The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-07-01

With the end Of the fiscal year, which expired
yesterday, the tables of our commerce and navi-
gaticn are made up, and although the full re-
turns are not officially published until the open
ing OF Congress in December, the aggregates are
generally accessible, and they afford pregnant
field Of comment both to the real and the would
be political economists Of the country.
AS a general thing their lucubrations are of
little account. Their writer's can only possess
partial details of the movement of trade, aud are
obliged to estimate that of other sections by com.
parison. Further than this, they usually accept
The official figures as the true measure of the
commerce of the country, and are thus frequently
led into the most erroneous deductions Little
confidence can be reposed in these onesided &C.
counts between nations making mutual ex-
changes, for the values given in the tables are
neither the actual values of the articles at the
place of production, nor those Of the market,
of sale- We know that there are persons
who, firmly believing in orr cumbersome, cost
ly and one.ous system Of ad ualorem valuations.
with its triple guard of hard swearing before
our consuls abroad and Custom House oaths and
appraisement at home, will insist upon it that the
tables are very nearly correct But even then
they represent the official, and not the CONNER.
cial values of trade. There are numerous ele-
mens entering into the composition of the latter
which are not tangible to the official touch and
yet they form an important portion of the mu-
tual exchanges of commercial nations
This fact will be best illustrated by case in
point in trade which employs hundreds of YES
sells annually. A shipowner in Maine puts on
board of his vessel cargo of lumber and directs
the captain to 60 to Cuba, sell the lumber, pur-
chase cargo of molasses, and return home. The
proceeds Of the lumber are invested in the Dur.
chase Of the molasses, and any balance of cost is
paid for in bills drawn on the owner. When the .
vessel arrives her cargo purports to have cost the
shp owner the amount of the invoice calculated
at The market price of the srticle at the port of
lading. But be has compensated this amount nv
three elements of value. First the freight on the
lumber carried out, which has been earned by
bis vessel; second, the profit over and above the
freight which he has made on the sale Of the
lumber; and third, the drafts on himself to
be paid in currency. In this case the
amount Of cost to the country of the
imported cargo Of molasses really consists in the
original cost Of the cargo or lumber sent out
and the amount Of the drafts paid in currency.
The profit on the lumber shipment and its cost
of carriage to the foreign market, although thew
figure in the tables as imports from abroad
are really profits on our commerce returning
home Compensations Of this character enter
into all the transactions OF commerce; but they
are not tangible to the compilers of our oficia
tables and therefore these are of little value
except that, being made up from similar sources
year after year they exhibit comparative view
OF the currents Of trade. The true bearing of
foreign commerce upon the material int
rests of the country must be gathered from a
class of generalization very different from the
Official tables
These, however, have their value as measures
of comparison, as we have stated. The approx.
mate aggregates of our commerce for the last
year give total import of $3.50, OoO, 900. against
s2so,ooo0O0 the year before and an export OF
s35Oooo,ooo against s325, 900 600 10 the year
previous There is one circumstance peculiar
to our fiscal system which dimirishes the
value Of these tables even rs q measure Of
comparison. We assume to express the
amounts imported and exported ct their
market values Tha financial panic which