COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1881. 



121 



and flour were 185,000,000 bushels in 1881, 

 about 180,000,000 bushels in 1880, and 143,- 

 000,000 bushels in 1879, aggregating for the 

 three years 508,000,000 bushels, valued at 

 $591,524,024. The exports of 1880-'81 thus 

 exceeded those of the previous year, notwith- 

 standing the better crops in Great Britain and 

 Western Europe. This was owing to the de- 

 pletion of stocks as well as to an increase in 

 consumptive capacity. A reputation for Amer- 

 ican brands of flour has been established in 

 England with such success that 8,500,000 more 

 bushels of wheat were exported in the manu- 

 factured form in 1881 than in 1880. Prices 

 ranged lower in 1881 than in the year preced- 

 ing, so that while the quantity exported was 

 5,500,000 bushels greater, the total value was 

 $13,000,000 less, or $211,277,588, against $224,- 

 705,803 ; while the value exported in 1879 was 

 only $155,540,633. A calculation of the aver- 

 age export prices gives $1.15 per bushel in 

 1881, $1.25 in 1880, and $1.09 in 1879. "Wheat 

 exports for the last six months of the fiscal 

 year 1880-'81 were unusually large for that 

 portion of the crop year, being 11,000,000 

 bushels in excess of the exports for the corre- 

 sponding half of 1879-'80. While the good 

 crops of the West of Europe did not, therefore, 

 lessen the demand for wheat, the exports of 

 rye and oats showed a great falling off from 

 those of the preceding fiscal years. The rye 

 exports were 1,928,355 bushels, against 2,912,- 

 744 bushels in 1880, and 4,848,249 bushels in 

 1879 ; the oat exports, 358,250 bushels in 

 1881, 710,890 in 1880, and 4,654,794 in 1879. 

 The exports of Indian corn were about 91,000,- 

 000 bushels in 1881, against 98,000,000 in 1880, 

 and 86,000,000 in 1879. The only cereal of 

 which the exports form a considerable portion 

 of the crop is wheat. While the normal ex- 

 port demand will probably prove considerably 

 less when crops are fair in Western and Central 

 Europe, there must be a constant and increas- 

 ing demand for American wheat, which can be 

 much more cheaply grown on the prairie 

 humus than on the heavy and manure-requir- 

 ing soils of Europe. If the American producers 

 can adjust themselves without hardship to the 

 normal demand, there will continue in action a 

 favorable stimulus even after European rents 

 have, to a considerable extent, vanished ; while 

 any cheapening in the cost of transportation 

 will give the American producer a new ad- 

 vantage. Counting the crop of 1880 at 480,- 

 000,000 bushels, the exports of 1880-'81 consti- 

 tuted about 38^ per cent of the total wheat 

 product. 



The trade returns for the year ending June 

 30, 1881, show a larger total commerce than 

 any previous year ; a larger exportation of 

 merchandise by 8 per cent than the preceding 

 year, the next largest on record, and 83 per 

 cent larger than the average of the last five 

 years previous; merchandise imports almost as 

 great as those of 187.9- '80, when they were 

 stimulated by a mania for speculation preva- 



lent in the first part of the year ; and a net 

 importation of specie exceeding considerably 

 that of the first year of resumption. The ex- 

 cess of exports over imports exceeded that of 

 any other year except 1878-'79. The imports 

 exceeded in value, and greatly exceeded in 

 quantity, those of the years preceding the 

 panic, which consisted largely of railroad-iron, 

 etc., which left an adverse balance of unprece- 

 dented magnitude, and which, it was thought, 

 were far beyond the natural consumptive 

 powers of the people, and would not be equaled 

 again in many years to come. The export 

 movement was so heavy in the earlier part of 

 the calendar year, as soon as the railroads were 

 free from obstructions and the canals open, 

 that in the month of June they fell off nearly 

 $9,000,000. The high price of provisions was 

 the cause of much lighter shipments under 

 that head. The table on page 122 affords a 

 comparative survey of the foreign trade move- 

 ments for the past twenty-one years. 



Including the specie imports and exports, the 

 total foreign commerce of 1880-'81 amounted 

 to $1,675,024,378. The increase of exports 

 over those of the preceding year was $66,738,- 

 688. Since 1876, when the exports began to 

 exceed the imports, the aggregate excess of 

 exports has been $1,180,668,105 for the six 

 years. The total value of the exports of do- 

 mestic merchandise in 1880-'81 was $883,- 

 925,947, exceeding those of the preceding year 

 by $59,979,594. The exports of breadstuff's, 

 $270,332,519; cotton and its manufactures, 

 $261,267,133; provisions, $151,528,268; min- 

 eral oils, $40,315,609; tobacco, $20,878,884; 

 wood and its manufactures, $18,600,312; iron 

 and steel and their manufactures, $16,608,767, 

 and live animals, $16,412,398 constituted 90 

 per cent of the total domestic exports, the eight 

 items summing up $795,943,890. The grain 

 exports fell below those of 1879-'80 $17,704,- 

 316. In the exports of raw cotton there was 

 an increase of $36,159,841; in the value of 

 provision exports, $24,485,026 increase ; in pe- 

 troleum, $4,096,984; in tobacco, raw and manu- 

 factured, $2,436,611 ; in wood manufactures 

 and timber, $2,362,932 ; in iron and steel and 

 their manufactures, $1,892,243; in live ani- 

 mals, $530,278. A comparison of the returns 

 of 1880-'81 with those of 1870-'71 shows that 

 over four fifths of the total increase, amount- 

 ing to considerably more than 100 per cent, is 

 made up of the increased exports of bread- 

 stuffs, provisions, and tallow, cotton, live ani- 

 mals, leather, and wood and manufactures 

 thereof. The increase in the annual exports 

 of these commodities in twenty years amounts 

 to $374,059,476; and four fifths of this col- 

 lective increase is due to the increased exports 

 of breadstuffs, provisions and tallow, and live 

 animals alone. The products which have thus 

 swelled the export trade are chiefly products 

 of the Western and Northwestern States. The 

 increase in the exportation of the products^of 

 that part of the country is traced by the Chief 



