FOOTNOTE:[3]Since the above was written the scheme has been developed a very considerable way toward completion. The name of the confederation is to be "The Commonwealth of Australia."THE AREA AND CLIMATE OF AUSTRALIAAustralia is a continent not only in name but in fact. Its area, including Tasmania, is almost 3,000,000 square miles, which is about the area of the United States exclusive of Alaska, and only about one fourth less than the area of the continent of Europe. Fully two fifths of this area lie within the torrid zone, and of the rest, even in Victoria, the part farthest from the equator, the climate is so warm that it corresponds with that of Spain, southern France, and Italy. But over so vast a territory great differences of climate must occur, and consequently of products also. A general description of the climate and products of Australia is therefore impossible. Yet there are several characteristics which appertain to the whole continent. The chief of these are (1) the greatdrynessof theatmosphere—not merely its lack of rain, but its absolute freedom from moisture; (2) the remarkableinequality, or want of regularity, in therainfall. Occasionally the rainfall is excessive, but a more frequent and serious cause of trouble is excessive drought. The continent on every side has a low coast region, where the rainfall is heavier and the temperature generally hotter than in the corresponding table-land interior to it. But the vast table-land of the interior has comparatively little rain, and indeed in some parts of it, especially in the centre and west, the rainfall is so slight that the country is practically a desert.But even when all the desert areas of Australia are excluded from calculation there still remains in the interior plateau, toward the east and south, an immense areaof country of great fertility and productiveness. The Murray River alone drains an area of 500,000 square miles, one sixth of the whole continent, a great part of which is of exceeding richness. In these fertile parts irrigation by artesian wells has been tried, and always with great success. And it is thought that almost the whole continent can be regained for agriculture, or at least for sheep-pasturing, by similar means; for even in the arid and so-called desert parts of the interior, there is very little soil that is not really fertile, for all of it is covered with thick brushwood. Moisture alone is needed to make it bear crops abundantly. And this dryness of the atmosphere which prevails throughout the whole continent is not without its compensations. It renders the climate exceedingly healthful.AUSTRALIA A CONTINENT OF PECULIARITIESAustralia hasmany peculiarities. It has only one large river, and even that in summer becomes a series of isolated pools. It has no high mountain range, its principal mountains being only a series of ramparts marking off the lower coast lands from the interior plateau. Again, its native quadrupeds are entirely different from those of other continents, being almost all, whether little or big, "marsupials," or "pouch-bearers," like the kangaroo. Its birds are mostly songless. Its flowers, for the most part, have no scent. Its trees are leaved vertically and cast no shade. Its indigenous inhabitants have made no progress toward civilisation. When Europeans first came to the country they found no native animal that could be put to any use, nor any native fruit, vegetable, or grain that could be utilised for food. Still, all European domestic animals thrive abundantly in the country, and so do all European fruits, grasses, grains, and vegetables. The English rabbits, indeed, have become a terrible pest. As many as 25,000,000 of them have been killed in a year without any apparent diminution in their numbers. Over $1,000,000 a year has at times been spent to exterminate them, all to no effect.VICTORIAVictoria, the smallest of the Australian colonies, had until recently the largest population (June, 1897, 1,177,304) and also the largest trade. In both respects, however, it is at present surpassed by New South Wales. Victoria has owed its past pre-eminence to itsgold production. Gold was discovered in the colony in 1851, and for years the output of the precious mineral was not less than $50,000,000 per annum. The present output of gold in Victoria, however, is only $10,000,000 per annum. Richer, however, than the gold-mines of Victoria is the fertility of its soil. A large part of the soil is exceedingly fertile—with irrigation one of the finest fruit-bearing soils in the world. The arboreal vegetation of the country is magnificent. Trees thirty feet in diameter rise to the height of 200 feet without a single lateral branch, and then 100 feet to 200 feet higher still. Pear-trees grow to the height of eighty feet, with trunks three feet in diameter. But as yet wool-growing, wheat-raising, and vine-growing are the principal agricultural occupations of the people. The principal agricultural export iswool—$25,000,000 worth per annum. But a considerable portion of this comes from New South Wales. Thesheepkept number 15,000,000, the cattle 2,000,000. But the colony still remains principally a mining community. Five ninths of the population live in towns. Yet there are few towns, and two fifths of the whole population live in Melbourne—a city almost exactly as large as Boston.MELBOURNEMelbourne(451,110; with suburbs, 500,000), the capital city of Victoria and the chief city in Australia, is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its parliament buildings, town hall, post-office, treasury, mint, law courts, public libraries, picture galleries, theatres, churches, and clubs are all edifices of architectural magnificence and beauty, while its boulevards, parks and gardens are equally splendid. At one time money flowed freely and great commercial recklessness prevailed. But though Melbourne has sustained several severe depressions its present condition is prosperous and its future is assured. It is, however, a pleasure-loving city, and it is as much on this account as on account of its great beauty that it is called "the Paris of the southern hemisphere." Nowhere else in the world, perhaps, are indoor amusements—the theatre, concerts, etc.—or outdoor amusements—cricket, football, horse-racing, etc.—more devotedly patronised than in Melbourne. Other important places in Victoria areBallarat(40,000) andSandhurst(37,000), both mining towns, andGeelong(25,000) locally noted for its manufacture of "tweeds."NEW SOUTH WALESAustralia. Shaded portions show where the rainfall is sufficiently abundant.Australia. Shaded portions show where the rainfall is sufficiently abundant.New South Wales (population 1,311,440) is the oldest colony of Australia and the parent of both Victoria and Queensland. Of all the colonies, it has, perhaps, the greatest range of productions. On the low coast lands its soil is of extraordinary fertility, and even in the dry interior, when irrigation is employed, the fertility is still extraordinary. As yet, however, but one acre out of every two hundred is under cultivation, the chief agricultural occupation being pasturing. Over 50,000,000sheepare kept, principally themerino. Grass grows everywhere, and even the summits of the mountains are covered. Drought, however, is a terrible drawback, and sometimes tremendous losses occur. In 1877 over 8,000,000 sheep perished, and in 1884 over 12,000,000. The totalwool productionis very large, averaging $50,000,000 a year. The export of hides, skins, leather, and chilled meat, principally mutton, amounts to $10,000,000 annually.Chilled mutton and beef are sent direct to London, though the passage takes five or six weeks by steamer and twelve to sixteen weeks by sailing-vessel. Scarcely less important than its agricultural products are the mineral products of New South Wales. Itscoal-minesare the finest on the continent, and $4,500,000 worth of coal is exported annually, besides what is consumed locally. Its gold production, though not very large, is general throughout the whole colony. Itssilver-minesinSilvertonandBroken Hillare among the most famous in the world, and its tin-bearing lands comprise over 5,500,000 acres. The foregoing comprise the staple products—the production of industries already well established. But fruit-growing, including all fruits, from apples, pears, and peaches, to olives and oranges, is a rapidly developing industry, no country in the world being better suited to it. Wine-making, too, is quickly coming forward, the New South Wales wines equalling in flavour those of France and Spain. Wheat-growing, cotton-growing, and even rice-growing are also in their several districts rapidly extending and prosperous pursuits. The development of New South Wales has only just begun.Sydney(including suburbs 410,000) is the capital and by far the largest city. Sydney, like Melbourne, is a beautiful city, but its beauty is natural rather than artificial, and it is well entitled to its name, "Queen of the South." It is situated on Port Jackson, one of the finest and most beautiful harbours on the globe. Sydney is the headquarters of all the various lines of steamships—British, American, French, Italian, etc.—that trade with Australia, and is indeed one of the great seaports of the world.SOUTH AUSTRALIASouth Australia (358,224 in 1897) occupies the whole central part of the continent from north to south. Butas only a very small portion of this vast area is settled—the southeast corner—it may be described as in characteristics resembling Victoria. Its principal industry iswheat-growing. South Australia is indeed the great granary of the continent, and is destined to be one of the great granaries of the world. Like the other divisions of Australia, South Australia, when once drought has been overcome by irrigation, is destined to become a great fruit country, its warm, moistureless climate being peculiarly well suited to the ripening of fruits of exquisite flavours. Already its olives are pronounced the finest in the world. The principal city and chief port isAdelaide(with suburbs 144,352). Like other Australian ports, Adelaide possesses excellent steamboat shipping facilities. In the north, on the Timor Sea, isPort Darwin, likely to be an important trade centre.QUEENSLANDThe most interesting of all the Australian colonies is Queensland (population 472,179), for it is a tropical country with a climate so salubrious that white people can live in it and be comfortable and healthy. The heat, instead of being enervating, is stimulating and bracing. A great portion of its soil is of unsurpassed fertility. The only drawback is the unequal distribution throughout the year of the rainfall. But wherever irrigation wells are sunk the climate becomes highly suitable forsheep-raising, and also for the growing of many kinds offruit. There are already 15,000,000 sheep and 5,000,000 cattle in the colony, and wool is exported to the amount of $15,000,000 annually. Other agricultural exports are frozen beef and mutton, and hides and skins.Woolis the chief export. The second export in importance isgold, which reaches $10,000,000 per annum. Tin is also exported,and coal, though little worked, is abundant. Developing exports are sugar ($2,500,000 per annum), arrowroot, cotton, tobacco, rice, and coffee. A difficulty, however, in the development of these products is the labour question. White men cannot work in the plantations. Chinese prefer to work in the mines. The natives won't work anywhere. No negroes are obtainable. As a consequence Polynesians have to be imported.Brisbane(100,913) is the capital and chief city and port.WEST AUSTRALIAWest Australia (population 162,394), the