COMMERCE OF MEXICO AND THE UNITED 



STATES 



By Hon. O. P. Austin, 

 Chief of Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department 



COMMERCE between the United 

 States and Mexico has made 

 very rapid gains since the estab- 

 lishment of rail communications be- 

 tween the two countries. Prior to that 

 time European countries.enjoyed a large 

 share of the import trade of Mexico, 

 the exports from France and the United 

 Kingdom ranging from five to ten mill- 

 ion dollars per annum each, and those 

 from Spain averaging about one million 

 dollars annually, and those of German}' 

 less than a million dollars. With the 

 construction of railways giving close 

 communication between Mexico and the 

 United States, shipments from the 

 United States into Mexico rapidly in- 

 creased and quickly outgrew those from 

 European countries. 



In 1890 exports from the United 

 States to Mexico were a little above 

 thirteen million dollars, those from the 

 United Kingdom and France each about 

 ten millions, Germany three and a half 

 millions, and Spain nearly two millions. 

 As the railway lines from the United 

 States extended farther into Mexico 

 and the number of lines multiplied, the 

 exports from the United States to that 

 country grew to fifteen million dollars 

 in 1895, twenty-three millions in 1897, 

 twenty-five millions in 1899, thirty-four 

 millions in 1900, and thirty-six millions 

 in iqoi. 



Meantime the exports from the United 

 Kingdom to Mexico, which were $9, 

 794,000 in 1890, fell to $8,056,000 in 

 1895, and have in the last two years 

 shown a slight reaction, being in 1900 

 $10,506,000. From France the exports, 

 which in 1890 were $10,777,000, fell to 



$7,498,000 in 1895 and $7,060,133 in 

 1899. From Germany the exports to 

 Mexico were in 1890 $3,544,000 and in 

 1899 $5,372,000; from Spain in 1890, 

 $1,797,000 and in 1899 $1,891,000. 



Thus it will be seen that the United 

 States has, since the creation of a satis- 

 factory railway system connecting this 

 country with Mexico, made much more 

 rapid gains in her trade with that coun- 

 try than any of the other parts of the 

 world from which Mexico formerly ob- 

 tained a large share of her imports. 

 Exports from the United States to 

 Mexico in 1900 were two and a half 

 times as much as in 1890, while those 

 from the United Kingdom show an in- 

 crease of about 50 per cent, those from 

 France a considerable decrease, those 

 from Germany an increase of about 50 

 per cent, and those from Spain show 

 little change. The United States now 

 supplies considerably more than one- 

 half of the imports of Mexico, and takes 

 about one-third of her exports of mer- 

 chandise, not including in this term her 

 exports of precious metals, which nearly 

 equal in value those of merchandise. 



The principal imports into the United 

 States from Mexico are sisal grass, used 

 as a substitute for hemp in the manu- 

 facture of ropes, twine, etc. ; coffee, 

 copper, lead, hides and skins, and cattle. 

 The impjrts of sisal grass in 1900 

 amounted to over eleven million dollars 

 in value, having grown from a little 

 more than four million dollars in 1891. 

 Coffee imports into the United States 

 from Mexico amounted in 1900 to a 

 little over three million dollars; copper, 

 including ore, three and a half millions ; 



