380 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



IMPORTS OF FOREST PRODUCTS. 



Notwithstanding tlie immense timber areas of tlie United States, a 

 larger sum is annually expended in the importation of forest products 

 than is received in payment for such products exported. This is 

 because of oiir extensive requirements as regards certain articles 

 yielded only by the forests of the Tropics. Our imports of forest 

 products during 1902 were valued at about $60,000,000. With the 

 exception of about $13,000,000 worth of lumber, most of which was 

 supplied by Canada, these imports consisted chiefly of articles that 

 are derived from tropical countries and can not be produced in the 

 United States. India rubber, of which there were imports valued at 

 nearly $25,000,000, ranked foremost in this class of articles. Forest 

 gums comprised another item of leading importance, the import value 

 amounting to about $8,000,000. There was also a considerable impor- 

 tation of cabinet woods, and especially of mahogany, the principal 

 part of which came from Central America, Mexico, and Cuba. 



It is quite probable that before many years the island dependencies 

 of the United States lying within the Tropics, and particularly the 

 Philippine Islands, will supply a large part of the tropical forest 

 products we are now obliged to import from foreign sources. 



TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS DURING 1902. 



Although final returns as to the foreign trade of the United States 

 during the fiscal j^ear 1902 are not yet completed, the office has pre- 

 pared from preliminary figures a compilation showing that our agricul- 

 tural exports for the year mentioned had a value of about $860,000,000 

 and our agricultural imports a value of about $410,000,000. 



AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS. 



Compared with the record-breaking figures of the preceding year, 

 the agricultural export value for 1902 discloses a rather marked 

 decline. Next to the exceptional record for 1901, however, it is the 

 largest value ever reported, being decidedly above the average of the 

 decade. 



The decline from the high mark reached by our agricultural exports 

 in 1901 was principally due to the fact that a serious shortage in the 

 corn crop left a comparatively small supply of this imi^ortant export 

 grain available for shipment to foreign markets. Our exports of corn 

 during 1902 amounted in value to onlj^ $16,000,000, while in 1901 we 

 sent abroad consignments worth nearly 183,000,000. The loss to our 

 trade through the diminished shipment of this product alone exceeded 

 $66,000,000. 



Aside from the extraordinaiy falling off in corn exportation, the 

 most noticeable instance of decline occurred in the value of cotton 

 shipments. Our cotton exports for 1902 had a value of $292,000,000, 

 or about $23,000,000 less than the figures recorded in 1901. when there 

 were shipments worth $315,000,000. 



Other products of agriculture exported less extensively during 1902 

 than in the year before were cattle, fresh beef, bacon, tallow, oats, 

 wheat flour, cotton-seed oil, and fruits and nuts. 



While the export trade in wheat flour, which was one of the prod- 

 ucts just mentioned, showed a rather large falling off last year, our 

 shipments of wheat in the grain increased quite materiall}', the export 



