COMMODITIES—(Continued). DESTINATION. 1882-1883. 1883-1884. 1884-1885. 1885-1886. 1886-1887. 1887-1888. 1888-1889. 1889-1890. 1890-1891. 1891-1892. 670 00 3,521.779 55 $3,483,893 98 $3,078,735 57 $3,538,515 67 $3.951,857 55 $4,374,474 07 $3,842,464 61 $ 4,480,496 73 $4,966,881 40 $6,233,649 63 30 00 600 00 266 00 10,914 01 26,200 00 3,120 00 571,178 86 787 60 1,296 71 4,000 00 2,502 00 463,089 64 21,582,253 43 19,485,098 47 250 00 $12,178,937 66 $13,252,213 12 $12,896,794 08 $13,741,316 56 $15,631,427 49 $17,879,720 67 $21,373,148 03 $23,878,098 46 $27,020,023 18 $26,330,410 97 $41,807,595 35 $46,725,496 42 $46,670,845 00 $43,647,717 39 $49,191,930 05 $48,885,908 38 $60,158,423 02 $62,499,388 69 $63,276,395 34 $75,467,714 95 100 00 134,947 35 870 00 570 00 8,220 62 52 00 50 00 6,815 34 150,580 08 3,700 00 4,555 00 8,569 20 187,931 65 3,545 00 280 00 625,293 84 27,728,714 79 5,075 00 4,000 00 490 00 457,842 02 31,059,626 66 1,135 00 659,330 96 40,853,362 74 4,635 00 515,193 74 200 00 TRADE BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES. It is quite difficult to make a correct statement of the trade between Mexico and the United States, because the official data of both governments never used to agree, especially on account of the different currencies prevailing in the two countries. As we have the silver standard, all our public accounts are kept in silver, and that makes our exports appear twice as large in value as they really are, when stated in the money of the United States, while we give our imports in the value of the country from whence they come, that is their gold value. That fact, which has often been overlooked, has caused the prevailing idea that there is a very large balance of trade in favor of Mexico, because the exports of United States commodities in Mexico amount to a given figure a year, the imports to this country of Mexican commodities amount to over double that figure; but it must be borne in mind that the former is in silver while the latter is in gold. For instance, according to the Mexican Bureau of Statistics the imports into Mexico of merchandise from the United States in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, amounted to $20,145,763, while the exports of metals and commodities from Mexico to the United States during the same year amounted to $79,651,695, the proportion being almost four to one; but if the imports are doubled as they ought to be, because the Mexican currency is silver, they amount to $40,291,526, and if the exports of Mexico into the United States, calculated also in silver, are reduced to gold, they will amount to one half or $39,825,847.50. In corroboration of this statement I will mention the fact that according to the data of the Statistical Bureau of the United States Treasury Department, the exports to Mexico of commodities and precious metals from the United States during the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1897, amounted to $23,535,213 while the imports into the United States of commodities and precious metals amounted to $30,714,366. Since March 1893, however, the Statistical Bureau of the United States Treasury Department, has reduced to gold the silver value of the Mexican metals and commodities imported in this country, and its data come now nearer to the mark, as in the year 1896 it gives the total exports of merchandise from this country into Mexico as $19,450,256, while the total imports of merchandise from Mexico into this country are $17,456,177. The figures of our exports appear very large in the Mexican returns, because our merchandise is sold in gold markets, and their gold price is reduced to silver, and increased in the same proportion in which silver depreciates. It is not therefore the amount of merchandise which has increased so much, as that the price has been swollen in reducing it from gold to silver. In that regard the returns from the United States Statistical Bureau are more in conformity with the facts. Another cause of the discrepancy between the statistics of both countries is that the Statistical Bureau of the United States Treasury Department had not, prior to March 3, 1893, any data of commodities exported to Mexico by way of the frontier, as there was no law which provided for the collection of such data, and a very large portion of the trade between the two countries is carried on by the frontier, especially since the railroads connecting both countries were finished.' That deficiency was only in relation to the exports, as the imports were duly declared for the payment of duties, and therefore the statistics of the United States necessarily were deficient and incomplete about the exports to Mexico of United States commodities, and that accounts in a great measure for the discrepancy between the official data published by both governments, and for