largest of all the Australian colonies, has only been recently settled, and its constitution as a self-governing colony dates only from 1890. A large part of its area has never been explored, and a large part is known to be scrub desert. But there is scarcely any part of it, even of its "scrub" areas, but that will support sheep when once artesian wells have been sunk, and large portions of the colony, especially along the coasts, are as fertile as need be. And the climate, though very dry, is exceedingly healthful.Perth(43,000) is the capital.Albanyis the principal port.THE IMMENSE RESOURCES OF AUSTRALIA. ITS PROBABLE FUTUREAustralia is undoubtedly on the eve of a period of great development. Its resources are known to be immense. Its climate has been found most favourable to human health, and the objectionable feature of the climate, the smallness and irregularity of the rainfall, has been studied and become understood and found remediable. Once the confederation that is now in process of formationtakes place, there is no doubt that Australia will enter upon a new and prosperous commercial era. Owing to the fact that its chief opportunities for wealth lie in the development of its natural resources, it is probable that for some time to come almost all the manufactured goods Australia needs will have to be imported. Already its importation amounts to $275,000,000, of which, of course, Great Britain supplies the principal share. This importation is principally clothing and materials for clothing, but it also comprises hardware and machinery, and in fact everything required by a highly civilised and money-spending people, except breadstuffs and provisions. The magnitude of this importation may be comprehended from the fact that it is more than one third of the total exportation of the United States for any year save one up to 1896, including our immense export of breadstuffs, provisions, and cotton. And besides the articles of export already mentioned—wool,meats,hides,skins,minerals,fruits, etc.—there is one other Australian resource that is capable of almost indefinite development. This is itstimber. The eucalyptus or gum-tree prevails almost universally in Australia, and some of its commonest varieties, being both strong and indestructible by insects, are of almost unequalled value for ship-building, railway ties, and dock and harbour construction. That the Australians are fully alive to the importance of developing their foreign trade is seen in the efforts they have made to provide facilities for bringing their products to ocean ports. There are 11,980 miles of railway, almost every mile of which has been built by the governments. This is one mile of railway for every 300 inhabitants, as against one mile for every 400 inhabitants in the United States. These railways run wholly to and from the seaboard. There are no manufacturing towns to be catered to. Australian trade consists wholly inexchanging home-raised natural products for imported manufactures. Equally remarkable with the railroad enterprise of the Australians is their enterprise in telegraphic construction and the establishment of cable communications. For example, a telegraph line 2000 miles long, running across the continent from Adelaide to Port Darwin, has been built by the province of South Australia so as to connect with a cable from Port Darwin to Java, Singapore, etc., and thus with Europe and America. For at least 1500 miles this telegraph line runs through one of the most desolate and inaccessible regions in the world.XI. THE TRADE FEATURES OF SOUTH AMERICASOUTH AMERICA, A FERTILE CONTINENT WITH DRAWBACKSSouth America is an immense but very fertile continent, whose natural resources are as yet scarcely begun to be utilised. Though not so large as North America, it has a far greater area of productive soil—and, indeed, much of its soil is quite unsurpassed in fertility. It suffers, however, from two great drawbacks. 1. A great portion of its area (four fifths) lies within the torrid zone. In the low coast regions of this torrid area, and also in the low forest regions watered by the great flat rivers of the interior, the climate is for the most part unendurable to white men. 2. South America has been unfortunate in its settlement and colonisation. Until in recent years colonisation as understood in Anglo-Saxon communities has scarcely been attempted in South America at all. All the earlier immigrations from the Old World were prompted by the thought of getting gold and silver and precious stones—if need were by the spoliation and enslavery of the natives. Only a small proportion of the population—not more than a quarter of the whole—consists of whites, and these are principally from Spain andPortugal. These conquerors of the continent have not in the main succeeded in establishing either stable forms of government or high types of civilisation. Furthermore, the mixed races—themestizosormetis, as they are called, the descendants of the earlier Europeans and the natives—instead of advancing in civilisation have for some time past been retrograding. Then, again, there is a large negro element, the descendants of Africans once imported as slaves, to still further complicate the race question; and there is a considerable element partly negro and partly Indian. In only one state, Argentina, can affairs be said to be really prosperous, and even in Argentina the civilisation developed by its prosperity is gross and material rather than refined and intellectual. The next most prosperous and important states are Brazil and Chile. Perhaps Uruguay, though the smallest of all the states, should be placed after Argentina. The remaining independent states of the continent—Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay—are all states of the prevailing South American type. Their governments are more or less unstable. They are terribly burdened with debt, and their credit is such that they must pay high rates of interest. The civilisation once introduced among their native races by the zeal of Spanish missionaries is deteriorating if not vanishing. And even among their leading classes there is much to be desired in the observance of the ordinary principles of right and wrong.EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION IN SOUTH AMERICAAll the South American states enumerated above, with the exception of Brazil, were first taken possession of and "settled" by the Spanish, and the Spanish language still remains in them the language of government, education,and society. Brazil was first taken possession of and "settled" by the Portuguese, and in Brazil the Portuguese language prevails, just as elsewhere in the continent the Spanish language prevails. Among the natives many different languages are found, but in Brazil a "common language" is used, one introduced by the original Portuguese missionaries, and understood by nearly all the tribes. Between Brazil and Venezuela is a triangular piece of country called Guiana, which, unlike the rest of South America, is still under the control of European powers. It consists of three parts—French Guiana, Dutch Guiana, and British Guiana—colonies of France, Holland, and Great Britain, respectively. Leaving out Guiana, South America has received its entire civilisation from Spain and Portugal, and, with the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, there has been little or no emigration to any South American country except from these two European countries. To Argentina, however, there has been a large emigration from Italy especially, but also from France, Great Britain (mainly from Ireland and Wales), Germany, and Sweden. A similar emigration has taken place to Uruguay, though the foreigners in Uruguay are principally Basques, a people that live on the border-land between Spain and France, but are neither Spanish nor French. In Brazil the immigration, where it has not been Portuguese, has been chiefly Italian and German, and in the temperate region of the extreme south of Brazil a large German population exists. Everywhere in South America the parts most prosperous are the parts that have come most directly under the influence of recent European emigration.THE ARGENTINE REPUBLICThe Argentine Republic, or "Argentina," as it is popularly called, is the most prosperous and most important ofall the South American states. Its area (1,319,247 square miles) is equal to the total area of the States of the United States east of the Mississippi and Missouri, including the Dakotas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Although a portion of this vast area is not of much value for agricultural purposes, especially in Patagonia, a very large portion of it does consist of soil of great fertility, while the climate, which for the most part is a temperate one, is such as is well suited to Europeans and white people generally. The population May 10, 1895, was 4,094,911. Of this population it is estimated that over 850,000 are Italians, 183,000 French, 161,000 recently emigrated Spaniards, 60,000 English, and 54,000 Germans and Swedes. The language of the government and of the schools is Spanish. At one time in Argentina there was a disposition to take the United States as a model in everything, but of late years there has been a tendency toward taking France as a model in manners and customs. This disposition to imitate European peoples is particularly true of the wealthy classes.ARGENTINA'S RAPID PROGRESSThe pride and boast of Argentina has been its rapid progress. In the thirty years ending 1886 the immigration was over a million. From 1886 to 1889 it was from 100,000 a year to 200,000 a year. In 1890, owing to the financial crisis of that year, it fell away almost to nothing. Since 1890 it has gradually increased until now it is about 100,000 a year again. In 1869 the population was only 1,837,000. Now it is over 4,000,000. Similarly the capital city, Buenos Ayres, has made an increase not easily paralleled. In 1869 its population was only 187,126. In 1887 it was 423,996. By the census of 1895 it was 663,854. To-day it is said to be750,000. Of this number about one half are foreigners. The high protective tariff established by Argentina in 1878 had the effect of instituting many small industries in Buenos Ayres, and to this cause the exceedingly rapid growth of its population is partly attributable.ARGENTINA'S AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURESThe great prosperity of Argentina has been due to the extent and immediate availability of its agricultural resources, for its forest wealth remains undeveloped, and its mineral resources are comparatively scanty. Its vast treeless and stoneless plains have needed no "improvements" to make them fit for settlement, and the soil which covers them being of virgin richness bears crop after crop without fertilising and with very little cultivation. Immigrants arrive in the country without a dollar and in twenty years are owners of estates of 5000 acres each. In no country in the world has agricultural extension been more rapid. In twenty years the acreage under cultivation increased 1400 per cent. The amount under cultivation in wheat alone increased 2600 per cent. Thewheat productionaverages 40,000,000 bushels, which is not far short of one fourth of the total wheat export of the United States. The production for 1897 was 60,000,000 bushels, although the amount exported was much less than that. The wheat product is indeed very variable, owing to droughts and locusts, for, like Australia, Argentina is uncertain in its rainfall. Thecorn cropis steadier, and in 1896 amounted (for export alone) to 60,000,000 bushels. More important in the