Up To Date Business Part 12

[Ill.u.s.tration: Export trade of the United States and Great Britain compared.]

Similar differences with respect to our import trade and that of Great Britain are observable. Our imports do not amount to more than from $600,000,000 to $800,000,000 a year. For the year ended June 30, 1897, they were $765,000,000. For the year ended June 30, 1898, they were $616,000,000. The imports of Great Britain, on the other hand, amount to over $2,000,000,000 a year. For the year 1896 they were $2,210,000,000. For the year 1897 they were $2,225,000,000. But, while our imports, with the exception of coffee, sugar, tea, fruits, and fish, consist chiefly of manufactured articles, such as woollen goods, cotton goods, silk goods, and iron and steel goods, with only moderate amounts of raw material (for example, hides, skins, and furs, $41,000,000; raw silk, $32,000,000; raw wool, $17,000,000), Great Britain, besides importing coffee, sugar, tea, fruits, and fish, the same as we do, and manufactured goods to a far greater amount than we do (not less than $500,000,000 annually), imports likewise an enormous quant.i.ty of raw material for her manufactures, all duty free, and a still more enormous quant.i.ty of breadstuffs, provisions, etc., also all duty free. For example, for the year 1897 her imports of raw materials for her manufactures were not less than $750,-000,000, while her imports of duty-free food products were not less than $825,000,000. The difference between the two countries, therefore, so far as their foreign trades are concerned is simply this: The United States is an immense exporter of food-stuffs, and also of raw materials for foreign manufacture; but for the raw materials for her own manufacture she depends princ.i.p.ally upon her own products. In comparison she is only a moderate exporter of manufactured goods.

Great Britain, on the other hand, is an enormous importer and consumer of food-stuffs and also of raw materials for her manufactures. She, in fact, depends very largely upon other countries for her food products and her raw materials, and obtains them wherever she can, very largely from the United States. She is also an enormous exporter of manufactures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The United States manufactures and internal trade compared with the manufactures and internal trade of all other countries.]

OUR COTTON PRODUCTION AND COTTON EXPORT

The one article of export that is of greatest importance in our commerce is COTTON. The production of cotton in the United States is enormous. It is not far short of 5,000,000,000 pounds per annum. This is probably four times the amount produced upon the whole globe elsewhere. Our export amounts annually to about 4,000,000,000 pounds, with a total value of about $240,000,000. Our greatest compet.i.tors in the world's cotton markets are Egypt and India. The export of cotton from Egypt amounts to $50,000,000 annually. The export of cotton from India amounts to $45,000,000 annually. At least one half of our export of cotton goes to Great Britain. Our next greatest customers are (in order) Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Russia. We send about $7,500,000 worth annually to j.a.pan, and $4,000,000 worth annually to Canada. All our southeastern States produce cotton, but the States that produce it most plentifully are (in order) Texas (about one third of the whole), Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. The area under cultivation in the whole country is about 21,000,000 acres, which is about one sixth of the area devoted to corn, wheat, and oats, or one half the area devoted to hay. The areas of greatest cotton production are (1) the "Yazoo bottom," a strip on the left bank of the Mississippi extending from Memphis to Vicksburg, and (2) the upper part of the right bank of the Tombigbee. The productivity of cotton is much higher in the United States than it is in India, averaging not far short of 200 pounds per acre, as against less than 100 pounds in India. In India, however, the cotton crop has been grown on the same soil for ages, whereas in the United States the practice is to subst.i.tute new soils for old ones as soon as crops begin to fail. On the other hand, the United States cotton crop is much less per acre than the crop in Egypt. There the yield per acre is from 300 pounds to 500 pounds. The remedy for this defect of productivity in our cotton crop as compared with that of Egypt is manuring. Where the manuring is properly attended to our cotton crop is comparable with Egypt's. But the cotton of Egypt is of better quality than the great ma.s.s of the cotton crop of the United States (the "upland" cotton crop). On the other hand in the low, flat islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina a species of cotton grows ("sea-island" cotton) which is the finest in the world, its fibres being the longest, finest, and straightest, of all cotton fibres produced anywhere, and the most beautiful in appearance in the ma.s.s. Of this "sea-island" cotton about three to four million dollars' worth is exported annually at a price averaging from two and one fourth to two and three fourth times the value per pound of the "upland" cotton. The great cotton ports of our country are (in order of amount of exportation) NEW ORLEANS, GALVESTON, SAVANNAH, NEW YORK, CHARLESTON, MOBILE, and WILMINGTON. New Orleans' export is about a third of the whole, and Galveston's about a fifth.

