695. Survey of the import trade, 1860-1914.—The development of the import trade of the United States since 1860 is shown in the following table, which gives the values in millions of dollars of merchandise imported:

696. Changes in the character of imports.—The percentages of the table furnish a ready means of comparing the relative importance of different classes of imports at the beginning and end of the period. The most striking change is the decline in importance of the class of manufactured articles ready for consumption, which amounted to over one half of the total value of imports in 1860, and sank to less than one quarter in 1913. The indication here given that the country was learning to supply its need for manufactured wares, without depending so much as previously on foreign producers, is confirmed by another item in the table, giving the imports of raw materials for domestic industries. This item increased greatly in importance in the course of the period, and took now the place which was formerly held by the item of finished manufactures. We now imported raw materials and made the goods at home, instead of sending abroad for the finished product.

697. Character of foods imported.—The large item of food supplies imported would seem to show that the United States resembled the countries of western Europe in being unable to nourish its population from its own resources. Such an idea would be wide of the facts. The figures of the previous chapter have shown that the country could spare for export immense quantities of the staple foods, such as wheat and meat, and the item of food imports covered mainly luxuries, which the country could afford to buy abroad in increasing quantities as it gained in spending power. We may take as characteristic the case of the so-called Zante currants, seedless raisins which are used in cakes, puddings, etc., and which are so clearly a superfluous luxury that in England they are made the object of a revenue tax. The imports of Zante currants into the United States were small and scattering before the Civil War, rarely exceeding a thousand tons in a year. The imports rose rapidly to five thousand tons after the war, and at the close of the century were about fifteen thousand, in spite of the fact that part of the supply was now raised in the country, and imports were restricted by protective duties. Other similar cases might be mentioned to show the peculiar character of our food imports.

698. Question of producing these foods in the United States. Sugar.—The chief items among the imported foods were the products of tropical or semi-tropical agriculture, their values in millions of dollars being as follows in 1913: coffee 119, sugar 104, fruits and nuts 43, tea 17, cacao 17. Some of these articles could be produced in this country, and would undoubtedly be grown at home if they could not be procured so cheaply abroad. In general it has paid the American farmer better to cultivate crops like cotton and wheat, which are peculiarly adapted to the conditions of soil, climate, and labor in the United States, rather than those crops which can be grown as well or better abroad.

There has been a determined effort, lasting for more than a century, to raise the necessary supplies of sugar at home. The growing of sugar cane was an established industry in Louisiana by 1800, and has been continued ever since in that State. During most of the time the industry has received the help of protective duties or of bounties, but it suffers in this country from the danger of early frosts, and it has never grown strong enough to relieve the United States from dependence on foreign sources of supply.

Better prospects seem to favor the beet-sugar industry. Sugar-beets were first grown successfully on a commercial scale in California about 1890. Since that time the culture of sugar-beets spread to the prairie and mountain States, and after 1907 beets furnished more sugar than American cane. Including all sources of supply, however, the sugar product of the continental United States was still less than one quarter of the amount required by the people.

699. Increase in raw materials imported.—Turning now to other classes of imports we are faced by the great increase in articles, both crude and manufactured, used to supply the needs not of consumers but of producers. Articles of this character had always formed a part of our imports, but the growing use of them in this period is clear testimony to the internal development of the country. American industries, which previously had attained strength only when they were supported by a generous supply of raw materials close at hand, were prepared now to reach out to all parts of the world for the supplies which they required.

It is significant, also, that the great increase in these supplies took the form of raw materials. Articles wholly or partially manufactured were imported still for use in American industries. These articles were of many different kinds; to name one very important class, that of chemicals and dyes, will suggest their general character. These articles increased greatly both in absolute value and in relative importance, but in neither respect did they keep pace with the increase of crude materials imported.

700. The chief raw materials among imports.—Of the raw materials imported for domestic industries in 1913 nearly five sixths in value were comprised in the wares enumerated in this section. Values are stated in round millions of dollars.

The revolution in the metal trade of the country since 1860 is shown by the fact that tin was the only metal which was imported in the crude state in considerable quantities (53 millions); the country could now supply itself with most of the necessary mineral substances. An exception must, however, be made in the case of precious stones, 50. Of the products of the animal and vegetable kingdoms the raw materials for the textile industry were most prominent. The first place was taken by raw silk, 85; then follow the vegetable fibers, 49 (sisal grass, Manila hemp, jute, flax); wool, 36, cotton, 23. The single item of greatest value in the whole list was that of hides, 117; while India rubber, 101, represented the importance of an industry that was still comparatively new, but that was rapidly growing to a place of prominence.

