Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1899 — WHATWEBUY ABROAD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WHATWEBUY ABROAD

INTERESTING FIGURES OF OUR IMPORTS FOR 1898. American Consumption of Foreign Product* the Smallest in Value and Volume for the Past Twenty Year*, Excepting the Year 1885. The details of the import trade of the United States in the year just ended, the first full calendar year of the Dingley tariff, have just been completed by the Bureau of Statistics. They show the smallest importation in twenty years, with the single exception of the year 1885. The total imports for the year are $634,958,229, the revised figures being slightly In excess of those of the preliminary statement issned by the Bureau of Statistics earlier in the month. This is $100,000,000 less than the imports of 1897, and $200,000,000 less than those of 1892, while, as already Indicated, they are the lowest in twenty years with the single exception of 1885. The reduction of imports is altogether in articles free of duty, the dutiable imports In 1898 being $360,595,549, while those of 1897 were $365,302,240, while the free of duty articles imported amounted in value in 1898 to $268,362,680, against $377,329,110 in 1897. This reduction of $100,000,000 in the importation of nondurable articles is due, first, to a very great reduction in the importations of wool and the transfer of wool from the free to the dutiable list; second, to a reduction in the free importation of manufactured articles whether for use in the mechanics arts or for consumption; third, to the transfer of tea from the free list to the dutiable list, and, fourth, to a reduction In the prices and also a slight reduction in the quantity of coffee imported. Articles manufactured for use In the mechanics arts fell from $25,293,522 in 1897 to $19,166,517 in 1898; articles manufactured for consumption fell from $20,942,277 in 1897 to $7,842,537 Un 1898, and articles of voluntary use, luxury, etc., fell from $6,702,370 in 1897 to $3,851,377 in 1898. "?he above statements all relate to the non-dutiable Under the dutiable head the Imports of 1898, as already indicated, differ but little from those of 1897. Articles of food and live animals coming in under the dutiable list amounted in 1898 to $100,506,148, against $102,349,373 in 1897. Articles in a crude condition for domestic industry show a marked increase, being $49,070,823 in 1898, against $32,555,794 in 1897, this being due to the general activity on the part of manufacturers and to the fact that wool was in July, 1897, transferred from the free to the dutiable list. Articles manufactured for use in the mechanic arts amounted in 1898 to $39,961,169, against $55,878,363 in 1897, and articles manufactured for consumption amounted to $96,962,272 in 1898, against $97,893,605 in 1897, and SIOO,381,308 in 1896. Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc., under the dutiable list, amounted in value to $80,095,132 in 1898, against $76,625,105 in 1897. This increase is explained by the greater prosperity and greater purchasing power of the peopde under protection. Of the total importations of 1898, 42.2 per cent, were imported free of duty, against 50.9 per cent, in 1897, 48 per cent, in 1895, 56.7 per cent in 1894, 51.8 per cent. In 1801, 35 per cent, in 1890, and from 32 to 35 per cent, in the years ranging from 1884 to 1891. The reduction of more than SIOO,000,000 in imports is apportioned among the great groups as follows: Articles manufactured for consumption, $14,000,000; articles manufactured for use in the mechanics arts, $22,000,000; articles of food and live animals, $32,000,000, and articles in a crude condition for domestic industry, $39,000,000. The following- table shows the importations by classes in 1898, compared with 1897: Year ending Dec. 31— Imports. 1807. 1898. Free duty: Dollars. Dollars. Articles of food and live animals...... 118,144,740 87,323,654 Articles In a crude condition, for domestic industry.. .206,246,201 150,178,595 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 25.293,522 19,166,517 For consumption. 20,942,277 7,842,537 Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc 6,702,370 3.851,377 Tot. free of duty. 377,329,110 268,362,680 Dutiable: Articles of food and live animals 102,349,373 100,506,148 Article* in a crude condition for domestic industry... 32,555,794 49,070,823 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 55,878.363 39.961,169 For consumption.. 97,893,605 96,962,272 Articles of voluntary use, luxuries, etc. 76,625,105 80,095,137 Total dutiab1e....365,30X240 366,595,549 Free and dutiable: Articles of food and Hve animal* 220,494,113 187,829,802 Articles in a crude condition for domestic indu5try...238,801,995 199,249,418 Articles manufactured— For mechanic arts 81.171.885 59.127,686 For consumption.. 118,835,882 104,804,809 Article* of voluntary use, luxuries, etc. 83,327,475 83,946,514 Total imports of merchandise ....742,631,350 634,958,229 Tired of Affiliating with Hoodoo*. It is merely a coincidence, of course, but one cannot help remarking upon the very significant Associated Press cablegram from London in the Sunday morning papers. “The foremost topic compelling attention In Europe,” rt says, “is the remarkable. aggressive commercial prosperity winch the United States is manifesting.” The coincident lies in the fact that this prosperity happens to come under the Republican administration and during the operation of the Dingley tariff law. Now, it has been conclusively demonstrated

