128 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Total Southern exports from Northern 

 ports (approximate) 



Exports of all products from Southern 

 Atlantic and Gulf ports, including 

 Baltimore 245,533,000 



Total exports of Southern products dur- 

 ing fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, 

 currency value (approximate) $328,407,000 



Total expprts of domestic products from 

 the United States during fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1867, currency value.$471,608,000 



Proportion of Southern products to all do- 

 mestic products exported, 69 per cent. 



These figures must not be regarded as exact, 

 but only approximate; because the total ex- 

 ports from the Southern Atlantic and Gulf 

 ports, including Baltimore, contain more or 

 less of Northern products, which cannot be 

 distinguished from the rest without considerable 

 labor. Cotton still maintains its ascendency as 

 an export staple. If the commerce and navi- 

 gation tables up to 1865 are to be credited, the 

 cotton exported during the past fiscal year, 

 though less in quantity, nearly equals in value 

 that of any previous year, and indeed exceeds 

 that of all the years but 1859, 1860, and 1866. 



The following table exhibits the exports of 

 cotton from the United States from July 1, 

 1855, to June 30, 1866, inclusive, as stated in 

 the reports of the Register of the Treasury on 

 commerce and navigation, and for th,e fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1867, as shown by the 

 records of the Bureau of Statistics : 



A comparison of values does not furnish a 

 strictly accurate view of the relative importance 

 in which cotton stands as an export staple be- 

 tween 1867 and 1860, for the reason that prices 

 have considerably risen all over the world since 

 1860; consequently, $143,000,000, even in gold, 

 would not purchase quite the same amount of 

 foreign produce as it would have done in 1860. 

 The rise in prices alluded to is due to a number 

 of causes, the principal of which are, the in- 

 crease of production over consumption of the 

 precious metals, and the cost of the civil war, 

 and indeed of all other wars which have oc- 

 curred since 1860, increasing through the agency 

 of taxation the cost prices of all commercial 

 commodities. Nevertheless, so far as the last- 

 named cause applies to the prices of the com- 

 modities which the United States sell or pur- 

 chase, it is for the most part only to be ob- 



served as yet in the prices of those which form 

 the burden of their traffic with the principal 

 commercial nations of the world the prices 

 of products in remote countries, and those with 

 which we and other leading commercial nations 

 have but little trade, have not yet been fully 

 affected by this influence. 



In another relation, too, a comparison of 

 prices may be deemed objectionable ; for ex- 

 ample, the cotton exports of 1860 were valued 

 on exportation at about eleven cents a 

 pound, and this valuation may have been fully 

 realized on the sale of the cotton in Europe. 

 The cotton exports of 1867 were valued on the 

 average at 21J cents gold on exportation ; and 

 this valuation, owing to the well-known fall in 

 cotton that occurred during the latter months 

 of the calendar year 1866, and the first months 

 of 1867, maybe thought not to have been'real- 

 ized on sale. This point, however, has been 

 subjected to examination, and the result is, that 

 the cotton exported during the past fiscal year 

 realized on sale in Great Britain considerably 

 more than the gold value at which it was ex- 

 poried. 



The foreign trade of 1866 and 1867, respec- 

 tively, was darned as follows: 



Gold value in. millions of Dollars. 



The slight relative improvement shown is 

 more superficial than real as to American ves- 

 sels ; the carriage performed in vessels and 

 vehicles respectively is not distinguishable. 



The total imports from foreign countries at 

 New York during the calendar year 1867 were 

 $252,648,475 : consisting of dutiable goods, 

 $238,297,955; free goods, $11,044,181 ; specie, 

 $3,306,339. In order to show the comparative 

 imports for a series of years, the following table 

 has been prepared : 



foreign importations at New York. 



Of these large sums the imports of dry goods 

 form about three-eighths, as will be seen by 

 the annexed comparative summary since 1849: 



