statistical at.tract Of the United
states for 1913
The worlds commerce so far az
hscertainablc for the seventy-nve coun-
tries and political groups included in
me table, approximatcs $4,000. 0Do. 900,
imports being S2l,t0o.o0u. 900 and OK
ports $4,000 100000. The excess of 81
uo000O.0o0 on the import side is
counted for. in part. by the fact that
many importing nations include in their
import values the costs Of freight. in
surance and other charges accrulng be-
tween the point Of shipment and the
place OF arrival at their national from
tiers with respect to goods imported.
not included in export valuations by
the country of shipment. and, In some
degree, TO the closer scrutiny of import
values, which arc frequently the basis
of customs revenue. obviously the
figures have no reference to purchases
by travellers and invisible trade settle
ments In the form Of gold silver 20
curlties and other evidences Of value
usually omitted from statements OF
commerce, but necessarily constituting
an important factor IN tho balance
sheet OF nations.
large proportion Of the older and
more advanced nations show an excess
of imports over exports of merchandise.
Nota bio examples are the United King
dom, Germany FRANCE. Belgium
Switzerland. tho Netherlands and other
European countries. and Japan. china
and Turkey. Canada shows balance
On tho import side. but nearly all other
American countries show larger ex-
ports than Imports. this being true OF
Argentina Brazil, cuba. Colombia. Mex
sco. Central America. Venezuela and
the United States. our slight cNc"ss or
imports over exports in April and May
not being sufiicien, TO offset the large
excess OF exports in other months. our
net export balance VIII probably cS-
coed Sioo.eUo,0n0 for tho current fiscal
year. RUSSIA. Rounania. Servia. Egypt,
India and Java each shows pre-
Sonderance OF exports over imports
The United Kingdom mas foreign
trade of $500, 100000. imports being
Valued at $3.50 100000. or $1,000, 900
Sn excess Of all exports, domestic and
foreign. Germany in 1912 had trade
pr .a.o5o, 900. BOO imports being s9..5s-
100000. or $4,000, 600 in excess OF all
exports. The United states in the cal
chdar year 1919 had foreign trade OF
s4.21I.ooo.0oo imports being Sl.713,"oo,-
cign goods tchicfiy the forner). $a.isi.-
100000. making an excess Of 1891 .aoD.-
GOO on the export sid" canada's i'm
ports are nearly doublc the yalu. OF
her exports. and France shows an cx-
cess Of imports Of s2a30oo,oo0 In a
total trade of s2.sSi.0oo.o00 in 1872
The aggregate imports OF tho seven
;y-ivc principal countries and colonies
Of the world III lal2f9l3 were valued at
sco.sia.00o,00o OF s2l47,000.o0o more
than their exports. In this vast theatre or
international trade the United States
plays an important role, having bought
10 per cent of all tire goods witch the
leading nations exported. and having
sold IL l.: per cent or the merchandise
which they purchased IN the markets
OF tho world
Considering the commerce or the
United states from isce TO 1913 IL IS
oioted that the aggregate excess OF
exports over imports Of merchandise
sn the ia years ia question was sS,-
a. 100000 and the aggregate excess Of
Exports OF gold and silver over imports
thereof. S1.6o3 100000. In the eighty