OHARACTER AND IMPORTANCE OF AMERICAN FOREIGN TRADE. 98
States to pay for these imports with goods that other countries find it
advantageous to buy here.
Foreign foodstuffs and manufacturers’ materials.—Since 1900
more than three-fourths of the total imports of this country have
been manufacturers’ materials and foodstuffs. In that period imports
 of both classes have more than doubled. In recent years
imports of foodstuffs have averaged more than $400,000,000, and of
manufacturers’ materials about $900,000,000 annually. Great Britain
1s often thought of as peculiarly dependent on foreign raw materials
and food supplies. In many commodities the United States is
equally dependent on foreign sources. Following is a comparison of
the net imports ® into Great Britain and the United States of a few
important foodstuffs and raw materials in 1913:
United States. United Kingdom.
Hides and skins eae $103, 000, 000 $24, 000, 000
Sugar eee 95, 000, 000 115, 000, 000
59111117 J 77, 000, 000 28, 000, 000
Baw MIR... mmm mpi 3 C0 000 3, 000, 000
DIOMTIOB cron ii it ms i er i mm M500 5, 000, 000
PHIL eiimistonion me nse ee ii + 000 30, 000, 000
00008 mmm reese 40s WUD, 000 9, 000, 000
In addition the United States each year imports large quantities of
other foods and raw materials such as fruits and nuts, liquors and
beverages, sisal, tea, nitrates, dyestuffs, tropical woods, etc. There
are also other commodities which are imported in relatively small
quantities, but which are absolutely necessary in modern industry.
Thus tungsten is required in the high-speed tool steel, without which
modern machine tools would lose their great efficiency; manganese.
also, is an essential alloy in steel manufacture.
Coffee, sugar, tea, cocoa, bananas, etc., are needed in great quantities
 for domestic consumption. Hides, rubber, silk, tin, wool, ete.,
are essential not merely to particular lines of business, but to the
prosperity and welfare of the country as a whole. Year by year the
imports of these classes are increasing and will increase. In order
that the people may have these foods and that the mills and factories
may have the raw materials needed for manufacture, products must
be exported in ever-increasing quantities and values.
Broader markets.—In addition to the advantage of exports as a
means of payment for foreign capital, services, and goods, the advantages
 of a broader market through export trade should be considered.
 There are corporations in various industries in the principal
European exporting countries which manufacture three-fourths and
more of their output entirely for foreign customers. There are relatively
 few manufacturing corporations in the United States whose
foreign trade is more than a small fraction of their domestic trade.

1 Degree of dependence on foreign sources for each commodity is indicated by net imports.
 arrived at by subtracting all exports from all importa.