FOREIGN FISHERY-TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES. 435 



I.— THE BALANCE OF TRADE. 



Annual trade since 1820. — The extent of the foreign fishery-trade of 

 the United States is exhibited in Table 1, showing for a series of 74 

 years, ending June 30, 1894, the value of the fishery products imported 

 for consumption, the domestic exports, and the balance of trade each 

 year. For the years prior to 1869 it is impracticable to show with exact- 

 ness the imports for consumption during each year. Hence the differ- 

 ence between the total imports and the foreign exports is accepted as a 

 true statement of the imports for consumption. For convenience of 

 comparison the imports of fishery products and the foreign exports are 

 set forth in the first and second columns, respectively. 



The general statement of " imports " embraces all entries of imported 

 articles made at the custom-houses either for immediate consumption 

 or for warehouse. Of the warehouse entries, portions may be subse- 

 quently exported, and are then classed as foreign exports. 



The statement of "imports for consumption" includes the entries of 

 all articles for immediate consumption and the withdrawals from ware- 

 house for consumption in this country. 



The general statement of "imports" and the statement of "imports 

 for consumption " for any period always differ to the extent that the 

 quantity and value of entries for warehouse for the period differ from 

 the quantity and value of withdrawals from warehouse for consumption ; 

 and this for a series of years differs little from the extent of the foreign 

 exports. 



The term " imported for consumption" is a technical designation, and 

 does not necessarily imply that the goods were actually consumed, but 

 simply that they were delivered into the custody of the importer, and 

 that the duties have been paid. 1 



Whenever used in this report, unless otherwise stated, the term 

 "exports" comprises only domestic exports, and does not include 

 foreign merchandise transshipped in bond through this country. 



From 1821 to 1894, inclusive, the total imports for consumption aggre- 

 gated $152,735,501, and the domestic exports $274,090,530, an excess 

 over the imports for consumption of $121,301,029. The total imports 

 of fishery products during this period were valued at $167,422,617, and 

 the foreign exports at $14,339,675. 



These figures include not only the articles most generally classed as 

 products of the fisheries, such as all fresh, dried, pickled, and canned 

 fish and shellfish, marine oils, spermaceti, fish sounds and whalebone, 

 but also shells of marine mollusks, sponges, corals, seaweeds, amber- 

 gris, ambergris oil, etc. 



1 Commerce and Navigation of the United States, 1894, p. ix. 



