COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. Turning now more especially to the commerce of the United States in recent years, we present a few figures showing the origin and destination of imports and exports, and the character of the goods imported. In the following table the fig ures for 1895, the year showing the smallest trade of the last decade of the nineteenth cen tury, are given for comparison with those of the In the foregoing statement the increase in the export of manufactured articles is the most strik year 1900, the maximum point in the record of the century: The following expresses the same matter in percentages of the total imports and exports: It will be observed that, with larger figures throughout in 1900 than in 1895, or larger aggregate transactions. there has been little change. in the relative figures. Europe supplies us with approximately one-half of our imports, and absorbs approximately three-fourths of our exports. The most marked change in the rela tive figures. though it is after all slight, is seen in the falling off of exports to Europe and South America, and the increase in exports to other parts of the world.
The character of imports into the United States in general is shown in the following table: ing and important feature. In 1880 manufac turing, exports were less than one-sixth as largo as those of agriculture, while twenty years later they had grown to over one-half as large. In specific classes of exports the most important features of the exports of 1900 were: Bread stuffs ($262,700.000), cotton ($241.800.000), provisions, meat products ($184,400,000), iron and steel and their manufactures (8121.900.000). mineral oils ($75.600.000), wood and its manu factures ($51,000,000), animals ($43,600.000), tobacco and manufactures ($35.400,000), and coal ($19,500,000).
Blumocu.vmtv. Commerce and iVaviyation of the United States, issued annually by the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department; the monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, of the same bureau, which contains important monographs of special topics: Consular Reports, issued daily and monthly, and Commercial Relations, pub lished annually, by the Bureau of Foreign Com merce, State Department. give information re
garding trade conditions abroad, gathered by the consuls of the United States. The prelimi nary section of Commercial Relations is a review of the world's commerce, and is also published The list of specific articles imported is very comprehensive. Some of the most conspicuous in the importations of 1900 were: Sugar ($100, 000.000). chemicals ($53.700.000), coffee ($52, 500.000). and raw silk ($45.300,000).
The general nature of the exports of the Unit ed States appears in the following statement of exports: separately. Similar official publications are is sued by other governments. The consular re ports of Great Britain. France, the German Em pire. Austria, Italy, and Belgium are to be espe cially noted, as well as the annual Statistical Abstract of _Foreign Countries issued by the British Board of Trade.
Among historical and descriptive works, the following will be found useful: Cunningham; The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (Cambridge, 1890) : Gibbins, History of Com merce in. Europe (London, 1891) ; Levi, Instal-2i of British Commerce, 1763-I.S78 (London. 1380). Among popular compendia of information about commerce, notice should be made of the numer ous works on commercial geography which have recently issued froth the press. One of the best is Chisholm, Handbook of Commercial Geography (London, 1390). See BALANCE or TRADE; Ex (MANGE; FoREIGN MONEY.