NETHERLANDS. 397 NETHERLANDS. tries liavc been little developed, though coal and iron are brought to Amsterdam, Kotterdam, and The Hague for the eunstruetion of railroa<l ma- terial, ships, maehinerv, and hardware. Many of the steel and iron ships owned in Holland are built in Kngland. Tin plate is produced at The Hague, and gold and silverware are nianufac- tuied at Amsterdam ; but few fancy articles in metals are produced. Textile manufactures have been largely ileveloped since the separation from lielgiuin in IS.'JO. Calicoes are made in large quantities for the East Indies, Africa, and China trade, re])resenting usually an export value of about $7,000,000 a year. The number of spindles is about 300,000, the leading factories being in Overyssel and Xorth Brabant. Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Leyden have dye works and calico- printing works. Linen is manufactured chiefly in the southeast and North Brabant. The best qual- ity of sailcloth is made in Xorth and South Holland. Tilburg is the leading centre of the vo(den industry, and the carpets of Deventer are in much request: but with the growth of the woolen industries in England. France, and Ger- numy, Dutch woolens have declined in impor- tance. Many towns make leather, and the manu- facture of earthenware is spread all over the country. Brick and tile works are found in many places : clay pipes are made in South Hol- land; Delft still produces the glazed earthenware that made the town famous; JIaestricht also pro- duces stoneware and glassware. The diamond- cutters of Amsterdam are still famous, though their business is declining on account of the com- l)etition of Paris, London, and Antwerp. This industry is entirely in the hands of the Jews. Many industries are connected with the trans- formation of agricultural products, such as liqueurs, distilled from orange peel and other materials in Amsterdam. Rotterdam, and Schie- dam, the same cities also leading in the produc- tion of Holland gin, distilled from rve. There were 516 distilleries in IflOO, 503 breweries, and vinegar works. Large quantities of cigars and manufactured tobacco from home-grown or East Indies leaf are made, the most extensive fac- tories being at Amsterdam and LHrecht. The sugar refineries, chierty in Amsterdam and North Brabant, are using every year more raw sugar from beet root and less from sugar cane. Commerce. The Dutch trade embraces every continent, and is therefore first and chiefly mari- time. Most exports of home products go to the neighboring countries of Europe. England, Oer- niany. and Belgium are the largest buyers of the live animals, butter, cheese, and oleomargarine which the country exports. In 1000 the leading exiHirts to neighboring countries of home products were: 49.000 cattle. 0000 calves, 49.000 sheep, 4000 swine. 51.000.000 pounds of butter. 120.000.- 000 pounds of oleomargarine, 102.000.000 pounds of cheese, and 330,000.000 pounds of sugar, be- sides eggs, vegetables, flax, and fish. The exports of colonial products are sold all over the world, and the chief trade of the Netherlands is in the import and re-export of these colonial commodities. The Dutch colonial possessions in the East Indies, extending from Sunuitra to New Guinea, are about sixty times as large as the mother country, and have seven times the population. Most of the tea. stlgar, coffee, quinine, tin, tobacco, indigo, dyewoods, spices, and gums they export are sent to the Neth- erlands, chiefly to Rotterdam and also to Amster- dam. I'alui oil. rubber, and ivory from the Congo State, and guano :uid nitrates from South Ameri- ca are also imjiorted. Some of these articles are greatl}' enhanced in value by nuinufacture in the Netherlands. (Quinine, for example, is prepared for the market in the Netherlands, where also Java raw sugar is refined and Sumatra tobacco is made into cigars. The colonies, on the other hand, buy from the mother country great quanti- ties of cott(ms and of other goods manufactured for them at home or purchased in other lands and sold by Dutch merchants in the colonies at a large profit. The colonies are the best cus- tomers of the Netherlands, excepting Europe. Most of the imports for home consumption come from Northern Europe and the United States. The L'nited States contributes about one- eightli of these imports, on an average, chiefly wheat, flour, maize, rye, petroleum, tallow, bacon, leaf tobacco, and lumber. Great Britain. Ger- many, Russia, and Belgium supply nearh' all the other imports, consisting chiefly of coal, timber, metals, and manufactures. Most of the home trade, as distinguished from the colonial trade, is with these countries. The rapid giowth of the imports for home consumption and the exports of home products may be seen from the follow- ing table, which shows the average annual trade: 1882-86 1892-96 1901 Imiiortfl . ... S448..500.000 342.500,000 $602..50O,0O0 490,000,000
- 822,894.000
700,686,000 The value of the imports and exports of the largest classes of products in 1901 was: Food products Raw materials Manuf.iotured products Miscellaneous Imports $230,136,960 182,478.654 103.004.460 163,701,234 Exports $213,021,408 131,392,494 91,8S4,336 127,290,486 Tlie following table gives the trade with lead- ing countries in 1901 : Imports Exports Belgium $90,791,200 8.400,000 18,894.000 9,165,600 99,816.600 174.387.600 64,320.000 16,40<),OO0 130,047,000 121,846.200 $70,510,800 Brazil • Britisii India • 700 000 France Great Britain , .. 5.185,800 171 131,400 349.297,800 3.336.600 Spain * 1,300.000 24 723.000 Unit«d States 31,838,400
- Tlie flgurea (or Brazil (imports). British India (ex-
ports), and Spain (imports and exports) are given for 1899. The Dutch derive large profit from the for- warding trade. They find the business of carry- ing freight for other nations a very profitable branch of conmierce, and their position at the mouth of the Rhine gives them luisurpassed op- portunities to pursue this branch of business. A great deal of the trade of (Jermany and also of Austria and Switzerland with other countries passes through the Netherlands, and most of it is tributary to Rotterdam, the port of the Rhine mouth and one of the greatest forwarding ports of the world. Amsterdam's connection by river and canal with the Rhine enables that city to take a large though inferior part in the transit
