COMMERCE (INTERNAL) OF THE UNITED STATES. 



117 



primitive stage of industrial development, and 

 should range itself with the old and wealthy 

 communities. So the sooner it adopts studi- 

 ous, patient, and laborious methods of business, 

 the more will its welfare be confirmed. Before 

 1870 capital could not be obtained for indus- 

 trial operations except at rates varying from 7i 

 to 15 per cent, per annum ; the average rate of 

 bank discount for fifteen years before 1860 was 

 9'12 per cent., at the same time when the rate 

 in the London money market averaged 3*90 per 

 cent., that of the Bank of England 4'02 per 

 cent., and that of the Bank of France 4'6 per 

 cent. Since the crisis the money and invest- 

 ment markets have been constantly flushed with 

 capital seeking employment ; lenders have been 

 on the hunt for good securities at 5 or 6 per 

 cent. ; $500,000,000 of Government bonds bear- 

 ing 5 per cent, interest were disposed of before 

 July 1, 1877, and before July 1, 1878, $240,- 

 000,000 of 4J- per cents, and nearly $100,000,- 

 000 of 4 per cents, nearly all being taken up in 

 the United States ; money has been loaned on 

 call against collaterals in the New York market 



a good deal of the time at from 1 to 4 per cent., 

 the rate never going above 6 or 7 per cent, ex- 

 cept in times of active stock speculation, when 

 additional commissions of ^ and sometimes as 

 much as J per diem have been paid to carry 

 margins; and prime commercial paper has 

 been marketed most of the time at from 3 to 6 

 per centi discount. 



The articles of import which have shown 

 the most remarkable falling off between 1873 

 and 1878 in the quantities imported are textile 

 manufactures and raw wool, iron and steel 

 and their manufactures, copper and brass man- 

 ufactured and un wrought, lead and tin unman- 

 ufactured, timepieces, gutta-percha, and tea. 

 The total decrease in the imports of this list of 

 articles was from $272,259,633 to $124,211,- 

 734, a falling off of $148,027,899, or nearly 55 

 per cent. The decrease in the imports of the 

 articles named constituted 73 per cent, of the 

 total decrease in the imports of all classes of 

 merchandise between those years. The de- 

 crease in the several classes of imports was as 

 follows : 



Taking all the textile fabrics together, the 

 falling off of the values imported was in the six 

 years from $159,464,248 to $85,355,131 ; de- 

 crease, $74,109,117, or 46|- per cent. The de- 

 crease in the total imports of iron and steel 

 products was from $59,308,452 to $9,057,633, 



being $50,250,819, a falling off of over 84 per 

 cent. 



The principal commodities of American pro- 

 duction in which a largely increased exporta- 

 tion has taken place between the year 1868 

 and the year 1878 are the following : 



The aggregate increase in these dozen classes 

 of exports was $262,899,614, or from $140,- 



926,987, their aggregate amount in 1868, to 

 $403,826,601, the sum of their exports in 1878, 



