1904 of $63,000. During the same 1905 period 56,000 cattle were exported to Cuba, weighing 38,322,000 pounds and valued at $778,000. IMPORTS AT CIUDAD, BOLIVAR, JULY-DECEMBER, 1904. The importation of merchandise of the Republic of Venezuela through the custom-house at Ciudad, Bolivar, during the last half of the year 1904, amounted to 2,478,638.80 bolivares. The countries of origin and their respective valuations were as follows: Germany United States United Kingdom. Total..... Bolivares 1,400, 220.00 1, 015, 229, 90 63, 188. 90 2,478, 638. 80 IMPORTS AT CARÚPANO, JULY-DECEMBER, 1904. The imports of the Republic of Venezuela received at the port of Carúpano during the second half of the year 1904 amounted to 790,680.60 bolivares. Their distribution according to the countries. of origin was as follows: Germany Spain.. United States. France Holland Bolivares. 116, 510. 45 106,330. 00 194, 450. 95 175, 832. 25 United Kingdom.... Italy Total. MARITIME MOVEMENT, 1905. 52, 879.95 120, 647.00 24, 030.00 790, 680.60 The arrivals and departures of ships of the various ports of the Republic of Venezuela, during the first half of the year 1905, from and to the different countries, were as follows: THE WORLD'S TRADE IN 1905. A compilation made by the British Board of Trade gives the following figures as representing the commercial intercourse, in 1905, of the various countries of the world for which statistics were obtainable. In all cases except those of Spain, the United States, and British India, the imports are intended to represent goods for home consumption only-that is, excluding reexports. In every instance the exports are meant to represent articles of domestic produce. The Belgian and Spanish figures are for principal articles only: The foregoing figures show that, as an exporter, the United States takes first rank in 1905. GOLD PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD IN 1905. The Director of the United States Mint gives the following figures as the gold production of the world for the past sixteen years, the notable increase in the supply beginning in 1900: Records of the output of gold, which have shown an increase in every year of the last fourteen, except when interrupted by the South African war, show that it has taken another leap in 1905, and the longest one of the period. At this writing it seems probable, says the authority quoted, basing the estimate upon the known production of the largest fields to November 1, that the year's yield will exceed that of 1904 by $30,000,000. This will carry the world's production up to about $375,000,000. South Africa and the United States are the regions making the principal gains. The great Transvaal fields, the most wonderful gold district ever discovered, has passed the highest record made before the war and seems certain to go over the $100,000,000 mark for the year. Its output for 1904 was $78,000,000. The amount of gold produced by the various countries of the world in 1905 is given in the following table: SILVER PRODUCTION OF THE WORLD IN 1905. Following is the estimated production of silver in the various countries of the world during 1905: COPPER PRODUCTION, 1905. The output of copper in 1905 was the greatest production in the history of the industry, and the increased demand proves that consumption has more than kept pace with production. The following table indicates the actual production of the copper mines of the world for 1904 and the estimated figures for 1905, based on data obtained during the year: TRADE OPPORTUNITIES IN LATIN AMERICA. The United States minister to Chile, reporting on the Chilean exposition, states: "In looking through the different departments of this exposition I was constantly watching for American goods, American machinery, and American ideas, but you can imagine my disappointment when I report that the only things anywhere to be seen that came from the United States were a small filing cabinet from Rochester, N. Y., an American typewriter, and some school charts illustrating American plants and fishes. An old-fashioned English portable engine, designed probably about a century since, furnished the power for all the machinery. There were German and French machines quite numerous, but nothing that was American. Even a separator at work cleaning wheat and depositing the weeds, dirt, and wheat in different. receptacles was made in France. Yet one of the exhibitors, a manufacturer of flour, told me that the Americans made the best machinery of that kind in the world. In fact, it seems that to a majority of the Chilean people the United States commercially is almost as far off and as little known as the planet Mars. They have heard of the country, and some of their people have even visited it and returned only to praise it in the highest terms; but to the great mass of Chileans it is an unknown land. It is unquestionably true that of machinery and manufactured articles shown at this exposition the American duplicate is far the best, and if it were available and could be purchased when needed the people would use it. But the American article is not only not used, but it seems to be practically unknown. On the contrary, the English and German article, whether it is machinery or manufactured goods, is not only always in evidence, but it is presented in the most plausible and forcible manner by skilled and shrewd salesmen, thoroughly trained to the business, and as a consequence the American article is scarcely heard of." The "Consular Trade Report" for March 14, 1906, states that the conditions of population and the development of industries in Chile are such as to demand increasing purchases of iron and steel and their manufactures rather than of other classes of goods. The population is not growing rapidly, as in Argentina, for instance, and we can not, therefore, expect to see any very great increase in the imports of those classes of goods with which the people are fed and clothed. Most of the necessary food stuffs can be, and to a considerable extent are, being raised at home; and the purchases of clothing materials can not be much increased beyond the present amount until there are more people to be clothed, except, of course, the increasing quantities of the more costly classes of clothing which are demanded through the increasing |