Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-15
Trade of the United States With the
 Dutch East Indies.

The suggestion that a number of tie Dutch ships now lying idle in the }arbor of New York may be assigned to. the carrying on of trade between the Dutch East Indies and the Uni ted States, is of special interest fat this time when the trade of this country with those islands is by far the largest in the history of our com rnerce. A compilation by The Ma tional City Bank of New York shows that the trade of the United States with the Dutch East Indies in the hs- cal year 1917 was more than that of the five years preceding the war. I'm ports from the islands in the fiscal year 1914, all of which preceded the war, were but $, 254 900 but jumped to $. .246, 900 in 1915; $27, TIT 900 in 1916, and $s2.011, 900 in 1917. Exports from the United States to the Dutch East Indies which were in 1914 S3, ,767 900 advanced to $7,401,oo0 in 1916 and s21, ,191 900 in 1917. Thus our trade " ith the islands in 1917 was nine times as great as that of 1914, the fiscal year immediately preceding the war.
 This large increase, while due in some degree to the disarrangement of transportation facilities between those islands and the mother country, Netherlands, 10 which most of their exports were usually sent for distri- tution to other parts of the world, and from which their imports were chiefly drawn is also due in part to increased demands by the United States for their. principal products. Of india rubber, of which our total imports last year were nearly three times as great as in the year before the war we took from the Dutch East Indies in 1917, 45 900, 900 pounds against 463,0oo pounds in 1914. or nearly ten times as much in 1917 as in 1914. Of hides and skins, for which we are ansacking the world, the imports from the Netherlands In- dies were s,oo0,e0o pounds in 1917, against less than 5oo,000 pounds in 1914. Of- tin of which our 1916 inn ports were the largest in the history from the Dutch East Indies was 14.- coo. 1000 pounds against but 5s 900 l pounds from those islands in 1914, and S26, 600 pounds from Netherlands. i Of cacao, we took from the islands D. | 1916, S31.D00 pounds against 134,000 | pounds in 1914; of cocoanut oil in | 1916, S,519 900 pounds against 407, 1000 pounds in 1915. and none in 1914; of pepper in 1916, 15.77S,000 pounds and | in 1914 but 1.295.000 of kapoc, the | new vegetable fiber. about one million dollars worth in 1916 against about one-third of that sum in 1914. The | largest item in the increase of inn rorts from the islands was rubber, of which the value in 1917 was $27,z4o,- 60o against $zs6,e in 1914, or prac- tica1ly ten times as much in both quantity and value in 1917 as in | 1914. In few articles, notably coffee and leaf tobacco. the quantity from the islands in 1917 was slightly less | than in 1914.
 This increase in imports from the
 islands was accompanied by a large increase in our exports to them. AThe
 value of merchandise exported to the Dutch East Indies in 1917 was $21,-
 1e1 900 against $7,401,000 in 1916 and
 s2,772 600 in 1915. This increase in
 exports to the islands occurred in a large number of articles; automobiles
 of which the exports to the islands in
 1916, the latest year for which details
 are available, numbered 1,os4 against
 hut 1o5 in 1915, and the value in
 1916, $SS0,000 against but $f17, 900 fn
 1915. In very large number oi
 n1anufactrres of iron and steel there
 in iron and stee; manufactures to the
 COG against ss50 ooo in 1914, and a
 much larger tcta! in 1917, though the
 details for that year are not vel
 iron, nails, wire, and iron pipes show
 marked increases in both 1916 and
 1877.