128 



COMMERCE (FOREIGN) OF THE UNITED STATES. 



raw products of the United States which have 

 a prospect of a more extensive consumption 

 in Great Britain are notably maize, petroleum, 

 and fresh meat and fruits. The increase in the 

 consumption of maize in the British islands for 

 the last few years has been remarkable. In 

 1857 there were only 125,000 tons of Indian 

 corn imported into Great Britain, and there 

 was no considerable augmentation in the im- 

 portations until, in 1868, in consequence of the 

 poor harvest, the quantity was doubled, and in 



1875 it had risen to 600,000 tons. In 1876, 

 after another failure of the wheat crop, it sud- 

 denly rose again to 1,300,000 tons. The pos- 

 sibilities of the trade of America with Great 

 Britain and with the rest of Europe in this ar- 

 ticle, which furnishes a wholesome food at a 

 little more than half the cost of wheaten bread 

 at present prices, are attracting attention on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. The usual crop 

 in the United States is more than 20 times the 

 large importation into the British isles in 1876. 

 The consumption of petroleum in England is 

 rapidly increasing, the importations for the 

 first seven months of 1877 being 940,000, 

 against 523,000 in 1876, and 334,000 in 

 1875, during the same period. The business of 

 shipping dressed meat to England by steam- 

 ships in large refrigerators commenced in 

 April, 1876, and reached its largest develop- 

 ment in the same month of the succeeding 

 year, when 11,708 beeves were shipped. The 

 enterprise has been watched with much inter- 

 est on both sides of the Atlantic. The arrange- 

 ments of the cool-air chambers were costly, so 

 that the business became unprofitable after a 

 rise in beef. Many live cattle were afterward 

 shipped. The meat was liked by the English, 

 and the hopes of the "Western stock-growers for 

 a larger market, and of the English public for 

 cheaper meat, were awakened, although the 

 dressed cattle could not bring the price of 

 fresh-killed beef. Another method of preserv- 

 ing meat, in dried air without refrigeration, has 

 been successfully tried in a voyage of 112 days 

 from the river De la Plata, in South America, 

 to Havre. Another business which may be 

 greatly improved by superior appliances for 

 transportation is the export of ripe fruit ; the 

 shipments of apples from the large crop of 



1876 were seven-fold the quantity sent the 

 preceding year, and there is a steady demand 

 in England for the entire surplus of the finer 

 varieties of this fruit ; other fruits can now be 

 shipped, and a market will probably be found 

 for them. The export of canned fruit is also 

 on the increase. The export of dried fruit, 

 especially of apples, attained, in the last fiscal 

 year, unprecedented dimensions, being 20 times 

 as great as in 1876 ; this extension was on 

 account of the cheapness of the fruit, five to 

 seven^ cents per pound exporting-price. The 

 whole fruit-export in 1876-'77 exceeded by over 

 75 per cent, that of any previous year, and has 

 grown from less than one-quarter of a million 

 in 1862 to nearly 3 million dollars. 



American trade with Germany has shown a 

 favorable balance of about 10 million dollars on 

 an average for the last five years. In the year 

 1876 the imports from that country amount- 

 ed to $35,488,117, and the exports thither to 

 $51,107,147 about 5 per cent, of the total im- 

 port commerce of the Zollverein leaving a 

 balance of 15^ millions in favor of the United 

 States. Very gratifying is the growth in the 

 exportation of manufactures, which class has 

 increased from $1,550,000 in 1872 to $5,246,- 



000 in 1876. The consul-general at Berlin re- 

 ports, among the articles whose sale is increas- 

 ing : Hickory wheels, ventilators, steam-pumps, 

 gas-fittings, portable steame-ngines, clocks, and 

 kitchen-utensils. Among the salable articles 

 are fine castings, edge-tools, saws, augers, and 

 other hand-implements, although generally 

 dearer than the German makes, pressed glass- 

 ware, and shoes and leather. The attention 

 of the German public has been attracted to 

 the American leather industry and shoe-making 

 machinery since the Philadelphia World's Fair, 

 and newly through an international exposition 

 of leather products held at Berlin in 1877. The 

 market for American agricultural machinery is 

 of old standing, but it has been damaged of 

 late by the sending of inferior articles. The 

 American consul at Leipsic mentions, among 

 the products of American industry which are 

 sought after there, tools, gold pens and fan- 

 cy writing-utensils, shirting, and silver-plated 

 ware. Among the imports into the port of 

 Hamburg from the United States for the cal- 

 endar year 1875, amounting to over 20 million 

 dollars, the following are the chief items: Lard, 

 cotton, leather, furs and skins, raw tobacco, 

 machinery, cured meats, cigars, petroleum, 

 sewing-machines, copper, clover-seed, tallow, 

 coffee, logwood extract, resin, hides. Of these, 

 lard figures for about 3 millions; cotton, 2 

 millions ; leather, If million ; salt meats, over 



1 million; furs, machinery, cigars, and petro- 

 leum, under 1 million; sewing-machines, about 

 half a million. The exports from Germany 

 to the United States, declared at the consu- 

 lar agencies, cover a wide range of manufac- 

 tured products, the chief classes being, in 1876, 

 hosiery, dress-goods, leather wares, ribbons, 

 woolens, silks, velvet and plush, chemicals and 

 dyes, and gloves. The consul reported that 

 the trade between the port of Hamburg and 

 the United States had increased considerably 

 in the year 1877. 



American trade with France differs from 

 that with the two countries above mentioned, 

 in that it invariably shows an adverse, though 

 at present a declining, balance, which has aver- 

 aged 4 million dollars in an average total trade 

 of 102 millions in the last four years. As is the 

 case with Germany, and, in a somewhat less de- 

 gree, with England, the largest part of the im- 

 ports from France are fine manufactures and 

 duty-paying commodities. The dutiable and 

 free imports from France, in 1876, were 47 

 and 4 million dollars respectively ; from Ger- 



