COMMERCE. 



231 



produce, but in a paper depreciated 35 per 

 cent Hence the amount realized was $11,000,- 

 000 only, falling below the import value, and 

 necessitating the export of the precious metals 



to make good the margin. The export trade 

 of the port of Xe\v York, monthly, for the year, 

 represents the greatest proportion, of the na- 

 tional commerce for the year : 



EXPORTS, POET OF NEW Y011K. 



The banks of New York suspended at the 

 close of 1861 ; but inasmuch as the institu- 

 tions, in consequence, sought rather to contract 

 than to expand their operations, no material 

 depreciation took place until the issues of Gov- 

 ernment paper began to make their appearance 

 in April, and became the basis of the bank 

 paper. In the first three months the exports 

 of produce were small. As soon, however, as 

 the depreciation of paper began to show itself 

 by a rise in gold, and a consequent higher price 

 for exchange, an impetus was imparted to the 

 export of produce, for the reason that if the 

 market did not promise a profit abroad, the 

 shipper by selling his bill at a higher rate for 

 paper money realized a profit. Thus in April 

 the price of sterling was 11 per cent., in June 

 it had risen to 21, or 10 per cent, advance. 

 Accordingly the exports of domestic produce 

 in April were 8,000,000, but exceeded 10,000,- 

 000 in June ; notwithstanding prices abroad 

 were more unfavorable for shipments, with 

 every successive rise in the bills as measured 

 in paper money, there was more activity in 

 shipments. Inasmuch, however, as prices be- 

 came more unfavorable abroad, these ship- 

 ments did not always prove profitable, notwith- 

 standing the high price obtained for the bill, 

 the value of which came to be regulated by 

 that of specie. The current of the metals con- 

 tinued to set out in a broader stream, although 

 they apparently bore a premium. The mode of 

 quotation is deceptive, and the fact that specie 

 continues to leave the country in a large vol- 

 ume indicates that it is still the best remit- 

 tance out of the country for the banker who 

 sells bills, even if he ships American gold. 

 Many individuals who had remittances to make 

 out of the country invested in produce of dif- 

 ferent descriptions ; but the results were not 

 always so favorable as if gold had been de- 

 pended upon exclusively. The rise in prices 

 of produce at the seaboard did not much im- 

 prove the condition of the producer at the 

 "West, since the cost of transportation was pro- 

 portionately advanced, and the cost of goods 



taken in return was swollen not only by higher 

 charges for carriage, but also by taxes and de- 

 preciation of the currency. The gradual de- 

 cline in the supplies of cotton as a material for 

 manufacture diminished the activity of an in- 

 dustry that usually employs a capital of 100 

 millions, but also that of all persons engaged 

 in the buying and selling, and transportation 

 of the material and goods. "When the blockade 

 took place, cutting off the supply of cotton, 

 there was a stock in the hands of dealers and 

 manufacturers possibly equal to six months' 

 consumption, and the stock of goods in stores 

 was fair. Those stocks have dwindled away 

 under the demand for consumption, at gradually 

 rising prices ; and the stock of cotton has con- 

 tinued to shrink, although held by speculators 

 generally in advance of the market for goods. 

 Month by month, and day by day, the shelves 

 have been thinned out, and the number of bales 

 that form the last resort of the spinners for 

 materials has become less. One can imagine 

 the careful manufacturer, like a shipwrecked 

 mariner, anxiously inspecting his pile of biscuit 

 savod from disaster, and ruefully counting 

 what remains after each day's inevitable con- 

 sumption, and fixing the date beyond which 

 the utmost economy will not stretch the scanty 

 supply the moment when the last bale will 

 have been opened for the picker, amid prepa- 

 rations for the final closing of the mill. "With 

 this prospect in view, the mills have diminished 

 their work ; and the weakest, one after the 

 other, have stopped, as the stronger have bid 

 np for the shrinking stock of cotton 10 to 20, 

 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and, finally, 90 cents, without 

 increasing the supply, until the figures have 

 come to represent a famine rather than a trade. 

 These circumstances have caused strong houses 

 to hold the goods for the use of regular custom- 

 ers. The remains of the once great cotton man- 

 ufacture were eagerly bought up, without much 

 regard to price ; and staple goods have come to 

 be regarded as of more value even than gold, 

 amidst a depreciated currency. 



The gceat apparent rise in value has doubt- 



