The true Democrat., 1857-02-10
Commercial Statistics for the
 Year 1856.

NOIumSICldl sO OCdC1SLICS TOT the
 Year 1856.
 The New Fork 1:nses furnishes the following collection of interesting and important statistics for the year 1856, worthy of preservation for future reference:
 The commercial year of the United States closed for 1856 on the 3Oth J June last, to which date all the official returns, just published by the Treasury Department, are made up. We do not know that we could employ more ap- propriately the closing days of the calendar year than by brief general review of year of unexampled prosperity in trade, and of i'm mense as we'll as gratifying results in foreign commerce and navigation of the country. The financial machinery with which these ends have been wrought out; its freedom from cmbarrass ment; the relative absence of imitation, and the almost inconsiderabe burden of popular tax ation which it imposes, demand an introluc- tory notice.
 The Treasury returns for 1856 show the outstanding public debts of the Federal Gov ernment to be S3O, ,727, ,OOO and the public | debt of the States Sl9O, 7l9 OOO-together, ,onl V tDo hundrel aud t,oentI one million dollars The public debt of Great Britain before the late war was t797, 100000, to which t21 100000 new loans were added during the year-together, ISIS 100000 sterling, or about forty hundre and ninety million dollars The indirect taxa. ton paid by the people of the United States for the support of the Federal Government in the way of impost duties amounts to sixtv-f four million dolls. The direct and indirect taxation paid by the people of Great Britain for the sup port of the Crown in the way of customs and excise duties, stamps, income tax and property tax, amounts to sixty four millions sterling or about five fold the burden of the people of the | United States
 The expenses of the British Government are thus Tn our currency for single year S32O- | OOO,OOO, or about one hundred millions more than the whole principal of the public debt of | the Federal and State Governments. The l Treasury returns also show that our system of railways which embrace about 23. PAP miles. | stands in capital and funded debt seven hun dred and thirty-six million dollars, though cos ting, by the aid of State and city oans, about $829, ,739, 400, or $35, TOO per mile; while the system of Great Britain, embracing only 8,334 miles, stands in capital and funded debt six teen hundred ani seventeen million dollars. or $l94, l35 Der mile And 1t further appears that the whole railway debt of the country in ! the shape of mortgages and aebentures Is s43333. ! 2ob.OOO while the same incumbrances upon the English system reach nearly this sum in debentures alone say 375;606, ,O0O, while in ciuilng what are known aS preference shares the sum tota! is S639 966,O 900 We mention this by way of qualification to the popular belief at home that our rail way in. cumbrances are greater than any her country in the world, and the system itself more inflated in capital and debt in proportion to its prod uc- tiveness and real value. The reverse is the case in every point of view entrusted with the most enlightened and powerful empire iu Flu rope. 4 similar popular error has until recent y been held in regard to our paper currency. In proportion to specie means and specie u circulation. The returns before us show that the outstanding bank note circulation of the country Is one hundred and seventy millions oi dollars, of which sixty millions are specially secured by the pledge of public stocks under he laws of New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Lou lslana, Tennessee, Ohio and New Jersey, while the outstanding circulation of Great Britain, by the last otfical return, Is one hundred and nnety-six mllions of dollars, CT s39, ,329,51l. of winch seventy-three millions are specifically secured by pledge of public stock in the issue department of the Bank of England
 The Treasury returnes make the specie re- serve in the Bank and Treasury of the United States eighty-seven million dollars. The last British returns makes the specie held in the Bank of Eng land, (which is the Treasury De- parment of the Government,) and in the Pro- vlncial Banks, seventy millions dollars, or If, O2O729 sterling The gold and silver esti- mated In ordinary circulation in the United States amount to one hundred and sixtv-three millions dollars. We have no late British re- turns Tor comparison, but the lowest denomina- ton of Bank ol England notes being f5, tue
 sum total of two hundred millions dollars, or t4OUOO,OO OOO sterling ill gold, among the people
 would not be relatively aS large as the sum esti- mated Tn the Treasury tables for the U. States Another popular error Is the supposed dispro- portion of Bank loans to capital in the United States. In the city of New York, which shows a little more than the average of the country at large, the loans are $lO8,OOO,OOO 70 S56,- OOO,OOO capital In the city of London the figures stand $375, ,787 ,O0O to S92 5,OOO The Treasury returns also show that of Sl,- 4O1 ,5lS,OOO in public debt, city and county debt, railway debt and capital, bank, insurance and navigation capital twelve hundred and live million are owned at home, and only two hundred and two millions held abroad, and making all liberal allowance for imperfect data on both sides, the fact that even eleven four teenths of the money capital of the country Is held unlncumbered at home is sufficiently gratifying.
 We now come to the commerce and naviga- ton of the year. The figures, pro and con, of the foreign trade of the United States amount to six hundred and forty-one millions of dol lars, of which $266, ,430,0OO is ill the produce of the soil, and industry of the country sold abroad; S44, l4S,OOO in the produce of the gold mines of California, remitted abroad, (being $l2,952, 900 less than the total product of last yearD $l6,37S,OOO in foreign merchandise re- exported; and $3l4, 4,639,OOO in foreign goods and merchandise imported, of which S29S, ,26l,- OOO Is retained for consumption. Of the grand total of S64l, 225 900, the value of $4o2, ,267,- OOO was transported to market in American yes sels. The cotton crop of the year was with out precedent in the total marketed, and for this the income from abroad was $ l28, ,392, GOO The income from bread and provisions, ST.. O46, 900 is also unexampled in any previous year. while the exports, since these returns were made up, go far to justify the calculation that twenty-five millions will be added for the fiscal year 1857; thus bringing the relative income from abroad to the farming and the planting interests, nearer than they have ever before been known.
 There is one other feature in these returns. suggestive of special remark. To illustrate 1t more clearly, we have dissected theexport and Import lists reported by the department, and
 present the result in the following tables, to the effect that in 1856, we sold to Europe, in Ame- r'can produce, exclusive of gold, more than We consumed in European goods. The figures, re. spectively, are 2OO,O05. 9o6 sold, to Sl92 2O54,. AS bought for consumption. Aud yet, of the forty-tour millions Amerclan gold remitted
 forty-two millions went direct to London, Paris and burg-mainly to London. The reason of this is, that, while we stand more than ba-
 lanced in the exchange of the products of trade with Europe proper, we are brought forty mil lions in debt by the Indies and South America; in payment of which balance, we have to remit American gold, to meet the bankers credits