Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/748

 716 Imports, raw materials and manufactures. [i890- the comparative importance of the natural resources of the country would appear even greater. It appears then that the United States is still able to hold its place as the chief seller among nations of food- products and raw materials. Despite the increasing consumption of cotton at home, the greater production makes it possible to export the same proportion of the crop, about two-thirds, furnishing 80 per cent, of the total world's supply. The exports of cotton in 1901 were more than 3,500,000,000 Ibs. Out of a crop of 748,000,000 bushels of wheat 290,000,000 were exported, including flour, with a value of $200,000,000. The exports of Indian corn, which formerly found no market abroad, have increased to over 200,000,000 bushels, while the exports of provisions have doubled within a decade. In 1901 the value of the exports of provisions was $207,000,000, of breadstuffs $276,000,000, and of cotton $300,000,000, a total of $783,000,000 for these three items alone. The statistics of imports bring out more clearly still the increase of manufacturing industry. The amount of manufactures imported ready for consumption tends to become less and less important in comparison with the materials, raw or partially manufactured, for further use in manufacturing. Scarcely more than 25 per cent, of the total imports are of the first class. Of the chief manufactured imports of the earlier period, cotton goods alone have held their own even in actual quantities. The importation of woollen goods, especially affected by the tariff, has fallen to less than $15,000,000, of silk goods to about $25,000,000, while iron and steel imports have averaged less than $20,000,000 in the last five years, compared with average exports of more than $100,000,000. Other manufactures of minor importance, especially luxuries, have in- creased ; but on the whole, despite the greatly increased home demand, the quantity of manufactured imports ready for consumption has diminished. On the other hand, the imports of food-products and materials for manufacture have greatly increased, though in the case of food-products the fall in prices has concealed the real facts. The chief single items of import are coffee to the amount of more than a 1,000,000,000 Ibs. in 1902 with a value of $71,000,000, and sugar, to the amount of 3,000,000,000 Ibs. with a value of $55,000,000. The imports of raw material have increased even more rapidly; for india-rubber and gutta-percha the increase in the decade was 100 per cent., for hides and skins 150 per cent., for silks nearly 100 per cent., for tin more than 100 per cent. Notable imports of half-manu- factured goods are leather, chemicals and dye stuffs, wood, and tin plates. The actual proportions in 1901 were as follows: food-products and animals 27'02 per cent. ; raw materials 32'79 per cent. ; partially manu- factured 9'61 per cent. ; ready for consumption 30'58 per cent. A further significant indication of the growth of industrial inde- pendence is to be found in the relation of total exports to imports. From 1790 to 1874, the imports exceeded the exports in all but six