COMMERCE (INTERNAL) OF THE UNITED STATES. 



119 



find a marked improvement over 1876, a steady 

 and normal flow of money, and an average 

 through the year of over 09 millions a day 

 settled through the Clearing-House. It must 

 be borne in mind that the monetary transac- 

 tions represented by those figures are based 

 upon a lower scale of general prices than those 

 which ruled in former years. The aggregate 

 transactions of the Clearing-House were re- 

 ported for the fiscal year 1876-'77 as 24,663 mil- 

 lions of dollars, against 22,892 millions in 1875 

 -'76, 24,613 millions in 1874-'75, 24,142 millions 

 in 1873-'74 ,and 36,935 millions in 1872-'73 ; 

 these include the currency and gold exchanges 

 and the balances paid. The average daily ex- 

 changes for each year, ending September 30th, 

 since the first organization of the New York 

 Clearing-House, were in millions of dollars, 

 omitting the fractions of millions, as follows: 

 1854, 19; 1855, 17; 1856, 22; 1857, 26; 1858, 

 15; 1859, 20; 1860, 23; 1861, 19; 1862, 22; 

 1863, 48; 1864, 77; 1865, 84; 1866, 93; 1867, 

 93; 1868, 92; 1869, 121; 1870, 90; 1871, 95; 

 1872, 105 ; 1873, 111 ; 1874, 68 ; 1875, 79 ; 1876, 

 70; 1877, 68. 



Taking the average daily clearings for periods 

 of three months since the beginning of 1873, a 

 steadying and gradual development of business 

 on the new scale of values can be traced from 

 the year 1876. In the winter months of 1873 

 the average daily transactions amounted to 123 



millions of dollars; in the spring, to 116 mil- 

 lions ; summer months, 82 millions ; autumn, 

 69 1- millions. In the winter of 1873-'74 the 

 average business was 72f millions ; in the 

 spring of 1874, 74f millions; summer, 62f 

 millions; autumn of 1874, 74f millions. In 

 the winter of 1874-'75 the clearings were 77- 

 millions a day; in the spring months of 1875, 

 80f millions ; in the summer, 67 millions ; in 

 the autumn months, 69f millions. In the win- 

 ter of 1875-'76 they were 72f millions; in the 

 spring, 63f millions ; in the summer, 55 mil- 

 lions; in the fall of the year, 65 millions. In 

 the winter of 1876-'77 they averaged 72 mil- 

 lions ; in the spring of 1877, 70 millions; in 

 the summer, 61f millions; in the autumn of 

 1877, 70f millions. 



The statistics of bankruptcy form another 

 fairly reliable measure of the good or evil con- 

 dition of general commerce. Taking the rec- 

 ord of failures as a guide, there is a noticeable 

 improvement in business in 1877, and decrease 

 in the number of insolvents and in the aggre- 

 gate amount of their debts. The total number 

 of failures in 1877 in the United States was 

 8,872, and the aggregate liabilities $190,669,- 

 000, against 9,092 failures with $191,117,000 

 total liabilities in 1876. The statistics of mer- 

 cantile failures in the different sections of the 

 country and in the Dominion of Canada are 

 given in the table below : 



The number of bankruptcies among active 

 traders in the first three quarters of 1878, com- 



pared with the same period in the previous 

 year, was as follows : 



The total number of failures in the United 

 States in 1877 was 8,678, total liabilities $190,- 

 669,936, average liabilities $21,491 ; the total 

 number in 1876 was 9,092, total liabilities $191,- 

 113,768, average liabilities $21,020; the total 

 number in!875 was 7,740, total liabilities $201,- 

 060,233, average liabilities $25,960. It was ex- 



pected that in 1878 the number and volume of 

 bankruptcies among merchants would be enor- 

 mously augmented. The repeal of the national 

 bankrupt law went into operation on the 1st 

 of September, and it was supposed that a large 

 number of firms were carrying a burden of debt 

 which with the diminished trade and low rates 



