[Illustration: Export trade of the United States and Great Britain
compared.]
Similar differences with respect to our import trade and that of Great
Britain are observable. Our imports do not amount to more than from
$600,000,000 to $800,000,000 a year. For the year ended June 30, 1897,
they were $765,000,000. For the year ended June 30, 1898, they were
$616,000,000. The imports of Great Britain, on the other hand, amount
to over $2,000,000,000 a year. For the year 1896 they were
$2,210,000,000. For the year 1897 they were $2,225,000,000. But, while
our imports, with the exception of coffee, sugar, tea, fruits, and
fish, consist chiefly of manufactured articles, such as woollen goods,
cotton goods, silk goods, and iron and steel goods, with only moderate
amounts of raw material (for example, hides, skins, and furs,
$41,000,000; raw silk, $32,000,000; raw wool, $17,000,000), Great
Britain, besides importing coffee, sugar, tea, fruits, and fish, the
same as we do, and manufactured goods to a far greater amount than we
do (not less than $500,000,000 annually), imports likewise an enormous
quantity of raw material for her manufactures, all duty free, and a
still more enormous quantity of breadstuffs, provisions, etc., also
all duty free. For example, for the year 1897 her imports of raw
materials for her manufactures were not less than $750,-000,000,
while her imports of duty-free food products were not less than
$825,000,000. The difference between the two countries, therefore, so
far as their foreign trades are concerned is simply this: The United
States is an immense exporter of food-stuffs, and also of raw
materials for foreign manufacture; but for the raw materials for her
own manufacture she depends principally upon her own products. In
comparison she is only a moderate exporter of manufactured goods.
Great Britain, on the other hand, is an enormous importer and consumer
of food-stuffs and also of raw materials for her manufactures. She, in
fact, depends very largely upon other countries for her food products
and her raw materials, and obtains them wherever she can, very largely
from the United States. She is also an enormous exporter of
manufactures.
[Illustration: The United States manufactures and internal trade
compared with the manufactures and internal trade of all other
countries.]