SECTION OF FOREIGN MARKETS. 105 



tries — Denmark, Sweden, and Norway — the intention l)eingto aj)pend 

 these tables as a part of that bulletin. It was found, however, that 

 their inclusion would make the report too large for convenience, and 

 they were accordingly made the subject-matter of a separate jjublica- 

 tion entitled "Our trade with Scandinavia," and issued as Bulletin 

 No. 22. This report gave a detailed statistical review of our trade 

 with Scandinavia from 1890 to 1900, inclusive, supplementing with 

 our own official statistics of importation and exportation the less 

 detailed Scandinavian records published in the prior bulletins, Nos.. 

 7, 8, and 9, relating to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, respectively. 



The value of the several reports regarding Scandinavian commerce 

 was considerably enhanced by the fact that little had previouslj^ been 

 printed in the English language on this subject. By the statistics 

 presented it was shown that these countries of northern Europe, and 

 especially Denmark, furnished interesting examples of aggressive 

 foreign-trade development. Their commerce with the United States 

 increased in value from $12,000,000 in 1890 to $34,000,000 in 1900, a 

 gain of nearly 200 per cent for ten years. 



Notwithstanding the fact that agriculture is a prominent industry 

 in Scandinavia, the United States marketed there during 1900 over 

 $20,000,000 worth of farm products, these products forming in value 

 about 70 per cent of our total domestic exports to that destination. 

 Indian corn, oil cake and oil-cake meal, cotton, oleo oil, lard, and 

 wheat and wheat flour were the principal items. 



REPORT SUMMARIZING OUR FOREIGN TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 



The usual summary report reviewing the annual import and export 

 trade of the United States in agricultural products, without detail as 

 to sources and destinations, was published as Bulletin No. 23. This 

 report analyzed the leading features of the returns for 1900 and com- 

 pared the statistics for that year with the figures for 1899 and preced- 

 ing years of the decade. 



With the single exception of 1898 the fiscal year 1900 witnessed the 

 largest exj)orts of farm produce from the United States ui3 to that 

 time recorded. The aggregate value of these exports was $845,000,000, 

 or within $15,000,000 of the exceptionally high figures for 1898. Com- 

 pared with 1899 the returns for 1900 showed a gain of more than 

 $50,000,000. This remarkable increase over 1899 was explained in 

 part, however, by the higher price of cotton, the exports of which, 

 although actually smaller than in 1899, advanced nearly $33,000,000 

 in total value. 



Next to cotton, the largest gains in value occurred in the exports of 

 meat products and live stock. Among the numerous other examples 

 of increase, tobacco, fruits and nuts, vegetable oils, oil cake and oil- 

 cake meal, seeds, and dairy i^roduets were the most conspicuous. 



Our agricultural imports for the fiscal year 1900 had an aggregate 

 value of $420,000,000, forming nearly 50 per cent of the entire import 

 trade. This record showed an increase of nearly $65,000,000 over the 

 figui-es of the year before, hides, silk, and wool being the leading 

 factors in this growth. Considerable gains weie also made in the 

 importation of vegetable fibers, sugar, and tobacco. 



REPORT ON THE SOURCES OF OUR AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS. 



Two years ago a report was published on the sources of the agricul- 

 tural imports of the United States, showing for 1894-1898 the annual 



