734 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



lines of manufacture. The aggregate imports of 

 these four classes were $110,000,000 in value, against 

 $97,000,000 in 1897, $65.000,000 in 1896. $97,000,000 

 in 1895, and $69,000,000 in 1894. In the important 

 group of manufactures comprising silks, cotton, 

 wool, and other textile fabrics, leather, china, and 

 glassware, iron and steel goods, and chemicals, the 

 total imports for 1898 were $40,000,000 below those 

 of 1897, $88,000,000 below those of 1895, and $100,- 

 000,000 below those of 1890. The total imports of 

 articles of food and live animals for the calendar 

 year 1898 were about $186,000,000; articles in a 

 crude condition for domestic industry, $199,000,000 ; 

 manufactured articles for use in the mechanic arts, 

 $59,000,000: finished manufactures for consump- 

 tion, $106,000.000: articles of voluntary use, lux- 

 uries, etc., $84,000,000. The approximate values of 

 the different categories of domestic exports for the 

 calendar year were $855,000,000 for agricultural 

 products, $25,000,000 for mining products, $39,000,- 

 000 for forest products, $5,500,000 for fishery prod- 

 ucts, $306,000,000 for manufactures, and $3,500,- 

 000 for miscellaneous products. 



The falling off shown in the import tables was 

 due mainly to a fall in values, but there was also 

 an actual decline in quantities. The imports of 

 sugar were nearly 1,000,000 pounds less than in 



1897, with a decrease in the value imported of 

 nearly $10,000,000. Of this and many other articles 

 there had been in the early part of 1897 abnormally 

 large importations in anticipation of the new tariff. 

 The importation of coffee in 1898 was not less in 

 quantity than in 1897, but the value was 25 per cent, 

 less, being $54.000,000, compared with $80.000,000 

 in 1895 and $96,000,000 in 1896, when the quantities 

 imported were not as great by 20 per cent., the 

 price having fallen to less than half what it was in 

 those years. Tea imports were about two thirds 

 of those of the preceding year, with a loss in value 

 of $3,000,000. There was a falling off of imports of 

 articles in a crude condition for domestic manufac- 

 ture, attributable principally to the importation of 

 only 159,776,482 pounds of foreign wools, the antici- 

 patory importation of 356,849,482 pounds in 1896, 

 two years' supply, not having been exhausted. In 

 the class -of articles wholly or partly manufactured 

 there was a decline of $22,000,000, compared with 

 the preceding year. 



The imports of gold coin and bullion for the 

 calendar year were $158,036,252 and the exports 

 $16,194,95*4, leaving a net importation of $141,841,- 

 298, against a net exportation of $255,808 for 1897, 

 an importation of $46,474.369 for 1896, and an 

 exportation for the years anterior to that of $70,- 

 571,010 in 1895, $80,499,128 in 1894, $6,709,151 in 

 1893, $59,081,110 in 1892, $34,116,471 in 1891, $3,- 

 832,984 in 1890, and $38,928,828 in 1889. The im- 

 ports of silver for the year ending Dec. 31, 1898, 

 were $29,029,724 and the exports $53,797,104, giving 

 a net exportation of $24,767,380, against $25,578,- 

 990 in 1897, $33,777,001 in 1896. and $42,547,146 in 

 1895. 



Shipping. During the fiscal year there were 

 built 952 merchant vessels, of 180,458 tons, com- 

 pared with 991 vessels, of 232,233 tons, during 1897. 

 The decrease in construction was mostly on the 

 Great Lakes, where the new tonnage amounted to 

 54,084 tons, compared with 116,937 tons in 1897. 

