COMMERCE. 



the short period since this article lias been sent to 

 foreign markets. Soap ami candles have lonr been 

 supplied for the foreign markets, the amount tor the 

 year in question being about 900,000 dollars. The 

 various articles manufactured, for the most part, of 

 wood, such as furniture, or of wood, leather, and iron, 

 such as coaches and carriages, l>esides various agri- 

 cultural implements supplied to the West Indies and 

 South America, constitute a very important branch 

 of trade, which amounted to between 000,000 and 

 700,000 dollars. American glass is also exported to 

 a small extent. The value sent abroad in 1828 was 

 51,452 dollars, and it bids fair to be increased. The 

 oilier export* consist of a variety of articles in small 

 quantities, among which are, wearing apparel, combs 

 ami buttons, brushes, fire-engines ami apparatus, 

 I'linting-presses and types, musical instruments, 

 books, maps, paper and stationery, and trunks. It 

 is apparent, from the above enumeration and esti- 

 mates, that the manufactured articles, of which the 

 export is most considerable and the most flourishing, 

 are those of which the raw materials consist, mostly, 

 of cotton, wood, and leather. 



Foreign Exports. The foreign a rticles imported and 

 again exported from the country, during the same 

 yeai, amounted to 21,595,017 dollars. This transit 

 trade thus appears to form a very important part of 

 the American commerce. But one-third of this whole 

 amount consists of an article which affords very little 

 freight, namely, specie, the export of which, during 

 the same year, was about 7,500,000 dollars. Another 

 large item in value, of this transit trade, consists of 

 cotton fabrics, the exports of which were 2,000,000 

 dollars. The foreign silks exported amounted to 

 about a quarter as much. The value of wines export- 

 ed was about 333,300 dollars ; that of teas about twice 

 as much ; and tliat of coffee and cocoa 1,500,000, and 

 of sugar nearly 1,000,000 dollars. These are the most 

 important articles of foreign export. The other ex- 

 ports of foreign articles previously imported amount- 

 ed, during the same year, to about 8,000,000 dollars 

 in the whole ; but it is not necessary to enumerate 

 them. 



Imports. The imports, for the same period, ac- 

 cording to the custom-house estimates, amounted to 

 88.589,824 dollars, and exceed the estimated value 

 of the exports by about 16,250,000 dollars. There 

 should, of course, be an excess of value of imports, 

 according to those returns, whether their value is 

 estimated at the cost in foreign ports, or at the mar- 

 ket-price in the American ports ; for these goods are 

 the returns for the exports, the value of which is 

 estimated at the rate of the markets in the United 

 States ; and, unless a greater value of merchandise 

 can be obtained in exchange in the foreign ports, the 

 ship-owners would obtain nothing for outward 

 freight : and still more ought the value of the im- 

 ports in the American markets, after deducting 

 duties, to exceed that of the exports ; for this excess 

 is the only fund for paying the two freights and in- 

 terest on the capital employed. This excess, for 

 the year in question, was about 22 per cent., 

 which cannot, however, be considered very exact, 

 but is probably below the actual rate. That it 

 must be a large amount, in order to save the mer- 

 chants from loss, is evident; for the registered tonnage, 

 which is mostly employed in foreign trade, is alxjut 

 750,000 tons, so that an excess of 16,000,000 dollars 

 in the value of imports over that of exports, suppos- 

 ing an exchange of one for the other, would give 

 oiuy about 21 dollars per ton per annum for the 

 shipping employment an amount scarcely sufficient 

 to defray the expenses of the navigation, including 

 port-charges, and leave a surplus for interest on the 

 capital invested in the cargoes, and a small profit to 



the merchant. But I lie nite per ton for the shipping 

 actually employed iu the foreign trade, if we estimate 

 t.he accession at 16,000,000 dollars, and suppose the 

 whole trade confined to American ships, will exceed 

 that above mentioned, since the registered vessels are 

 partially employed in the coasting-trade, as vessels 

 often take a cargo from one home port to another, 

 whence a cargo is taken for exportation. But a 

 part of this trade requires none of the excess, of 

 which we have been speaking, to defray the expense 

 of the navigation, for about one-thirteenth pail in 

 value is carried on in foreign bottoms, the imports in 

 which were about 6,500,000 dollars. If the whole 

 trade were carried on by foreign shipping, and the 

 whole were a barter trade, without credits, as the 

 trade between any two nations, or any number of na- 

 tions, must, in effect, be, in the long run, the value 

 of exports and imports, estimated at the prices 

 in the home market, after deducting duties pr.id 

 on importation, must be just equal; for, in the 

 case supposed, all the expenses for transportation 

 are defrayed by the foreign ship-owners. In pro 

 portion, therefore, as foreign shipping is employed 

 in the trade, the excess of the value or imports over 

 that of exports will be reduced ; since if a country 

 employs foreign shipping in its trade, it must export 

 an additional value of merchandise to pay the freights, 

 or import a smaller value of merchandise in exchange 

 for the same exports. In regard to the various kinds 

 of goods imported, without pretending to great 

 exactness, which is the less important as the propor 

 tions vary considerably from year to year, it appears 

 that some of the principal articles have constituted 

 nearly the following proportion of the whole imports, 

 previously to 1828 ; viz. wool and woollen fabrics, 

 11 per cent. ; cotton stuffs, 12 ; silks, 10; hemp and 

 flax, and manufactures of them, 5 ; iron and steel, 

 and manufactures of them 5 ; spirits, 1$ ; molasses, 

 2 ; teas, 4 ; coffee, 3 j ; sugar, 5 ; and indigo, 1^ 

 per cent. 



The principal trade, both import and export, is 

 with Great Britain and its dependencies, whence, 

 in 1826, the imports were forty-two ninety-sixths of 

 the whole importation. But to state, even in a 

 general manner, the species ofmerchandi.se of which 

 the commerce to and from each country principally 

 consists, would extend this part of the present article 

 to too great a length. Before closing it, however, 

 we should not omit to remark, tliat the domestic 

 trade of the country is more extensive and more im- 

 portant than the foreign. That it is more extensive, 

 appears from the returns of the shipping, a greater 

 quantity of tonnage being employed in the coasting 

 trade and fisheries than hi the foreign commerce ; 

 and as these vessels make from 3 to 10, 12 or 20 

 passages in a year, according to the distance of the 

 ports oetween which they trade, the amount of com- 

 mercial exchanges along the coast, and up the rivers 

 to the head of sloop navigation, without including 

 the trade between the coast and the interior, must 

 greatly exceed the foreign commerce. 



From the official report of the treasury department, 

 it appears, that the imports into the United States, 

 during the year ending September 30, 1829, amounted 

 to 74,492,527 dollars, of which amount 69,325,552 

 dollars were imported in American vessels, and 

 5,166,975 dollars in foreign vessels ; that the exports, 

 dining the same year, amounted to 72,358,671 dol- 

 lars, of which 55,700,103 dollars were of domestic 

 produce, and 16,658,478 dollars of foreign produce; 

 that of domestic articles, 46,974,554 dollars were 

 exported in American vessels, and 8,725,639 dollars 

 in foreign vessels; and of the foreign articles, 

 15,114,887 dollars were exported in American ves- 

 sels, and 1,543.591 dollars iii foreign vessels; tliat 



