100 



COMMEECE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. 



wise direct. No "bill, except the general appropriation 

 bill for the expenses of the government only, intro- 

 duced in either house of the General Assembly after 

 the first thirty days of the session, shall become a law. 

 SEC. 22. Every* bill shall be read by title when in- 

 troduced, and at length on two different days in each 

 house ; all substantial amendments made thereto 

 shall be printed for the use of the members before the 

 final vote is taken on the bill, and no bill shall be- 

 come a law except by a vote of a majority of all the 

 members elected to each house, nor unless on its final 

 passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, and the 

 names of those voting be entered on the journal. 



COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. The 



total value of the foreign commerce of the 

 United States in the year ending June 30, 1884, 

 was $1,408,211,302, against $1,547,020,316 in 

 1882-'83 and $1,475,181,831 in 1881-'82. The 

 following is a comparative statement of the 

 annual values of the total exports and imports 

 for the past ten years : 



The total value of gold and silver coin and 

 bullion imported and exported, and the annual 

 net exports or imports of specie, were as fol- 

 low: 



In common with other commercial nations, 

 the United States suffered a partial depression 

 in 1884, which affected the volume of foreign 

 trade. The depression was mainly the result 

 of the extension of production in many coun- 

 tries beyond consumptive requirements, and 

 of agricultural depression in Europe. Since 

 the Franco-German War, Germany and other 

 Continental countries have largely extended 

 their manufacturing facilities. Cheaper labor 

 and new chemical and mechanical inventions 

 enable them to compete successfully with 

 English and French industries. New employ- 

 ments and profits counterbalance the effects 

 of crop failures, while in western Europe ac- 

 cumulated wealth retards the effects of poor 

 harvests and industrial competition. In the 

 United States the extension of the area of cul- 

 tivation and of railroads was stimulated by the 



* Excess of imports. 



extraordinary European demand for food. Un- 

 der the same impulse, but more tardily, agri- 

 cultural production in India, Australia, and 

 other countries was stimulated. The abun- 

 dant crops and high prices during the years of 

 European dearth incited manufacturing enter- 

 prise as well as the extension of agriculture and 

 railroads. The return of good seasons in Eu- 

 rope and the competition of India and eastern 

 Europe caused a great fall in the price of grain. 

 The consequent collapse of railroad enterprise 

 and the cessation of ship-building in Great Brit- 

 ain resulted in a general stagnation in the iron 

 and coal industries. Under a diminished de- 

 mand the over-supplied markets of both hemi- 

 spheres in many branches of manufacture broke 

 down. Wide-spread depression and contrac- 

 tion of business reacted on the price of cotton 

 and other raw products of the United States. 

 Petroleum sank in price from excessive pro- 

 duction and from the competition in some for- 

 eign markets of the Russian article. New pro- 

 tective measures adopted in certain countries 

 for suffering agricultural and manufacturing 

 industries affected international exchanges un- 

 favorably. The United States, being a debtor 

 nation, contracts its demand for foreign prod- 

 ucts readily in response to a diminished ex- 

 port. From the above causes the import 

 and the export trade of 1884 showed in im- 

 portant articles a decline in quantities, and in 

 nearly all a marked falling away in values. 



Imports. Taking due account of the con- 

 traction of trade springing from general causes, 

 the imports of 1884 snow in comparison with 

 those of 1883 the effect of the tariff revision 

 enacted by Congress March 3, 1883. The aver- 

 age ad-valorem rate of duty collected on duti- 

 able merchandise was reduced from 42-64 per 

 cent, in 1883 to 4170 per cent, in 1884. The 

 exemption from duty of the charges of impor- 

 tation and the transfer to the free list of vari- 

 ous duty-paying articles effected a much larger 

 reduction, which amounted, in 1884, although 

 many articles paying specific duties fell in price, 

 to about 5 per cent. The most important com- 

 modities affected by the tariff are sugar, which 

 yielded, in 1884, 25*77 per cent, of the total cus- 

 toms revenue ; wool, and manufactures thereof, 

 which produced 16-86 per cent, of the total du- 

 ties; silk manufactures, which produced 9*99 

 per cent. ; iron and steel, and manufactures 

 thereof, which produced 7'80 per cent. ; cot- 

 ton manufactures, which produced 6-05 per 

 cent. ; and flax, hemp, jute, and manufactures 

 thereof, which produced 4-96 per cent. The 

 total amount of duty collected on imports en- 

 tered for consumption declined from $210,637,- 

 293 in the fiscal year 1883 to $190,282,836 in 

 1884, a fall of 9*7 per cent. The change in the 

 average rate of duty on the total imports, duti- 

 able and free, was from 30-05 to 28*50 per 

 cent. The new tariff increased the average 

 rate on sugar and melada from 52 -88 to 53*94 

 per cent, ad-valorem ; decreased the average 

 rate on iron and steel, and manufactures there- 