 On the Pacific coast, where the Alaskan Pacific and 

 river trade called for new vessels, there was an in- 

 crease from 7,495 to 49,780 tons in the tonnage 

 built. The number of vessels engaged in foreign 

 trade belonging to the United States on June 30, 



1898, was 1.084, of 726,213 tons, of which 303 were 

 steamers, of 290,241 tons, and 738 were sailing ves- 

 sels, of 424.950 tons, and 43 were barges, of 11,022 

 Ions. There were 20,090 vessels, of 3,959,702 tons, 



engaged in the coasting trade, of which 6,400 were 

 steamers, of 2,077,859 tons, 11,406 were sailing ves- 

 sels, of 1,350,877 tons, 660 were canal boats, of 74,- 

 640 tons, and 1,624 were barges of 456,326 tons. The 

 total number of registered vessels was 22,705, of 

 which 6,712 were steamers ; aggregate tonnage, 

 4,749,738 tons. 



Reciprocity with France. An agreement be- 

 tween France and the United States was concluded 

 under the third clause of the Dingley tariff in Wash- 

 ington on May 28. The French duty on manu- 

 factured and prepared pork products was fixed at 

 50 francs per 100 kilos, and on lard and its compo- 

 nents at 25 francs, while table fruit, canned meats, 

 dried or pressed fruits, logs, paving blocks, staves, 

 and hops pay the minimum French rates. The re- 

 duced rates made in the American tariff in favor of 

 France are 5 per cent, ad valorem for argols, $1.75 

 a gallon for brandy and spirits, 15 per cent, ad va- 

 lorem for works of art, and 35 cents a gallon for 

 still wines and vermouth. 



Anglo-American Commission. Sir Wilfrid 

 Laurier, going to Washington in December, 1897, 

 advocated a conference for the settlement of all out- 

 standing differences between the United States and 

 Canada. Great Britain declined to suspend pelagic 

 sealing pending negotiations, which were therefore 

 dropped for the time, and Congress prohibited im- 

 portation of sealskins taken in North Pacific waters. 

 Negotiations were, however, resumed in April, and 

 on May 30, 1898. an agreement to create a commis- 

 sion charged with the task of considering all sub- 

 jects in controversy and framing a treaty to adjust 

 all differences was concluded by Sir Julian Paunce- 

 fote and Sir Louis Davis, Canadian Minister of Ma- 

 rine, representing Great Britain, and John W. Fos- 

 ter and John A. Kasson, acting on behalf of {he 

 United States. A protocol referring all Canadian 

 questions to an international commission of ten 

 members was signed at Washington on June 21. 

 One more member was added on each side in order 

 to have Newfoundland represented. The commis- 

 sioners met at Quebec on Aug. 25. Charles W. Fair- 

 banks, Nelson Dingley, George Gray. John A. Kas- 

 son, John W. Foster, and T. Jefferson Coolidge rep- 

 resented the United States; Lord John Charlton 

 Herschell, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Richard Cart- 

 right, Sir Louis Davies, and Sir James Winter, of 

 Newfoundland, were the British representatives. 

 On the retirement of Senator Gray in September, he 

 having been appointed on the Peace Commission in 

 Paris, the President nominated in his place Charles 

 James Faulkner. The seal fisheries, the Alaska 

 boundary, and commercial reciprocity were the 

 most important of the questions discussed. Other 

 matters to be investigated were the transshipment 

 of fish in bond from Canadian waters in the North 

 Atlantic, protection of fisheries on the Great Lakes. 

 the alien labor laws, and the transportation of the 

 troops of either country through the territory of the 

 other. On Oct. 10 the commission adjourned, to 

 meet again in Washington on Nov. 1. The Ameri- 

 can commissioners asked that the Canadian Gov- 

 ernment set aside the preferential tariff rates of 25 

 per cent, in favor of Great Britain as a condition of 

 commercial reciprocity. The Americans declined 

 to make lumber free, though the duty on lumber 

 might be reduced, also that on live animals. On 

 the fisheries question Canada offered enlarged 

 rights to American fishermen in return for the free 

 admission of Canadian fish into the United States. 

 The Canadians accepted the proposal of the United 

 States that pelagic sealing- should be prohibited 

 altogether, the United States compensating the 

 sealers by purchasing their vessels and outfits at an 

 appraised value. The amount awarded to Canadian 

 claimants on account of seizures in Bering Sea, 