OUR PRODUCTION AND EXPORT OF BREADSTUFFS

The item in the official returns that figures largest for exports is that which is set down as BREADSTUFFS. This term includes wheat, corn, oats, rye, and other grains, and the flours or meals made from these.

For the year ending June 30, 1898, our total export of breadstuffs was $334,000,000. This is an enormous increase over the year before, when the amount was not quite $200,000,000.[5] A large part of this increase was due to the high prices for breadstuffs which prevailed in the European markets during the past autumn and winter, but a part of the increase was due to an increased acreage and to good crops. The main products that composed this vast exportation were: wheat, $146,000,000; wheat flour, $70,000,000; corn, $75,000,000; cornmeal, $2,000,000; oats and oatmeal, $22,500,000; rye and rye flour, $9,000,000, and barley, $5,500,000. The magnitude of our breadstuffs exportation can be judged from the magnitude and importance of our exports of wheat and flour as compared with those of other countries.

Our average WHEAT EXPORT is two and one half times that of Russia, four and one third times that of Argentina, five and one half times that of India, and almost twenty-five times that of Canada, while it is also four and one half times that of all other countries in the world combined. Our FLOUR EXPORT ($70,000,000) is without a rival. The export from Canada is now not much more than $1,500,000 a year, and the export from Hungary not more than $2,500,000 a year, and these are the only countries with which we have to compete in the western European markets. Still it must be remembered that Hungarian flour, owing to the dryness of the climate in which it is made, is the best in the world, while the flour of Canada made from Manitoba hard wheat is alike unsurpa.s.sed. As a rule much more than one half of our total exports of breadstuffs goes to Great Britain. Germany is our next best customer, but her imports of our breadstuffs are not more that a fifth to a tenth of those of Great Britain. France comes next, but her importation of our breadstuffs is still more uncertain, ranging from a half to a hundredth of that of Great Britain. Our other princ.i.p.al customers for our breadstuffs are (1) the other states of Europe, (2) Canada, (3) the countries of South America, (4) the West Indies, (5) Hongkong, (6) the islands of the Pacific, and (7) British Africa. Our exportation of breadstuffs to j.a.pan and China (direct)[6] is still inconsiderable. Since the close of the War of the Rebellion our exportation of wheat has increased thirtyfold and our exportation of flour fifteenfold. Our chief wheat-growing States are Minnesota and California, each with about 50,000,000 bushels a year; then Kansas, North Dakota, Illinois, and South Dakota, each with about 30,000,000 bushels a year; and then Ohio, Indiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Michigan. The best wheat is grown in the deep black soil, rich in organic matter, of the Red River valley of Minnesota, and in the dry, sunny climate of California. The total yield for 1897 was 530,000,000 bushels, which was about 70,000,000 bushels more than recent averages. The estimate for this year (1898) is over 600,000,000 bushels, which was also the yield for 1891. The total area sown to wheat was for several years about 35,000,000 acres, but the average is now increased to about 40,000,000 acres. Large as is the gross production of our wheat, however, the yield per acre is somewhat small, being only from 12 to 13 bushels as against 18 bushels in Ontario, 20 in Manitoba, 26-1/2 in New Zealand, and 30 in Great Britain. In fact, the wheat yield per acre is lowest in the United States of all the great wheat-producing countries of the world, except Australia (7 to 11-1/2), Italy (10-1/2), Germany (10-1/4), India (9-1/4), and Russia (8). But far greater than our production of wheat is our production of CORN. Of corn we have nearly 85,000,000 acres under cultivation and a production of nearly 2,500,000,000 bushels.

