LECTURES AND ESSAYS READ AT INSTITUTES. 16*? 



I can only briefly refer to the remaining items in the account. We sold 

 butter and cheese in 1881-3 in value $17,000,000; salted beef, $4,000,000; 

 other preserved meats, $4,250,000. The exportation of cattle and fresh beef 

 is a recent venture, and the trade has thus far been almost entirely with Eng- 

 land. The Treasury Department report on the commerce of the world, issued 

 this last year, shows that the values of fresh beef exported, rose from $13,000 

 in 1874 to more than $9,500,000 in 1881. Present indications are that this 

 will be far surpassed this year. England took from us in 1878 (the first year 

 for which the figures appear) eight million dollars' worth of horned cattle. 

 The amount was eighteen millions in 1880; and though the condition of our 

 cattle ranges caused a great falling off the next two years, during the past year 

 the exportation has nearly equaled that of 1880. 



TRANSPORTATION. 



One of the most important features in our export trade is transportation 

 facilities, and this for two reasons : 1st, the great bulk of the products to 

 be moved as compared with their values ; and, 3nd, the enormous distance 

 traversed. Improvements in means of carriage have made this trade possible, 

 and it will be maintained and enlarged as this last item in the cost of the 

 marketed products shall bo still further reduced. The great canals, notably 

 the Eric canal, the shipping of the lakes, the vast railway system, the great 

 trans-atlantic fleets, are the arteries of traflic. For their development, man- 

 agement, and improvement, the quickest minds of the age are constantly 

 working. Progress has been in two directions, the cost and the time required 

 to reach a market, botii of prime importance in establishing and maintaining 

 trade. Some interesting facts in this connection may be cited from a recent 

 report issued by the Bureau of Statistics at Washington : 



" These improvements in transportation have * * * been made chiefly 

 during the last fifteen years. During that period the foreign commerce of 

 the country has much more than doubled. This is shown as follows : The 

 total value of the exports of merchandise from the United States increased 

 from $281,952,899 during the year ended June 30, 18G8, to $823,805,819 

 during the year ended June 30, 1883, and the value of the imports of mer- 

 chandise into the United States increased during the same period from 

 $357,430,440 to $723,122,666. 



** Only about eighteen years ago it was regarded as problematical by the man- 

 agers of the principal east and west trunk lines whether grain could bo 

 profitably hauled from Chicago to New York by rail in competition with the 

 lake, Erie canal, and Hudson river route. But during the year 1882, about 

 80.3 per cent, of the total receipts of grain at x\tlantic seaports of the United 

 States was by rail, and only 19.8 per cent, by lake, canal, and Hudson river. 

 Even as late as the year 18G9 the rail rates from Chicago to New York ranged 

 from 30 to 42 cents per bushel, but during nearly nine months of the year 

 1883 the established rate was only 35 cents per 100 pounds, or 15 cents per 

 bushel, and this rate appears to have been regarded as fairly remunerative. 

 The average rate for the year was only 14.6 cents per bushel. 



"During the last five years, 34.83 per cent, of the shipments of wheat, 87.18 

 per cent of the shipments of flour, and 30.14 per cent, of the shipments of 

 corn from Chicago towards the east were by rail." It is true that at no time 

 has the all-rail rate to New York been as low as the lake-and-canal or tlie 

 lake-and-rail rate, but in many cases the superior swiftness of the all-rail 



