OVn FOREIGN COMMERCE IN 1901. 53 1 



can trade. But we now manufacture all the tin plate we need, and the 

 Welsh have recently imported tin bars from us. 



There are, indeed, surprisingly few of the articles which used to 

 be obtained exclusively abroad that are not now produced in the 

 United States. The woolen as well as the silk industry of France and 

 the hosiery industry of Germany are said to be suffering severely from 

 our competition, and the Bohemian glass industry is feeling the effect 

 of the increase of glass manufacture in the United States. Our cot- 

 tons are steadily gaining in taste and finish, and are now sold in Eng- 

 land in competition with the Manchester product. Says the Leipziger 

 Tagehlatt of April 10, 1901: "Even in fancy articles, in which the 

 European market has set the styles for the entire world, the American 

 manufacturers are beginning to compete with the European. British 

 calico prints are also already receiving competition from America. As 

 we hear, travelers of a well-known American house have offered Ameri- 

 can cotton stuffs in England with much success, and the London 

 authorities declare them to be tasteful and worth their price." A New 

 York company manufacturing cotton stuffs intends to found a Paris 

 house which shall introduce its fancy woven stuffs for women's dresses, 

 and trimmed women's hats are being exported from the United States 

 to Europe. "The reversible cloths which are made in the United 

 States," said Consul Sawter, of Glauchau, in a report sent in 1900, 

 "are now the style in high-priced goods in the German capital." In 

 agriculture, as in manufactures, we are constantly widening the sphere 

 of our production. The orange and lemon growers of southern Europe 

 are feeling the effect of California's competition. "It is ridiculous," 

 says a Spanish newspaper,* "to think that fruits and vegetables raised 

 on the slopes of the distant Pacific should compete at the very doors of 

 Spain with those produced in this country. . . . Shall we live to see 

 American oranges on the Valencia market itself?" We are producing 

 our own raisins, our prunes, our wines, our olive oil, and are sending 

 them abroad. California prunes now compete in Europe with Bosnian 

 prunes, once a staple export to New York. 



In the busy manufacturing district of Liege, Belgium, according 

 to the annual report of Consul Winslow, more American goods are 

 consumed than ever before, in spite of business depression. Our sales 

 in general, says Mr. Winslow, have doubled in the past three years, 

 and it is now common to see articles marked 'Americaine' in the shop 

 windows. Spanish journals complain that steel rails are imported from 

 the United States, notwithstanding the production of iron is one of 

 the important industries of Spain. Vice-Consul Wood, of Madrid, 

 says our goods are to be seen everywhere, and include such American 



• 'Advance Sheets,' No. 1043. 