aggregate than the direct products of the soil are the indirect products. There are 22,000,000cattlekept in Argentina, 75,000,000sheep, and 4,500,000horses. The total exportation of animals and animal products amounts to $70,-000,000. Of this exportation the principal item iswool, the wool-clip of Argentina being, in weight, one seventh of the total wool-clip of the world. Unfortunately, however, Argentina wool is very dirty, and when washed reduces to one third, while Australian wool reduces only to two thirds or three fifths and is free from seeds. The profit accruing to the Argentina wool-grower is thereby lessened. But, nevertheless, wool-growing in Argentina is a very profitable industry, and many farmers (principally Irish settlers) have from 50,000 to 100,000 sheep each. Cattle-farming is carried on mostly by native Argentines, and many cattle farms are stocked with as many as 10,000 cattle and 2000 horses each. The great exports of Argentina, therefore, after wheat and corn and wool, arehidesandskins,tallow,chilled beef, andmuttonand bones. There are five factories in Buenos Ayres engaged wholly in chilling mutton, and the export of chilled mutton to Great Britain alone is $5,000,000 a year. Another growing agricultural product iswine, the yearly production being 1,500,000 gallons. Notwithstanding Argentina's magnificent forest areas, but little timber is exported or even manufactured for home consumption. The other principal manufacturing industries are carriage-, cart-, and harness-making, cigarette- and match-making, preserving and tinning meat, brewing, flour- and corn-milling, and the making of macaroni.BUENOS AYRESThe most prosperous part of South America.The most prosperous part of South America.Buenos Ayres, the capital of Argentina, is the largest city not only in South America but in the whole southern hemisphere. The La Plata, at whose mouth it stands, affords navigation into all the northern parts of the republic, as well as into the neighbouring states of Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and Bolivia. The riverside at Buenos Ayres is at all times of the year a perfect forest of masts and smoke-stacks belonging to the shipping that supplies this navigation. Recently, at a cost of $25,000,000, the river, which here is shallow, has been deepened and new wharves and docks have been built, and ocean-going vessels of the deepest draught (which formerly used to be lightened fourteen miles away) can now unload or be loaded right in the very heart of the city. The total commerce of the republic amounts to $200,000,000 or $225,000,000 a year, and of this trade Buenos Ayres transacts seven eighths in imports and three fifths in exports. The amount of this trade secured by the United States isabout a tenth, running from $12,000,000 to $24,000,000. In 1896 it was only $12,500,000. The principal export trade is with France ($24,000,000), Great Britain ($14,000,000), Germany ($13,000,000), and Belgium. Great Britain does not buy Argentina wool. The principal import trade is with Great Britain ($45,000,000), Germany ($14,000,000), France ($12,000,000), and Italy. The Buenos Ayreans are fond of display and of dress and of ornamentation, and the importations from France and Italy are principally of goods to gratify this fondness. There is a considerable exportation of wheat, flour, tobacco, and maté (Paraguay tea) to Brazil and other South American states. Buenos Ayres is the centre of the Argentina railway system, which consists of about 9000 miles of road. There are 25,500 miles of telegraph routes. The national debt amounts to $430,000,000. The provincial debts amount to about $140,000,000. The taxation amounts to nearly ten per cent. of the earnings of the people, as against four and one half per cent. in Canada and five per cent. in Australia.BRAZILBrazil is a much larger and more populous country than Argentina. Its area (3,209,878 square miles) is as large as that of all the United States, less half of Alaska. A great portion of this area is of superlatively tropical richness of production. But, unfortunately, the most fertile parts of Brazil are the parts least fit for settlement by white men. The population by the last census is approximately 14,500,000, but less than 4,000,000 of this population are pure whites. The negroes that were lately slaves number over 2,000,000, and there are supposed to be about 1,000,000 Indians. Intermediate between the Indians and negroes and the white population are the numerous mixed races or half-breeds. Agriculture is thechief industry, but is of two kinds: the tropical agriculture of the central and south central seaboard, which is carried on principally by negro and mulatto labour, and the agriculture of the temperate region of the extreme south, which is carried on mainly by colonists from Europe, the recent European emigration being almost wholly directed toward that region. Almost the whole of the interior of Brazil still remains unsettled and untilled. Thecoffeeyield of Brazil is enormous and is its principal product. The production amounts to 8,000,000 bags or over 1,000,000,000 pounds annually, which is more than two thirds of the total amount of coffee used in the world. Labour for coffee cultivation is scarce and dear, and in the earlier stages of the production of the berry the Brazilian coffee gets badly treated. But machinery is used wherever possible, and in the later stages of the production the Brazilian coffee gets the best attention that skill can devise. As a consequence the coffee product of Brazil is rising in the estimation of coffee-users. The shrubs are cultivated under palm-trees so as to keep them from the intense heat of the sun. Three or four harvests of berries are obtained in a year. Rio Janeiro andSantosare the two chief centres of the coffee industry. Next to coffee the chief tropical product issugar, the export of which is about 250,000 tons annually, principally from Pernambuco. Other products of the tropical area of Brazil arecocoaandcotton, from the cultivated coast regions, andrubberand Brazil-nuts, from the dense forests of the lower Amazon; alsodyewoodsandcabinet woods, drugs, and diamonds. For many years Brazil was celebrated for its diamonds—obtained chiefly from a town in the interior named Diamantina. The present diamond production is not large. From the temperate agricultural region of the south, dried beef, hides, and tallow are the chief exports. The greatest customer of Brazilian produce is the UnitedStates, which takes $70,000,000 worth. Great Britain is next, with $35,000,000 worth (in rubber alone in 1896 $15,000,000). Brazil gets her goods principally from Great Britain, the United States, France, and Germany—from Great Britain $20,000,000, from the United States $13,000,000. The imports include almost all articles needed for domestic and manufacturing purposes—particularly cottons and woollens, ironware, machinery, lumber, flour, rice, dried meats, kerosene, butter, and fish. There are, however, 155 cotton factories established in Brazil, with capital to the value of $50,000,000, and cotton manufacturing is protected by very heavy duties. But agricultural machinery and such like manufactures are very lightly taxed. The principal food of the people is manioc flour (tapioca).RIO JANEIRORio Janeiro(674,972), the capital and principal city, though a poor-looking place, is situated on a magnificent harbour—one of the very finest in the world. About 1500 vessels, with tonnage amounting to 2,500,000 tons, enter Rio Janeiro with foreign trade annually. Nine thousand miles of railway have been built in Brazil and 3500 more are in course of construction, and 12,000 miles of telegraph routes have been built. Rio Janeiro is the chief railway centre, but other centres areRio Grande do Sul, in the temperate regions of the south, andBahiaandPernambuco, in the tropical regions. The public (national) debt of Brazil is not far short of $1,000,000,000, bearing interest (a great part of it) at from four to six per cent. per annum.XII. THE TRADE FEATURES OF CANADACANADA, PRACTICALLY AN INDEPENDENT FEDERAL REPUBLICThe dominion of Canada comprises all that portion of the continent of North America north of the United States—except Alaska and Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador. (Newfoundland and the Labrador coast is a colony in direct relationship to Great Britain.) Canada is entirely self-governing and self-maintaining, and its connection with Great Britain is almost wholly a matter of loyalty and affection. It consists (1) of seven Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and British Columbia, which, in their self-governing powers and their relation to the general government, correspond very closely to our States; (2) of four Territories—Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca, which correspond somewhat to our Territories; (3) of four other Territories—Ungava, Franklin, Mackenzie, and Yukon, which are administered by the general government; and (4) the District of Keewatin, which is under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba. The capital of the whole dominion is Ottawa. Each province has its own capital.SIZE, SOIL, CLIMATE, AND POPULATION OF CANADAThe area of Canada is immense. It figures up to 3,456,383 square miles, which is almost 500,000 square miles more than the total area of the United States exclusive of Alaska, and not far short of being equal to the area of all Europe. But almost 150,000 square miles of this area are taken up by lakes and rivers; and a much greater portion than this, under present conditions of civilisation, is wholly uninhabitable, being either too cold or too barren. Yet when all the necessary allowances have been made there still remains in Canada an immense area with soil fertile enough and climate favourable enough for all the purposes of a highly civilised population. Over 900,000 square miles are already occupied, and of the occupied area fully one half has been "improved." The older provinces are, acre for acre, as suitable for agricultural pursuits as the adjoining States of the Union. Manitoba, the "Prairie Province," is almost one vast wheat field, with a productivity for wheat unequalled anywhere except in the Red River valley of Minnesota and Dakota. The Manitoba grain harvest foots up to 50,000,000 bushels. British Columbia is a land of almost infinite possibilities, not only because of its mineral and timber resources, but also because of its capabilities for agriculture and fruit-growing. The Territories are so vast an area that no general description of them is possible, but it may be said that the great wheat valley of the Saskatchewan, the sheltered grazing country of Alberta, and the great wheat plains of the Peace River valley in Athabasca, are regions adapted in soil and climate to sustain a hardy and vigorous people. The population of Canada is comparatively small. It is estimated at 5,250,000. Over 1,000,000 people of Canadian birth reside in the UnitedStates, and the number of Americans residing in Canada is only 80,000. Out of the 2,425,000 persons who came to Canada as immigrants in a period of forty years, no fewer than 1,310,000, or fifty four per cent., came over into the United States. It is stated that this exodus has ceased, and that if any great movement of population now exists it is toward Canada.CANADA'S FOREST WEALTHCanada, like all new countries, depends for her prosperity upon the development and exportation of her natural products. These are of four great classes: (1), the products of her forests; (2), the products of her mines; (3), the products of her fisheries; (4), her agricultural products. Canada's