Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 April 1917 — Porto Rico Is Good Market [ARTICLE]

Porto Rico Is Good Market

Island Possession Buys About 95 Per Cent of Its Merchandise From United States. Porto Rfco promises an enlarged market for the products of the factories and farms of the United States. Reports from that Island indicate that the sugar crop will be the largest in the history of the island, and, at the present high prices, will.jadd greatly to its purchasing power. A compilation by the foreign trade department of the National City bank of New York shows that the trade between the United States and- Porto Rico was SIOO,000,000 In 1916 as against about $75,000,000 in 1915, $65,000,00 in 1914, $59,000.000 in the fiscal year 1910, $30,000,000 in 1905 and $7,500,000 in 1899, the year of annexation. Merchandise sent from the United States to the island in 1916 aggregated about $40,000,000 value against $32,000,000 in 1914, $27,000,000 in 1910, $14,000,000 in 1905, and $4,000,000 in 1899. The value

of the iperchandlse passing out of the island in the Calendar„ year 1916 amounted to $75,000,000 against $42,000,000 in 1914, $38,000,000 in 1910 and $10,000,000 In 1899. About 90 per cent of the merchandise passing out of the island is sent to the United States and about 95 per cent of the merchandise entering the island is composed of domestic products of this country, being chiefly cotton goods, boots and shoes, machinery, manufactures of iron and • steel, flour, meats, Tice and fertilizers.