20 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



states to the islands of Oceania are considerable, with every prospect 

 for more in the future. The following statistics show exports in 

 1913, all of the figures being in dollars: 



Destination Spirits o£ turpentine Uosin Tar and pitch 



Australia ?279,700 $267,344 Sl,299 



New Zealand fiS.079 40,559 26 



Dutch Islands l.l.'iC lOl.OO.'i 



French Islands 7f)l 1,135 37 



British Islands 341 



German Islands 48 23 



Considerably more than one million dollars' worth of agricultural 

 implements go annually to Oceania. The principal items are hay 

 rakes, mowers, reajjcrs, planters, seeders, plows, cultivators, threshers, 

 and various others. Australia took, in 1913, the value of $822,363, 

 New Zealand, $294,787, the Dutch islands, $2,254, British islands 

 $3,122, and French islands $80; total $1,122,606. 



The exports of carriages and wagons from this country for the 

 same year are here sho«Ti : 



Auslralui $10,9S0 



British Islands 7,403 



New Zealand 0.080 



Dutch Island.^ 4,097 



French Islands 2,743 



German Islands 978 



German Islands. 



1,622 



Total 



.S31.2SI 



In 1913 the United States exported to Oceania musical instruments 

 to the value of $213,339, consisting of organs, pianos, player pianos, 

 .md piano players. The value of the organs was $87,427. Shipments 

 went to the following destinations: 



-Vustralia S199,S97 



New Zealand 12,186 



French Islands 1,023 



British Islands 127 



German Islands, 10(1 



Total 



..?213,3.i'i 



Shipments of musical instruments to Oceania compare favorably 

 with those to other jiarts of the world. The largest sales in Oceania 

 have heretofore been made V>y Germany. 



Exports of cooperage and box shocks to the islands in 1913 were 

 worth $107,355. Box shooks to Australia were valued at $7,959, and 

 to the French islands $2,120. Australia bought $198 worth of barrel 

 shooks, $1,347 of heading, and $27,.521 of staves. New Zealand's 

 purchases of staves were valued nt $373. Other cooperafie was ex- 

 ported as follows: 



Australia .<;."i!).(i36 



New Zealand 7,144 



French Islands 767 



German Islands 200 



British Islands 90 



Our exports of furniture totaled $454,663, of which all but about 

 $12,000 worth was bought by Australia and New Zealand. The re- 

 mainder went to the Dutch, French and German islands. 



Australia and New Zealand last year purchased incubators and 

 brooders from manufacturers in the United States to the value of 

 $30,601. 



Woodenware was exported as follows: Australia took $54,683, 

 New Zealand $9,666, and all other British islands $110; total $64,459. 



The following values represent the exports of doors, sash, and 

 blinds from the United States to Oceania in 1913: 



.Vustralia .$14,892 



French Islands 3,767 



German Islands 2,560 



2,365 



: 1,694 



New Zealand 

 British Islands. 



Total 525,27.'* 



House trimming, interior finish, and stairwork were shipped to the 

 value of $104,218, all of which went to Australia and New Zealand 

 except the value of $890. 



Miscellaneous coirimodities of wood were exporteil as follows last 

 year : 



.\ustralia .«:!!15,ril 



New Zealand 116,694 



French Islands g 744 



British Islands .■...!.■ 3.964 



Total $526,634 



Total Exports 



By the addition of the foregoing items of export it may be shown 

 that manufacturers of the United States, in 1913, shipped forest 

 products to Oceania to the value of $7,683,898. That does not include 

 shipments to the Philippines, Hawaii, and other islands in the Pacific 

 ocean which belong to the United States. If figures were included 

 for those islands, the total would be materially increased. 



The exporters of American lumber and other forest products to the 

 islands of the Pacific ocean have competition to meet from many 

 quarters, but chiefly from the islands themselves. All of the inhabited 

 lands possess forests of some kind, and this timber is employed for 

 local purposes, and to that extent shuts out imports. Some timber is 

 brought to the islands from Japan and the continent of Asia. The 

 American exporter is able to secure and hold markets there only so far 

 as he is able to meet competition. There is no open field, waiting for 

 the first comer. The lumber trade with America has been built up 

 slowly ; but it is on a substantial basis with prospects of steady 

 growth ns population increases. 



Long Distances 



One of the important facts to consider in the trade between the 

 United States and Oceania is the great distances which separate 

 our ports from the markets which we are desirous of reaching. The 

 routes are long. The nearest islands of Oceania lie nearly as far from 

 our shores as Europe from America, and the remotest are nearly 

 half way round the world. Fortunately, ocean transportation is 

 cheap. The loading and unloading of vessels costs no more for a 

 voyage of ten thousand miles than for a hundred miles. 



Heretofore, practically all of the lumber which Americans have 

 sent to Oceania has gone from our Pacific coast ports, and it has con- 

 sisted largely of Douglas fir and redwood. These are soft woods, of 

 a clafs with which Oceania is not well supplied b.y its own forests. 



Harilwood lumber from the United States has never gained any 

 foothold on those islands. In the first place, they have much hard 

 wood of their own, and in the second place, the hardwoods of the 

 United States grow east of the Rocky Mountains and it has been 

 expensive to send them to the markets of Oceania, because it was 

 necessary first to ship them by rail to the Pacific coast before placing 

 them on board of vessels for the long ocean voyage. 



That handicap on our hardwoods has now been in part removed 

 by the opening of the Panama Canal. Cargoes from the Atlantic and 

 Gulf ports can go unbroken from origin to destination. It remains to 

 be seen what effect this will have on hardwood lumber exports from 

 this country to Pacific islands. It is doubtful if much more hard- 

 wood rough lumber will go than heretofore, but there ought to be a 

 large increase in manufactured products. It should be possible to 

 build up trade in hardwood flooring, furniture, fixtures, interior fin- 

 ish, musical instruments, woodenware, cooperage, and vehicles. A 

 good start has already been made in all of these lines. As the popula- 

 tion of the islands increases, our exports of manufactured forest prod- 

 ucts ought to grow. The hardwooil manufacturer's opportunity lies 

 in that direction. The Pacific coast softwoods will probably continue 

 to go in the rough form about as heretofore, except that gradual 

 increase of business should take place. 



Prospective Trade 



The total land area of Oceania is more than a million square miles 

 greater than that of the United States, and its population about 

 half as large. More than half of the population of all Oceania is in 

 the single island of Java, which is about as large as Alabama. Its 

 population exceeds that of Australia nearly six fold, although Aus- 

 tralia is fifty times as large. 



The case of Java is cited as an examjile of the enormous population 

 which some parts of Oceania are capable of sustaining when fully 

 lieveloped. Even .lava is only one-fourth under cultivation; but it 

 lias long been at peace, and the people are industrious. They sell 

 $56,000,000 worth of sugar n year, besides many other things which 

 the land produces. Other islands, as fertile as Java, are ,iust emerg- 

 ing from savagery, notably Sumatra. Borneo, New Guinea, the Fi.iis, 