forest resources, when both extent and quality are considered, are the finest in the world. The forest area uncut was in 1891 nearly 1,250,000 square miles, or more than one third of the area of the whole country. The annual value of the timber and lumber produced is about $82,500,000. The annual value of the timber and lumber exported is about $32,000,000. Two thirds of this goes to Great Britain, and over $9,000,000 in lumber and logs goes to the United States. Quebec and Ontario have unlimited supplies of spruce for wood-pulp manufacture, the annual output of which reaches 200,000 tons. The uncut lumber of British Columbia, which includes Douglas pine, Menzies fir, spruce, red and yellow cedar, and hemlock, is estimated to be 100,000,000,000 cubic feet.CANADA'S MINERAL RESOURCESCanada is just beginning to realise the largeness of her mineral resources. The most talked of gold-mines arethose of the Klondike district, the extent of which is still uncertain. Much more definitely known and almost as productive are the gold-mines of British Columbia and the newly discovered gold-fields of the Rainy River district in northern Ontario. More important than the gold-mines of Canada are its coal-fields. These are principally in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. The latter province is destined to be the coal-supplying region for the whole Pacific coast of North America. The yearly output at present is about 1,000,000 tons; the yearly output of Nova Scotia is about 2,000,000 tons, principally produced by American capital. In Alberta there are said to be coal-fields having an area of 65,000 square miles. Iron is found in abundance in both British Columbia and Ontario. Ontario has in its nickel-mines of Sudbury a mineral treasure not found elsewhere in equal abundance in the world. Experts have estimated that 650,000,000 tons of this ore are actually in sight. Ontario produces petroleum and salt. Silver, copper, lead, asbestos, plumbago, mica, etc., are found in varying quantities. Canada imports annually from the United States nearly $10,000,000 worth of coal and coke.CANADA'S FISHERIESThe fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of the shallow waters bordering on Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have for centuries been the most productive in the world. The Canadian fishing interest in these waters is very great. Cod, mackerel, haddock, halibut, herring, smelts, and salmon, are the principal fish, and the annual "take" is about $15,000,000. About $2,500,000 worth of whitefish, salmon-trout, herring, pickerel, and sturgeon are produced annually from the Canadian lakes. The salmon-fishing of the rivers and great sea-inlets of BritishColumbia brings about $4,500,000 annually. About one half of the total product is exported to Great Britain and the United States.CANADA'S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCEAgriculture, including stock-raising, dairying and fruit-growing, is Canada's greatest industry. Over 23,000,000 acres are under crop and about 20,000,000 under pasture. Over 3,000,000 acres are under wheat cultivation. Ontario exports more than twice as much cheese as the whole of the United States, and her cheese product is recognised as the finest in the world. Canada exports to Great Britain alone $15,000,000 worth of cheese annually. In 1896, in Ontario alone, 170 creameries turned out over 6,000,000 pounds of butter at an average net receipt of 18¼ cents a pound. By the cold-storage facilities provided by the government Canadian butter can be sent even from far inland points to Liverpool or London without the slightest deterioration. England buys $6,000,000 worth of Canadian bacon and hams annually, and Canadian beef is already famous on the London market. American corn for stock-feeding is admitted to Canada free of duty and about $10,000,000 worth is imported annually. A great deal of eastern and southern Canada is well adapted to fruit-raising. The Niagara-St. Clair peninsula of Ontario is especially famous for its peaches and grapes.CANADA'S TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATESCanada has made a great effort in the direction of encouraging home manufactures, but her most progressive and most staple industries are those concerned in the conversion of the raw products of the country into articlesof common merchandise. Her steam horse-power in proportion to population is the largest in the world. The capital invested in factories as a whole amounts to over $400,000,000, with an annual output of over $500,000,000. Her total annual importation is now over $130,000,000. More than half of this is from the United States. Canada's total annual exportation is about $160,000,000. Of this over one third goes to the United States. Canada's total trade with the United States is about forty one per cent. of her total trade with all countries, and almost equal to her total trade with Great Britain. Canada's total trade with the United States is exceeded only by that of Great Britain, Germany, and France, and her import trade with the United States is exceeded only by that of Great Britain and Germany.Trade centres of Canada and trunk railway lines.Trade centres of Canada and trunk railway lines.CANADIAN CITIESMontreal(250,000) is the commercial metropolis of Canada. It is situated on an island in the St. Lawrence River, and, though 1000 miles from the open ocean, the largest sea-going vessels reach its wharves with ease. It is the headquarters of Canada's two great railways—theCanadian Pacific system, with its 8000 miles of road, and the Grand Trunk system, with its 5000 miles of road. Through passenger-trains run from Montreal to Vancouver on the Pacific coast, a distance of nearly 3000 miles. Montreal is the centre also of the great inland navigation system of Canada.Toronto(200,000), the capital of the province of Ontario, is the second city of Canada. While Toronto has a great local trade and many important manufactures, it is specially noted as an educational centre.Quebec(80,000) is the oldest city of Canada and one of the oldest upon the continent.Halifax(50,000), the eastern terminus of the Canadian railway system, has one of the finest harbours in the world.Winnipeg(35,000) is destined to be the centre of the great inland trade of Canada.XIII. THE TRADE FEATURES OF THE UNITED STATESTHE CHARACTER OF OUR EXPORT TRADEHaving reviewed the industrial and trading conditions of the other great commercial nations of the world, it should now remain for us to review these conditions in the United States. But the United States is so large a country, and its trading and industrial interests are so diversified and extensive, that it would be impossible for us in the limits of our space even barely to touch upon all these interests. So that with respect to the "Trade Features of the United States" we shall simply confine ourselves to one part of the subject—namely, the character, extent, and importance of our foreign trade. And we shall, further, have to restrict ourselves in the main to our exports. These will be found to be principally not manufactures, but the products of our great agricultural, mining, and forest industries. The total value of the manufactures of the United States amounts in round numbers to the immense sum of $10,000,000,000 annually, a sum considerably more than a third (it is thirty five per cent.) of the total value of the annual manufactures of the world. But only a very small portion of this vast output is exported.The greater portion of it is used to sustain the still vaster internal trade of our country, a trade which amounts to more than $15,500,000,000 annually, an amount not far short of being one third of the total internal trade of the world, and not far short of being twice the internal trade of Great Britain and Ireland, the country whose internal trade comes next to ours. Our exports, therefore, are not in the main manufactured goods, but breadstuffs, provisions, and raw materials, the production of our farms, our plantations, our forests, and our mines. But principally they are the products of our farms and our plantations, for with the exception of cotton we do not export much raw material. Nearly all the raw material we produce (other than cotton) we use in our own manufactures. And even this is not enough, for in addition we have to import considerable quantities of raw material for our manufactures from other countries, the principal items being raw sugar, raw silk, raw wool, chemicals of various kinds including dye-stuffs, hides and skins, lumber, tin, nickel, and paper stock.OUR EXPORT TRADE IN DETAILOur total exportation for the twelve months ended June 30, 1898, amounted to the unprecedented sum of nearly $1,250,000,000 ($1,231,329,950).[4]This is an amount almost a quarter of a billion dollars greater than ever before, the only years when the export even approximated this amount being 1897 and 1892, when the exportation was slightly over a billion dollars in each case. Of this exportation the sum of $855,000,000, or seventy one per cent. of the whole, was for theproducts of agriculture, the principal items being (1) "breadstuffs,"including wheat and wheat flour, corn and cornmeal, oats and oatmeal, rye and rye flour, $335,000,000; (2) cotton, $231,000,000; (3) "provisions," including beef and tallow, bacon and hams, pork and lard, oleomargarine, and butter and cheese, $166,000,000; (4) animals, including cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs, $47,000,000; (5) raw tobacco, $23,000,000; (6) oil-cake, $12,500,000, and (7) fruits and nuts, $9,000,000. The exports of the products of our mines amounted to only 1.6 per cent. of the total export, or scarcely $20,000,000, the principal items being (1) coal and coke, $12,500,000; (2) crude petroleum, $4,000,000, and (3) copper ore. The exports of the products of the forest amounted to only three per cent. of the total export, or $38,000,000, the principal items being (1) sawed and hewn timber, logs, lumber, shingles, and staves, $28,500,000, and (2) naval stores, including resin, tar, turpentine, and pitch, $9,000,000. The exports of the products of our fisheries amounted to only $4,500,000, or less than one half of one per cent. of the total exports. The exports of the products of our manufactures, according to the official returns, amounted to $289,000,000, or twenty four per cent. of the total export. But this sum included many items which represent raw natural products converted merely into material for subsequent manufacture, as, for example, pig- and bar-iron, planed boards, sole leather, ingot- and bar-copper, cotton-seed oil, and pig- and bar-zinc. The principal items in the true "manufactures" list are (1) machinery, including metal-working machinery, steam-engines and locomotives, electrical machinery, pumping machinery, sewing-machines, typewriting-machines and printing-presses, and railway rails, hardware, and nails, $65,000,000; (2) refined petroleum, $50,000,000; (3) manufactures of cotton, $17,000,000; (4) vegetable oils and essences, $12,000,000; (5) agricultural implements, $7,000,000; (6) cycles, $7,000,000; (7) paper andstationery, $5,500,000; (8) furniture and other manufactures of wood, $5,000,000; (9) tobacco and cigarettes, $5,000,000; (10) fertilisers, $4,500,000; (11) boots and shoes, harness, and rubber shoes, $3,500,000; (12) telegraph, telephone, and other instruments, $3,000,000; (13) bags, cordage, and twine, $2,500,000; (14) books and pamphlets, $2,500,000; (15) sugar, syrup, molasses, candy, and confectionery, $2,000,000; (16) spirits, including brandy and whisky, $2,000,000; and (17) clocks and watches, $2,000,000.
