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COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1882. 



Alvah H. Breman; Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, Mrs. A. L. Washburn ; Regents 

 of tbe University, Seth Terry and William J. 

 Lynde; Judge of Supreme Court, L. F. Hoi- 

 lings worth ; Congressman, Leland W. Green. 



ELECTION RETURNS. The election in No- 

 vember resulted in the choice of a Democratic 

 Governor and of Republicans for most of the 

 other offices. The vote in most cases is not 

 officially determined until the meeting of the 

 Legislature in January. Unofficial figures, for 

 Governor, from all but one county, with the 

 reported majority in that, give 29,897 for 

 Grant and 27,552 for Campbell; Democratic 

 majority, 2,345. The following is the declared 

 result for Congressman, Judge of the Supreme 

 Court, and Regents of the University : 



A constitutional amendment, increasing the 

 salaries of the Governor and Judges of the 

 Supreme Court, was adopted at the same elec- 

 tion, the vote being 32,861 for, and 8,838 

 against. The new Legislature will stand : 



A Mining and Industrial Exposition was 

 held in Denver in August. 



COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERI- 

 CAN, IN 1882. A series of disasters befell 

 the country in 1881 which reduced the accu- 

 mulation of national wealth almost to the van- 

 ishing-point. In the severe winter of ISSO-'Sl 

 great numbers of cattle perished on the Plains. 

 Snow-storms entailed heavy expenses on the 

 transportation companies. The crop of wintef 

 wheat was a failure. The parching summer or 

 1881 caused a deficiency in spring wheat and 

 the other cereals. Cora alone fell five hun- 

 dred million bushels below the previous crop. 

 Finally, the cotton-crop was a million and an 

 eighth bales less than the product of the season 

 before, and inferior in quality ; yet the losses 

 were still within the amount of the exportable 

 surplus, and, corning after years of unusual pro- 

 duction, did not check the consumptive demand, 

 and consequently produced no contraction in 

 the general industrial and mercantile business 

 of the country. The effects were, however, 

 serious, though they did not amount to a gen- 

 eral commercial depression. The consequences 

 were not developed until 1882. Industrial ex- 

 pansion was arrested in certain directions, par- 

 ticularly in railroad-building and the depend- 

 ent industries. The general rise in wages con- 



sequently stopped short. The prices of the 

 necessaries of life at the time became much 

 higher. The discontent of the laboring peo- 

 ple, and their extensive and mostly unsuccess- 

 ful strikes, were the most conspicuous eco- 

 nomical features of the year. This state of 

 things continued until the abundant harvests 

 of 1882 caused the prices of food to fall, and 

 relieved the working class from the chief cause 

 of their distressed position. The imports did 

 not begin to decline in response to the short- 

 age in the crops and the diminished exporta- 

 tion during the fiscal year 1881-'82. The rev- 

 enues of the Government were larger than ever 

 before. The accumulation of a surplus in the 

 Treasury, and the disposal made of it by Con- 

 gress, aroused a popular demand for the remis- 

 sion of taxes and stimulated the free-trade agi- 

 tation. The import trade would speedily have 

 caught a fresh impulse from the harvests of 

 1882, which were as abundant as those of the 

 previous year were deficient ; but the uncer- 

 tainty of the action of Congress caused a par- 

 tial cessation of operations in all branches of 

 business which would be directly affected by 

 tariff or internal revenue reductions. The 

 stagnation in the tobacco industry and in many 

 other departments, and subsidence in the im- 

 port trade, were the most noteworthy inci- 

 dents of the later months of the calendar year. 

 Production and importation had been over- 

 stimulated, and stocks had accumulated some- 

 what in advance of the consumptive demand. 

 Low prices and small profits gave difficulty to 

 the manufacturers and traders in 1881-'82 as 

 dear living did to the workmen. A reaction 

 would have come, which would be greater on 

 account of the falling off in the demand when 

 the losses of 1881 began to be felt ; but it was 

 precipitated and exaggerated by the uneasy an- 

 ticipations of congressional action. 



The mania for speculation, which, within a 

 few years, has extended to the staple products 

 of the country, reached an unprecedented 

 height in 1881-'82. With short crops of grain, 

 rings of speculators in Chicago commenced 

 manipulating prices and engrossing supplies. 

 The price of wheat was driven above the ex- 

 porting point, and European customers sup- 

 plied their wants from elsewhere. The ship- 

 ping which visited New York for grain-cargoes 

 deserted that port. American millers were 

 obliged to pay more than normal prices for 

 grain, and the bread of the people was thus 

 made dearer. At the close of the crop-year 

 there was a large stock of wheat remaining. 

 The corners were continued through the first 

 half of 1882, and even when the crop of 1882 

 was assured, wild and contradictory reports 

 being spread to influence prices. In the final 

 collapse many banks and business houses were 

 dragged down with the losing party of the 

 gamblers. The unsatisfactory slowness with 

 which the new crop of 1882 was exported after 

 the harvest is attributed to the influence of the 

 late speculations. 



