Zollverein are very meagre. A German authority, Otto Huebner, estimates
the value of the total import and export trade of the German States to
have been $309,019,200 in 1850, and $504,988,200 in 1855. The value
of the imports of Hamburg, the chief port of Germany, rose from an
annual average of $92,320,050 for the five-year period 1851–55, to
$157,660,472 during the half decade 1866–70. The growth of Germany’s
foreign commerce during the past twenty years has been phenomenal, and
her trade is now second only to that of Great Britain. In 1881, the
imports were valued at $704,904,000, and the exports at $707,978,000,
being slightly more than the imports; whereas, by 1890, the imports had
risen to $986,641,000, and the exports to $792,620,000, a sum nearly a
hundred million dollars less than the value of the imports. The foreign
trade of the country, particularly in imports, has continued its rapid
growth since 1890, the figures for 1897 being, imports $1,231,756,862,
and exports $977,447,198, a total trade of $2,209,204,060.
The foreign trade of France at the beginning of the nineteenth century
consisted of $80,500,000 worth of imports and $59,000,000 of exports,
a total of $139,500,000. The Continental wars, up to 1815, were even
more disastrous to French trade than they were to German; but with the
restoration of peace, commercial progress began, and between 1815 and
1831 the total trade increased from $119,200,000 worth to $168,152,000
worth. The growth by decades since 1830 has been as follows: In 1840,
the value of the total foreign trade was $278,383,200; in 1850,
$358,748,400; in 1860, $805,659,200; in 1871, $1,242,765,600; in 1880,
$1,640,712,300; and in 1890, $2,003,557,516. These figures show that
the rapid expansion of French commerce began about 1850. The highest
point was reached in 1891; but since then there has been a slight
falling off in the total trade, due to a decrease in imports. In 1891,
the value of the imports was $1,155,973,310; in 1897, $991,537,500. The
exports were valued at $920,839,130 in 1891; and at $926,998,300 in
1897. The total trade for these years was $2,076,812,440 for 1891, and
$1,918,535,800 for 1897.
During the first quarter of the century France had a strong balance of
trade in her favor: that is, she sold more commodities than she bought;
and between 1825 and 1840 the exports and imports about balanced each
other; but since that date, with the exception of the years 1871 to
1875, when the huge war indemnity was paid, the balance of trade had
been unfavorable, as would naturally be expected of a country such as
France, whose people are extensively engaged in manufacturing. France,
as well as the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and
other European countries, imports raw materials and food in large
quantities.
The decline in the value of French trade, though due to falling prices
rather than to a decrease in the quantities of commodities, has given
the French people much concern. It is not probable, however, that this
decline is due to permanent causes. The population and industries
of France have not reached a stationary stage; they are going to
increase and cause a natural growth in the country’s foreign commerce.
The commercial progress of France, however, can hardly be so rapid
as that of Germany and the United States. These are the countries
whose commercial vitality is strongest, and of these two countries,
the United States possesses greater natural resources and larger
possibilities, industrial and commercial. The progress of the commerce
of the United States merits a somewhat closer survey than has been
given its three leading rivals in trade.
V. THE TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE CENTURY.
The economic progress of the United States during the past hundred
years is most clearly indicated by the growth of its foreign and
domestic commerce. Being a new country, busied with occupying and
developing our large territory, our domestic commerce has been of
enormous proportions. With nearly two hundred thousand miles of
railroads, comprising four ninths of the total railway mileage of the
world, with our chain of the Great Lakes and our admirable system of
navigable rivers, it has been possible to exploit our natural resources
on a large scale, and to develop an inland traffic several times the
volume of our foreign commerce.
Our international trade, however, although smaller than our domestic
traffic, has been large throughout the country, has grown rapidly,
especially since the year 1850, the period of the Civil War excepted,
and is now increasing in such a manner as to give our foreign rivals
much concern. The progress of our foreign trade during this century is
shown by the following table containing the statistics of the value
of our merchandise imports, exports, and total foreign trade for each
decade, beginning with 1790.
