114 



COMMERCE AND FINANCE, AMERICAN, IN 1882. 



than in Manchester, the export trade in 1881- ending June 30th, with their values, were 

 '82 actually receded. The quantities of cotton follows : 

 manufactures exported for the last four years, 



The British exports of cotton manufactures 

 are nearly thirty times those of the United 

 States, amounting, for the calendar year 1881, 

 to $395,000,000. 



The European consumption was about 6,786,- 

 000 bales, of 400 pounds, against 6,528,000 in 

 1880-'81, and 6,075,000 in 18T9-'80. The large 

 increase in 1880-'81 was due to the poor qual- 

 ity of the crop. Some of that year's cotton 

 was so damp and sandy that it only brought 

 fid. and 3d. a pound in Liverpool. Ellison esti- 

 mates the European imports for 1882-'83, on 

 the basis of an American crop of 6,800,000 

 bales, as follows: Imports from the United 

 States, 4,500,000 bales; from the East Indies, 

 1,450,000 bales; from other countries, 950,- 

 000 bales; total imports, 6,900,000 bales. The 

 stock on hand, October 1st, was estimated at 

 771,000 bales, making the total supply 7,671,- 

 000 bales, of which -6,563,000 will be delivered 

 for consumption, and 1,078,000 remain in store 

 on October 1, 1883. The number of spindles 

 in Europe, the United States, and India, in 

 1882, were as follows: Great Britain, 41,000,- 

 000; the Continent, 21,855,000; the United 

 States, 12,000,000; India, 1,620,000; total, 76,- 

 475,000, an increase of 1,684,000 since the pre- 

 ceding year. 



PETROLEUM. The export of petroleum in 

 1881-'82 rose to about $50,000,000, an increase 

 of $12,000,000. The total value of the prod- 

 uce of the wells, since the first one was sunk 

 in 1859, is estimated at $1,500,000,000. This ad- 

 dition to the wealth of the country has been 

 mainly contributed by the foreign consumers. 

 China, Japan, and India have become as steady 

 customers for American oil as Germany and 

 England. Vast quantities are sent to the Med- 

 iterranean. There is hardly a country in which 

 this illuminant is not used. America 'is the 

 only important accessible source at present. 

 The yield last year was nearly 27,000,000 bar- 

 rels. The consumption is about 71,000 bar- 

 rels a day. The production in the early part 

 of the year was about 80,000 barrels daily. 

 There was a stock on hand of about 80,000,- 

 000 barrels in the summer. Although the oil- 

 fields of Pennsylvania have several times ap- 

 peared to be at the last limit of the supply, new 

 wells have been struck each time when the 

 stock was running low. With an increasing 

 demand, which would not fail if the price were 

 several times as high, and with the production 

 constantly declining, until a new discovery 



gluts the market, oil is one of the most tempt- 

 ing subjects for speculation and corners, and 

 one of the most disappointing hitherto, for 

 each new discovery has proved richer than the 

 preceding. Since the establishment of the pipe- 

 line and common reservoirs, the facilities for 

 speculative dealings are complete. The Pipe- 

 Line certificates are as easily exchanged as 

 bank-notes. There are Oil Exchanges at New 

 York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburg, and at Titus- 

 ville, Oil City, Bradford, and Warren. The 

 depth and extent of the oil-producing rock are 

 well known, and the time is approaching when 

 the world must look to the Caucasus, China, 

 or some field yet unknown for its rock-oil. 

 From 1866 till 1872, when the now exhausted 

 wells in Venango County and along Oil Creek 

 were the source of supply, the price was $4 or 

 $5 a barrel. Since the discovery of the Butler 

 County field, in the latter year, production has 

 generally exceeded consumption. When the 

 Butler wells began to run dry, the Clarion 

 County deposits were struck, with the famous 

 Bullion wells, pouring out 2,000 and 3,000 

 barrels a day each, and driving the price down 

 to $1.50 a barrel. The Clarion fields were 

 soon exhausted ; but immediately the Brad- 

 ford deposits, the richest ever known, were dis- 

 covered. These lasted five years, and swelled 

 the production to sometimes 100,000 barrels a 

 day, fully double the consumption. In May, 

 1881, when the Bradford wells were rapidly 

 declining, oil was struck in Alleghany County, 

 N. Y. The summer of 1882 was one of the 

 most memorable in the history of petroleum 

 speculation. In the spring the new wells at 

 Rich burg, N. Y., began to fail. The price of 

 oil was 80 cents on April 1st, but was rising 

 rapidly toward $1 a barrel. Speculation was 

 excessively active. Future contracts were dealt 

 in to enormous amounts. On May 18th a well 

 was struck in another new district in the for- 

 ests of Warren County, Pa. The oil-bearing 

 rock was pierced by the drill at the depth of 

 1,612 feet, in Cherry Grove Township, Warren 

 County. Other wells were found in the same 

 locality which yielded from 2,000 to 3,000 gal- 

 lons a day, bringing the production up to 25,- 

 000 barrels daily in the new district and 105,- 

 000 barrels for the entire oil-regions at its 

 highest point in August. The price fell to 50 

 cents, the lowest quoted since 1874. The own- 

 ers of the new springs showed the character- 

 istic feverish haste to realize, exploding nitro- 



