124 



COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1881. 



ulative prices prevailing. The diminished per- 

 centage of New York is chieHy attributable to 

 the same cause. The larger share of New Or- 

 leans in the export trade comes from its new 

 business as a shipping port for grain : 



Of the total merchandise exports and imports 

 of the year, 54 per cent, or $842,631,927, passed 

 through the port of New York. The naviga- 

 tion returns for the fiscal year 1880-'81 show 

 that the decline of the American merchant 

 marine still continues. Although the tonnage 

 of vessels built increased from 157,409 tons in 

 1879-'80 to 280,459 tons in 1880-'81, the de- 

 eay of vessels and losses by casualties was not 

 made good by the increase in ship-building. 

 On the 30th of June, 1881, the total tonnage 

 of the country amounted to 4,057,734 tons, as 

 against 4,068,035 tons at the close of the pre- 

 ceding fiscal year. The tonnage employed in 

 the foreign trade of the United States decreased 

 from 1,314,402 tons in 1880 to 1,297,035 tons 

 in 1881, but the tonnage employed in the coast- 

 wise trade of the United States, embracing ton- 

 nage employed between American ports on the 

 sea-board, on the Mississippi River and its trib- 

 utaries, and on the Great Lakes, increased from 

 2,637,886 tons in 1880 to 2,646,01 1 tons in 1881. 

 The foreign commerce of the United States has 

 nearly doubled since 1866, but the increase in 

 the carrying trade has fallen almost entirely to 

 vessels of foreign nationality. The total ton- 

 nage of foreign vessels entered at sea-ports 

 of the United States increased from 3,117,034 

 tons in 1856 to 12,711,392 tons in 1881, an in- 

 crease of 308 per cent ; whereas the American 

 tonnage entered for foreign ports increased 

 from 1,891,453 tons in 1856 to 2,919,149 tons 

 in 1881, an increase of only 54 per cent. Of 

 the total foreign tonnage entered at ports of 

 the United States during the year ended June 

 30, 1881, amounting, as above stated, to 12,- 

 711,692 tons, the British tonnage amounted to 

 8,457,957 tons, or 66'5 per cent ; the German 

 tonnage to 1,112,566 tons ; the Norwegian and 

 Swedish to 1,035,078 tons ; the Italian to 658,- 

 861 tons ; the French to 304,809 tons ; the 

 Spanish to 277,163 tons; and the tonnage ot 

 all other nationalities to 805,121 tons. 



The annual values of the total imports and 

 exports of the United States carried in Ameri- 

 can and those carried in foreign vessels, and 

 the percentage of American shipping in the 

 total carrying trade, are given for the last thirty 

 years in the following table : 



The American cotton-crop of the year 1880- 

 '81, as estimated by the " Commercial and Fi- 

 nancial Chronicle," aggregated 6,589,329 bales. 

 The largest crop picked in slavery times was 

 in the second year before secession. This was 

 first equaled by the crop of 1878-'79. The 

 next year's crop, counted in bales, was 13^ per 

 cent greater, and last year 14- per cent greater 

 than that. The average crop of the last three 

 years exceeds the average of the three prolific 

 years preceding the civil war by nearly one 

 third. Below is reprinted a table giving every 

 year's cotton-crop since the record was first 

 kept, completed to date : 



YEARS. Balef. 



ISSO-'Sl 6,589,829 



1S79-'80 5,757,897 



1878-'79 5,078,531 



1877-'78 4,811,265 



1876-'77 4,485,428 



1875-'76 4,669,288 



1874-'75 8,832,991 



1878-'74 4,170,888 



1872-'78 8,930.508 



1871- 1 72 8,974,351 



1870-'71 4.352,817 



1869-'70 8,154.946 



1868-'69 2,439,089 



1867- 1 6S 2,498,895 



1866-'67 2,059.271 



1865-'66 2.228.987 



1861- n 65 Norec'd 



1860-'61 8,826,086 



1869-'60 4,823,770 



ISeS-'Sg 8,994,481 



1857-58 8,238,902 



l&56-'57 8,056,519 



1855-'56 8,645,345 



YEARS. Bales. 



1854-'55 2,982,389 



18ES--54 8.085.027 



1852-'53 8.852,882 



1851-'52 8,090,029 



1850-'51 2,415,257 



1849-'50 2.171.706 



1848- 1 49 2,808,596 



1847-M8 2,424,118 



1846-'47 1,860,479 



1845-M6 2,170,587 



1844-M5 2,484, C62 



1843- 1 44 2,108,579 



1842-'4S 2,894,208 



1841-'42 1,688,676 



1840-M1 1,689,858 



1889-MO 2,181,749 



188S-'89 1,368,408 



1887-'38 1,604,797 



ISSe-'S? 1,425,575 



1835-'36 1,360,725 



1884-'85 1,254,828 



1888-'84 1,205,894 



The average gross weight of the bale in 1881 

 was 485-88, or 4'33 pounds more than the av- 

 erage of the preceding year, indicating an act- 

 ual increase in the total weight of the crop of 

 15-48 per cent. The total weight of the last 

 eight crops and the average weight of the bales 

 each year were as follows : 



