COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1881. 



123 



to $42,944,965, or 6'68 per cent; of chemicals, 

 drugs, dyes, and medicines, to $36,590,473, or 

 5'69 per cent; of the imports of cotton manu- 

 factures, and cotton, to $31,976,637, or 4'97per 

 cent. The total value of these seven classes, 

 $349,000,895, constituted 54'30 of the total im- 

 ports of merchandise. 



The excess of exports decreased in the last 

 half of the calendar year, due mainly to the 

 smaller supply of breadstuffs for exportation. 

 The wheat crop, though only 400,000,000 bush- 

 els, against 500,000,000 in 1880, yielded about 

 3 per cent more to the farmers. 



The total value of imports of merchandise 

 entered for consumption in the United States 

 amounted to $650,618,999. The value of duti- 

 able merchandise amounted to $448,061,587.95 ; 

 merchandise free of duty to $202,557,411. The 

 total amount of duties collected upon imports 

 amounted to $1 93, 800,879, and constituted 43'25 

 per cent of the value of the dutiable merchan- 

 dise entered for consumption. Of the total 

 amount of duties collected on imports the 

 duties on sugar and molasses amounted to 

 $47,984,032, or 24'79 per cent ; the duties on 

 wool and woolen manufactures to $27,285,624, 

 or 14*10 per cent ; the duties on iron and steel 

 and manufactures thereof to $21,462,534, or 

 11-09 per cent; the duties on manufactures of 

 silk to $19,038,665, or 9'84 per cent; the 

 duties on manufactures of cotton to $10,825,- 

 115, or 5*59 per cent ; the duties on flax and 

 manufactures thereof to $6, 984, 374.90, or 3'60 

 per cent. The duties collected on these six com- 

 modities and classes of commodities amounted 

 to $133,580,347, and constituted 69-01 per 

 cent of the total duties collected on imports. 

 There was collected at the port of New York 

 $136,211,127.38, or 70'28 per cent of the total 

 import duties received during the year by the 

 Government. The aggregate balance of trade 

 in favor of the United States in the commerce 

 of the year with those countries which received 

 American exports in excess of the value of the 

 imports from them, was $441,675,687. The 

 aggregate adverse balance in the commerce 

 with those countries from which the United 

 States imported merchandise to a greater 

 amount than the value of the exports to them, 

 was $181,962,969. The countries which re- 

 ceived American exports largely in excess of 

 their imports into the United States, are the 

 United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Nether- 

 lands, Germany, Russia, Spain, and Denmark. 

 The countries the imports from which largely 

 exceeded American exports taken by them, 

 were Cuba, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Span- 

 ish possessions other than Cuba and Porto 

 Rico, and the Dutch East Indies. The sub- 

 joined table gives the percentage of the total 

 imports of the year furnished by each country, 

 the percentage of the domestic exports taken 

 by each, also the foreign exports, and the per- 

 centage of each one in the total import and 

 export commerce of the United States, accord- 

 ing to values : 



The proportion of each of the principal sea- 

 ports in the total export and import commerce 

 of the year, as compared with 1879-'80, is 

 shown in the table below, which gives the per- 

 centage of each port in the total merchandise 

 trade each way. The gain of the minor ports 

 not named is explained by the increased cotton 

 shipments. An increase in the imports of one 

 or two lake ports in October was due to ship- 

 ments of Canadian grain, attracted by the spec- 



