352 



FINANCIAL EEVIEW OF 1885. 



or about Jan. 1, 1886, as compared with the preceding two years, are shown in the follow- 

 ing summary : 



Appended is the Olearing-House statement of totals at the beginning of each quarter of 

 1885, and at the end of the year : 



Foreign Exchange. The imports of merchan- 

 dise for twelve months ended Dec. 31, 1885, were 

 $41,710,354 below those for the corresponding 

 period in 1884, and the exports of domestic and 

 foreign produce for the same time were $60,- 

 519,872 less. The excess of merchandise ex- 

 ports over imports for twelve months ended 

 Dec. 31, 1885, was $101,295,050, against $120,- 

 104,568 for the same time in 1884. There was 

 an excess of exports over imports of specie and 

 bullion of $3,283,322 for twelve months ended 

 Dec. 31, 1885, against $27,049,560 for the same 

 time in 1884. The excess of exports over im- 

 ports of merchandise and specie amounted for 

 twelve months to Dec. 31, 1885, to $104,578,- 

 372, against $147, 154, 128 for the corresponding 

 period in 1884. Foreign exchange was affected 

 in the early part of the year by the investment 

 demand which was the leading feature of the 

 market toward the close of 1884, and this in- 

 quiry continued until February, when the de- 

 cline in the rate for money in London made 

 such investments less profitable. The failure 

 of Congress to take any action looking to a sus- 

 pension of the coinage of the standard silver 

 dollar caused a renewal of the demand, and 

 this was further stimulated by the unsettled 

 market in London, resulting from the news of 

 the reverses in the Soudan. The rates fell off 

 in March, in consequence of a lighter inquiry 

 and a little better supply of bills, but they sub- 

 sequently hardened, and one feature was a de- 

 mand for remittance to Paris, bankers discrim- 

 inating against francs, which could be paid in 

 silver, and, therefore, sterling was preferred. 



By the middle of April the unsettled state of 

 political affairs in England, growing out of the 

 Afghan boundary dispute, caused an advance 

 in exchange to within one cent per pound ster- 

 ling of the gold exporting point, commercial 

 bills were scarce by reason of speculative 

 manipulation of the breadstuffs markets, and 

 bankers remitted freely, with a view of fortify- 

 ing their principals and correspondents against 

 possible emergencies. The subsidence of the 

 war-feeling early in May aided in turning ex- 

 change downward, after which the market 

 became dull, bankers being indisposed to draw- 

 in advance of current needs, because of the low 

 rates for money prevailing not only in London 

 but here. A pressure of bills and the absence 

 of demand made the tone heavy in June and 

 until the middle of July, when there was a 

 partial recovery, due to a renewal of the un- 

 settled feeling in London, which was partly 

 caused by the failure of the Munster Bank in 

 Ireland. Some bankers who drew in June, in 

 anticipation of a movement in breadstuffs, were 

 disappointed, because of the check to exports, 

 and were compelled either to cover or renew 

 their bills, and this stimulated a reaction ir 

 August. Then followed a more liberal supply 

 of bankers' drafts, made against outgoing s< 

 curities, and the pressure of bills drawn in ar 

 ticipation of an early movement of cotton, 

 which, together, carried exchange so low tl 

 in September a small amount of gold was starte< 

 from London and Paris, but further imporl 

 tions were soon made unprofitable by a recov- 

 ery in sterling. The expected movement ( 



