SECTION OF FOREIGN MARKETS. 269 



tion of a report on our trade with Japan, China, and Hongkong. In 

 this report, which was published as Bulletin No. 18 of the Section, 

 statistics were presented in the gi-eatest i^ossible detail as to the char- 

 acter and value of the merchandise exported from the United States 

 to Japanese and Chinese poi-ts, including Hongkong, and also as 

 regards our imports from those destinations, during the years 1889- 

 1899. 



By the statistics of importation and exportation quoted in the report 

 it was shown that the total value of the goods exchanged had increased 

 from $4G,0()0,0()0 in 1889 to 187,000,000 in 1899. The growth occurred 

 chiefly in the exports from the United States. While our total annual 

 imports in the trade with Japan, China, and Hongkong during 1889- 

 1899 advanced in value from $35,000,000 to $48, 000, 000, 'making a gain 

 of about 40 per cent, our total exports rose from $11,000,000 to 

 $39,000,000, which was a gain of over 250 per cent. 



AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS TO EASTERN ASIA. 



Of the domestic merchandise shipped during 1899 to the three des- 

 tinations mentioned, full}' 40 per cent consisted of agricultural i^rod- 

 uce, whereas in 1889 products of the farm constituted only about 25 

 per cent. The value of the agricultural exports for 1899 amounted to 

 nearly $1(3,000,000, as compared with less than $3,000,000 for 1889. 



Cotton and wheat flour comprised the principal part of these exports. 

 Other products of American agriculture sent to eastern Asia in con- 

 siderable quantities were dairy products, canned and cured beef, and 

 canned fruits. 



COTTON. 



The cotton shipments went chiefly to Japan, where the manufacture 

 of cotton fabrics has become one of the leading industries. During the 

 last few years the exportation of United States cotton to su[)ply raw 

 material for the Japanese mills developed with astonishing rapidity. 

 Prior to 1889 no consignments to Japan were recorded. During that 

 year 23,500 j)onnds were shipped, the value being $2,341. In the fol- 

 lowing year, 1890, the exports increased to 841,959 pounds, worth 

 $85,211. By 1894, a half decade later, they had advanced to 4,801,595 

 pounds, worth 1360,492, and in 1899 they amounted to 91,367,051 

 pounds, with a value of $5,775,784. 



The increased importance Japan has so rapidly assumed as a mar- 

 ket for raw cotton is strikingly shown by the fact that in 1888 the 

 total imports into that country from all sources bareh" exceeded 

 30,000,000 pounds, while in 1898, the latest year for which the Jap- 

 anese returns of importation are available, they amounted to moi'e 

 than 300,000,000 j^ounds. From these figures, it will be seen that the 

 import demand was ten times as great at the close of the decade as 

 at its beginning. 



In 1888 American cotton was hardly known in the Japanese mar- 

 ket; in 1898, according to the import statistics of Japan, about a third 

 of the total importation into that country came from the United States. 

 The Japanese cotton manufacturers formerly procured their raw 

 material chiefly from India and China, but at present they are turn- 

 ing their attention more largelj' to the United States as a source of 

 supply, and the probability is that the remarkable growth the past few 

 5'ears have witnessed in our shipments of cotton across the Pacific 

 will be followed by a still further increase. 



