DATA COMPILED BY THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

India's commerce is as interesting to Americans as it is to any people except, perhaps, the Indians and English. When it is remembered that India ranks sixth among exporting and tenth among importing countries, the volume of her trade may be partially measured. Last year India's exports were valued at $403,000,000 and her imports at $264,000,000. Of India's $264,000,000 worth of imports, 36 per cent were cottons. Next on the list of imports are iron and steel products, which form 12 per cent of the total. Third in importance on the list of India's imports is mineral oil-5 per cent of the total imports.

Thus, of India's imports more than 50 per cent are of a class that might be called indigenous to the United States, and the greater part-fully three-fourths of the entire list is made up of a class of articles successfully produced by and exported from the United States; and yet our exports to India amount to less than 2 per cent of the imports of that country.

The United States imported East Indian goods in 1892 to the value of $24,773,107 and in 1902 to the value of $48,421,218. The exports thither from the United States in the years indicated were $3,674,307 and $4,621,876, respectively. The most important imports to the United States from the East Indies are: Jute manufactures, $10,000,000; jute, unmanufactured, $4,000,000; hides and skins, $8,000,000; gums, $2,000,000; etc.

India's growing importance.-India has advanced from $28,000,000 in imports in 1840 to her present $264,000,000; her exports have increased equally fast, or from $51,000,000 in 1840 to $403,000,000. Of the total foreign trade in 1902 ($667,000,000), Great Britain naturally supplies the largest part. Her share was 64.5 per cent; the British colonies, 5.3 per cent; or a total British trade of 70 per cent. Following Great Britain, but a long way behind, come Austria-Hungary, with 4.8 per cent; Russia, 3.9 per cent; Germany, 3.7 per cent; Belgium, 3.7 per cent; China, 2.2 per cent; France, 1.7 per cent; and the United States, 1.4 per cent. In 1899 the United States supplied 2 per cent of India's imports; in 1900, 1.7 per cent; in 1901, 1.6 per cent; and in 1902, 1.4 per cent. Of India's exports, England's share was not so large as her share in the imports, while the share of the United States therein was very much larger than her share in the imports. Of the total exports of India. in 1902 ($403,000,000), Great Britain took 25.1 per cent; the Straits Settlements, Egypt, and Ceylon, 13.9 per cent; China, 14.5 per cent; Germany, 8.4 per cent; France, 7.3 per cent; and the United States, 6.9 per cent.

Carriers of India's commerce.-Of the vessels entering and leaving India's harbors last year, 79 per cent sailed under the British flag. If the tonnage is taken into consideration, it will be found that Great Britain did 81 per cent of the total trade. It is officially reported that German and Austrian tonnage are rapidly growing. Germany's increase is indicated by the fact that her figures were 209 ships for 1900 and 270 for 1902; Austria's, 131 in 1900 and 164 in 1902. The French figures fell from 155 in 1900 to 149 in 1902, and Norway's from 82 to 78.

AMERICAN INTERESTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN SIBERIA.

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY.

Agricultural machinery and appliances of American manufacture, as is well known, are widely used in the pre-Amur country. For these goods-especially for harvesting machinery-there is such a demand that private firms can not fill the orders.

The Ministry of Agriculture, desiring to aid the local peasant proprietors, has set apart a fund to establish at Habarofsk a Government warehouse for agricultural machinery and appliances. It has directed the pre-Amur management of imperial properties, as its representative in this section, to organize such an establishment. As the management intends to operate to a large extent in American goods, it is at present greatly in need of information from competent sources regarding the purchase and importation of such goods from the United States. The management therefore requests information on the following points:

1. The addresses of firms dealing in agricultural machinery.

2. The addresses of firms manufacturing such machinery, with price lists and catalogues.

3. Lists of steamships plying between the United States and Vladivostock. 4. The best terms of purchase of such machinery.

Agents of several firms are on the ground, or have been. In the past, business firms hereabouts have done good work and accomplished excellent business results in these lines. No traveling agent, however, spoke Russian and no catalogues or prices, except those reprinted by agents here, have been in the Russian language. Some catalogues of agricultural-implement firms are on hand, but only a few-none with bottom prices. These should be forwarded, even though in English. What is needed is prompt replies to this office of lowest quotation, cash or time (preferably the latter), and a brief catalogue in Russian, of which several copies are needed. Meanwhile, any printed matter sent should be mailed via Moscow, “R. T. Greener, commercial agent, U. S. A., Vladivostock, please forward."

Telegraphic addresses of many firms are at hand and some catalogues. What is needed is as complete a list as can be furnished, with lowest prices, prospective freight charges, and statements as to cash or time.

FLOUR MILL.

The American firm of Clarkson & Co., established here some five or six years, has made application to the local authorities for a 24-year lease of 54 acres of land owned by the city at Cape Firsoff, near the Ussuri Railway, 6 miles from the city, at a rental of $309 per year for the first twelve years and $618 per year for the last twelve years. The firm proposes to erect there a flour mill, provided with all the latest American appliances. The buildings will be 41⁄2 stories, with accompanying lodging houses and warehouses and a branch railroad to connect with the main Ussuri line.

It is proposed to invest $51,500 in this enterprise, which is said to have official countenance if not financial support. At the expiration of the term of lease all the buildings will become the property of the city. This firm already has several coal and gold mines under exploitation, a saw mill which runs in connection with a sash and blind and door factory, a contract for granite work on one of the new wharves, and a lease of some supposed valuable mineral lands near St. Olga Bay, of which great expectations are expressed. firm has also branch offices at Nagasaki, Port Arthur, Tientsin, and Harbin.

VLADIVOSTOCK, May 8, 1903.

R. T. GREENER,
Commercial Agent.

SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES.

