Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1885 — THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS. [ARTICLE]

THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

Report on tlie Foreign Commerce of the Country for the Year 1885. Col. \V. F. Kwitzler, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, in his annual report on foreign commerce, gives ail analysis of our foreign trade, and, among other things, shows the magnitude of our commerce as compared with the commerce Of all other countries; the growth of our exports of products of agriculture, of manufactures, of mining, etc.; the condition of the imports and the, carrying trade of the country, and other facts of interest. The report says the total value of our foreign commerce in merchandise, including the in-transit trade, during the year 1885 was $1,388,588,105, of which the value of the exports was $742,000,000, of the imports $577,000,000, and of the intransit and transshipment trade, $68,000,000. The imports and exports-of gold and silver coin and bullion during the same period amounted to $85,232,000, of which the value of the exports was $42,000,000, and of the imports $43,000,000. The value * of our foreign commerce in merchandise, including the in-transit trade, (hiring the preceding fiscal year was $1,481,840,086, showing a falling off in our foreign trade during the last fiscal year of $93,251,921. It appears that in the value of foreign commerce the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" stands first, Germany second, France third, and the United States fourth. The total value of the foreign trade, in merchandise of, the nations during the year 1883 was as follows: Of the United Kingdom, $3,563,877,370; Germany, $2,450,428,745; France, $2,033,885,544; the United States, $1,547,020,316. The most notable features of onr foreign trade during the last fiscal year, as compared with the trade of 1884, was a decrease in the imports of merchandise of $90,000,000, and a falling off* in the exports of gold of $32,p00,000. The report shows in detail the countries ahd the articles in which the decline in imports .of merchandise occurred. The de-■ crease occurred mainly in the values of imports of sugar and molasses, silks, wool, and manufactures of silk and wool, and iron and steel, and manufacturers of iron and steel. Among the exports Of our manufactured products which show the most rapid’ developments since 1866 are agricultural implements, clocks and watches, manufactures of cotton, manufactures of iron and steel, including locomotives, sewing-machines, tools and hardware. Great Britain not only takes about 60 per cent, of our agricultural and unmanufactured products, but also a larger share, amounting to twenty - s|veu per cent-, of our manufactures than do Central America, the West Indies, and South America combined. Colonel Swifczler says there has been, 6ince 1860, a very marked decline in the percentage of imports of manufactured articles, and a corresponding increase in the percentage of imports of crude or'partially manufactured articles. This is a significant fact, showing a steady growth in the demand for crude articles to be manufactured at home.