Problems of the Pacific 



3°7 



Pacific supply in great quantities the ar- 

 ticles which form and must always form 

 the bulk of our imports. However 

 much we may encourage and desire to 

 encourage home production, there are 

 certain articles required for food, drink, 

 and manufacturing which we must al- 

 ways import in increasing quantities 

 as our population grows and the prod- 

 ucts of their workshops are multiplied. 

 The manufacture of silk in our own 

 factories has increased enormously, but 

 the supply of the raw material is entirely 

 drawn from abroad, and the importation 

 of raw silk has grown from a half mil- 

 lion pounds in 1870 to over 12 million 

 pounds in 1901 ; and in no part of the 

 world is silk produced so successfully 

 as in the countries bordering upon the 

 Pacific. The importation of fibers for 

 use in manufacturing has grown from 

 less than 100 million pounds in 1870 to 

 nearly 600 million pounds in 1901, and 

 the best qualities of fibers come from 

 the countries and islands fronting upon 

 or adjacent to the Pacific. India rubber 

 importations for use in manufacturing 

 have grown from less than 10 million 

 pounds to 55 million pounds during the 

 same period ; and the countries and 

 islands fronting upon the Pacific are 

 increasing their production of this arti- 

 cle. Tea imports have increased 50 per 

 cent since 1870, and practically all of 

 the world's tea comes from the Orient. 

 Coffee importations have grown from 

 235 million pounds in 1870 to over a 

 billion pounds in 1901, and the best 

 coffee that the world knows comes from 

 the islands of the Pacific. Sugar im- 

 portations have increased from a little 

 over a billion pounds in 1870 to 4J4 

 billion pounds in 1901, and about one- 

 third of this now comes from the Pacific 

 countries and islands ; and the produc- 

 tion there is capable of indefinite in- 

 crease. While it is probable and to be 

 hoped that our own people will in time 

 produce their own sugar, it is our duty 

 to consider present conditions and those 



of the near future in determining the 

 source of supply of this very important 

 article, the importation of which alone 

 amounted to $100,000,000 in value last 

 year. To this list of articles for which 

 we rely upou the tropics, I might add 

 many others, such as tropical fruits and 

 nuts, vegetable oils, spices, cabinet woods, 

 dyes and dye- woods, gums and numerous 

 others. Our total importation of trop- 

 ical and subtropical products last year 

 amounted to almost $400,000,000, or 

 nearly one-half of our total importations. 

 The importance of having a close com- 

 mercial relationship w r ith the countries 

 producing the great articles which we 

 so largely import and must always bring 

 from abroad will be better realized when 

 it is remembered that the United States 

 consumes practically one-half of the 

 cane sugar produced in the world, more 

 than one-half of the world's production 

 of coffee, nearly one-half of its produc- 

 tion of India rubber, and about one- 

 fourth of its production of raw silk. 

 On the other hand, the equal impor- 

 tance to these Asiatic countries of a 

 close trading relationship with the 

 United States is also found in the fact 

 that these articles which we must have 

 form their chief products for exporta- 

 tion, and that they naturally desire to 

 be in close commercial relationship with 

 the country which is the greatest con- 

 sumer of their chief products for ex- 

 portation. For these reasons the estab- 

 lishment of direct transportation routes 

 and close commercial relations is of equal 

 importance to the Orient and to the con- 

 sumers of the United States. 



Turning now to the question of the 

 market offered to our producers and 

 manufacturers, we find conditions in 

 the Orient equally important. Imports 

 into the countries fronting upon and 

 adjacent to the Pacific, other than the 

 United States, aggregate nearly as much 

 as the entire exportations of this coun- 

 try. The imports of China are, in round 

 terms, 190 million dollars ; Japan, 140 



