U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

SECTION OF FOREIGN MARKETS.

[Under the immediate supervision of the Secretary of Agriculture.]

PREFACE.

The United States sold in foreign markets during the fiscal year 1894 eight hundred and sixty-nine million two hundred and four thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars' ($869,204,937) worth of American products. Of that enormous amount the farmers of the United States furnished six hundred and twenty-eight million three hundred and sixty-three thousand and thirty-eight dollars' ($628,363,038) worth of products. The world's markets, therefore, and their demands for American farm products, should be made familiar to all the producers of the United States. Demand is the creator of value in all legitimately exchangeable things. The relation of the supply of wheat to the demand for wheat determines the value of wheat. And what is true of that cereal is likewise true of all products and commodities. Therefore there can be nothing of more vital interest to the American farmer than a detailed knowledge of the markets of the civilized world. They nearly all demand some of the food or other products of this country. Believing the above, the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Department of State, during the last calendar year, transmitted the following circular to all the consuls and commercial agents of the United States:

UNITED STATES CONSUL:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., December 24, 1894.

You are respectfully invited to report with reference to the consumption in your consular district of the products named in the list subjoined. Your attention is especially directed to the following points:

(1) Is there a considerable consumption of the products named?

(2) Do consumers depend, and to what extent, on importations for their supply

(3) If so, what countries furnish the major portion of their supply?

(4) How are the products sold and at what prices?

(5) Are the prices paid for American, relatively, higher or lower than those paid for similar products from other countries?

(6) Are there criticisms of any American products? What defects are charged, if any?

Be kind enough in giving prices or quantities to reduce the foreign moneys and measurements to dollars and cents, and to our own measurements.

In addition to covering the above points as fully as possible in your reply, kindly make any suggestion which might encourage the people in your consular district to depend more largely on supplying their wants from the United States.