the great discrepancy between exports and imports which appear in the statistics of the United States for those years. From the preceding remarks it will be understood why there is such a great discrepancy between the data of the respective Bureaus. It is very difficult to make a correct statement of the trade between the two countries previous to the organization of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States; but I found in a book published in Washington. in 1860 by Mr. Carlos Butterfield, entitled "The United States and Mexican Mail Steamship Line and Statistics of Mexico," a statement of the imports and exports between Mexico and the United States from 1826 to 1858, taken as he states from official data of the United States Treasury Reports, which I will use. That statement is complemented by two tables furnished to me by Hon. Worthington C. Ford, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department. The first contains a statement of the trade between the United States and Mexico, during the forty-six years from 1851 to 1897, and the second is a full statement of that trade, including gold and silver during the same period. (Pages 174 and 175.) I have prepared besides from the official publications of the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Treasury Department, a detailed statement of the commodities imported into the United States from Mexico, and exported from the United States to Mexico during the 1 For these reasons the statements of the Statistical Bureau of the United States, previous to the fiscal year ended June 30, 1892, contained the following foot-note: In the absence of law providing for the collection of statistics of exports to adjacent foreign territory over railways, the values of exports to Mexico, from 1883 to 1893 inclusive, have been considerably under-stated. Since March, 1893, there has been a law in force for the collection of exports by railways. According to official information from Mexican sources, the value of imports into that country from the United States during the year ending June 30, 1888, was $19,264,673, including precious metals valued at $38,362. Prior to 1866 the figures include gold and silver imported and exported. For 1866 and subsequent years, merchandise only." years 1858 to 1897, which is complete so far as the records of this government go, and contains very valuable information. I will give first a partial statement prepared by the Bureau of Statistics of the Mexican Government of the total imports to Mexico and the imports from the United States of America from the fiscal year 1872-1873 to 1895-1896, and then another detailed statement prepared by the same Bureau of the total exports from Mexico and the exports to the United States of America from the fiscal year 1877-1878 to 1895-1896. From said data it will be seen that the trade of Mexico with the United States is increasing very rapidly, notwithstanding the difficulty thrown in the way by high protective tariffs. Only a few years ago, as will be seen by the appended statement, our largest trade was with Great Britain, the United States occupying the second place, while now the United States occupies the first place, both in amount of our exports and imports.' Value of exports during the fiscal year 1872-1873 with their destination. TOTAL IMPORTS TO MEXICO AND IMPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR THE FISCAL YEARS, 1872-1873 TO 1895-1896. This statement is corroborated by the following extract from an official report addressed to Lord Salisbury by Mr. Lionel Carden, British Consul-General at the City of Mexico, on the trade of Mexico during the year 1896: "The great increase in the imports of American goods this year must be regarded by British merchants and manufacturers as another warning that unless they soon make a serious effort, they will have to give up all hope of profiting by the increase in the Mexican import trade, and may even lose part of the very limited share of it they at present enjoy." TABLE SHOWING THE TOTAL EXPORTS FROM MEXICO AND THE EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FROM THE FISCAL YEAR 18771878 TO THE YEAR 1895-1896. 1883-1884... 12,822,241 9,002,160 21,824,401 33,473,283 13,252,213 46,725,496 9,448,285 25,853,061 33,774,051 12,896,794 46,670,845 9,933,259 25,429,595 29,906,401 13,741,316 43,647,717 33,560,503 15,631,427 49,191,930 31,059,627 31,006,188 17,879,720 48,885,908 21,373,148 60,158,423 62,499,389 63,276,395 26,330,411 75,467,715 31,004,916 87,509,221 60,660,243 46,484,360 32,858,927 79,343,287 64,838,596 52,535,854 38,319,099 $374,698,755 $1,051,908,460 1884-1885... 16,404,776 $272,185,723 $664,756,806 $677,209,705 STATEMENT TAKEN FROM THE UNITED STATES TREASURY REPORTS OF THE COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES FROM 1826 TO 1850. |