Practically all of these great articles which we import either for manufacturing or for food are of tropical or sub-tropical production, and thus come from a section of the world which imports practically all the manufactures which it uses, for, as is well known, the tropics are not manufacturers. All of the $189,000,000 worth of rubber imported by us in 1917 was, of course, tropical, and this is also true of the $231,000,000 worth of sugar, $133,000,000 worth of coffee, $68,000,000 worth of fibres, $40,000,000 worth of raw cotton and $22,000,000 worth of gums, while the $160,000,000 worth of raw silk and $20,000,000 worth of tea was from sub tropical areas, and more than half of the $216, 000,000 worth of hides, and $58,000,000 worth of fruits originated in tropical or sub-tropical countries. Even in the case of the great minerals imported for use in manufacturing, it happens that they come chiefly and almost ex clusively from tropical countries; all of the $58,000,000 worth of tin, all of the $44,000,000 worth of nitrates and a large part of the $127, 000,000 worth of copper imported in 1917 was mined in tropical countries. We brought into continental United States in the fiscal year 1919 $1,500,000,000 worth of tropical and sub tropical products other than hides and minerals, against $335,000,000 in 1900 and $640,000,000 in 1910. Thus our purchases of articles of tropical and sub-tropical growth have quadrupled in value since 1900 and doubled since 1910, without having regard to the large increase in hides and minerals from tropical countries and not included in the above figures of imports of articles of tropical growth. In fact, about one half of our imports from foreign countries in 1919 came from tropical or sub-tropical coun tries, to say nothing of the nearly $300,000,000 which was received from our islands.
More than one-half of our imports come normally from non-manufacturing countries. The world's chief manufacturers are the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary • and Japan. These countries are the manufacturing world, the remainder of the inhabited area forms the non-manufacturing world. 1914, the latest normal year, our imports from the manufacturing countries totaled in round num bers $873,000,000, and from the non-manufac turing world $1,021,000,000. In 1917 our im ports from the manufacturing countries were $693,000,000 and from the non-manufacturing world $1,966,000,000. So it may be said in very general terms that while less than 60 per cent of our imports prior to the war were drawn from the rfon-manufacturing countries, in 1917, with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Belgium out of international trade, over 70 per cent of the greatly increased imports were drawn from the non-manufacturing world.
These non-manufacturing countries from which we now draw three-fourths of our im ports have in former years drawn most of their manufactures from Europe, but we have greatly increased our sales of manufactures to them since the beginning of the war. Our exports to ths nork-maiLufacturing world, still_assumjpg that all foreign countries except Great Britain, France, Germany, Bel ium, Italy, Switzerland, Austria-Hungary and Japan may be so classed, were in 1914, the year before the war, $1,056, 000,000, in 1917 $2,682,000,000, and in 1919 $3,211,000,000, an increase of 200 per cent. And when we consider that manufactures form the bulk of our exports to the non-manufacturing world, and that our exports to that section have increased over 200 per cent during the war period, we may assume that the people in those non-manufacturing countries are a much better acquaintance with American manu factures than ever before, and that we may ex pect to retain after the war a considerable share of the increased export trade in manufactures thus built up, provided our manufacturers take the necessary steps to retain the increase.
Three conditions are required to enable us to retain the gains which we have made in sales of manufactures to the world—goods made to suit the local markets, sales on longer credits than at home, and prices no greater than those of our rivals having cheaper labor. These require considerable in creases of the capital applied to manufacturing for the foreign market. Special manufacturing establishments or parts of establishments must be maintained with which to manufacture the goods in the form required by those markets wherever they differ from those manufactured for our own markets; greater capital with which to give the longer credits required; and an increased application of machinery to the production of manufactures, in order to turn them out at a cost no greater than those pro duced by the cheaper labor of other countries. This greater use of machinery in manufacturing would not mean any reduction in the amount of labor now employed, but a greater proportion which machinery might produce of the greatly increased output. Our day of exports of food stuffs and raw materials has passed, except in cases of emergency such as that of the Euro pean War, and in the future we must rely upon manufactures to maintain the growth in our exports necessary to retain for us the high rank as an exporter in which we have taken pride and which has given us such prosperity. To do this the manufacturers must give to the foreign trade a greater attention and greater sums of capital than in the past.
0. P. Ausint, Statistician, National City Bank, New York.