146 



COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. 



* Excess of imports. 



The total value of exports and imports, in- 

 cluding specie, with the annual excess of ex- 

 ports, was each year as follows : 



Classification of Exports. The exports of each 

 of the general classes of domestic products in 

 1883, as compared with the preceding fiscal 

 year, were as follow : 



The agricultural exports constituted 77 per 

 cent, of the total exports of domestic produce; 

 manufactures, 13'91 per cent. ; products of the 

 mines and petroleum, 6*40 per cent. ; forestry 

 products, 1-24 per cent. ; products of the fish- 



eries, 0*78 per cent. ; and all other commodities, 

 0-67 per cent. 



The increased exportation of domestic mer- 

 chandise in 1883, over that of the preceding 

 year, was due to the more abundant crops. 

 The increased exportation of cotton and cereals 

 not only accounts for the increment, but, with 

 an increase in the value of manufactured prod- 

 ucts exported, makes good a large decrease in 

 the exports of provisions, due in part to the 

 failure of the corn-crop in 1881 and in part to 

 the prohibition of American pork products by 

 Continental governments; and offsets, more- 

 over, a very considerable falling off in the 

 value of the petroleum exports, mainly due to 

 excessive production and a decline in price. 



From the founding of the republic to the 

 civil war, agricultural products constituted usu- 

 ally over 80 per cent, of the total annual ex- 

 ports of domestic merchandise. During the 

 ten years, 1870-'79, they averaged about 77 per 

 cent., the percentage which they bore in 1883. 

 The vast exports of grain in 1880 and 1881, 

 from superabundant crops, to supply the defi- 

 ciency of the crops in Europe, brought the 

 percentage up to 83*25 and fe2'63; while in 

 1882, with a diminished yield in the United 

 States and better harvests in Europe, it fell 

 below the average, to 75 '31 per cent. 



The four main classes of agricultural prod- 

 ucts breadstuffs, raw cotton, provisions, sind 

 tobacco with mineral-oil, constitute the five 

 leading classes of domestic exports. Cotton 

 was for half a century or more by far the most 

 important, until the exports of grain and pro- 

 visions increased, after the great extension of 

 railroads. In 1878 the grain exports began to 

 exceed in value those of cotton, but in 1882, 

 when the grain-crop had suffered more than 

 the cotton- crop, and again in 1883, with a bet- 

 ter grain-crop, cotton reasserted its supremacy. 

 The annual exports of these five leading classes 

 of domestic products in the past ten years were 

 as follow : 



The value of the exports of products of man- 

 ufacture in 1883 amounted to $111,890,001, as 

 against $1 03,1 32,481 during the preceding year, 

 and was larger than during any previous year 

 in the history of the country, having increased 

 from $45,658,873 in 1860. The exports of 

 manufactured articles constituted, however, 

 only 2 per cent, of the total annual value of 

 manufactures produced in the country, accord- 

 ing to the census of 1880. 



Agricultural Exports. The following is a list 

 of the values exported during the year ending 

 June 30, 1883, of the principal articles of ex- 

 port which are products of domestic agricul- 

 ture : 



ARTICLES. Values. 



Cotton, unmanufactured $247,828,721 



Bread and breadstuffs 208,040,850 



Provisions 107,888,287 



Tobacco, unmanufactured 19,488,066 



Animals, living 10.789,268 



Oil-cake 6, 061 ,699 