TABLE SHOWING IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF MERCHANDISE BY DECADES FROM 1790
TO 1898.
------+---------------+-------------+--------------
Year. | Exports. | Imports. | Total Trade.
------+---------------+-------------+--------------
1790 | $20,205,156 | $23,000,000 | $43,205,156
1800 | 70,971,780 | 91,252,768 | 162,224,548
1810 | 66,757,970 | 85,400,000 | 152,157,970
1820 | 69,691,669 | 74,450,000 | 144,141,669
1830 | 71,670,735 | 62,720,956 | 134,391,691
1840 | 123,668,932 | 98,258,706 | 221,927,638
1850 | 144,375,726 | 173,509,526 | 317,885,252
1860 | 333,576,057 | 353,616,119 | 687,192,176
1870 | 392,771,768 | 435,958,408 | 828,730,176
1880 | 835,638,658 | 667,954,746 | 1,503,593,404
1890 | 857,828,864 | 789,310,409 | 1,647,139,093
1898 | 1,210,291,913 | 616,049,654 | 1,826,341,567
------+---------------+-------------+--------------
During the first half of the century, the expansion of our foreign
trade was not especially rapid. The Continental wars, lasting from 1793
to 1815, and our own war with England, from 1812 to 1815, interfered
considerably with international trade. Probably our tariffs of 1816,
1824, and 1828 had the effect they were intended to accomplish, and
restricted somewhat the volume of our foreign commerce. The chief
reason, however, why our trade progress was much more rapid after
1850 was, that it was not until about that time that the means of
inland transportation became developed sufficiently to make possible
a large domestic traffic. When our central West was able to exchange
commodities on a large scale with the seaboard, then our foreign
commerce began to increase rapidly.
The growth of our imports was very rapid for the period of fifteen
years, 1879 to 1893, their value having risen from $445,777,775
to $866,400,922; but since then there has been a sharp decline to
$616,049,654. Our exports, however, have increased in a phenomenal
manner during the past decade. Prior to 1897, the highest point was
reached in 1892, when the value of the exports was $1,030,278,148. In
1897, the value was $1,050,993,556, and in 1898 (the official year
ending June 30), the value, as shown by the foregoing table, was
$1,210,291,913. In consequence of this great increase in our exports
the total foreign trade of the United States has not decreased in value
during recent years, although there has been a considerable fall in
prices and a large falling off in our importations. Our total trade,
during the fiscal year 1898, was much larger than it was in 1890, and
fell only $10,000,000 short of the value reached in the record-breaking
year of 1892. The calendar year 1898 shows a larger trade than has been
shown by any previous year, the value being $1,868,523,057.
The leading industry of the United States being agriculture, our
exports consist largely of various products of the farm. In 1898
the exported agricultural products were valued at $853,683,570, and
comprised 70.54 per cent of our total sales abroad. In spite of these
large figures, the preponderance of agricultural over other products
is being reduced with considerable rapidity by the growth in the
exportation of manufactures. Before 1876 our exports of manufactures
were less than $100,000,000 a year; whereas, in the calendar year 1898,
they were $370,924,994. In 1880, agricultural exports comprised 83.25
per cent of our exports, and manufactures 12.48 per cent; and in the
calendar year 1898, a year of exceptionally large foreign sales of food
products, agriculture furnished only 69.06 per cent,—less than seven
tenths of the exports, while manufacture supplied 24.96 per cent, or
one fourth of the total. The year 1898 is a notable one in the history
of American manufactures, for it was then, for the first time, that we
sold to foreigners more of our manufactures than we bought of theirs.
A table showing the total foreign trade of the United States from
1789 to 1898, the first eleven decades of our national existence,
has recently been prepared by the Bureau of Statistics in the United
States Treasury Department. It shows the total imports and exports of
merchandise and specie, and on which side of our trade account the
grand balance comes.
TABLE SHOWING TOTAL TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES 1789–1898.