Our export of corn, however, is proportionately not large, and figures only to about 210,000,000 bushels a year, with a value (including cornmeal) of about $76,000,000. As is well known, CHICAGO is the great commercial centre of the continent for breadstuffs. NEW YORK is the great port of export for the Atlantic seaboard, SAN FRANCISCO for the Pacific seaboard. DULUTH is the great receiving point for the wheat of the Red River valley and the northern Mississippi. BUFFALO is the great point where the wheat brought down from Chicago, Duluth, etc., in barges, "whale-backs," and immense propellers, is trans-s.h.i.+pped to the small boats of the Erie Ca.n.a.l for carriage to New York.

MINNEAPOLIS is the great milling point of the continent, its mills being the largest and most capacious in the world.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] For the year ending June 30, 1899, the amount was $274,000,000.

[6] A portion of the exportation of breadstuffs made to Hongkong is no doubt intended for consumption in China and j.a.pan.

OUR EXPORT OF PROVISIONS AND ANIMALS

[Ill.u.s.tration: Princ.i.p.al articles of domestic exports of the United States. (For the year ended June 30, 1898.)]

The next most important item in our list of exports is PROVISIONS.

But, like "breadstuffs," "provisions" also is a composite term, including two main divisions, "meat products" and "dairy products."

Practically there are three main divisions, "beef products," "hog products," and "dairy products." We have in these great products of our country an export trade of $165,500,000 per annum, and if we add "animals," a similar item, we have $46,500,000 more, or a total of $212,000,000 per annum. Our export of fresh beef is nearly 300,000,000 pounds a year. Almost the whole of this goes to Great Britain. Our export of canned beef runs from 40,000,000 to 60,000,000 pounds a year. About three fifths of this goes to Great Britain, the remainder going princ.i.p.ally to Germany and other parts of Europe and to British Africa. We have about 50,000,000 cattle upon our farms and ranches, and our production of beef is estimated to be the enormous amount of 5,400,000,000 pounds a year, which is between a third and a fourth of the total quant.i.ty produced throughout the world. Of course the greater portion of this is retained for our own home consumption, for we eat more meat per inhabitant than any other people in the world except the English. In addition to our beef we export about 400,000 cattle annually, more than seven eighths of which are taken by Great Britain, our other princ.i.p.al customers being the West Indies and Canada. The princ.i.p.al export, however, among our "provisions" is our HOG PRODUCTS. We export annually of these products 100,000,000 pounds of pork, 850,000,000 pounds of bacon and hams, and 700,000,000 pounds of lard, with a value greater than $110,000,000. As with our beef products, so with our hog products--by far the greatest share goes to Great Britain. Great Britain, however, does not import largely of our pork or of our lard. And though she purchases from us over four fifths of our total export of bacon and hams, she does not pay for them so much as she does for the bacon and hams of Ireland, Denmark, and Canada. The reason for this is that as a rule our corn-fed bacon and hams are too fat--a fault that could be easily remedied. After Great Britain our next best customers for our hog products are Germany (princ.i.p.ally in lard), the Netherlands, Sweden, and the West Indies (the latter princ.i.p.ally in pork). We keep on our farms from 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 hogs, and our production reaches nearly to 4,600,000,000 pounds of pork, bacon, hams, lard, etc., per annum. A great drawback to our swine-raising industry is the terrible swine plague which so frequently devastates our swine herds. Were this plague stamped out by thorough preventive measures our swine industry would soon become very much larger and more profitable. The third princ.i.p.al item in our provisions export trade is "dairy produce." Our export of b.u.t.ter now amounts to 30,000,000 pounds a year. Our cheese export, once much greater, is now about 50,000,000 pounds a year. As in our beef products and in our hog products so again in our dairy products Great Britain is our chief customer. But our b.u.t.ter export to Great Britain is only one twelfth of her total importation of b.u.t.ter, and our cheese export to Great Britain is only about one eighth of her total importation of cheese. Our cheese has lost its hold on the English market because of its relative deterioration of quality, and its export is not more than a half or a third of what it once was. Much of our b.u.t.ter also is not suited to the English taste. But both our cheese and our b.u.t.ter are now improving in quality. Our great compet.i.tor in the cheese export trade is Canada. Canada's export of cheese to Great Britain is $15,000,000 annually, while ours is only a fifth of that amount. Our great compet.i.tor in b.u.t.ter is Denmark.