701. Decline in importance of finished manufactures imported.—While the imports of raw materials increased greatly in value, the imports of finished manufactures, ready for the consumer, showed a great relative decline. Taking first the textiles, the most important group among the finished manufactures imported, we find that the total value in 1913 was indeed greater than the value in 1860, but the increase was only about two-thirds while the increase in the import trade as a whole was over four-fold. In round millions the value of the manufactures imported was as follows in 1913: cotton 60, vegetable fibers and grasses 77, silk 31, wool 16. Between the two dates there had been a great growth of population and of wealth in the country, but the increase in consumption was met mainly by the development of home manufactures. The list of textile raw materials imported for manufacture in America, given in the preceding section, shows a great gain in every staple. The growth of domestic manufactures had caused in the case of two important textiles, wool and silk, an absolute decline in the value of the manufactured imports; while the only case of a great increase is to be noted in the manufactures of the vegetable fibers, jute, etc., which had not come into extensive use until after the middle of the century.

702. Variety of imported manufactures.—If we seek to explore the imports of manufactures, outside the single group of the textiles, we are confronted by the same bewildering variety of articles as in previous periods. We find earthenware, china, and glass; jewelry, clocks, works of art, and books; paper and leather wares; matting, manufactured furs, and various manufactures of metal. Roughly, a round dozen of articles like those named above can be found, of which each showed imports ranging in value from two or three to ten or more millions of dollars.

It is probable that the United States will always continue to import manufactured wares like those named above, in great variety and amounting in the total to considerable value. We cannot afford to refuse the contributions of peoples who have specialized in various lines, and by reason of inherited taste and skill, or with the aid of exceptional natural resources, can offer us what we cannot readily produce ourselves. Since 1860, however, we have come to depend less and less on our foreign trade for the manufactures which serve the simpler household needs, and the home product of many of the wares named greatly exceeds the amount imported from abroad.

703. Change in tariff policy since the Civil War.—The growth of American manufactures, to which I have alluded frequently in preceding sections, has often been explained by the change in tariff policy which came at the time of the Civil War. The reader must look in other books for a discussion of that question, on which opinions differ so widely. I shall attempt here merely a brief summary of our recent tariff history.

At the outbreak of the war a tariff with moderate protective duties was in force. The strain of the conflict forced the government at Washington to adopt every available means of raising revenue. Heavy taxes were laid on manufacturers and other producers in the country, and the tariff was raised, to secure increased revenue from the importers and consumers of foreign wares. Such an increase was necessary, not only to raise revenue but also to enable the American manufacturers to hold their own in the home market, in spite of the taxes which they paid. Actually, however, the increase was greater than was necessary for these purposes, and by the act of 1864 the average rate on dutiable commodities had risen to nearly 50 per cent.

704. Increase in protective duties.—The high duties of the war period were imposed with the idea that they should be repealed when the war was over and the country had returned to normal business conditions. At the return of peace, however, when the internal taxes on manufactures were repealed, and the peculiar conditions which had formed the occasion for the high tariff no longer existed, the protective duties were kept unchanged or were actually raised. The people in general did not pay so much attention to the tariff as to other questions of politics, and did not realize that it was a tax on them as consumers; while the manufacturers vigorously opposed any reduction. Duties which had been raised by 10 per cent to 30 per cent during the war were kept at the higher level which they had reached, and duties on some special articles were arranged so that they furnished the unprecedented protection of 100 per cent or even 150 per cent. The duty on steel rails, for example, amounted to more than the cost of the product which England was ready to sell us, and Americans who built railroads about 1880 had to pay $61 to $67 per ton for rails which could have been purchased in England for $31 to $36.

705. The tariff at the close of the century.—After 1880 a reduction of the tariff was seriously urged by various individuals and parties in the country. The tariff was changed in details, but the general tendency was rather toward increase than reduction of the protective duties. At the close of the century the average duty was not far from 50 per cent of the value of the goods. The British Board of Trade estimated that the important wares imported into this country from England paid about 70 per cent. Such a high tariff was unheard of in earlier times, in the United States or in Europe; and was exceeded in 1900 only by the tariff of Russia. The Payne-Aldrich act of 1909, the first general revision of the tariff that had taken place for twelve years, amended some details but left its general character unchanged; the Underwood act of 1913 went further, and is credited by a competent authority with making the greatest change in the tariff system since the Civil War. It made considerable reductions on some items, but left rates as high as before on about half of the chief dutiable commodities imported. Before the effect of this last measure could fairly be judged the outbreak of the war in Europe set loose forces which changed the currents of the world’s trade with little regard to the policies of lawmakers.

706. Leading ports, 1860-1914.—The continued importance of the eastern seaboard, in the foreign trade of the country, is shown by the fact that in 1913 nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of the total commerce in merchandise passed through the Atlantic ports. It should however be noted that these ports were declining in relative importance; in 1900 they enjoyed nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of the whole. Next in rank were the ports of the Gulf of Mexico (1913, 15 per cent), and the customs houses on the northern frontier, (12 per cent); commerce by the southern and northern gateways was growing more rapidly than the old established trade by the Atlantic. In comparison the trade of the Pacific Coast (6 per cent) was unimportant.

