COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



121 



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 stepped the bounds of the Constitution 



The Republican State Convention met at 

 Leadville, August 26th. Governor Frederick 

 W. Pitkin was renominated, George B. Rob- 

 inson nominated for Lieutenant-Governor, Sec- 

 retary N. H. Meldrum renominated, W. C. 

 Sanders nominated for Treasurer, and Joseph 

 A. Davis for Auditor. The nominee for Con- 

 gressman was James B. Belford. The resolu- 

 tions adopted endorsed the National party 

 nominations, declared for bimetalism and free 

 coinage of silver, called upon the national and 

 State governments to encourage by suitable 

 legislation- the development of the mineral 

 resources of the State; they also protested 

 against any legislation "that shall embarrass 

 the prospector on the public lands in his efforts 

 to secure a perfect title to his discoveries," 

 and accused the Democratic Congress of hav- 

 ing failed to discharge a "high public duty 

 imposed upon it by the progress of civiliza- 

 tion " in its treatment of the Indian question. 



The census of 1880 makes the population of 

 the State of Colorado 194,649. The popula- 

 tion of Denver, which was 4,759 in 1870, has 

 become 37,719. Leadville, which is disputing 

 with Denver the privilege of containing the 

 halls of legislation and being the State capi- 

 tal, has within that period, though one of the 

 most elevated inhabited spots on the globe, 

 grown from nothing into a town of about 21,- 

 000 inhabitants. 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

 The revival and expansion of commercial en- 

 terprise and industrial and agricultural activity, 

 which, after five years of declining trade and 

 financial depression, was first started by the 

 profitable exportation of the large surplus 

 crops of 1878, and which seemed to have 

 reached its flood after the more abundant 

 harvest of 1879 and the continued European 

 demand for the entire surplus, attained a still 

 higher mark in 1880, permeating every branch 

 and department of business and industry, and 

 manifesting itself in an increase in values, in 

 a scale of consumption which has never been 

 equaled, and in a volume of business in inter- 

 nal commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and 

 in financial operations and the extension of 

 productive facilities and inauguration of new 

 enterprises, which exceeds the figures of any 

 previous year in the commercial history of the 

 United States. There has been a very large 

 supply of money in the money market, and an 

 equally active demand, which has occasionally 

 produced a tight market, notwithstanding the 

 enormous capitals which were unlocked at the 

 return of confidence. The transactions on the 

 stock exchange and in the loan market were of 

 unparalleled aggregate magnitude. The United 

 States Treasury has purchased during the year 

 $103,303,300 Government bonds on account of 

 the sinking fund. A great though not a steady 



advance in prices has taken place on the stock 

 exchange during the twelvemonth. The prices 

 of American railroad and other securities in the 

 London market have kept pace with the rising 

 values in New York, and the exportation of 

 American railroad bonds, long interrupted, has 

 been resumed on a large scale. The earnings 

 of the railroad lines have been quite unexam- 

 pled. Rivals of the Western Union Telegraph 

 Company have entered the field to compete 

 with that huge corporation ; several consoli- 

 dations and alliances have taken place between 

 gigantic railroad corporations, and various new 

 trunk lines have been formed or projected. The 

 production of gold and silver has slightly de- 

 creased, and a depression in mining stocks has 

 taken place. In wheat, cotton, iron, and coal 

 there has been a largely increased production. 

 The immigration during the fiscal year 1879- 

 '80 was 457,257 persons against 177,826 the 

 year before. Novel attempts, in most cases un- 

 successful, were made to make corners, that is, 

 to monopolize the supply for speculative pur- 

 poses, in several of the staple articles of mer- 

 chandise notably in wheat, in pork, and in 

 coffee. 



The total exports of domestic products from 

 the United States during the fiscal year ending 

 June 30,1880, amounted to the sum of $823,- 

 946,353. Including coin and bullion, the total 

 export trade for the year was $833,294,246, 

 the value of the coin and bullion exports 

 amounting to $9,347,893. 



The aggregate value of foreign articles of 

 merchandise imported during the fiscal year 

 was $667,954,746; the total imports of coin 

 and bullion were $93,034,310, making the total 

 foreign imports of the United States for the 

 twelve months $760,989,056. The excess of 

 precious metals imported over the exports was 

 $83,686,417. The excess of merchandise ex- 

 ported over the imports was $167,683,912. 

 The balance in favor of the United States on 

 both coin and merchandise accounts is $72,- 

 305,190. The reexports of foreign merchan- 

 dise amounted to $11,692,305. The total for- 

 eign commerce of the United States in 1879-'80 

 amounted to $1,613,770,803, an increase of 

 $411,062,194, or 32 per cent, over the aggre- 

 gate exports and imports of 1878-'79. The 

 following statement, going back ten years, gives 

 the aggregate export and import trade of the 

 United States for each year, and the increase 

 and decrease compared with the year immedi- 

 ately preceding : 



