Pioneer press. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1882-19??, 1914-05-09
100000 FOUNTAIN
PENS EXPORTED
Per Annum With An Average Whole
sale Value of S1.05 Each-Also
Ordinary Pens.

Ord nary Pens.
The pnRed States exports Owe.
100000 fountain pens per 'annum, C.
approximately one fountain pen t.
each gross Of ordinary pens exporte.
Last fiscal year We exported 300 20
fountain pens and 40, 100000 ordinar
pens, sales in each case having bee
| made in about fifty countries /
the twenty months since the rec0:
| of fountain-pen exports began til
| sales abroad have amounted to hai
million pens, with an ,averas
wholesale value of S1.O5 each
More than one-half Of the founta
pens, according to the official sta.i>
ties Of the bureau Of foreign an
domestic commerce, department
commerce, were sent to England o.
Of 100000 exported in the last fisc;
year 10000 were, consigned to En-;
land, $1,000 to Canada, and 10000 /.
France. Next in Importance as MAJ
hcts for this class of American MAJ
ufactures are: Germany, the Nethn.
lands, and Austria Hungary in f..
rope; Cuba tie British West Indie.
and Panama, in North America;
Grail, Argent ma, and Chile, in South
America; India and Japan, in Asia:
and Australia ard the Philippine IS
lands. Singularly, the same coun
tries are, in most cases. the largeS
purchasers Of our metallic pens.
The fountain-pen industry, while
relatively small, is rapidly increasing
III importance, and it may therefore
be expected that the exports Will
greatly expand in the near future H.
he ten years from 1899 to 1909, &c
cOrding to the official figures of tho
Census Bureau, the value Of product
turned out by the fountain, stylogra
phic, and gold pen industry almos;
trebled, while the output of Ste:
pens doubled. Nearly all the domeS
tic product is consumed in the Unit
ed States, the figures of production
having been, in 1909, $4,000 anG
the recorded exports of that year
| only $4,000, in comparison will
100000 for last year. English anu
Swedih steel are largely used by our
| manufacturers in the production L
pens w reSon Of the special adapta-
| bil:ty of that steel to this peculiar
use
imported fountain pens are making
| but little Roadway in our mar
kets, but other classes Of pens, ex-
cept those Of gold, are bought in col
siderable quantities from foreign
countries. Last year, for example,
the value of fountain and stylograph-
lc pens entered for consumption at
domestic ports was only $4,000, o.
about one-siXth the value of those
which we sold abroad. In the same
yer, however, we bought over $685.
600 gross of other metallic pens from
foreign countries, with a total value
of nearly $155,OOOO.
| The proportion of our steel pc IS
supplied by foreign countris is much
smaller than in erlier years. In 1860
nearly all Of those consumed were
made adbroa; now three out Of every
four, it is stated, are of domestic pro-
duction, and the facilities for MANY
facture have SO improved that their
cost has fallen from 81 ech in 1893,
when steel pens began to supplant
quilts, to less than rs cents per gross
in 1913. Practically all tho import ed
steel pens are from Birmingham,
England, where articles Of this class
were first made. That city sends 10
our ports a stedily increasing number
Of steel pens, despite the rapidly
growing domestic product and the
wider use Of fountain pens. Of the
$153,S17 worth of metallic pens i'm
ported for consumption in the fiscal
year 1913, $13S,773 worth, according
to the annual report of Consul Abe t
Halstead were from Birmingham.
Gold pens are a negligible factor
in our import trade. In 1909 the iul-
ports thereof entered for consumption
were valued at $12,35S; by 1911 they
had decreased to $65, and in 1913 had
practically ceased, that year showing
| q total Of op1v CT In fact tho GOLD