FOOTNOTE:[3]Since the above was written the scheme has been developed a very considerable way toward completion. The name of the confederation is to be "The Commonwealth of Australia."
[3]Since the above was written the scheme has been developed a very considerable way toward completion. The name of the confederation is to be "The Commonwealth of Australia."
[3]Since the above was written the scheme has been developed a very considerable way toward completion. The name of the confederation is to be "The Commonwealth of Australia."
Australia is a continent not only in name but in fact. Its area, including Tasmania, is almost 3,000,000 square miles, which is about the area of the United States exclusive of Alaska, and only about one fourth less than the area of the continent of Europe. Fully two fifths of this area lie within the torrid zone, and of the rest, even in Victoria, the part farthest from the equator, the climate is so warm that it corresponds with that of Spain, southern France, and Italy. But over so vast a territory great differences of climate must occur, and consequently of products also. A general description of the climate and products of Australia is therefore impossible. Yet there are several characteristics which appertain to the whole continent. The chief of these are (1) the greatdrynessof theatmosphere—not merely its lack of rain, but its absolute freedom from moisture; (2) the remarkableinequality, or want of regularity, in therainfall. Occasionally the rainfall is excessive, but a more frequent and serious cause of trouble is excessive drought. The continent on every side has a low coast region, where the rainfall is heavier and the temperature generally hotter than in the corresponding table-land interior to it. But the vast table-land of the interior has comparatively little rain, and indeed in some parts of it, especially in the centre and west, the rainfall is so slight that the country is practically a desert.
But even when all the desert areas of Australia are excluded from calculation there still remains in the interior plateau, toward the east and south, an immense areaof country of great fertility and productiveness. The Murray River alone drains an area of 500,000 square miles, one sixth of the whole continent, a great part of which is of exceeding richness. In these fertile parts irrigation by artesian wells has been tried, and always with great success. And it is thought that almost the whole continent can be regained for agriculture, or at least for sheep-pasturing, by similar means; for even in the arid and so-called desert parts of the interior, there is very little soil that is not really fertile, for all of it is covered with thick brushwood. Moisture alone is needed to make it bear crops abundantly. And this dryness of the atmosphere which prevails throughout the whole continent is not without its compensations. It renders the climate exceedingly healthful.
Australia hasmany peculiarities. It has only one large river, and even that in summer becomes a series of isolated pools. It has no high mountain range, its principal mountains being only a series of ramparts marking off the lower coast lands from the interior plateau. Again, its native quadrupeds are entirely different from those of other continents, being almost all, whether little or big, "marsupials," or "pouch-bearers," like the kangaroo. Its birds are mostly songless. Its flowers, for the most part, have no scent. Its trees are leaved vertically and cast no shade. Its indigenous inhabitants have made no progress toward civilisation. When Europeans first came to the country they found no native animal that could be put to any use, nor any native fruit, vegetable, or grain that could be utilised for food. Still, all European domestic animals thrive abundantly in the country, and so do all European fruits, grasses, grains, and vegetables. The English rabbits, indeed, have become a terrible pest. As many as 25,000,000 of them have been killed in a year without any apparent diminution in their numbers. Over $1,000,000 a year has at times been spent to exterminate them, all to no effect.
Victoria, the smallest of the Australian colonies, had until recently the largest population (June, 1897, 1,177,304) and also the largest trade. In both respects, however, it is at present surpassed by New South Wales. Victoria has owed its past pre-eminence to itsgold production. Gold was discovered in the colony in 1851, and for years the output of the precious mineral was not less than $50,000,000 per annum. The present output of gold in Victoria, however, is only $10,000,000 per annum. Richer, however, than the gold-mines of Victoria is the fertility of its soil. A large part of the soil is exceedingly fertile—with irrigation one of the finest fruit-bearing soils in the world. The arboreal vegetation of the country is magnificent. Trees thirty feet in diameter rise to the height of 200 feet without a single lateral branch, and then 100 feet to 200 feet higher still. Pear-trees grow to the height of eighty feet, with trunks three feet in diameter. But as yet wool-growing, wheat-raising, and vine-growing are the principal agricultural occupations of the people. The principal agricultural export iswool—$25,000,000 worth per annum. But a considerable portion of this comes from New South Wales. Thesheepkept number 15,000,000, the cattle 2,000,000. But the colony still remains principally a mining community. Five ninths of the population live in towns. Yet there are few towns, and two fifths of the whole population live in Melbourne—a city almost exactly as large as Boston.
Melbourne(451,110; with suburbs, 500,000), the capital city of Victoria and the chief city in Australia, is also one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its parliament buildings, town hall, post-office, treasury, mint, law courts, public libraries, picture galleries, theatres, churches, and clubs are all edifices of architectural magnificence and beauty, while its boulevards, parks and gardens are equally splendid. At one time money flowed freely and great commercial recklessness prevailed. But though Melbourne has sustained several severe depressions its present condition is prosperous and its future is assured. It is, however, a pleasure-loving city, and it is as much on this account as on account of its great beauty that it is called "the Paris of the southern hemisphere." Nowhere else in the world, perhaps, are indoor amusements—the theatre, concerts, etc.—or outdoor amusements—cricket, football, horse-racing, etc.—more devotedly patronised than in Melbourne. Other important places in Victoria areBallarat(40,000) andSandhurst(37,000), both mining towns, andGeelong(25,000) locally noted for its manufacture of "tweeds."
Australia. Shaded portions show where the rainfall is sufficiently abundant.Australia. Shaded portions show where the rainfall is sufficiently abundant.
New South Wales (population 1,311,440) is the oldest colony of Australia and the parent of both Victoria and Queensland. Of all the colonies, it has, perhaps, the greatest range of productions. On the low coast lands its soil is of extraordinary fertility, and even in the dry interior, when irrigation is employed, the fertility is still extraordinary. As yet, however, but one acre out of every two hundred is under cultivation, the chief agricultural occupation being pasturing. Over 50,000,000sheepare kept, principally themerino. Grass grows everywhere, and even the summits of the mountains are covered. Drought, however, is a terrible drawback, and sometimes tremendous losses occur. In 1877 over 8,000,000 sheep perished, and in 1884 over 12,000,000. The totalwool productionis very large, averaging $50,000,000 a year. The export of hides, skins, leather, and chilled meat, principally mutton, amounts to $10,000,000 annually.Chilled mutton and beef are sent direct to London, though the passage takes five or six weeks by steamer and twelve to sixteen weeks by sailing-vessel. Scarcely less important than its agricultural products are the mineral products of New South Wales. Itscoal-minesare the finest on the continent, and $4,500,000 worth of coal is exported annually, besides what is consumed locally. Its gold production, though not very large, is general throughout the whole colony. Itssilver-minesinSilvertonandBroken Hillare among the most famous in the world, and its tin-bearing lands comprise over 5,500,000 acres. The foregoing comprise the staple products—the production of industries already well established. But fruit-growing, including all fruits, from apples, pears, and peaches, to olives and oranges, is a rapidly developing industry, no country in the world being better suited to it. Wine-making, too, is quickly coming forward, the New South Wales wines equalling in flavour those of France and Spain. Wheat-growing, cotton-growing, and even rice-growing are also in their several districts rapidly extending and prosperous pursuits. The development of New South Wales has only just begun.Sydney(including suburbs 410,000) is the capital and by far the largest city. Sydney, like Melbourne, is a beautiful city, but its beauty is natural rather than artificial, and it is well entitled to its name, "Queen of the South." It is situated on Port Jackson, one of the finest and most beautiful harbours on the globe. Sydney is the headquarters of all the various lines of steamships—British, American, French, Italian, etc.—that trade with Australia, and is indeed one of the great seaports of the world.
South Australia (358,224 in 1897) occupies the whole central part of the continent from north to south. Butas only a very small portion of this vast area is settled—the southeast corner—it may be described as in characteristics resembling Victoria. Its principal industry iswheat-growing. South Australia is indeed the great granary of the continent, and is destined to be one of the great granaries of the world. Like the other divisions of Australia, South Australia, when once drought has been overcome by irrigation, is destined to become a great fruit country, its warm, moistureless climate being peculiarly well suited to the ripening of fruits of exquisite flavours. Already its olives are pronounced the finest in the world. The principal city and chief port isAdelaide(with suburbs 144,352). Like other Australian ports, Adelaide possesses excellent steamboat shipping facilities. In the north, on the Timor Sea, isPort Darwin, likely to be an important trade centre.
