470 



FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



sold at 88 for specie in January, and for 72- in 

 December, a decline of 15 per cent., although 

 none of that description liad been negotiated 

 in that period. The 1 year certificates of the 

 Government had fluctuated from time to time, 

 as the creditors who received them from the Gov- 

 ernment pressed them upon the market for sale. 

 From par in April for specie currency they fell 

 to 96J for paper at the close of the year. Under 

 the supposition that the certificates had on aver- 

 age 6 months to run, the holder gets in half a 

 year for his outlay of $96J, $100 principal and 

 $3 interest in gold, worth $4 in paper, or $104 ; 

 making $7.75 equal to 16 per cent, per annum 

 on his investment. "With this state of affairs 

 before holders of Government securities, the 

 Secretary announced 1,000 millions more to be 

 borrowed. Yet he complained of " the igno- 

 rant fears of foreign investors in national and 

 State bonds and other American securities, and 

 the timid alarms of numerous nervous indivi- 



duals in our own country, which prompted large 

 sacrifices upon evidences of public and corpor- 

 ate indebtedness in our markets." The " foreign 

 investors" measure the value of stocks not by 

 paper but by the gold standard, and a fall of 23 

 per cent, in United States 20 year 6 per cent, 

 stock was not an assuring fact. On page 303 

 of the " Cyclopaedia " of last year is given the 

 amount of specie estimated, from the best offi- 

 cial data, to have been in the country at dif- 

 ferent periods. The whole amount for the 

 Union, North and South, for January, 1862, was 

 $237,510,148. This includes the specie in cir- 

 culation, in banks and that used in the arts. 

 The quantity used in the arts has been matter 

 of conjecture, since there are no accurate 

 data on which to estimate. The census of 

 1860 for the first time gave some particulars 

 in relation to the use of the metals. In the 

 city and county of New York the report was 

 as follows : 



There are various other branches of manu- 

 factures, beside those enumerated above, which 

 consume large quantities of both metals. 



The following tabular statement is from the 

 preliminary report on the eighth census of the 

 United States, year 1860. It is here shown, 



that in twelve States and the District of Co- 

 lumbia, there are about twelve or fourteen mil- 

 lions used in manufactures annually. If to 

 these we add Ohio, Missouri, California, and 

 other States, the amount will swell to nearly 

 twenty millions of dollars : 



JEWELRY, SILVER WARE, &c., PRODUCED DURING THE TEAR ENDING JUNE 1, 1860. 



The amount of raw material here used is not 

 stated ; but it may be placed at one half, or in 

 round numbers at 10 millions. A large por- 

 tion of this, however, is old material worked 

 over. It is, however, estimated that about one 

 half, or $5,000,000, is new metal, worked into 

 the various objects of the goldsmith's art. In 

 the last ten years of great prosperity the quan- 

 tity of gold wrought up has much incrensed at 

 the expense of the metallic currency. The use 

 of plate particularly has become more common. 

 There are many causes of error in an estimate 



of the metals. Thus much specie is brought in 

 by immigrants, and not reported at the custom 

 house ; but as this is mostly foreign coin, it 

 finds its way to the bankers, who sell it to ex- 

 porters, when it appears in official returns. 

 Much silver comes in overland from Mexico. 

 A good deal of specie also goes out in the 

 hands of travellers, and is not accounted for. 

 Nevertheless the official returns of imports and 

 exports, with that of the product of mines, afford 

 a good approximation. The quantity of metals 

 at the North was as follows during the year : 



