104 



COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



found a market abroad, swelling the sum of 

 the exports. By far the largest portion of the 

 national exports has been, however, tropical 

 products of our diversified climate. The official 

 tables show the aggregate imports and exports 

 for seventy years to have been as follows : 



Importations from 1790 to 1860 $8,581,113,879 



Goods reoxported, 1790 to 1860 1,476,222,947 



Net importations $7,104,890,932 



Domestic produce exported $6,466,900,519 



Excess imports $637,990,413 



There has been very nearly 10 per ct. more 

 imported than exported in custom-house values. 

 This excess may be composed of the freights 

 and earnings of United States vessels in the 

 foreign trade, the profits on sales, the exports 

 on American account, and the sales of Ameri- 

 can stocks, public and corporate, in Europe. 

 There have been some offsets to this, however, 

 in the expenses of Americans travelling abroad, 

 and other items that make up the intercourse 

 of nations. Of the domestic produce which 

 forms the basis of the whole trade, the leading 

 heads since 1821, when the national accounts 

 were first regularly kept, have been as fol- 

 lows: 



Total domestic exports, 1820 to 1860 



Value of Cotton exported $2,574,834,091 



" Tobacco " 455,181,067 



" Eice " 87,854,511 



" Naval Stores, etc 76,181,210 



" Breadstuffs and Provi- 

 sions 1,006,951,235 



" Cotton Goods and other 



Manufactures 655,861,254 



forward when the blockade commenced, never- 

 theless the commerce of the year 1861 showed 

 the following results : 



Imports of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1861. 



Dutiable goods $218,179,566 



Free goods * 69,831,276 



Specie and Bullion 46,339,611 



Net importation of goods 5,394,671,668 



Excess imports goods 537,808,300 



Specie imported 1821 to 1860. . . . $341,226,962 

 " exported " " 688,646,608 



Excess of exports $347,419,646 



The tropical products formed by far the larg- 

 est proportion of the raw produce exported, as 

 well as of the manufactures, since about one- 

 half of the latter was of Southern material. 

 Of the whole amount of breadstuff's and pro- 

 visions about one-half has been exported in the 

 last ten years, since migration to the virgin 

 soil of the "West has been favored by the ex- 

 tension of railroads, and by the growing de- 

 mand for food in western Europe. The year 

 1861 was one of very large European demands 

 for food, and at the same time the crops of the 

 United States were good, while the great net 

 work of railroads that has been constructed in 

 the last ten years has cheapened transportation 

 from every portion of the West to the seaports. 

 At the same time the disruption of commercial 

 intercourse between the North and South which 

 took place soon after the departure of the ex- 

 pedition to reenforce Fort Sumter, turned large 

 quantities of produce that formerly went down 

 the rivers to the South, eastward by rail, and 

 it went forward in increased abundance. The 

 Southern products had to a large extent gone 



Total imports for the year. 



Exports from the United States for the Fiscal Tear 1861. 



Domestic produce $204,166,299 



Foreign merchandise 14,548,075 



Specie and Bullion 29,791,080 



Total exports for the year $248,505,454 



The imports of specie were nearly double 

 the amount imported in any previous year 

 This sudden change resulted from the fact that 

 while the exports of farm produce were larger 

 than ever under an active foreign demand, the 

 results of the election of November, 1860, were 

 followed by a prompt countermanding of orders 

 for goods, and a decline in the ^psual consign- 

 ments to this country. Consequently the pro- 

 ceeds of the produce sold abroad necessarily 

 came in the shape of specie. 



The aggregate importations of the year 1861, 

 as compared with former years, are as follows: 



Imports into thk United States. 



The total exports of the same period have 

 been as follows : 



