The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1901.] MARINE REVIEW. 19 EXPORTS TO SOUTHERN COUNTRIES. Exports from the United States to all American countries and islands south of her 'boundaries show a marked increase in the fiscal year just ended and exceed those of any other year in the history of our commerce. This statement, just announced by the treasury bureau of statistics, is especially interesting in view of the various efforts being made for closer 'business, commercial, and transportation relations between the United State and her neighbors 'at the south. New lines of steamers have recently been put on between the Pacific coast of the United States and the western coast of Mexico, Central and South America; a recently published state- ment indicates that great financial interests of the United States have obtained control of the nearly-completed transcontinental line connecting Argentina with Chile; the establishment of additional direct steamship lines between the eastern coast of the United States and South American ports is under discussion, and the opening of an isthmian canal would give a straight line of water communication from the eastern coast of the United States to the western coast of South America. All of these move- ments in the direction of closer relations between the United States and her neighbors at the south add interest to the announcement that our exports to those countries in 1901 are larger than those of any preceding year, and to some figures just presented by the bureau of statistics showing system is much more satisfactory than to the South American countries, and to those islands our exports have grown from $34,000,000 in 1891 to $49,000,000 in 1901. To Central and South America, with which steamship communication has not been satisfactory, the growth has been less, the figures, as already indicated, being in 1900 practically the same as in 1890, while the figures for 1900 and 1901 show in each case a considerable in- crease. This increase is especially notable in the exports to the countries on the western coast of South America reached by the recently estab- lished lines connecting the western coast of the United States with that of South and Central America, and which were put into operation about the beginning of the present calendar year. The figures of our exports to South America show an increase of nearly 100 per cent. to Peru in eleven months ending with May, 1901, as compared with the same period of the fiscal year 1900, and nearly 100 per cent. to Chile in the same time. Of the increase of $6,000,000 in exports to South America in 1901 as compared with 1900, more than two-thirds is to the countries on the western coast. FOREIGN NOTES OF INTEREST. During June Scotch ship builders launched twenty-nine vessels of about 47,028 tons gross, as compared with thirty-five vessels of 56,132 tons gross in May and thirty-two vessels of 52,528 tons gross in June last year. r Gantry crane (15 tons) at works of Buffalo Dry Dock Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Designed and built by Wellman-Seaver Engineering Co., Cleveland. the imports of each of the South American countries at the latest date and the exports from the United States to each of those countries in 1901. The growth of exports from the United States to Central and South America has not kept pace in the past with the growth in other directions. The total exports to South America in 1900, for instance, were no more than those of 1890, being in each of those years, in round numbers, $38,- 000,000, while the same statement holds good with reference to Central America, the total exports from the United States to the Central American states being in 1890 and 1900 in each case in round numbers $5,000,000. It is to Mexico and the West Indies that our exports in the decade 1890- 1900 show the greatest increase, being to the West Indies, in 1890, $33,000,- 000, and in 1900, $47,000,000; and to Mexico, in 1890, $33,000,000, and in 1900, $34,000,000. The fiscal years 1900 and 1901 show a much greater increase in our sales to our neighbors at the south than in any preceding years. The total exports to Mexico, Central and South America and the West Indies in 1899 were $103,000,000, in 1900, $127,000,000, and in 1901, $138,000,000 in round numbers, Thus the figures of 1901 are $35,000,000 greater. than those of 1899, while the 1899 figures are only $1,000,000 greater than those of 1893. a The importance of satisfactory transportation facilities is illustrated by a study of the growth of our export trade with the countries at the south. Prior to the construction of railway lines connecting Mexico with the United States, our exports to Mexico seldom reached $10,000,000; by 1896 they were $20,000,000; by 1899, $25,000,000; in 1900, $34,000,000, and in 1901, $37,000,000, in round numbers. To the West Indies, the transportation - In the six months Scotch ship builders have launched 135 vessels of 246,752 tons gross, against 232,584 tons gross in the corresponding period of last year, 256,310 tons in 1899 and about 227,608 tons gross in 1898. English ship builders in June put into the water twenty-two vessels of about 76,818 tons gross, against thirty vessels of 95,544 tons gross in May; twenty-one of 73,077 tons gross in June last year; twenty-two of 72,974 tons gross in June, 1899; and twenty-six of 93,383 tons gross in June, 1898. For the six months English builders have launched 126 vessels of about 422,699 tons gross, 'as compared with 127 vessels of about 339,803 tons gross in the corresponding period of 1900. A record in rapid coaling was made the other day by the Prince George of the British channel squadron. She was the only ship that filled her bunkers at the coaling point and was assisted by three cranes from the shore side. The ship took in 1,206 tons in 5 hours and 20 minutes of working time, giving an average of 226 tons an hour. Last year when five ships coaled in the same way the Mars established the channel squadron record with an average of 203.7 tons. A shallow water barge, the Newport, was launched last week from the yards of the Kelley, Spear & Co., Bath, Me., for the Staples Coal Co., Taunton, Mass. She is designed especially for navigating shoal rivers and harbors and is 150 ft. long, 31 ft. beam and 8 ft. deep. She is a dupli- cate of the Rockland, launched a few weeks ago.