The most interesting of all the Australian colonies is Queensland (population 472,179), for it is a tropical country with a climate so salubrious that white people can live in it and be comfortable and healthy. The heat, instead of being enervating, is stimulating and bracing. A great portion of its soil is of unsurpassed fertility. The only drawback is the unequal distribution throughout the year of the rainfall. But wherever irrigation wells are sunk the climate becomes highly suitable forsheep-raising, and also for the growing of many kinds offruit. There are already 15,000,000 sheep and 5,000,000 cattle in the colony, and wool is exported to the amount of $15,000,000 annually. Other agricultural exports are frozen beef and mutton, and hides and skins.Woolis the chief export. The second export in importance isgold, which reaches $10,000,000 per annum. Tin is also exported,and coal, though little worked, is abundant. Developing exports are sugar ($2,500,000 per annum), arrowroot, cotton, tobacco, rice, and coffee. A difficulty, however, in the development of these products is the labour question. White men cannot work in the plantations. Chinese prefer to work in the mines. The natives won't work anywhere. No negroes are obtainable. As a consequence Polynesians have to be imported.Brisbane(100,913) is the capital and chief city and port.
West Australia (population 162,394), the largest of all the Australian colonies, has only been recently settled, and its constitution as a self-governing colony dates only from 1890. A large part of its area has never been explored, and a large part is known to be scrub desert. But there is scarcely any part of it, even of its "scrub" areas, but that will support sheep when once artesian wells have been sunk, and large portions of the colony, especially along the coasts, are as fertile as need be. And the climate, though very dry, is exceedingly healthful.Perth(43,000) is the capital.Albanyis the principal port.
Australia is undoubtedly on the eve of a period of great development. Its resources are known to be immense. Its climate has been found most favourable to human health, and the objectionable feature of the climate, the smallness and irregularity of the rainfall, has been studied and become understood and found remediable. Once the confederation that is now in process of formationtakes place, there is no doubt that Australia will enter upon a new and prosperous commercial era. Owing to the fact that its chief opportunities for wealth lie in the development of its natural resources, it is probable that for some time to come almost all the manufactured goods Australia needs will have to be imported. Already its importation amounts to $275,000,000, of which, of course, Great Britain supplies the principal share. This importation is principally clothing and materials for clothing, but it also comprises hardware and machinery, and in fact everything required by a highly civilised and money-spending people, except breadstuffs and provisions. The magnitude of this importation may be comprehended from the fact that it is more than one third of the total exportation of the United States for any year save one up to 1896, including our immense export of breadstuffs, provisions, and cotton. And besides the articles of export already mentioned—wool,meats,hides,skins,minerals,fruits, etc.—there is one other Australian resource that is capable of almost indefinite development. This is itstimber. The eucalyptus or gum-tree prevails almost universally in Australia, and some of its commonest varieties, being both strong and indestructible by insects, are of almost unequalled value for ship-building, railway ties, and dock and harbour construction. That the Australians are fully alive to the importance of developing their foreign trade is seen in the efforts they have made to provide facilities for bringing their products to ocean ports. There are 11,980 miles of railway, almost every mile of which has been built by the governments. This is one mile of railway for every 300 inhabitants, as against one mile for every 400 inhabitants in the United States. These railways run wholly to and from the seaboard. There are no manufacturing towns to be catered to. Australian trade consists wholly inexchanging home-raised natural products for imported manufactures. Equally remarkable with the railroad enterprise of the Australians is their enterprise in telegraphic construction and the establishment of cable communications. For example, a telegraph line 2000 miles long, running across the continent from Adelaide to Port Darwin, has been built by the province of South Australia so as to connect with a cable from Port Darwin to Java, Singapore, etc., and thus with Europe and America. For at least 1500 miles this telegraph line runs through one of the most desolate and inaccessible regions in the world.
South America is an immense but very fertile continent, whose natural resources are as yet scarcely begun to be utilised. Though not so large as North America, it has a far greater area of productive soil—and, indeed, much of its soil is quite unsurpassed in fertility. It suffers, however, from two great drawbacks. 1. A great portion of its area (four fifths) lies within the torrid zone. In the low coast regions of this torrid area, and also in the low forest regions watered by the great flat rivers of the interior, the climate is for the most part unendurable to white men. 2. South America has been unfortunate in its settlement and colonisation. Until in recent years colonisation as understood in Anglo-Saxon communities has scarcely been attempted in South America at all. All the earlier immigrations from the Old World were prompted by the thought of getting gold and silver and precious stones—if need were by the spoliation and enslavery of the natives. Only a small proportion of the population—not more than a quarter of the whole—consists of whites, and these are principally from Spain andPortugal. These conquerors of the continent have not in the main succeeded in establishing either stable forms of government or high types of civilisation. Furthermore, the mixed races—themestizosormetis, as they are called, the descendants of the earlier Europeans and the natives—instead of advancing in civilisation have for some time past been retrograding. Then, again, there is a large negro element, the descendants of Africans once imported as slaves, to still further complicate the race question; and there is a considerable element partly negro and partly Indian. In only one state, Argentina, can affairs be said to be really prosperous, and even in Argentina the civilisation developed by its prosperity is gross and material rather than refined and intellectual. The next most prosperous and important states are Brazil and Chile. Perhaps Uruguay, though the smallest of all the states, should be placed after Argentina. The remaining independent states of the continent—Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay—are all states of the prevailing South American type. Their governments are more or less unstable. They are terribly burdened with debt, and their credit is such that they must pay high rates of interest. The civilisation once introduced among their native races by the zeal of Spanish missionaries is deteriorating if not vanishing. And even among their leading classes there is much to be desired in the observance of the ordinary principles of right and wrong.
All the South American states enumerated above, with the exception of Brazil, were first taken possession of and "settled" by the Spanish, and the Spanish language still remains in them the language of government, education,and society. Brazil was first taken possession of and "settled" by the Portuguese, and in Brazil the Portuguese language prevails, just as elsewhere in the continent the Spanish language prevails. Among the natives many different languages are found, but in Brazil a "common language" is used, one introduced by the original Portuguese missionaries, and understood by nearly all the tribes. Between Brazil and Venezuela is a triangular piece of country called Guiana, which, unlike the rest of South America, is still under the control of European powers. It consists of three parts—French Guiana, Dutch Guiana, and British Guiana—colonies of France, Holland, and Great Britain, respectively. Leaving out Guiana, South America has received its entire civilisation from Spain and Portugal, and, with the exception of Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, there has been little or no emigration to any South American country except from these two European countries. To Argentina, however, there has been a large emigration from Italy especially, but also from France, Great Britain (mainly from Ireland and Wales), Germany, and Sweden. A similar emigration has taken place to Uruguay, though the foreigners in Uruguay are principally Basques, a people that live on the border-land between Spain and France, but are neither Spanish nor French. In Brazil the immigration, where it has not been Portuguese, has been chiefly Italian and German, and in the temperate region of the extreme south of Brazil a large German population exists. Everywhere in South America the parts most prosperous are the parts that have come most directly under the influence of recent European emigration.
The Argentine Republic, or "Argentina," as it is popularly called, is the most prosperous and most important ofall the South American states. Its area (1,319,247 square miles) is equal to the total area of the States of the United States east of the Mississippi and Missouri, including the Dakotas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Although a portion of this vast area is not of much value for agricultural purposes, especially in Patagonia, a very large portion of it does consist of soil of great fertility, while the climate, which for the most part is a temperate one, is such as is well suited to Europeans and white people generally. The population May 10, 1895, was 4,094,911. Of this population it is estimated that over 850,000 are Italians, 183,000 French, 161,000 recently emigrated Spaniards, 60,000 English, and 54,000 Germans and Swedes. The language of the government and of the schools is Spanish. At one time in Argentina there was a disposition to take the United States as a model in everything, but of late years there has been a tendency toward taking France as a model in manners and customs. This disposition to imitate European peoples is particularly true of the wealthy classes.
The pride and boast of Argentina has been its rapid progress. In the thirty years ending 1886 the immigration was over a million. From 1886 to 1889 it was from 100,000 a year to 200,000 a year. In 1890, owing to the financial crisis of that year, it fell away almost to nothing. Since 1890 it has gradually increased until now it is about 100,000 a year again. In 1869 the population was only 1,837,000. Now it is over 4,000,000. Similarly the capital city, Buenos Ayres, has made an increase not easily paralleled. In 1869 its population was only 187,126. In 1887 it was 423,996. By the census of 1895 it was 663,854. To-day it is said to be750,000. Of this number about one half are foreigners. The high protective tariff established by Argentina in 1878 had the effect of instituting many small industries in Buenos Ayres, and to this cause the exceedingly rapid growth of its population is partly attributable.
