626 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



our purely domestic advantages of economy of production, greater 

 labor efficiency and cheap raw materials, or whether we shall not have 

 to fight hard against nations now falling behind us with weapons 

 specially fashioned for controlling foreign trade — as, for example, more 

 scientific export methods, better facilities of banking and transporta- 

 tion, more liberal credits, and manufacturing for particular markets 

 with intelligent regard to climatic and race requirements. Many of 

 our consuls still tell us that our commercial activity abroad is almost 

 primitive in the details of trade competition, although of late our 

 exporters have begun to send capable representatives to the more im- 

 portant trade centers; and the past few years have witnessed the cre- 

 ation of important trade organizations in the United States for the 

 study of foreign commerce, the adoption of special courses of commerce 

 at a number of our colleges, and the establishment of sample rooms and 

 agencies for the sale of American goods at a few of the entrepots of 

 countries which offer a favorable field. Meanwhile, foreign manufac- 

 turers are introducing our labor-saving machinery or imitating it, and 

 European economists are urging industrial reforms or legislative en- 

 actments to meet our threatening competition. 



GEOWTH OF MANUFACTURED EXPORTS. 



During the year ended December 31, 1900, according to United 

 States Treasury returns,* the imports of the United States amounted 

 in round numbers to $830,000,000, an increase of over $30,000,000 

 compared with 1899, while the exports aggregated $1,478,000,000, an 

 increase of $202,480,000. The exports in 1900 exceeded the imports 

 by $648,900,000. Of the exports, the percentage of manufactured 

 goods rose to 31.54f for 1900, against 30.39 in 1899, 24.96 in 1898, and 

 24.93 in 1895. Of the imports, nearly 45 per cent., it is estimated by 

 the Treasury, were materials, either crude or partly made up, for use 

 in our manufacturing industries, an increase of over 35 per cent, in 

 1899 and 1900, as compared with the entire period from 1890 to 1898. 

 In other words, our industrial growth continued in 1900 at a rapid pace, 

 enabling us to take less finished goods from other countries and to fur- 

 nish more. 



PREDOMINANCE IN IRON AND STEEL. 



The most striking fact in our export development is the remarkable 

 growth of the foreign demand for our iron and steel, our exports 

 amounting to nearly $130,000,000 in 1900, against $32,000,000 in 1895. 



* Preliminary figures from the Bureau of Statistics, December, 1900. 



f Later returns give the percentage as 30.38. This decline is attributed to 

 the increase in the proportion of agricultural exports at the end of the year; 

 also to the decrease in exports of copper ingots and cotton cloths, the latter mainly 

 to the Chinese Empire. 



