THE COMPETITION OF TEE UNITED STATES. 515 



and anthracite coal is now almost eight million tons, and, though this 

 is small as compared with the home consumption, yet the export is 

 likely to increase more rapidly, and a leading ironmaster in Germany 

 predicts that in ten or fifteen years America will supply all the Med- 

 iterranean coast with coal and iron. He says that cheap production and 

 transport will be the chief factors and will more than counterbalance 

 the nearness of Britain. A few years ago Britain led as a coal producer, 

 but now the United Kingdom is surpassed by the United States. In 

 1900 Britain produced two hundred and twenty-five million tons of 

 coal, in 1901 she produced two hundred and nineteen million tons only. 

 This difference of six million tons is almost exactly equal to the excess 

 of exports over imports of coal in the United States. 



An industry of very rapid growth in the United States is that of 

 cement. There are two large and important classes of cements, called 

 natural cement and Portland cement. In the United States natural 

 cements are still produced in greatest amount, but the growth in output 

 of Portland cement has been very rapid, and Portland cement bids fair 

 soon to surpass natural cement in quantity. Not many years ago nearly 

 all the Portland cement was brought from England, American Port- 

 land cement being considered inferior ; but now by the introduction of 

 rotary kilns and other improvements it is claimed that American Port- 

 land cement is made at least equal to and probably better than English 

 cement. 



The production of natural and Portland cement was in 1896, 9,510,- 

 355 barrels; in 1900 it was 20,486,274 barrels. This tremendous growth 

 is due to the greatly extended use of cement in buildings and pavements 

 and in structural works of many kinds in which stone was formerly 

 used. This growth in consumption has not been accompanied by a 

 growth in importation. On the contrary, the imports have declined to 

 a slight extent, being in 1896 3,558,166 barrels, and in 1900 3,182,245 

 barrels. The export is small, but there is an increase from 87,910 

 barrels in 1896 to 186,586 barrels in 1900. This means that the cement 

 factories have been able to keep up with the growth in the demand at 

 home and have had a slight surplus. 



The soda industry is one of the most important chemical industries, 

 and in it England was for a long time supreme and America imported 

 largely from her. Now, however, the importation is small, America 

 providing her own soda to a great extent. In 1896 the soda imported 

 was 86,991 tons, in 1900 it was 33,482. Common salt is the starting 

 point for the manufacture of soda, and it is used for many other pur- 

 poses as well. The world's consumption of salt has grown during the 

 last twenty years, but Britain's output has fallen off. This appears to 

 be largely due to American competition. In 1880 the United Kingdom 

 produced nearly 2,700,000 tons of salt and the United States 800,000 