The great prosperity of Argentina has been due to the extent and immediate availability of its agricultural resources, for its forest wealth remains undeveloped, and its mineral resources are comparatively scanty. Its vast treeless and stoneless plains have needed no "improvements" to make them fit for settlement, and the soil which covers them being of virgin richness bears crop after crop without fertilising and with very little cultivation. Immigrants arrive in the country without a dollar and in twenty years are owners of estates of 5000 acres each. In no country in the world has agricultural extension been more rapid. In twenty years the acreage under cultivation increased 1400 per cent. The amount under cultivation in wheat alone increased 2600 per cent. Thewheat productionaverages 40,000,000 bushels, which is not far short of one fourth of the total wheat export of the United States. The production for 1897 was 60,000,000 bushels, although the amount exported was much less than that. The wheat product is indeed very variable, owing to droughts and locusts, for, like Australia, Argentina is uncertain in its rainfall. Thecorn cropis steadier, and in 1896 amounted (for export alone) to 60,000,000 bushels. More important in the aggregate than the direct products of the soil are the indirect products. There are 22,000,000cattlekept in Argentina, 75,000,000sheep, and 4,500,000horses. The total exportation of animals and animal products amounts to $70,-000,000. Of this exportation the principal item iswool, the wool-clip of Argentina being, in weight, one seventh of the total wool-clip of the world. Unfortunately, however, Argentina wool is very dirty, and when washed reduces to one third, while Australian wool reduces only to two thirds or three fifths and is free from seeds. The profit accruing to the Argentina wool-grower is thereby lessened. But, nevertheless, wool-growing in Argentina is a very profitable industry, and many farmers (principally Irish settlers) have from 50,000 to 100,000 sheep each. Cattle-farming is carried on mostly by native Argentines, and many cattle farms are stocked with as many as 10,000 cattle and 2000 horses each. The great exports of Argentina, therefore, after wheat and corn and wool, arehidesandskins,tallow,chilled beef, andmuttonand bones. There are five factories in Buenos Ayres engaged wholly in chilling mutton, and the export of chilled mutton to Great Britain alone is $5,000,000 a year. Another growing agricultural product iswine, the yearly production being 1,500,000 gallons. Notwithstanding Argentina's magnificent forest areas, but little timber is exported or even manufactured for home consumption. The other principal manufacturing industries are carriage-, cart-, and harness-making, cigarette- and match-making, preserving and tinning meat, brewing, flour- and corn-milling, and the making of macaroni.
The most prosperous part of South America.The most prosperous part of South America.
Buenos Ayres, the capital of Argentina, is the largest city not only in South America but in the whole southern hemisphere. The La Plata, at whose mouth it stands, affords navigation into all the northern parts of the republic, as well as into the neighbouring states of Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and Bolivia. The riverside at Buenos Ayres is at all times of the year a perfect forest of masts and smoke-stacks belonging to the shipping that supplies this navigation. Recently, at a cost of $25,000,000, the river, which here is shallow, has been deepened and new wharves and docks have been built, and ocean-going vessels of the deepest draught (which formerly used to be lightened fourteen miles away) can now unload or be loaded right in the very heart of the city. The total commerce of the republic amounts to $200,000,000 or $225,000,000 a year, and of this trade Buenos Ayres transacts seven eighths in imports and three fifths in exports. The amount of this trade secured by the United States isabout a tenth, running from $12,000,000 to $24,000,000. In 1896 it was only $12,500,000. The principal export trade is with France ($24,000,000), Great Britain ($14,000,000), Germany ($13,000,000), and Belgium. Great Britain does not buy Argentina wool. The principal import trade is with Great Britain ($45,000,000), Germany ($14,000,000), France ($12,000,000), and Italy. The Buenos Ayreans are fond of display and of dress and of ornamentation, and the importations from France and Italy are principally of goods to gratify this fondness. There is a considerable exportation of wheat, flour, tobacco, and maté (Paraguay tea) to Brazil and other South American states. Buenos Ayres is the centre of the Argentina railway system, which consists of about 9000 miles of road. There are 25,500 miles of telegraph routes. The national debt amounts to $430,000,000. The provincial debts amount to about $140,000,000. The taxation amounts to nearly ten per cent. of the earnings of the people, as against four and one half per cent. in Canada and five per cent. in Australia.
Brazil is a much larger and more populous country than Argentina. Its area (3,209,878 square miles) is as large as that of all the United States, less half of Alaska. A great portion of this area is of superlatively tropical richness of production. But, unfortunately, the most fertile parts of Brazil are the parts least fit for settlement by white men. The population by the last census is approximately 14,500,000, but less than 4,000,000 of this population are pure whites. The negroes that were lately slaves number over 2,000,000, and there are supposed to be about 1,000,000 Indians. Intermediate between the Indians and negroes and the white population are the numerous mixed races or half-breeds. Agriculture is thechief industry, but is of two kinds: the tropical agriculture of the central and south central seaboard, which is carried on principally by negro and mulatto labour, and the agriculture of the temperate region of the extreme south, which is carried on mainly by colonists from Europe, the recent European emigration being almost wholly directed toward that region. Almost the whole of the interior of Brazil still remains unsettled and untilled. Thecoffeeyield of Brazil is enormous and is its principal product. The production amounts to 8,000,000 bags or over 1,000,000,000 pounds annually, which is more than two thirds of the total amount of coffee used in the world. Labour for coffee cultivation is scarce and dear, and in the earlier stages of the production of the berry the Brazilian coffee gets badly treated. But machinery is used wherever possible, and in the later stages of the production the Brazilian coffee gets the best attention that skill can devise. As a consequence the coffee product of Brazil is rising in the estimation of coffee-users. The shrubs are cultivated under palm-trees so as to keep them from the intense heat of the sun. Three or four harvests of berries are obtained in a year. Rio Janeiro andSantosare the two chief centres of the coffee industry. Next to coffee the chief tropical product issugar, the export of which is about 250,000 tons annually, principally from Pernambuco. Other products of the tropical area of Brazil arecocoaandcotton, from the cultivated coast regions, andrubberand Brazil-nuts, from the dense forests of the lower Amazon; alsodyewoodsandcabinet woods, drugs, and diamonds. For many years Brazil was celebrated for its diamonds—obtained chiefly from a town in the interior named Diamantina. The present diamond production is not large. From the temperate agricultural region of the south, dried beef, hides, and tallow are the chief exports. The greatest customer of Brazilian produce is the UnitedStates, which takes $70,000,000 worth. Great Britain is next, with $35,000,000 worth (in rubber alone in 1896 $15,000,000). Brazil gets her goods principally from Great Britain, the United States, France, and Germany—from Great Britain $20,000,000, from the United States $13,000,000. The imports include almost all articles needed for domestic and manufacturing purposes—particularly cottons and woollens, ironware, machinery, lumber, flour, rice, dried meats, kerosene, butter, and fish. There are, however, 155 cotton factories established in Brazil, with capital to the value of $50,000,000, and cotton manufacturing is protected by very heavy duties. But agricultural machinery and such like manufactures are very lightly taxed. The principal food of the people is manioc flour (tapioca).
Rio Janeiro(674,972), the capital and principal city, though a poor-looking place, is situated on a magnificent harbour—one of the very finest in the world. About 1500 vessels, with tonnage amounting to 2,500,000 tons, enter Rio Janeiro with foreign trade annually. Nine thousand miles of railway have been built in Brazil and 3500 more are in course of construction, and 12,000 miles of telegraph routes have been built. Rio Janeiro is the chief railway centre, but other centres areRio Grande do Sul, in the temperate regions of the south, andBahiaandPernambuco, in the tropical regions. The public (national) debt of Brazil is not far short of $1,000,000,000, bearing interest (a great part of it) at from four to six per cent. per annum.
The dominion of Canada comprises all that portion of the continent of North America north of the United States—except Alaska and Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador. (Newfoundland and the Labrador coast is a colony in direct relationship to Great Britain.) Canada is entirely self-governing and self-maintaining, and its connection with Great Britain is almost wholly a matter of loyalty and affection. It consists (1) of seven Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and British Columbia, which, in their self-governing powers and their relation to the general government, correspond very closely to our States; (2) of four Territories—Assiniboia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca, which correspond somewhat to our Territories; (3) of four other Territories—Ungava, Franklin, Mackenzie, and Yukon, which are administered by the general government; and (4) the District of Keewatin, which is under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba. The capital of the whole dominion is Ottawa. Each province has its own capital.
The area of Canada is immense. It figures up to 3,456,383 square miles, which is almost 500,000 square miles more than the total area of the United States exclusive of Alaska, and not far short of being equal to the area of all Europe. But almost 150,000 square miles of this area are taken up by lakes and rivers; and a much greater portion than this, under present conditions of civilisation, is wholly uninhabitable, being either too cold or too barren. Yet when all the necessary allowances have been made there still remains in Canada an immense area with soil fertile enough and climate favourable enough for all the purposes of a highly civilised population. Over 900,000 square miles are already occupied, and of the occupied area fully one half has been "improved." The older provinces are, acre for acre, as suitable for agricultural pursuits as the adjoining States of the Union. Manitoba, the "Prairie Province," is almost one vast wheat field, with a productivity for wheat unequalled anywhere except in the Red River valley of Minnesota and Dakota. The Manitoba grain harvest foots up to 50,000,000 bushels. British Columbia is a land of almost infinite possibilities, not only because of its mineral and timber resources, but also because of its capabilities for agriculture and fruit-growing. The Territories are so vast an area that no general description of them is possible, but it may be said that the great wheat valley of the Saskatchewan, the sheltered grazing country of Alberta, and the great wheat plains of the Peace River valley in Athabasca, are regions adapted in soil and climate to sustain a hardy and vigorous people. The population of Canada is comparatively small. It is estimated at 5,250,000. Over 1,000,000 people of Canadian birth reside in the UnitedStates, and the number of Americans residing in Canada is only 80,000. Out of the 2,425,000 persons who came to Canada as immigrants in a period of forty years, no fewer than 1,310,000, or fifty four per cent., came over into the United States. It is stated that this exodus has ceased, and that if any great movement of population now exists it is toward Canada.
