168 
In view of the recent development of trade relations be- 
tween the United States and Central American countries, it 
may be interesting to note that a report compiled by the 
Government of Honduras gives the total value of cotton 
manufactures imported into that country during the year 
1907 as about $700,000, more than one-half of which repre- 
sents imports from the United States. Out of the twenty 
American Republics lying south of the United States, there 
are only three — Honduras, Haiti, and the Dominican Re- 
public — in which the United States leads in the trade in cot- 
ton manufactures. Germany controls the trade in these goods 
with Bolivia, and the United Kingdom that with the remain- 
ing sixteen Republics. 
STATISTICS FOR LEADING TEXTILE FIBERS. 
The relative importance of the leading textile fibers has 
undergone considerable change during the past century. Flax 
fiber, which was used to a larger extent in 1800, now ranks 
fourth, and the quantity of flax produced is only about three 
times what it was at that time. In the same period the pro- 
duction of wool has increased from about 500,000,000 pounds 
to nearly 2,700,000,000 pounds, or more than fivefold, and that 
of cotton from about 300,000,000 pounds to 8,505,000,000 
pounds, or more than twenty-eight fold. The increase in the 
production of jute is the most remarkable of all. The quan- 
tity in 1850 was 60,000,000 pounds as compared with 2,918,- 
000,000 pounds in 1909. The increases since 1889 are as fol- 
lows: Cotton, 44.8 per cent.; wool, 11.4 per cent.; silk, 112.3 
per cent.; flax, 85.9 per cent.; and jute, 56.9 per cent.; while 
hemp shows a decrease. If the figures for 1908 were taken 
as the basis of comparison the increase for cotton would be 
81.8 per cent. 
The total production for 1909 of the leading textile fibers 
was 17,529,174,000 pounds, of which cotton constituted 48.5 
per cent.; wool, 15.3 per cent.; silk, less than one-half of 1 
per cent.; flax, 10.6 per cent.; hemp, 8.2 per cent.; and jute, 
16.6 per cent. The total supply of these textile fibers in com- 
mercial channels at the beginning of the. nineteenth century 
amounted approximately to 1,400,000,000 pounds, of which 
cotton formed about 22 per cent. ; wool, 33 per cent. ; silk, 2 
per cent. ; and flax, 43 per cent. 
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