Merchandise
Exports $30,952,202,985
Imports 29,979,961,487
----------------
Excess of Exports 972,241,498
================
Gold and Silver
Exports 3,400,623,581
Imports 1,940,150,320
----------------
Excess of Exports 1,460,473,261
================
Merchandise and Gold and Silver combined
Exports 34,352,826,566
Imports 31,920,111,807
----------------
Excess of Exports 2,432,714,759
================
The table shows that we have exported nearly thirty-one billion
dollars worth of commodities,—about a billion dollars more than we
have purchased. It also shows that we have sent out of the country
$1,460,473,261 more of the precious metals than we have received. Our
exports of merchandise and gold and silver combined exceed our total
imports by the large sum of $2,432,714,759. If the statistics of our
imports and exports for each year since 1789 be consulted, it will be
found that during the eighty-seven years preceding 1876 there were but
sixteen years when our exports of merchandise exceeded our imports. The
balance of trade was nearly always “unfavorable.” Since 1876, however,
the balance has nearly always been on the other side, there having been
only three years when our exports did not exceed our imports.
In return for something, we have given foreign countries nearly two and
a half billion dollars worth more of commodities and precious metals
than we have received in return. A part of this large sum, possibly
one fourth, has been paid to foreigners for freights on our imported
commodities, and we have also spent large sums in foreign travel. The
chief reason why we have exported more than we have imported is, that
we have been borrowing foreign capital to use in constructing railroads
and factories and in developing our farms and mines. Prior to 1876,
we received $1,084,339,912 more than we exported; we accumulated a
large foreign debt. Since 1876, we have continued to borrow abroad;
but we have been able to liquidate a part of our former debts, and
also to exchange large amounts of commodities and precious metals for
capital; for, since 1876, our exports have exceeded our imports by
$3,517,054,671. If our present large excess of exports over imports
continues, we shall soon become a creditor nation with large sums
invested abroad.
The history of our foreign trade is highly gratifying to our national
pride; our achievements have been signal, well-nigh continuous, and
have been more marked during the latter decades of the century than
at any previous time. The history of the American marine, however,
presents a somewhat different picture.
VI. THE AMERICAN MARINE IN FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE.
In colonial days maritime industries held an important place. The
location of the colonies adjacent to the ocean, their dependence upon
the mother country for manufactures and upon the West Indies for
tropical products, their need of foreign markets for their timber,
fish, tobacco, and food products, and their abundant supply of lumber
for shipbuilding, all tended to make them a seafaring people. This
fondness for the sea was especially intense in New England, where the
returns of agriculture were relatively meagre. The long Revolutionary
War destroyed many ships and interfered seriously with ocean commerce,
but the struggle gave the colonists what was of more value than
ships,—a spirit of venture and hardihood. Hundreds of ships and
thousands of seamen engaged in privateering, and when the war ended
the maritime instincts of the Americans were stronger than they had
been when the declaration of political and commercial independence was
declared in 1776.
The imbecility of the general government under the Articles of
Confederation and the restrictions placed upon interstate traffic
prevented any considerable maritime progress between the Peace of
Paris and the inauguration of a truly national government under the
Constitution. But a stable government, sound credit, and uniform
national laws for the regulation of commerce gave the maritime
instincts of the Americans a chance to assert themselves, and the
tonnage of our ships grew rapidly larger. Our tonnage registered for
the foreign trade was only 123,893 tons in 1789; by 1795 it had grown
to 549,471 tons; in 1800 it amounted to 667,107 tons; during the next
five years it increased to 744,224 tons, and by 1810 it had reached
981,019 tons. Such a growth as this in twenty years, from such small
beginnings, was truly remarkable.
