Great  Britain  exports  condensed  beer  to  the  value  of  $12,000,000  an-
nually, and  the  British  Government  has  recently  authorized  the  estab-
lishment of  a  brewery  for  such  production  on  a  large  scale  for  the  use
of  the  army  at  Aflahabad.  The  rapidly  growing  use  of  malt  liquors  in
the  United  States,  and  the  high  reputation  attained  by  American  brew-
ers, would  seem  to  indicate  that  a, judicious  adoption  of  the  condensing
process,  now  so  successfully  employed  in  England  and  Switzerland,
might  enable  our  exporters  to  largely  increase  their  traffic  with  Central
and  South  American  countries.
FHANK  H.  MASON,  Consul

United  States  Consulate,

Basle ,  tficitzerlandj  October  28,  1880.
THE  SILK  INDUSTRY  OF  BASLE.
REPORT  BY  CONSUL  2USOX  ON  THE  SILK  MANUFACTURES  0FBA8LB  AND  THEIR

EXPORTS  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.
silk;  ribbons.
A  report  of  the  industry  and  commerce  of  this  consular  district  and
their  relations  to  those  of  the  United  States  must  naturally  begin  with
the  manufacture  of  silk  ribbons,  which  now,  as  heretofore,  furnishes
more  than  half  the  entire  sum  of  exports  from  this  district  to  the  United
States.
The  present  condition  of  the  trade  will  be  better  understood  from  a
brief  rteumA  of  the  ribbon  exports  during  the  past  ten  years.
During  the  prosperous  period  of  1870, 1871,  and  1872,  the  Basle  district
sent  to  the  United  States  silk  ribbons  to  the  amount  of  about  three  and  ^


BUT  'TRADE.  531

halt* millions  dollars  annually ;  the eatyOTt  tor  1872 being  83,5 IS, 7 70.  The
effect  of  the  panic  of  September,  lti<%  wa8  immediately  felt  in  this
class  of  luxuries,  and  the  amount  for  tJMt  year  declined  to  82,479,609-
The  trade  decreased  steadily  ui\til  1876,  wijen  the  tweuty  six  manufact.
