FINANCES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



257 



that capital has been received in exchange for them, 

 which has been profitably employed in the develop- 

 ment of our national resources ; and that it matters 

 little whether the interest upon the debt is received 

 by our own people or by the people of other coun- 

 tries. This opinion is the result of misapprehension 

 of facts,, and is unsound in principle. It is not to a 

 large extent true that capital, which is being used in 

 developing the national resources, has been received 

 in exchange for the bonds which are held in Europe. 

 While many articles, such as railroad iron, machinery, 

 and raw materials, used in manufacturing the value 

 of which to the country is acknowledged have been 

 so received, a large proportion of the receipts have 

 been of a different description. Our bonds have 

 been largely paid for in articles for which no nation 

 can afford to run in debt for articles which have 

 neither stimulated industry nor increased the pro- 

 ductive power of the country, which have in fact 

 added nothing to the national wealth. A reference 

 to the custom-house entries will substantiate the cor- 

 rectness of these statements. Two-thirds of the im- 

 portations of the United States consist of articles 

 which, in economical times, would be pronounced 

 luxuries. The war and a redundant currency have 

 brought about unexampled extravagance, which can 

 only be satisfied by the most costly products of 

 foreign countries. No exception could oe taken to 

 such importations if they were paid for in our own 

 productions. This, unfortunately, is not the fact. 

 They are annually swelling our foreign debt without 

 increasing our ability to pay it. How disastrous such 

 a course of trade, if long continued, must be, it re- 

 quires no spirit of prophecy to predict. 



The state of the country, like the circum- 

 stances of a debtor, becomes a subject of the 

 first consideration in estimating the future. 

 Many circumstances of a favorable aspect have 

 appeared since the close of the war. The 

 foreign immigration since July 1, 1865, had 

 reached about the number of a million at the 

 end of 1868. Their indirect value, estimated 

 at half the value of a laborer at the South be- 

 fore the war, would be $500,000,000. To this 

 should be added $80,000,000 as the amount 

 of money brought into the country by immi- 

 grants/which generally averages $80 per head. 



The increase in the products of domestic in- 

 dustry has been equally favorable. The num- 

 ber of cotton spindles, which at the close of 

 the war was about 5,235,72.7, has increased, as 

 shown by recent returns, to 7,000,000. This 

 is a gain of 31.78 per cent. The increase in 

 the woollen manufacture of Ohio, Indiana, 

 Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Min- 

 nesota, since 1860, has been $3,831,260 in the 

 amount of capital invested, and 700 in the sets 

 of machinery. The increase in the annual 

 product of pig-iron has been as follows : 



Tons. 



1864 1,135,497 



1866 1,351,143 9.50 per cent. 



1867 1,447,771 7.16per cent. 



1868 (estimated) 1,550,000 7.06 per cent. 



The product of copper, chiefly from the mines 

 of Lake Superior, which in 1860 was 6,000 tons, 

 had increased in 1865 to 10,790 ; in 1866 to 

 10,375 ; and in 1867 to 10,735. 



The export of petroleum, being about 30,- 

 000,000 gallons in 1865, increased in 1867 to 

 67,052,020; and in 1868 to 97,179,919 gallons. 



The increase in the production of anthracite 

 VOL. viii. -17 A 



coal, which may be taken as a measure of the 

 product of all American coal, has been from 

 7,499,550 tons in 1862, to 12,379,490 tons in 

 1866; 12,650,571 in 1867; and 13,500,000 tons 

 in 1868. 



There has also been a continued increase of 

 the agricultural products of the country, which 

 is not less important. The crop of Indian corn 

 is estimated to increase at an average of three 

 and a half per cent, per annum, which would 

 make the crop of 1868 amount to 1,100,000,000 

 bushels, and would net, if sold at 46 cents per 

 bushel, over $500,000,000. 



The cotton crop of the Southern States has 

 been, since the close of the war, as follows : 

 1865-'66, 2,154,476 Jbales; 1866-'67,- 1,954,988 

 bales; 1867-'68, 2,49*8,895 bales; 1868-'69, es- 

 timated at 2,700,000 bales. 



The crop of tobacco increased from 183,316,- 

 953 pounds in 1865, to 325,000,000 pounds in 

 1866, and to 250,000,000 in 1867. 



The number of miles of railroad extension 

 since the close of the war has been nearly 

 8,000. The tonnage of merchandise trans- 

 ported is estimated to have increased from 

 6,000,000 in 1851, to 48,000,000 in 1867, which 

 is a rate of increase during this period of 800 

 per cent. The annual value of the tonnage 

 thus moved is increased from $486,816,505 in 

 1858, ^$1,723,330,207 in 1867. 



An evidence of the prosperity of the country 

 appears in the reduction made in State debts 

 incurred by the war, during the year. Thus 

 the debt of New Hampshire was reduced fi.9 

 per cent.; Vermont, 16.2 per cent.; Ehode 

 Island, 13.7 per cent. ; Connecticut, 3.4 per 

 cent. ; Kentucky, 21 per cent. ; Ohio, 4.5 per 

 cent. ; Michigan, 6.4 per cent. ; Indiana, 23 per 

 cent. ; Illinois in 1867-'68, 30.5 per cent. ; New 

 York, 12 per cent. 



Although there exists this apparent prosper- 

 ity in all the branches of industry since the 

 close of the war, and there is clearly a great 

 increase in the resources of the country, yet 

 the peculiar fact appears that there is hardly 

 a single domestic article or product, agricul- 

 tural or manufactured, in behalf of which the 

 claim, either directly or indirectly, has not 

 been made within the last two years, that the 

 same could be produced to greater advantage 

 or profit in some other country than the United 

 States. An increased protection, under the 

 form of a tariff, has been demanded for oil 

 painting, rough building-stone, Indian corn, 

 firewood, bibles, and ice. For the last, the pro- 

 tection asked for was to the extent of 15 per 

 cent, in gold. The consequence is thus repre- 

 sented to be, that the United States is unable 

 to exchange its products on terms of equality 

 with those of any other country, except its 

 product of precious metals. 



This unusual condition of affairs is brought 

 to the notice of the public by the special Com- 

 missioner of Revenue. It is ascribed by him as 

 beyond a question due "to the greatly in- 

 creased cost of nearly all forms of labor and 