Denmark's export of b.u.t.ter to Great Britain is $32,000,000 while ours is not more than a fourteenth of that sum. Our compet.i.tors in the markets of Britain for cattle are Canada and Argentina, but their exports together, however, are less than a third of ours. Our compet.i.tors in the British markets for the sale of meats are princ.i.p.ally the Australasian colonies and Argentina, but their princ.i.p.al exportation so far is chilled mutton, which they send to Britain to the amount of many million dollars annually (Argentina alone $5,000,000 a year, New Zealand alone $10,000,000 a year), while our exportation of mutton is practically nil. We do, however, export $1,000,000 worth of sheep a year, but in this item we are frequently far exceeded by Canada. CHICAGO is, of course, the great commercial centre of the continent for "provisions" and "live stock," and NEW YORK the great s.h.i.+pping port. Of the entire export trade of the whole country New York does two fifths. BALTIMORE comes next with about one ninth. Then (in order) come PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON, and NEW ORLEANS. The chief centres of our great provision and live-stock trade, other than Chicago, are CINCINNATI, KANSAS CITY, INDIANAPOLIS, BUFFALO, and OMAHA.

OUR FOREIGN CARRYING TRADE

One aspect of our foreign trade is not so well understood as it ought to be. Our foreign commerce is carried on largely in foreign s.h.i.+ps.

The reason is that no vessel is allowed to be registered as belonging to a United States owner unless she is built in the United States, and it therefore seems as if our s.h.i.+p-builders could not compete (in price) in the building of steel and iron s.h.i.+ps with those of Great Britain and Germany. Formerly, when wooden s.h.i.+ps were used, our foreign trade was carried on in our own vessels, and our "clipper"

sailing vessels beat the world. In 1859 seventy per cent. in value of our foreign trade was carried in American vessels. Since that date the proportion has decreased steadily until in 1896-97 it was only eleven per cent., and for 1897-98 it was even less than this. During the five years 1881-85 it averaged barely twenty per cent. Taking into consideration tonnage only the proportion at present varies from twenty five to thirty per cent., showing that the American vessels are used for carrying the cheaper sorts of goods. The aggregate tonnage burden of vessels belonging to the United States registered as engaged in the foreign trade 1896 was for 792,870 tons. For the same year the aggregate tonnage burden of vessels belonging to Great Britain engaged in the foreign trade was considerably more than ten times that amount. Of our export trade to Europe United States vessels carry only five and one half per cent., and of our export trade to Africa only four and one half per cent. But of our export trade to Asia and Oceanica our own vessels carry twenty six and one half per cent., while of our export trade to other countries on the American continent our own vessels carry nearly forty per cent. But as our Atlantic trade is seventy six per cent. of the whole, and as our trade elsewhere than on the Atlantic is more than one third carried by sailing-vessels, it is evident how largely our steams.h.i.+p ocean carrying trade has been allowed to fall into the hands of foreigners. Seven tenths of our total export trade, and nearly two thirds of our total foreign trade, both export and import, are carried in British vessels. The next greatest carriers of our foreign trade are, first, the Germans, then ourselves, then the Norwegians, then the Dutch, then the French, then the Belgians.

EXAMINATION PAPERS

NOTE.--_The following questions are given for the purpose of indicating to the student the sort of knowledge he ought to be possessed of after he has made a careful study of the papers of the course. The student is recommended to write out carefully the answers to the questions asked. Only such answers need be attempted as can be made from a careful study of the papers._

_PART I_

1. GREAT BRITAIN. Give as full an account as you can of the causes which have made London the great commercial centre of the world.

2. GREAT BRITAIN. England is said to be "a beehive of mercantile and manufacturing industry." Give reasons for this statement and also show how England has become such.

3. GREAT BRITAIN. (_a_) Describe the foreign trade of Great Britain.

(_b_) Describe the steps taken by Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow to improve their natural facilities for external trade.

4. FRANCE. (_a_) Describe the conditions which (1) conduce toward, and (2) militate against, France's being a great commercial nation. (_b_) Give an account of the distinctive manufactures of France.

