COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION, AMERICAN. 



149 



throughout Europe, and is not denied by many 

 merchants, some of them of the highest stand- 

 ing, who consider it legitimate thus to defraud 

 the United States revenue, and treat it as an 

 impertinent inquisition for consuls to obtain 

 lists of prices and ascertain the facts of the 

 cost of production, to be communicated to cus- 

 toms officials. The undervaluations range from 

 10 to 60 per cent. 



The Treasury authorities have no remedy 

 against the consignees, even upon evidence of 

 undervaluation, as either civil or criminal ac- 

 tions must be based upon proofs of complicity 

 in the frauds. In most cases, reappraisement 

 is equally fruitless, and is likely to result ad- 

 versely to the Government in the absence of 

 evidence of the export values in Europe, which 

 is carefully and systematically concealed from 

 the knowledge of the commercial representa- 

 tives of the United States. 



Commercial Intercourse with Foreign Countries. 

 Of the total export and import trade of 1883, 

 the share of Great Britain was 39*69 per cent. ; 

 of France, 10*13 per cent. ; of Germany, 7'98 

 per cent. ; of Cuba and the other West India 

 islands, 7'85 per cent. ; of British North Amer- 

 ica, 5-91 per cent. ; of Brazil, 3'47 per cent. ; of 

 Belgium, 3*29 per cent. ; of the Netherlands, 

 2'01 per cent. ; of Mexico, 1*60 per cent. ; of 

 Spain, 1-60 per cent. ; of China, T57 per cent. ; 

 of Italy, 1-44 per cent.; of Russia, 1'40 per 

 cent. ; of the East Indies, T40 per cent. ; of 

 Japan, 1*19 per cent. ; of Australia, Colombia, 

 the Hawaiian Islands, Spanish possessions other 

 than Cuba and Porto Rico, the Argentine Re- 

 public, Guiana, and Venezuela, between one 

 half and 1 per cent, each ; of Central America, 



Portugal, Hong-Kong, Uruguay, the Dutch 

 East Indies, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and 

 Norway, British South Africa, Turkey, Chili, 

 and Peru, between one fifth and one half of 1 

 per cent. 



The foregoing table gives the values of the 

 imports of merchandise from and exports to 

 those countries in the commerce with which, 

 in 1883, there was a balance in favor of the 

 United States. 



The following table exhibits the commerce 

 in 1883 with those countries the imports from 

 which exceeded in value the merchandise ex- 

 ported to them from the United States : 



Trade of the Principal Customs Districts. The 



export and import trade of the port of New 

 York in 1883 amounted to $857,430,637, be- 

 ing 55-43 per cent, of the total value of the 

 foreign commerce of the United States. The 

 exports from that port were of the total value 

 of $361,425,361; the imports of the value of 

 $496,005,276. The foreign commerce of Bos- 

 ton amounted to $134,908,824, or 8'72 per 

 cent, of the total commerce of the country, the 

 exports from there being valued at $62,356,749 

 and the imports entering that port at $72,552,- 

 075. The share of New Orleans in the total 

 commerce was $104,704,076, or 6'77 per cent., 

 of which $95,107,314 were exports and only 

 $9,596,762 imports. The share of San Fran- 

 cisco was $90,661,950, or 5'86per cent., divided 

 into exports of the value of $44,959,420 and 

 imports of the value of $45,702,530. Phila- 

 delphia's commerce amounted to $71,886,300, 

 4-65 per cent, of the total, $38,147,744 being 

 exports and $33,738,556 imports. Baltimore's 

 share was $69,602,530, or 4'50 per cent., of 

 which $55,003,351 were exports and $14,599,- 

 179 imports. Galveston, Savannah,. Charles- 

 ton, and Norfolk exported $29,629,047, $22,- 

 813,347, $22,573,227, and $18,445,548, and 



