Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1852-01-30
From the Journal Of Commerce.
Ea.mmcc of'TI a,ic.

- - -
From the Journal of Commerce.
Ea.mmc Of IL atc. Ii
ro~,,tellv before the official returns Of the I'M
tttanl Exr,urts of the last fiscal year were COM
PI'l The organs of the Proectionists confidently
lorlcl that the balance against this country would
at he less than S50000000. In repy to this, we
i,,iI,bed statement, founded partly upon actual
l+,ras and partly upon estimates, showing that the
vnnrts must have nearly or quite balanced the i'm
rorts ami that the difference alleged was greatly
d,orceratcd. Cur statement was attacked IN var-
S Quarters, and the prediction made that when the
nfrcial record completed the difference would
Lo found quite great the ProtecHonsts had rep
resented. At last the Custom House returns were
cndcred and the correctness of statistics tuily
.rlicatcd But this conclusion is not at all salts
factory to the party who would prefer that the coun-
trv should be ruined rather than their predictions
L,,Il not be verified and various plans have been
1nntcJ to 90 behind the record and avoid the con
1rt;ons of the official returns. The Secretary OF
the Treasury gives the Exports OF Domestic pro-
Jnerions- at Sl7&, 54G555, while IN the tables ac-
companying his report they arc put down at $780,
OTIS: the latter amount including, most proper
". about SIS 000000 OF domestic metals. to which,
rs an article of domestic produce the Necretary
makes 70 reference. Another writer. OF the same
party, puts down the exports to the required total
bv calling the losses cotton about S5OOUOuOU oe,
low the value entered at the Custom House. third
writer asserts most rcundy that though the exports
NAV be right the imports are undervaued about
s56OO0O0O by means Of fraudulent Custom House
valuations.
ronoh examination. As we have already stated, the
assertion of the Hon Sec that Domestic Exports
were but S178,546:55 is contradicted by his own
tables showing total Of Sl966S9,7l8. In regard
To the losses cotton it very true that many IN
voices did bring sufficient to cover their cost
Bat it must be remembered that this cost greatly
increased by the expenses of selling abroad, lnclu-
ding the charges of freight insurance storage com
missions, interest, &c. that many shipments which
realized loss to the owner. might have sold Tor E.
nough to cover the Custom House value. The por-
ton of this cost included in the first two items, would
in most cases. come back with the net return to the
credit of the country and would help materially to
make up the balance, any loss on the invoice val
ue Besides no inconsderable portion of the cotton
exported bought at the entered value on Foreign
account and from this portion of the exports no loss
abroad could be deducted; while the American earn
ngs this, for freight &c, would still be entered
to the credit of the country thus materially swelling
the real value of the invoice, in proper estimate of
the balance of trade. But even if it admitted
that the loss cotton considerable as 10 re-
duce the actual value of the exports, this would be
more than counterbaanced by the losses on imports,
which during the last two seasons have been beyond
any precedent for series of years. Al this port,
the imports for the calendar year 1851 exclusive OF
specie amounted to S129,307 400 of which there
we're thrown on the market over sixty millions of
dollars in Dry Goods, as follows:
Manufactures of Wool.... .... $l5,252O28
DO. Cotton lluZi $50
Do. Silk. 23,4SO4oO
Do. Flax. ........ 614g9l8
Miscellaneous Dry Goods 4ll0,l63
Total S6O.62G 400
Such of this as was owned on Foreign account
must have averaged loss to the consgnor of at least
335 per cent We do not mean to say that the
whole imports of dry goods sold at this decline
l,E, hr1f0 IC
consideration will show, what is not generally under T.
stood, that small falling off in this value throws
large per centage of loss the foreign owner Take
the following illustrations
Cost of invoice in Paris cash. 81 ,00C
Add Freight, Insurance. Duty Paid, Commits
Net cost when sold 81, 450
Suppose this sells for 20 per cent loss 900
Net value OF sale ....,. 81, lOl
Deduct charges which must be paid ....... 45O
Accounted for to owner. I'LL
Thus with 20 per cent loss the net cost of the
goods here, the realizes but little over two
thirds Of his nvoced value, the duty and other
charges do not share pro rata IN the decline. we
have looked several long lists of account sales
and find that the net returns to the owner average
fully third less than the value upon which duty
paid The goods imported on American account
beng better selected. ordered Tor tfauo ready
take them, and sold by the parties in interest have
L suffered less than the stock consigned but even
these have seldom realized profit to the importer
This loss has also fallen, to extent, general
imports, but it is most noticeable, and more neary
= universal in dry goods
These facts, while they show that the losses on eX
ports have been fully met if not exceeded by the loss
imports also go to prove that the last dodge Of
the Protectonists noticed above, viz the under val
uation of imports is also without foundation. We
doubt whether there is any year in which the value
of imports as entered at the Custom House, is not in
the aggregate, above the fair and legal amount
The frauds and undervauatons are more than coun-
terbalanced by the goods entered above their cost
I to obtain liberal advance to realize better
price or the goods whose value is equal to their
first cost Many invoices entered above Their
cost to avoid the risk of penalty by esti-
mate of the appraiser and large proportion, mark
n ed up by these watchful guardians of the public
purse, are put just much above their legal value
4 the merchant submitting to the imposition, rather
than have the trouble delay, and expense of con-
tention with the Government. Were importers ever
so much disposed to cheat, it could only be done
through the connivance or Ignorance of the apprais
ers and this should be generally understood. few
days since, labored article appeared in Eastern
high tariff paper upon this subject, evidently based
upon the opinion that the importer had only to swear
to false invoice, and the Government had no rene
/ dy unless he could be convicted of perjury. This
1 mistake should be corrected. We have already ex
! planned the mode of entry, but some writer's still
harp the exploded idea that false invoice and a
scared conscience are all which is necessary to
/ cessful fraud. We again repeat that the invoice