The port of New York still stood without a rival in importance. Over one half of the total imports was received through its harbor, and though its share of exports was smaller, it conducted nearly half (46 per cent) of the total trade of the country. No other port had as much as 10 per cent. New York stood even higher, however, in the middle of the period (56 per cent in 1882), and the tendency of recent years had been to distribute among other ports an increasing share of our great foreign trade. The concentration of traffic at the New York gateway had apparently led to congestion, entailing heavy charges and delays, and encouraging the use of transportation lines to other ports whose facilities were not so thoroughly exploited. There have been many changes in the relative standing of the individual ports; the order of their importance in 1913 was as follows, the figures giving the percentage of the total commerce of the country (values of merchandise imports and exports) passing through each: Galveston, 7; New Orleans, 6; Boston, 5; Philadelphia, 4; Baltimore, San Francisco, and Puget Sound, 3 each. The Gulf ports owed their position mainly to their export trade, in which cotton was the leading item; the secondary ports on the Atlantic seaboard had a more diversified traffic, by which the pressure on the port of New York was somewhat relieved.

707. Direction of commerce abroad.—The changes in the distribution of our foreign trade from 1860 to 1913 are apparent in the following table, which gives the percentage, in round numbers, of the total exports and imports of the United States in its commerce with the great divisions of the world. For convenience of comparison the figures for 1800 are included:

708. Relative commercial importance of different parts of the world.—The figures bring out in a striking manner the close connection of commerce and civilization. The continent of Europe, in spite of its small area and in spite of its inferiority to Asia in population, contributed far more than half of our commerce throughout the century. The proportion of our trade with Europe grew during the first part of the century, to decline again during the latter part, leaving the figures for 1913 very nearly equal to those of 1800. The percentage share of imports from Europe reached its peak before the Civil War (1850, 70 per cent); the greatest concentration of exports in the direction of Europe came later (1880, 86 per cent). Even in 1913 the trade with Europe exceeded in importance that with all other parts of the world together.

The commerce with our immediate neighbors in North America shrank in importance in the first half of the nineteenth century, when the countries of this continent were rivals in the export of raw materials to Europe, but showed a recovery in more recent years, when the diversification of industries in the United States encouraged exports from this country of a kind that had formerly been obtained from the Old World. In comparison with these two most important parts of our trade the remaining branches showed a gain, but one which was in absolute figures so small that it gave no reason to expect any sweeping change in the direction of our commercial interests. In the markets of South America and Asia we appeared still as buyers rather than sellers, importing from those continents special foodstuffs and raw materials for industry, but exporting to them a relatively small share of our own products. Trade with Oceania and Africa had grown, with the growth of a civilized population in those parts, but remained still only a small fraction of our aggregate commerce.

709. Importance of the English trade.—England still headed the list of the countries with which we traded. Our imports from the United Kingdom in 1913 formed 16 per cent of our total import trade, exceeding, therefore, our imports from the whole continent of Asia or from the continents of South America, Oceania and Africa together; while our exports to the United Kingdom formed nearly one quarter (24 per cent) of the total exports, and exceeded the aggregate of our exports to all four continents named above. The country which stood next in importance in our commercial relations in 1913 was another English-speaking country, our Canadian neighbor, and the value of our commerce with these two members of the British Empire was almost exactly one-third of the total value of our foreign trade.

710. Trade with other countries: Europe.—The relative importance of other countries in their commercial relations with the United States can be seen in the following list, which gives the share each took in our total commerce in merchandise in 1913: United Kingdom, 21 per cent; Canada, 13; Germany, 12; France, 7; Cuba, 5; Netherland, Brazil and Japan, 4 each; Mexico, British East India, Italy and Belgium, 3 each. An extension of this list would confuse rather than aid the student. If we divide the twelve countries named into groups of four we find that the first group, four countries, accounted for more than one half of our total commerce; the first two groups, eight countries, accounted for more than two-thirds; the whole twelve together accounted for more than three-quarters.

Among the European states we note that France had not kept her place of relative importance; commerce with that country had grown but slowly, and Germany had won precedence among our customers in Continental Europe by her high industrial development and her growing demand for our raw materials. Reviewing the other states of Europe the reader will note the absence from the list of the great empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, and the presence of such little states as the Netherlands and Belgium. Area and population are obviously factors which have no decisive influence on the commercial importance of a country.

711. The Americas and Asia.—Attention has already been directed to the fact that although the major part of our commercial interests still lay in Europe the concentration of our interests there had grown gradually less with the passage of time. The reader will note the evidence of this tendency to dispersion in the fact that of the twelve countries named as the most important in their commercial relations with the United States in 1913, six were extra-European. Two of these were our immediate neighbors in North America; exchange with these countries became more active as the United States took on the character of an industrial state, offering finished products for the raw materials of industry. The other two American states on the list owed the importance of their position in our trade largely to their ability to meet special demands of the American consumer, for sugar and for coffee respectively. These and other states to the south of us made relatively small purchases in the American market. Our relations with British East India were of the same kind; that group of countries bought from us in 1913 less than one tenth of the value of the products (coarse textile fibers, burlap, skins, etc.) which it sold to the American importer. A tendency similar but less marked showed itself in the trade with Japan which supplied 5 per cent of the total American imports, but took less than 3 per cent of our exports. Noteworthy is the absence from the list of China, numbering over three hundred million inhabitants, but accounting for less than 2 per cent of the trade of the United States in 1913.

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