OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE IN 1901. 5^9 



OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE IN 1901.* 



By FREDERIC EMORY, 



CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF FOREIGN COMMERCE. 



^T^HE commercial reports of diplomatic and consular officers for the 

 -'- calendar year 1901 record continued growth in the sales of many 

 lines of manufactures from the United States in foreign markets and 

 the increase of the general concern in Europe as to the possible results 

 of our industrial competition. Although the figures of our exports 

 compiled by the Treasury Department show a considerable falling off 

 in the total value of manufactured goods sent abroad, there seems to 

 be a steady and uninterrupted spread in the popularity of what may 

 be termed American novelties all over Europe. By the word 'novel- 

 ties^ are meant not only labor-saving implements and machinery to 

 which most Europeans were strangers, but a great variety of articles 

 of merchandise, such as boots and shoes, leather goods, hats and cloth- 

 ing, rubber goods, furniture and household utensils, hardware and 

 cutlery, canned goods, glassware, clocks and .watches, scientific appa- 

 ratus, electrical supplies, and cotton, silk and woolen textiles — all of 

 which possess distinguishing points of excellence and relative cheap- 

 ness, new to Europe, which commend them to purchasers there in 

 preference to similar articles of home manufacture. In other words, 

 while the aggregate of our exports of manufactured goods has shrunk, 

 the variety of our sales in Europe is being extended and the territory 

 upon which they are encroaching is being steadily enlarged. 



Advances in Austria-Hungary. 

 A striking example of this is seen in the case of Austria-Hungary, 

 the country in which originated the idea of a European combination 

 against American goods and where the hostility of the industrial forces 

 continues to be most pronounced. Notwithstanding this, the imports 

 from the United States, according to Consul-General Hearst, of 

 Vienna,! are increasing rapidly, although American exporters have 

 not until recently given general attention to that part of Europe, 

 'which is considerably removed from ports in closest touch with trans- 

 Atlantic commerce.' So formidable is the growth of American imports, 

 in fact, that 'Austrian manufacturers and agriculturists are making 



* Extract from the ' Review of the World's Commerce,' introductory to 

 'Commercial Relations of the United States, 1901 ' (in press). 



tSee 'Advance Sheets of Consular Reports,' No. 1193 (November 19, 1901). 

 VOL. LX. — 34. 



