| Show WORLDWIDE WORLD WIDE contributions to the comforts of american homes the contributions which people ot of other parts of the world are making to the comforts and requirements of homes in the united states are quite as interesting as the subject ot of last weeks discussion regarding the articles which producers in the united states had contributed to the comforts of homes in other parts of the world our ten tea our coffee our bananas our camphor our licorice our pepper nut megs and other spices our silk some of our cotton a considerable part of our wool and strange as it may appear some part ot of the onions potatoes and cheese consumed in the united states are brought from other countries and in many cases from opposite side of the globe and out of the way parts of the world few people would suppose for example that this great agricultural country imports onions or potatoes or clover seed or honey yet the value of onions imported in 1907 and 1908 was nearly a million dollars in each year and they came from egypt australla australia japan the canary islands uruguay cuba the british west indies bermuda canada mexico and spain of pot more than afe 31 million dollars worth were imported in 1909 the largest contributing country being scotland with over 1 million colars do lars worth ireland and great britain each three quarters ot or a million dollars worth and the remainder largely from european bountres coun tres and in smaller quantities from the british west indies australia and even china and japan pepper of course is not produced in the united states slates and it 16 s not surprising therefore that two million dollars worth is imported annually much of oc it from the dutch east indies although largely accredited to the straits se settlements the souther most part of eastern asia to which this merchandise is transship tied ped from the east indian islands known a century ago as the spice islands while smaller quantities come direct from netherlands the country which tor for so many years administered ministered the government of those islands and controlled largely their 11 lins lin ns n s of production nutmegs Nut megs of which the importations amount toa quader qu aMer million dollars ayea a yea c iassc also F sass me also dra n irosa the spice pice islands or the dutch east indies one would scarcely expect that such an agricultural country as the united states would find it necessary to import clover seed but the quantity imported runs as high as 20 million pounds a year chiefly from germany and smaller quantities from france italy and scotland Saus saussaye sage casings which we would scarcely expect to see ee imported into a country slaughtering food animals in such large numbers are imported to the value of from 2 to 3 million dollars a year by tar far the largest contributor being england from which the importations in 1909 were over I 1 aa million colars do lars the remainder being from widely Id cly scattered countries from germany turkey in europe china australia and turkey in asia natural gas in another article which we would scarcely expect to see imported yet the importations run as high as per annum being piped across the river from canada at or near niagara falls of the more commonly used articles of which other parts of the world are the chief source sugar is the largest in value its importations ran ranging about million dollars a year from foreign countries and 70 million dollars a year from our own island possessions hawaii porto rico and the philippines nearly all of that coming from foreign countries is drawn from cuba which supplied us last fiscal year with 3 billion pounds valued at million dollars of coffee the importations range from sixty to seventy five ru million illion dollars a year and in exceptional years as high as million the bulk of this comes from drazil brazil though a considerable sid erable portion cornes comes from java mexico central america and the northern section of south america and a comparatively small quantity from africa the tea importations which amount to from 12 to 18 million dollars a year come chiefly from japan china and india much of the latter however reaching the united states by way of england one would scarcely expect to see raw cotton imported into the united states in view of the fact act that she produces three fourths ot of the cotton of the world but the value of cotton n imports ranges as digh bigli as 20 million dollars a year the bulk ot of it coming from egypt though mexico and peru contribute consid considerable erble quantities even india china the dutch east indies and the british west indies make small contributions all of the raw silk in the united states in manufacturing the millon lon dollars worth of silk goods turned out annually by our factories Is brought from other parts of the world chiefly from japan and china though in smaller quantities from italy and france to the million dollars worth of 0 hides and skins imported last year nearly every grand division contributed of goat skins alone the imports last year amounted to 30 million dollars brought from such distant countries as india china the straits settlements persia morocco the Belgian kongo and madagascar |