Canada, like all new countries, depends for her prosperity upon the development and exportation of her natural products. These are of four great classes: (1), the products of her forests; (2), the products of her mines; (3), the products of her fisheries; (4), her agricultural products. Canada's forest resources, when both extent and quality are considered, are the finest in the world. The forest area uncut was in 1891 nearly 1,250,000 square miles, or more than one third of the area of the whole country. The annual value of the timber and lumber produced is about $82,500,000. The annual value of the timber and lumber exported is about $32,000,000. Two thirds of this goes to Great Britain, and over $9,000,000 in lumber and logs goes to the United States. Quebec and Ontario have unlimited supplies of spruce for wood-pulp manufacture, the annual output of which reaches 200,000 tons. The uncut lumber of British Columbia, which includes Douglas pine, Menzies fir, spruce, red and yellow cedar, and hemlock, is estimated to be 100,000,000,000 cubic feet.
Canada is just beginning to realise the largeness of her mineral resources. The most talked of gold-mines arethose of the Klondike district, the extent of which is still uncertain. Much more definitely known and almost as productive are the gold-mines of British Columbia and the newly discovered gold-fields of the Rainy River district in northern Ontario. More important than the gold-mines of Canada are its coal-fields. These are principally in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. The latter province is destined to be the coal-supplying region for the whole Pacific coast of North America. The yearly output at present is about 1,000,000 tons; the yearly output of Nova Scotia is about 2,000,000 tons, principally produced by American capital. In Alberta there are said to be coal-fields having an area of 65,000 square miles. Iron is found in abundance in both British Columbia and Ontario. Ontario has in its nickel-mines of Sudbury a mineral treasure not found elsewhere in equal abundance in the world. Experts have estimated that 650,000,000 tons of this ore are actually in sight. Ontario produces petroleum and salt. Silver, copper, lead, asbestos, plumbago, mica, etc., are found in varying quantities. Canada imports annually from the United States nearly $10,000,000 worth of coal and coke.
The fisheries of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of the shallow waters bordering on Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have for centuries been the most productive in the world. The Canadian fishing interest in these waters is very great. Cod, mackerel, haddock, halibut, herring, smelts, and salmon, are the principal fish, and the annual "take" is about $15,000,000. About $2,500,000 worth of whitefish, salmon-trout, herring, pickerel, and sturgeon are produced annually from the Canadian lakes. The salmon-fishing of the rivers and great sea-inlets of BritishColumbia brings about $4,500,000 annually. About one half of the total product is exported to Great Britain and the United States.
Agriculture, including stock-raising, dairying and fruit-growing, is Canada's greatest industry. Over 23,000,000 acres are under crop and about 20,000,000 under pasture. Over 3,000,000 acres are under wheat cultivation. Ontario exports more than twice as much cheese as the whole of the United States, and her cheese product is recognised as the finest in the world. Canada exports to Great Britain alone $15,000,000 worth of cheese annually. In 1896, in Ontario alone, 170 creameries turned out over 6,000,000 pounds of butter at an average net receipt of 18¼ cents a pound. By the cold-storage facilities provided by the government Canadian butter can be sent even from far inland points to Liverpool or London without the slightest deterioration. England buys $6,000,000 worth of Canadian bacon and hams annually, and Canadian beef is already famous on the London market. American corn for stock-feeding is admitted to Canada free of duty and about $10,000,000 worth is imported annually. A great deal of eastern and southern Canada is well adapted to fruit-raising. The Niagara-St. Clair peninsula of Ontario is especially famous for its peaches and grapes.
Canada has made a great effort in the direction of encouraging home manufactures, but her most progressive and most staple industries are those concerned in the conversion of the raw products of the country into articlesof common merchandise. Her steam horse-power in proportion to population is the largest in the world. The capital invested in factories as a whole amounts to over $400,000,000, with an annual output of over $500,000,000. Her total annual importation is now over $130,000,000. More than half of this is from the United States. Canada's total annual exportation is about $160,000,000. Of this over one third goes to the United States. Canada's total trade with the United States is about forty one per cent. of her total trade with all countries, and almost equal to her total trade with Great Britain. Canada's total trade with the United States is exceeded only by that of Great Britain, Germany, and France, and her import trade with the United States is exceeded only by that of Great Britain and Germany.
Trade centres of Canada and trunk railway lines.Trade centres of Canada and trunk railway lines.
Montreal(250,000) is the commercial metropolis of Canada. It is situated on an island in the St. Lawrence River, and, though 1000 miles from the open ocean, the largest sea-going vessels reach its wharves with ease. It is the headquarters of Canada's two great railways—theCanadian Pacific system, with its 8000 miles of road, and the Grand Trunk system, with its 5000 miles of road. Through passenger-trains run from Montreal to Vancouver on the Pacific coast, a distance of nearly 3000 miles. Montreal is the centre also of the great inland navigation system of Canada.
Toronto(200,000), the capital of the province of Ontario, is the second city of Canada. While Toronto has a great local trade and many important manufactures, it is specially noted as an educational centre.Quebec(80,000) is the oldest city of Canada and one of the oldest upon the continent.Halifax(50,000), the eastern terminus of the Canadian railway system, has one of the finest harbours in the world.Winnipeg(35,000) is destined to be the centre of the great inland trade of Canada.
Having reviewed the industrial and trading conditions of the other great commercial nations of the world, it should now remain for us to review these conditions in the United States. But the United States is so large a country, and its trading and industrial interests are so diversified and extensive, that it would be impossible for us in the limits of our space even barely to touch upon all these interests. So that with respect to the "Trade Features of the United States" we shall simply confine ourselves to one part of the subject—namely, the character, extent, and importance of our foreign trade. And we shall, further, have to restrict ourselves in the main to our exports. These will be found to be principally not manufactures, but the products of our great agricultural, mining, and forest industries. The total value of the manufactures of the United States amounts in round numbers to the immense sum of $10,000,000,000 annually, a sum considerably more than a third (it is thirty five per cent.) of the total value of the annual manufactures of the world. But only a very small portion of this vast output is exported.The greater portion of it is used to sustain the still vaster internal trade of our country, a trade which amounts to more than $15,500,000,000 annually, an amount not far short of being one third of the total internal trade of the world, and not far short of being twice the internal trade of Great Britain and Ireland, the country whose internal trade comes next to ours. Our exports, therefore, are not in the main manufactured goods, but breadstuffs, provisions, and raw materials, the production of our farms, our plantations, our forests, and our mines. But principally they are the products of our farms and our plantations, for with the exception of cotton we do not export much raw material. Nearly all the raw material we produce (other than cotton) we use in our own manufactures. And even this is not enough, for in addition we have to import considerable quantities of raw material for our manufactures from other countries, the principal items being raw sugar, raw silk, raw wool, chemicals of various kinds including dye-stuffs, hides and skins, lumber, tin, nickel, and paper stock.
Our total exportation for the twelve months ended June 30, 1898, amounted to the unprecedented sum of nearly $1,250,000,000 ($1,231,329,950).[4]This is an amount almost a quarter of a billion dollars greater than ever before, the only years when the export even approximated this amount being 1897 and 1892, when the exportation was slightly over a billion dollars in each case. Of this exportation the sum of $855,000,000, or seventy one per cent. of the whole, was for theproducts of agriculture, the principal items being (1) "breadstuffs,"including wheat and wheat flour, corn and cornmeal, oats and oatmeal, rye and rye flour, $335,000,000; (2) cotton, $231,000,000; (3) "provisions," including beef and tallow, bacon and hams, pork and lard, oleomargarine, and butter and cheese, $166,000,000; (4) animals, including cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs, $47,000,000; (5) raw tobacco, $23,000,000; (6) oil-cake, $12,500,000, and (7) fruits and nuts, $9,000,000. The exports of the products of our mines amounted to only 1.6 per cent. of the total export, or scarcely $20,000,000, the principal items being (1) coal and coke, $12,500,000; (2) crude petroleum, $4,000,000, and (3) copper ore. The exports of the products of the forest amounted to only three per cent. of the total export, or $38,000,000, the principal items being (1) sawed and hewn timber, logs, lumber, shingles, and staves, $28,500,000, and (2) naval stores, including resin, tar, turpentine, and pitch, $9,000,000. The exports of the products of our fisheries amounted to only $4,500,000, or less than one half of one per cent. of the total exports. The exports of the products of our manufactures, according to the official returns, amounted to $289,000,000, or twenty four per cent. of the total export. But this sum included many items which represent raw natural products converted merely into material for subsequent manufacture, as, for example, pig- and bar-iron, planed boards, sole leather, ingot- and bar-copper, cotton-seed oil, and pig- and bar-zinc. The principal items in the true "manufactures" list are (1) machinery, including metal-working machinery, steam-engines and locomotives, electrical machinery, pumping machinery, sewing-machines, typewriting-machines and printing-presses, and railway rails, hardware, and nails, $65,000,000; (2) refined petroleum, $50,000,000; (3) manufactures of cotton, $17,000,000; (4) vegetable oils and essences, $12,000,000; (5) agricultural implements, $7,000,000; (6) cycles, $7,000,000; (7) paper andstationery, $5,500,000; (8) furniture and other manufactures of wood, $5,000,000; (9) tobacco and cigarettes, $5,000,000; (10) fertilisers, $4,500,000; (11) boots and shoes, harness, and rubber shoes, $3,500,000; (12) telegraph, telephone, and other instruments, $3,000,000; (13) bags, cordage, and twine, $2,500,000; (14) books and pamphlets, $2,500,000; (15) sugar, syrup, molasses, candy, and confectionery, $2,000,000; (16) spirits, including brandy and whisky, $2,000,000; and (17) clocks and watches, $2,000,000.