The American ships soon crowded most foreign vessels out of our
commerce. In 1790 we carried only 40.5 per cent of our imports and
exports; but by 1795 we had secured 90 per cent; and, with the
exception of a short period during and immediately following the War of
1812, it was not till fifty-two years later that as much as one fourth
of our foreign trade was carried under foreign flags. Moreover, we not
only carried our own commerce, but we also entered largely into the
carrying trade of other countries. The great European war crippled the
commercial activities of European countries, and made it easier for our
ships to gain control of our own commerce and to secure employment as
carriers for foreign merchants. During the fifteen years from 1793, the
year of the outbreak of the European war, to 1808, when the blockade
of European ports and the capture of American ships and seamen led us
to attempt to prohibit our ships temporarily from engaging in foreign
trade, our merchant marine rose from a position of obscurity to a place
of great prominence on the high seas.
As long as ocean commerce was carried in wooden vessels, the maritime
interests of the United States continued to prosper. The War of
1812–15, the panic of 1819, and the competition of foreign vessels
after the restoration of peace in Europe, gave our marine a setback,
so that it was not until 1847 that our tonnage in the foreign trade
exceeded the figures for 1810; but during the period of fifteen years,
from 1846 to 1861, our tonnage increased 150 per cent. When the Civil
War, which proved so disastrous to the shipping interests of the United
States, broke out in 1861, our tonnage registered in the foreign trade
equaled 2,496,894 tons,—the highest point it has ever reached. The
American sailing clipper was for nearly half a century the mistress of
the seas. As J. R. Soley says: “It was in these ships that for nearly
half a century not only the largest freights of the world were carried,
but the finest and most profitable as well. Merchants having valuable
cargoes to export would wait for the sailing of a favorite clipper, and
merchants with goods to import would instruct their correspondents to
wait in like manner.” As late as 1850 the higher grades of commodities
were almost always shipped in the stanch and speedy American clipper
ship.
Since 1861 the American marine in the foreign trade has played a rôle
of decreasing importance. Three causes account for this. About the
middle of the century our commercial rivals began to substitute iron
ships for wooden; but we were not able to adopt the better material
in the construction of our ships because of the high cost of iron in
this country at that time. Great Britain could build the iron ships
much cheaper than we could, and she soon began to displace us in the
carrying trade of the other countries. And it was not long before she
began also to carry a large share of our own foreign commerce.
The second cause for our maritime decline was the Civil War. In 1861
our tonnage registered for the foreign trade was 2,500,000 tons; by
1866 it had fallen to 1,387,756 tons, a loss of over a million tons.
During the war period, nearly 800,000 tons of our shipping were sold
abroad; 110,000 tons were captured by Confederate cruisers; and other
casualties occurred. Of course there were no ships built for our
merchant marine during the stormy years of the war.
Why, it may be asked, did we not restore our ships after the war and
regain our former proud place on the high seas? For the simple, though
possibly unsatisfying, reason that we did not find it profitable to do
so. Capital is invested where the prospects for profit are best, and
the inducement to put money into American ships for the foreign trade
was not strong. It still cost more to build ships in our country than
it did in Europe, and the expenses of operating them when constructed
were greater. Moreover, our rivals had gotten possession of the lion’s
share of the world’s carrying trade, and would not release any portion
of their business without a keen struggle. At the same time the
American capitalist was offered many opportunities for the investment
of his property in domestic enterprises. During the quarter of a
century which followed the war, we devoted our energies and capital to
building our railroads, opening the West, exploiting our mineral and
forest resources, and building the mills and factories whose products
are now rapidly entering foreign markets in all parts of the world.
America’s economic activities were industrial rather than commercial.
The result of these general causes has been the decline of our shipping
in the foreign trade from two and a half million tons in 1861 to less
than three quarters of a million tons in 1898; but it seems that the
low-water mark has been reached and that the tide is turning. The man
who writes the history of our merchant marine on the high seas during
the first half of the twentieth century will, in all probability,
write a record of rapid progress. We have already made much headway
in substituting steel for wooden ships; and America’s foremost iron
manufacturer, Mr. Andrew Carnegie, says that steel ships can now be
built as cheaply on our Atlantic coast as they can be built on the
Clyde. Furthermore, the opportunities for investment in domestic
industries are becoming fewer and less alluring, and there are good
reasons for thinking American capitalists will be disposed from now on
to put their ventures in ships to sail foreign seas.