The German papers have recently been circulating the report, and it has even gained currency in the English press, that the locomotives which have been purchased in America by the Bavarian state railways within the last three years had proven unsatisfactory, and that their durability had been called into question. In these. reports it is also asserted that experts had declared that the American locomotives could only last at best from eight to ten years, while the locomotives manufactured in Bavaria had stood service for thirty years, and that for these reasons, as well as because of frequent necessary repairs, the further use of American locomotives had been abandoned.

From official sources the information is obtained that these reports are unauthorized and wholly groundless. The facts are that the locomotives which had been bought in order to study the American system of locomotive building have proven, because of their

simplicity, their originality of construction, and their remarkable locomotion for fast and freight trains, most acceptable, especially as to durability and efficiency, and that up to this time nothing has been discovered to warrant a statement that, with the same care bestowed upon them as upon the Bavarian locomotives, the American locomotives would prove less durable than those built here. Indeed many of the parts of construction have been found so simple and practical that they will be adopted in the construction of Bavarian locomotives.

MUNICH, June 1, 1903.

JAMES H. WORMAN,

Consul-General.

AMERICAN AUTOMOBILES IN MALAGA.

Within the past few months an interest in automobiles of American make has been manifested in Malaga. This is due in part to the recent importation of a French machine of the racing type, which is the only automobile now in Malaga.

A few days ago one of the most influential men in this city requested me to procure for him price lists and catalogues of American automobiles, and to-day another of Malaga's representative men informed me that he had just placed an order with a Detroit firm for the purchase of a machine propelled by gasoline, and that several of his friends are awaiting the advent of the first American machine to compare it with European designs. This seems to be an excellent opportunity for American manufacturers who desire to establish a market here, as the marked advantage in prices in favor of American machines seems to be understood in Malaga. The roads about this city offer facilities for trips to near-by villages, and the outlook. is that within a short time many machines will be in use here.

If American manufacturers will send their catalogues or other reading matter to this consulate, I shall take pleasure in handing them to parties interested and in placing them in the reading room of the principal club of Malaga.

Promptness of delivery is an essential point that should not be overlooked by American manufacturers sending machines to Spain. The French makers have an immense advantage in this respect.

I am informed that nowhere in Spain-certainly not in this section-is there an American automobile firm represented by an agency. D. R. BIRCH,

MALAGA, June 10, 1903.

Consul.

AMERICAN GOODS AT THE OSAKA EXHIBITION.

Consul S. S. Lyon sends from Kobé, May 20, 1903, newspaper clipping descriptive of the foreign exhibits at Osaka, as follows:

The exhibits in the large building just to the rear of the Canadian Building are well worth a visit. They are absolutely and entirely American and represent the agencies that Mr. F. W. Horne, of Yokohama and Tokyo, controls. Mr. Horne could only obtain a space of 7 tsubo (42 square feet) in the Foreign Samples Building, and as this would not have answered his purpose he decided to erect a building for himself. It covers 200 tsubo (1,200 square feet) and is fitted as nearly as possible as a model machine shop, with plenty of light and air, and contains over 150,000 yen ($74,700) worth of the latest American machinery, all in working order. The biggest exhibit is a Miles-Bemant-Pond Company and Pratt & Whitney radial boring drill and 37-inch boring and turning machine. There are also, by the same firms, a slotting machine, a horizontal boring machine, a steam hammer, and some specimens of small tools. Many ingenious appliances are shown by the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company. Close by is a 24-inch Gisholt lathe, which, together with two larger ones, has been sold to the Mitsu Bishi Company. There are also some printing presses by Chandler & Price, lathes by Bradford & Sebastian, and a compressor made by the Rand Drill Company. A good many engineers thoroughly understand the principles of boilers, but do not know how to set them properly. Mr. Horne has placed a 50-horsepower boiler in position, leaving a portion of the brickwork open, so that students and others interested may examine it and learn how to set a boiler with accuracy. We understand that many young Japanese engineers and mechanics have already taken advantage of the useful information which may be derived from a study of this somewhat novel exhibit.

Just above this, one of the Buffalo Forge Company's disk ventilating fans has been fixed and creates a perfect passage of air on the "down draft forge" system. The Fay-Egan Company has on view a wood-working machine, including a No. 9 band-saw mill, a planer and matcher, a band scroll saw, and a variety saw and hand planer. There is a full line of Laidlaw, Dunn, Gordon, and Asiatic duplex steam pumps; and lathes and planer chucks, made by the Skinner Chuck Company. On the wall is a fine case of "instruments of precision," by Brown & Sharpe and L. S. Starret. Some examples are shown of Messrs. W. F. & John Barnes's drills and lathes, one of which has been sold to the Fukuoka Technical School and one to Mr. Shimadzu, of Kyoto. The Unozawa Works, at Tokyo, have bought one of this firm's 22-inch drills, and the Mayejima Works, at Tokyo, are the purchasers of a 221⁄2-inch drill. A Warner & Swathey hexicon lathe, capable of very fine work, is exhibited, together with a 16-inch monitor lathe for making valves, and Ashcroft steam gauges. Brown & Sharpe have a fine display, including a 36-inch automatic gear cutter and an automatic service grinding machine. One of the most complicated and interesting machines is this firm's automatic screw machine. The steel rod is put in at one end and in twenty seconds the wellfinished screw appears at the other. One of the William Sellers universal tool grinders, as used at the Kawasaki and Mitsu Bishi Yards, is also shown. Among

the other exhibits are specimens of asbestos by H. W. Johns-Manville Company, Hart duplex stock dies, Curtis & Curtis type threaders, Blickensderfer typewriters, diving suits and apparatus by James Morse & Sons, William Powell steam valves,