5. GERMANY. (_a_) Give an account of what Germany has accomplished in technical education. (_b_) Compare Germany and France as commercial nations. (_c_) Give a brief account of Germany's foreign trade.

6. SPAIN AND ITALY. (_a_) Why are Spain, Italy, and Turkey sometimes called "the three decadent nations of Europe"? (_b_) Give some account of Spain's foreign trade. (_c_) Give an account of the conditions that militate against Italy's prosperity as a trading nation.

7. RUSSIA. (_a_) Describe the social condition of the Russian people.

(_b_) What are the "artels" of Russia? (_c_) Describe Russia's export trade.

8. INDIA. (_a_) Describe the present condition of the manufactures of India. (_b_) Give a brief account of India's trade--(1) external, (2) internal.

9. CHINA. (_a_) Give an account of China's size, population, and trade resources. (_b_) Give an account of China's present foreign trade.

(_c_) Give an account of the trade possibilities of China, and show in what manner an increase of the foreign trade of China is most likely first to occur.

10. j.a.pAN. (_a_) Describe the transformation which in recent times has been witnessed in the j.a.panese nation. (_b_) Describe j.a.pan's manufactures. (_c_) Show in what respects an increase in the foreign trade of j.a.pan is presently possible.

_PART II_

1. AFRICA. (_a_) Describe the "part.i.tion of Africa." (_b_) Describe more particularly Great Britain's possessions in Africa. (_c_) Describe South Africa's mineral wealth.

2. AUSTRALIA. (_a_) Describe Australia's "peculiarities." (_b_) Enumerate the political divisions of Australia, and for each describe briefly (1) its climate, (2) its resources and trade.

3. SOUTH AMERICA. (_a_) Describe the social and political condition of the various peoples of South America. (_b_) Describe the agricultural resources and export trade of Argentina. (_c_) Describe (1) the resources, and (2) the export and import trade, of Brazil.

4. CANADA. (_a_) Describe Canada's resources (1) in forest wealth, (2) in minerals, (3) in fisheries. (_b_) Describe Canada's agricultural trade. (_c_) Describe Canada's trade with the United States.

5. THE UNITED STATES. (_a_) Describe the export trade of the United States. (_b_) Compare our export trade with that of Great Britain.

(_c_) Compare our import trade with that of Great Britain.

6. THE UNITED STATES. (_a_) Describe our cotton production and our cotton export trade. (_b_) Describe briefly our export trade in "breadstuffs." (_c_) Describe briefly our export trade in "provisions"

and "animals."

FINANCE, TRADE, AND TRANSPORTATION[8]

I. NATIONAL AND STATE BANKS

ORIGIN OF BANKING INSt.i.tUTIONS

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Bank of England, showing the Threadneedle Street entrance.]

The world has had its bankers and money-changers for thousands of years. Babylonian tablets have been found which record banking transactions which took place in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar. Modern banking inst.i.tutions, however, had their origin in the twelfth century. The first inst.i.tution of this character in Europe was the Bank of Venice, founded A. D. 1171. It was based upon a forced loan of the republic. Funds deposited in it could not be withdrawn, but were transferable on the books at the pleasure of the owners. The Bank of Genoa was founded in 1407, and for many years was one of the princ.i.p.al banks of Europe. It was the first to issue circulating notes; these were negotiable only by indors.e.m.e.nt--that is to say, they were not made payable to bearer. This was a long step in advance of the earlier system of deposit transfers which was also employed by this bank. The Bank of Amsterdam, established in 1607, was the earliest considerable inst.i.tution of the kind which looked to the promotion of commerce. The Bank of Hamburg, established in 1619, was a bank of deposit and circulation based upon fine silver bars. The deposits were confined to silver. The Bank of England is more than 200 years old and is to-day acknowledged to be the greatest financial inst.i.tution in the world. Nearly all the paper money of England is issued by this bank. This currency is based partly upon securities and partly upon deposits of coin. There are three or four banks in the United States more than one hundred years old. In 1781 Robert Morris, then superintendent of finance, submitted to Congress a plan for the establishment of the Bank of North America at Philadelphia. In 1784 the State of Ma.s.sachusetts incorporated the Ma.s.sachusetts Bank. The Bank of New York was chartered in 1791.