112 



COMMERCE, INTERNATIONAL. 



The chronicle of prices in the London mar- 

 kets for the first six months of 1877 shows an 

 increasing depression and continued sinking of 

 prices, with the exception of breadstuffs and 

 foods, and the single material saltpetre, whose 

 rise was from the same cause which operated 

 in a contrary manner on other commodities 

 the Russo-Turkish war. The cotton market 

 was weak and inactive, with a constant de- 

 cline, notwithstanding the shortness of the 

 American crop. The wool trade was but a 

 trifle firmer, with a decline of prices, which 

 were kept from further sinking by the com- 

 petition of foreign buyers in the London and 

 Liverpool auctions. The iron industries suf- 

 fered severely, and Scotch pig was quoted in 

 the middle of the year at 54*. 3d. the ton 

 just half its price four years before ; while coal 

 had fallen from 29s. to 19s. since 1873. The 

 report of the Board of Trade for the first three- 

 quarters of 1877 shows a further increase of 

 imports and decrease of exports compared with 

 the same portion of the previous year. Total 

 imports for nine months : 1877, 292,528,000; 

 1876, 282,217,000. Total exports: 1877, 

 147,664,000; 1876, 151,035,000. The re- 

 turns for September gave a bad augury for trade. 

 There was a decrease in the importations of cot- 

 ton, flax, and raw silk, and a decline in both the 

 quantities and values of the principal exports 

 compared with the same month the year be- 

 fore. The export of British textile yarns dur- 

 ing the first seven months of 1877 showed a 

 decline of 25 per cent, since 1875, while the 

 export of piece-goods declined in a similar 

 ratio. The loss of European markets for cot- 

 tons was partly made good by large shipments 

 to the new markets of China, Bengal, and Java. 

 There has been a decline in the English ex- 

 ports of woolen stuffs for the last three or four 

 years, which is out of all proportion with the 

 contraction in the same business in France, 

 Germany, and other countries. Another indi- 

 cation of the successful competition of the 

 continent in this industry are the increasing 

 quantities of Australian wool, generally un- 

 combed, bought on foreign accounts. The im- 

 portation of wool from the Australian colonies 

 has assumed huge proportions, and the produc- 

 tion is fast increasing. The export of colonial 

 wool from England for nine months, in thou- 

 sands of pounds, in three years has been : To 

 Germany 1875, 18,601; 1876, 19,673; 1877, 

 21,620. " To Belgium 1875,34,428; 1876,28,- 

 066 ; 1877, 31,791. To France 1875, 66,202 ; 

 1876, 74,016; 1877, 71,188. 



In France^ as in England, the financial ebb 

 and its pressure upon the people did not set in 

 until the shock had prostrated business in sev- 

 eral other countries ; and the immediate cause 

 of the hard tirass in both lands was the de- 

 crease-of tboir export commerce rather than 

 any internal financial derangements. But the 

 seeds of the disease had been sown in these 

 countries, as in others, long before the symp- 

 toms appeared; the productive facilities in 



particular branches of trade had been rashly 

 extended beyond their proper proportions in 

 the economy of commerce, and a numerous 

 portion of the people were drawn into occupa- 

 tions which could not be maintained ; while, 

 notably in England, in the rush and flood of an 

 over-stimulated commerce and apparent pros- 

 perity, the industrial and other classes were 

 encouraged in extravagant habits of consump- 

 tion and capricious indulgences, which again 

 occupied the labor of other workers uselessly, 

 who might otherwise have contributed to the 

 solid welfare of the nation. Such aberrations 

 can be cured in England by the corrective of 

 hard times ; but graver burdens, inflicted by the 

 authority of the governments, weigh down the 

 productive powers of France and other Conti- 

 nental countries. The debts of several states 

 have been largely increased of late years, partly, 

 however, for useful purposes, the effect being to 

 insure a life of idleness and luxurious indulgence 

 to those who enjoy the interest of the public 

 loans, and impose a tribute upon the productive 

 classes in increased taxes ; the taxes being still 

 further augmented, while the productive ability 

 of the people is at the same time diminished 

 alarmingly, by the maintenance of enormous 

 military establishments. Furthermore, chiefly 

 in consequence of the modern militia system, 

 which now oppresses like an incubus the indus- 

 try of most European nations, frequent rumors 

 of coming war depress the spirit of industrial 

 enterprise. 



Among the surest criteria of temporary 

 prosperity or distress among a people are the 

 changes in their habits of daily consumption. 

 Of all nations, the French people are, perhaps, 

 the readiest to contract their expenses at the 

 prospect of adverse times, and are capable of 

 carrying their economy the farthest without pri- 

 vation. The large exportations of certain pre- 

 served and prepared foods to Europe, especially 

 from America (see COMMERCE (FOREIGN) OF 

 THE UNITED STATES), have chiefly arisen from 

 the necessities of the times for cheaper foods. 

 The sale, in Paris, of 9,271 horses, asses, and 

 mules, for food, in 1876, or 2,406 more than in 

 1875, is an instructive commentary on the 

 times. The export of the novel and singular 

 article of commerce called "oleomargarine," 

 or " butterine," from New York, is alike sig- 

 nificant. Of this artificial butter, during the 

 seven months ending March 31, 1877, there were 

 3,549,629 Ibs., amounting to $481,747, shipped 

 from New York to Europe : 2,355,250 Ibs. of 

 this went to France, and 991,329 Ibs. to Eng- 

 land. Very little of the article is consumed in 

 the United States. This industry has grown 

 to considerable dimensions with remarkable 

 rapidity. 



The diminishment of the capacity for con- 

 sumption in all parts of the Western world 

 may be judged from the following tables, show- 

 ing the imports of raw materials and exports 

 of manufactures for the first half of the last 

 three years in England and France : 



