COMMERCE. 



357 



nished by the Middle and Western States ; namely, 

 beef, tallow, hides and cattle, butter, cheese, pork, 

 bacon and hogs, horses, mules, sheep, flour, biscuits, 

 corn-meal, rye-meal, oats, potatoes and apples, flax- 

 seed and hops. Of these articles, the principal is 

 flour and biscuit, the value of which was 4,464,774 

 dollars, being the third article in value among the 

 exports. The fifth article in value is that of swine 

 and their products, viz., bacon, pork, and lard, the 

 value of which was 1,495,830 dollars, making about 

 one thirty-third part in value of the whole export. The 

 articles of corn-meal and rye-meal amounted to 881,894 

 dollars, constituting a little more than one-sixtieth 

 part of the whole exports. Cattle and their pro- 

 ducts, including butter and cheese, exceeded the last 

 amount, being 896,316 dollars. This species of ex- 

 port is of far less comparative importance in the trade 

 tlian formerly, being limited to its present amount, 

 not by the capacity Tor production, but by the extent 

 of demand in the foreign markets ; for an increase of 

 the foreign demand would very soon double and tre- 

 ble the quantity. Some of the articles comprehend- 

 ed in the above list, though agricultural products, yet 

 involve some process of manufacture ; such, for ex- 

 ample, as butter, cheese, bacon,, flour, biscuit, meal, 

 and part of the tobacco. A great many, however, 

 of the exports coming under the head of manufactures, 

 include in them the value of materials supplied by 

 agriculture, such as the cotton fabrics, those of 

 leather, and spirits distilled from grain ; so that on 

 the whole, the strictly agricultural products of the 

 country constitute a larger proportion of the whole 

 exports than the tables represent ; and yet the pro- 

 portion represented by the tables is very large, being 

 38,500,000 out of the 50,000,000 ; and, if we add 

 the value of the materials supplied by agriculture for 

 the manufactured exports, we shall have at least six- 

 sevenths of the whole domestic exportation consisting 

 of the raw products of agriculture. Products of the 

 Sea. The products of the whale, cod, mackerel, and 

 herring fisheries, exported mostly from the Northern 

 States, amount to 1,693,980 dollars, being nearly a thir- 

 tieth part of the whole domestic export. Nearly one 

 half of this value consists of codfish, and more than one 

 third of the products of the whale-fisheries. Products 

 of the Forest. The value of skins, furs, ginseng, lum- 

 ber, staves, bark, tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine, and 

 pot and pearl ashes, partly from the Northern and 

 partly from the Southern States, which were formerly 

 of much greater comparative importance in the trade 

 of the country, now constitutes about one-thirteenth 

 part of the whole value of the domestic exports, and 

 amounts to 3,889,611 dollars. A large proportion 

 of the trade in these articles, as well as in those of 

 codfish and bread-stuffs, is carried on with the West 

 Indies, Mexico, and South America. The skins 

 and the furs go to Europe and Canton, the gin- 

 seng to Canton, but in less quantity than formerly, 

 being in 1828 but 91,164 dollars ; and the pot and 

 pearl ashes are sent to Britain and France. Manu- 

 factures. The manufactures are, as yet, of the coarser 

 sort, consisting partly of articles made of the pro- 

 ducts of the country, and partly of those fabricated 

 from foreign materials. But it is obvious that the 

 arts of the country, in their early stages, will be most 

 naturally directed to the working of the raw materials 

 of domestic production ; and we accordingly find, that 

 a very small part of the value of exported manufac- 

 tures consists of the cost of raw materials previously 

 imported. The articles in which the foreign materials 

 form a considerable part of the value, are spirits manu- 

 factured from molasses, refined sugar, articles of iron, 

 cordage, chocolate, gunpowder, umbrellas, and pa- 

 rasols, gold and silver coin, and jewelry. The whole 

 estimated value of exports of home manufactures is 



about 6,500,000 dollars, being about 13 per cent, of 

 the whole domestic exports of the country. About 

 700,000 dollars of this amount ought to be struck out 

 of the list of domestic exports, being gold and silver 

 coin, consisting, mostly, of metals imported from 

 abroad, and, after being coined at the mint, again ex- 

 ported. The labour put upon these materials, iit 

 coining, is so inconsiderable a part of their value 

 that the value of the coin of the country exported 

 ought not to be included in the estimate of the value 

 of domestic exports. Considerable quantities of gold, 

 it is true, have been produced in North Carolina, but 

 by no means enough, as yet, to supply the demand 

 fer the consumption of the country, though it is to be 

 considered, at the same time, that this article, as far 

 as it can be supplied from the domestic mines, will 

 tend directly abroad, being drawn into this channel 

 by the higher price of gold, compared with silver, in 

 Britain and France than in the United States ; the 

 value being, in Britain, as 15-6, in France, as 

 15-5046, and in the United States, as 15-407 to 1. 

 Consequently, the gold, whether in coin, or bullion, 

 tends strongly to leave the country. Some of it is ar 

 rested for use in jewelry and the arts, but very little 

 in the currency, or in the vaults of the banks. Omit- 

 ting this article, then, the other articles above enu- 

 merated, being the only ones, the value of which is 

 made up, in any considerable degree, of foreign ma- 

 terials, are valued, hi the returns, at 683,000 dollars. 

 The value of materials imported, and then wrought 

 up in manufactured articles, and exported, and in- 

 cluded in the list of domestic manufactures, may be 

 estimated at about 200,000 or 250,000 dollars ; 

 leaving the net exports of manufactures from the raw 

 products supplied by the country about 5,750,000 

 dollars. As cotton fabrics form a large item in this 

 list of exported manufactures, and those fabrics are 

 mostly of the coarser kind, the raw material will con- 

 stitute a very considerable part of their value, and 

 the proportional value of the direct wages of manu- 

 facturing labour, incorporated in these exports, will 

 be proportionally less. If, for instance, a plough, or 

 trunk, or quantity of combs, be sent abroad, almost 

 the whole value of the export consists of the wages 

 of the manufacturers ; and a still greater proportion 

 of the value of earthen and stone wares, which make 

 a very considerable item in this list, is of this descrip- 

 tion ; whereas an export of spirits distilled from West 

 India molasses comprises a comparatively small pro- 

 portional value of manufacturing labour. Taking 

 the whole list of domestic manufactured articles to- 

 gether, and making allowances for the cost of the 

 raw materials, in their rudest state, after they are 

 taken from the ground or from animals, and assume 

 the character of merchandise, by deducting their 

 value from the gross amount of that of the exported 

 manufactures, the remainder, which is the result of 

 the manufacturing labour, interest of capital, and pro- 

 fits incorporated into these materials, to bring them 

 into the state in which they are exported, may be es- 

 timated at about 4,000,000 dollars. We will now 

 glance hastily at the descriptions of articles on which 

 the arts of the United States are employed for the 

 supply of foreign markets ; and the most considerable 

 of them is cotton twist, thread, and fabrics, the ex- 

 ported value of which, for the year 1828, was 

 1,000,000 dollars and a fraction ever, being one fif- 

 tieth part of the whole domestic exports, the principal 

 markets of which are South America, Mexico, and the 

 Mediterranean. The value of leather, and its various 

 manufactures, exported, is a little over 500,000 dollars, 

 making one per cent, of the entire exports of the de- 

 scription of which we are speaking. The value of 

 liats exported during the same year was abou! 

 333,300 dollars a very large amount, considering 



