Still more noteworthy is the extension of our commerce to the South and to the Far East. During the period under review the states of Central and South America had won their independence from Europe, and were now free to establish such trade relations as they chose. With Mexico and various states of South America (especially Brazil and the Argentine Republic) we had in 1860 a commerce amounting to about sixty million dollars. Our trade with China amounted to about twenty million; and while our trade with Japan (about $150,000) gave no immediate reward for the American enterprise which had opened the ports of that country, it was at least a promise for the future.
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS
1. See sect. 695 for figures of imports which may be charted for comparison with later development.
2. How did the import trade of the U. S. compare with that of England at about this time?
3. Why was it cheaper for the Americans to buy manufactures abroad than to make them at home?
4. What is the effect of a protective tariff, (a) on commerce, (b) on production, (c) on the price of the product?
5. Industrial development, 1790-1860. [Wright, 132-142.]
6. American coal fields. [Nicolls, part 1; commercial geographies.]
7. Early transportations of coal by rivers and canals. [Nicolls, chaps. 17, 18.]
8. Assuming that the protective duty on iron raised its price to purchasers, what must have been the effect on manufactures and transportation? [Compare the sections on Russia, above.]