The attitude of American capitalists, however, will depend very largely
on the maritime policy adopted by the United States. That policy should
unquestionably be as liberal as the policy adopted by our rivals
in commerce. Whatever differences of opinion may rightly exist as
regards specific measures for the restoration of the American marine
to the high seas, all parties should agree as touching the justice and
necessity of treating our maritime interests as generously as Great
Britain deals with the owners of her mighty marine.
Our domestic marine, being free from foreign competition, has had a
prosperity as great as the adversity of our foreign marine. The present
tonnage of domestic shipping is nearly 4,000,000 tons, our growth
during the period since the Civil War having been nearly a million
tons. The traffic on our northern lakes now employs 3256 vessels, canal
boats, and barges, with a total tonnage of 1,437,500 tons; and two
thirds of this tonnage consists of steamships. In 1888 our lake tonnage
was only 874,102 tons; the growth during a decade having been nearly 80
per cent.
It is hardly necessary to remark that the increase or decrease in the
efficiency of a marine during the last few decades is not measured
by the growth or decline in the tonnage statistics. The modern
steamship, aided by the many commercial auxiliaries that facilitate
it in receiving and discharging its cargo, is a much more efficient
transportation agent than was its smaller predecessor propelled by
sails, and loaded and unloaded mainly by human labor. Our present
domestic marine of 4,000,000 tons is at least twice as effective as was
the domestic shipping of 3,000,000 by which we were served a generation
ago.
VII. AMERICAN SHIPBUILDING.
One great aid to the achievement of maritime greatness is a strong
shipbuilding industry, and every nation with commercial aspirations
endeavors to establish the business upon a sure foundation. For some
countries, as in the case of the United Kingdom, that is much easier
than for others; and that is one reason why Great Britain has so easily
succeeded in maintaining her place as mistress of the seas.
The business of building ships in the United States, to be used in
foreign trade, has passed through a golden age of triumphs, followed
by a period of decline and discouragement, and it is now entering
upon an epoch of revival. The golden age came in the days of wooden
vessels. It began in early colonial times and lasted until the middle
of this century, when the world began to buy iron ships of the United
Kingdom. The magnitude of our shipbuilding industry at the middle of
the nineteenth century is indicated by the fact that during the decade
beginning with 1850 the tonnage built in our yards equaled 3,988,372
tons, an annual average of nearly 400,000 tons. During the three years
1854–56 we constructed over a million and a half tons.
[Illustration: STEAMER CAMPANIA OF THE CUNARD LINE.]
The decline in American shipbuilding set in sharply after the Civil
War, and, in spite of the continued growth of our domestic marine, the
tonnage constructed by American builders steadily declined until 1886,
when only 95,453 tons were built. The causes of this decline have been
stated in what has been said regarding the substitution of iron and
steel vessels for wooden. The period of decline seems now to be safely
passed, for we are annually building over 200,000 tons on an average,
and every indication points to rapid progress in the near future.
What is more indicative of progress than the increase in the tonnage
constructed is the growth in the percentage of steamers and iron and
steel ships built, as compared with the wooden sailing ships turned
out. During the decade 1872–81, we built 800,000 tons of steamers and
224,000 tons of iron and steel ships; in the decade following, we
constructed 1,200,000 steam tons and 485,000 tons of iron and steel
vessels; and from 1891 to 1898 our yards turned out 730,432 tons of
steamships and 543,850 tons of iron and steel vessels. As these figures
indicate, the reconstruction of our merchant marine is progressing
with a fair degree of rapidity. At the present time one half our
tonnage consists of steamers; but our percentage of iron and steel is
still small as compared with other countries. Over seven tenths of our
tonnage consists of wooden ships, whereas our chief commercial rival
has practically no wooden vessels whatever. Only 7 per cent of the
French marine consists of wooden ships, and in the case of Germany less
than 5 per cent.