by the tariff reformers that the country ean never prosper, particdlarfy In foreign trade, under a protective tariff. Admitting that the free traders have the right theory, it must be conceded all around that the repeated arrival of prosperity to this country coincident with the enactment of a Republican, tariff law Is a most remarkable phenomenon. The Democrats insist that It Is merely a matter of Republican luek. The voters are beginning to see that it is to their Interest to keep such a lucky party in power in Washington and not bring on another period of distress by joining hands with a hoodoo, as they did in 1892.—Deadwood (S. D.j Pioneer. Some Figure* for Mr. Bryan. Mr. Bryan will find a hard nut to crack in an article on “The Increasing Supply of Gold,” which George E. Roberts, director of the mint, has written for the Forum. Assuming the quantitative theory of money to be true, as the sllverites argue, they are now fairly beaten by their own arguments. When the horrible “crime of ’73” was consummated the gold output of the world amounted to $96,200,000, and that of silver, reckoning It at the ratio of 16 to 1, was only $81,000,000, which gives a total of $178,000,000. In 1896 the output of gold alone was $202,956,000, and the silver output increased the total to $318,587,876. This is exclusive of the metal that was consumed in industry and the arts, and is the record for the very year in which Mr. Bryan was making his disastrous campaign. The significance of the figures Is all the greater when we consider the progressive increase In the annual production of gold, which is Indicated in the following table: 1890.. .$118,848,700 1894.. .$181,175j600 1891.. 130,650,000 1895... 199,304,100 1892.. 146,651,500 1896... 202,956,000 1893.. . 157,494,800 1897... 237,504,800 Such are the improved methods of mining and treatment that it may be said of most gold fields, as Mr. Roberta says of those of the Transvaal, that the figures “suggest the steady growth of a manufacturing industry rather than ' the record of one usually regarded as extremely uncertain in results.” The exhaustion of placer deposits counts for little when capital Is invited to the working of quartz ledges of almost limitless extent and when even low-grade ore is a paying investment because of Increased facilities for taking it out and of the improved and economical processes of reduction. For 1898 there is a gain of more than $20,000,000 in South Africa, of about $10,000,000 in Australasia, of $7,000,000 in the United States and of $10,000,000 in the remainder of North America. The product for 1898 was. over $300,000,000, and the indications are that the gains for 1899 will be still greater. These gains, It should be noted, do not merely re-enforce a depleted stock, nor are they offset by industrial consumption. During the years from 1892 to 1897 there was a net increase in the world’s bank holdings of gold coin and bullion of $682,252,189, and during the same period the industrial consumption amounted to $279,197,816. • So far from true is it that the money supply of the world has been practically cut in two by the general establishment of a single gold standard that the supply of gold Is now more than sufficient to do the work that was once required of both gold and silver. Under the quantitative theory there could be no call upon silver except as a subsidiary coin.—Chicago TimesHerald. Slater* Three.

Do Not Consider the Difference. The Society for Political Study, which is composed of New York women of more or less advanced habits of thinking, has reached the financial question. After listening the other day to a dissertation on the currency* they unanimously agreed that they did . not understand it, but that no matter what fwm the national currency took, the “essential” thing was to have one’s pockets well filled with it. This is the natural conclusion of people who know nothing about the money question. They do not stop to consider the difference between a pocket full of 50cent dollars and one that is threequarters full of 100-cent dollars.—Chicago Tribune. Less Politics Would Pay Better. Bob Means, a prosperous young Greenville, Kan., farmer, has what he calls a Farmers’ Alliance corn patch. When the allance was organized Bob set off a ten-acre field, vowing to work | it only while his neighbors were attending alliance meetings and looking after politics. He had to drop the scheme because he found he was working his cwrato death. The calamity howiero wHI feel better if they wHI take some of Bob Means' medictaeGblcago Tribune.