SECTION OF FOREIGN MARKETS. 167 



CIRCULAR ON AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. 



In order to permit a more general distribution of the leading facts 

 printed in Bulletin No. 23, some statistics prepared for that report 

 were afterwards published in a small pamphlet issued as Circular 

 No. 23. 



TESTIMONY BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION. 



At the invitation of the United States Industrial Commission, the 

 chief of the Section appeared before that body as a witness on the 

 subject of our agricultural export trade. His testimony dealt largely 

 with trade methods and conditions, pointing out in particular certain 

 obstacles that confront our exporters of farm produce, and offering 

 some suggestions with regard to possible remedies. As these mat- 

 ters had not been so fully covered in the publications of the Section, 

 it was recommended by the Editor of the Department that the testi- 

 mony be reprinted and issued as a departmental report. This plan 

 was carried out during the past year, the testimony in question being 

 published as Report No. 67 of the Department, under the title "For- 

 eign markets for American agricultural products." 



AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS DURING 1901. 



From statistics recently compiled by the Section, it appears that the 

 past fiscal year was marked bj^ the largest agricultural export trade in 

 our history, the value of the domestic farm produce marketed abroad 

 during the twelve months ended June 30, 1901, exceeding the enor- 

 mous sum of $950,000,000. The largest previous value was that for 

 the fiscal year 1898, amounting to $859,000,000. Next to these fig- 

 ures the highest record occurred in 1900, when farm products worth 

 $845,000,000 were sent abroad. Compared with the exports for 1900, 

 the increase during 1901 was quite extraordinary, amounting to 

 $105,000,000. 



The products that contributed most to the remarkable gain of the 

 past fiscal year were cotton, wheat, cattle, lard, hams, cotton-seed 

 oil, and fresh beef. Our exports of cotton for 1901 had a value of 

 $315,000,000, showing an increase of $72,000,000 over the figures for 

 1900. In the wheat exports there was a gain of $24,000,000, the 

 value for 1901 advancing to $97,000,000. The exports of cattle rose to 

 $38,000,000, showing an increase of $7,000,000 for 1901. In the case 

 of lard there was an advance of $5,000,000, the record for 1901 being 

 $47,000,000. The exports of hams, of cotton-seed oil, and of fresh 

 beef showed in each instance a gain of over $2,000,000, the value of 

 the hams sent abroad advancing to nearly $23,000,000, that of the 

 fresh beef to $32,000,000, and that of the cotton-seed oil to $17,000,000. 



Other items in our agricultural export trade, the value of which 

 increased more than $1,000,000 during 1901, were oil cake and oil-cake 

 meal, wheat flour, salted or pickled pork, oleo oil, horses, and sheep. 



TRADE WITH INSULAR DEPENDENCIES. 



Some statistics have also been compiled by the Section relative to 

 the trade in agricultural products carried on during the past fiscal 

 year between the United States and the new insular dependencies, 

 with the exception of the Hawaiian Islands. Unfortunately, no offi- 

 cial returns are now made of the exports from the United States proper 



