664 



PORTO RICO. 



PORTUGAL. 



Chamber of Commerce contained the following 

 points of objection : That it is not a reciprocity 

 treaty, but a treaty for the purpose of coming 

 to the assistance of the bankrupt Cuban land- 

 owners, and of making the island a source of 

 revenue to Spain at the expense of the United 

 States; that we relinquish $30,000,000 of an- 

 nual revenue against $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 

 sacrificed by Cuba, merely benefiting a small 

 population of 2,000,000 souls having a large 

 productive but small consumptive capacity, 

 while we are a people with a population of 

 55,000,000 of great purchasing capacity ; that 

 the treaty would not be very important to 

 American manufacturers, as the countries 

 thrown open to their products are too small 

 and buy too little; that it would be fairer to 

 reduce the duties on Spanish West India sugar 



10 per cent, if imported under the American 

 flag, instead of abolishing the duty altogeth- 

 er and placing Spanish vessels on a par with 

 ours; that the treaty would ruin American 

 sugar-planters outright, in whose industry 

 $100,000,000 are invested ; that it would not 

 cheapen sugar in this country, since the Span- 

 ish West Indies would not sell their sugar 

 cheaper than other producing countries; and 

 that thousands of American workmen would 

 be thrown out of employ at a time when they 

 are least able to compete with coolie labor. 



Commerce. The amount of domestic mer- 

 chandise exported to the Spanish West Indies 

 from the United States during the fiscal year 

 1883, as compared with the export thither 

 from England in 1883, and from France and 

 Spain in 1882, was as follows : 



*1888. 



The item "manufacture? of iron and steel " ex- 

 ported from the United States is so very large, 

 comparatively, because it includes machinery 

 used in the manufacture of sugar, a branch of 

 industry in which the United States have ac- 

 quired an acknowledged superiority in supply- 

 ing those islands. The peninsular and foreign 

 trade movement in Porto Rico for two years 

 was : 



The official returns of the export movement 

 in leading staples were as follow : 



The principal imports into the United States 

 from Porto Rico in 1884 were: 138,382,724 

 Ibs. of sugar, valued at $5,162,287, and 6,325,- 

 088 gallons of molasses, at $1.634,782. 



In 1883 there entered Porto Rican ports 

 1,907 vessels, of a joint tonnage of 1,227,853; 

 cleared, 1,707, of 1,113,383 tons. 



PORTUGAL, a monarchy in southern Europe. 

 The members of the House of Peers are nomi- 

 nated for life by the King. The deputies 



