The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-02-02
FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL


which took place to-day, was not known early
enough 10 effect business in Wall street, but
will doubtless exercise some influence to'mofrow'
1t is probable that a bill II be Immediately intro
duced IN nav the overdue Post Office debt, amount
s,g now 10 nearly five millions OF dollars. Such a
hill should meet with opposition in either house,
and sh Md become law before Monday next. In
this event before another week elapses the SUD
Treasury balance at this point Will De reduccd 10
a 500 600 or 100000. and the bank reserve
will he increased to the negbborhood Of s25 900 OOO
Such condition Of AFFAIRS with steadily increas-
;,g receipt and export Of cotton, q pros
pectivc foreign demand for breadstufis, and
a general IecoVey of business, both in
this country and abroad, would naturally impart
more cheeriulness to mercantile circles. The orga
nizston of Cor gress viii likewise tend to aay the
uneasiness caused by the irritating sectoual
speeches which have been pronounced ut Washing
ton within the past month or two. 1t may be hoped
now, that something will be done with the untinish-
ed public business Of last session-with the Custom
House codnca,ion scheme, the Bankrupt bill, the
general subject of mail contracts, the affairs of
Mexico, &C. &C., and that for time, at least there
may be q truce TO the Improbable discussion of
slavery. Nothing would help tho general comsaer.
cial recovery Of this country 90 much as intelli-
sence that Congress had fairly settled down to the
practical work before IT, and that there was to be,
for time at least, no more idle speech making on
sectional issues.
Money continues abundant The rate among
the brokers il Blk, though balances are left with
established houses at five and FIVE aud half At
the discount houses business is dull. There is
scarcity Of really desirable paper; and capitalists
do not fancy the lower grades. The last oank
statement has produced very good effect in CON-
mercial circles We hear that the directors of the
Kerosene Oil Company, whose default was lately
mentioned, find it impossible to ontain the delay
they desired, and contemplate an assignment
They are Messrs. l.. Delmonico, Eagle, Austin aud
Ruggles. The company itself has gone 10 protest.
Foreign exchange closed inactive at last quota
TONS The rates for bills at New Orleans are high
er than here. The Africa to-day took out $685.
In specie
Stocks are inactive, without much change in
prices The feeling among operators appears to
be that nothing of consequence will be done until
Congress organizes. After the first board to-day,
Central fell of traction on rumor that the Pro
Rata Freight bill bad been favorably reported. In
the afternoon the stock rallied on the news
that q Speaker had been elected, and
closed at 7l2 bid, against 7ls at the close yester
day. Panama continues active; there were pre-
purchases this morning ut an advance Of ], and the
stock closed ut l3l bid, against same price yester
day. The most active am )ng the Western stocks
continues to be Rock Island which fell of fraction,
closing 6S3 bid, against 63l yesterday. The ILL
nois papers speak very highly of the business on
the line and the prospects Of the company. Ga
lena Ia steady. Missouris continue to advance;
they sold freely to-day at 81 for cash, closing tina.
against 800 yesterday. In the afternoon the mar
ketimproved on the news that Speaker had been
elected, and stocks closed very firm at the follow.
ing quotatons:--virgina 6s, 92l I; Missouri Is,
81 q 4; Canton, II 1; Cumberland Coal preferred,
l52 l6; Pacific Mail, IA Is; New York Cen
sral, III a Z; Erie, 81 s; Hudson River, 4la Z;
Rarlen,, s4 /; do. prere.Ted, "a ]; Reading, Sss
!; Michigan Central, So /; siienigan southern
and Northern Indiana, G q /; do, guaranteed, l4l
I; Panama, Isl s; Illinois GENITAL, 81 !; Galena
and Chicago, sos q (; Cleveland anu Toledo l9a
20; Chicago and Rock Island, 63l az.
We published yesterday comparative statements
of the trade of the United States with foNeign
countries for the four fiscal years ending Both June
last, showing the amounts Of specie and articles of
domestic produce exported, and the articles of
foreign goods imported from abroad for each of
those years. We now proceed with some further
figures.
1t has already been stated thu: The Aggregate I'M
ports into the United States for the h,>ai ycaf
1867 were S3Is ,I6S $50, and the aggregat. eA-
ports $So6 fe9a62; so that the years trade showed
balance IN favor OF this country equal to ls0,l
~ooz' when We come TO examine what countries
nave thus taken from Us more produce and MGR
cAs.y...c than We have taken frog ,her no soa
the firss place occueedby EngaD' Noswi,bst,,d.
ing our heavy impor.- g Az. -...-
malufactur"- IS =. 49,, .oous v..;@t
SS~- =, from Great Britain, that country
-, been better customer Of the United States
than the United States Of England: during the lis
cal year 1852 the exports OF the United state to
England exceeded our Imports from thence by
nearly S5l 600 ,00O Other countries with which our
trade leaves an annual balance in our favor are
Canada and the British Colonies Bfemen, the bri-
fish West Indies France and Spain. All those
countries take more Of our produce than we do Of
theirs and pay for the surplus in cash OF its equi.
valent bank credits, with which we pay the bl-
lauces against US elsewhere. Turning 10 the other
side OF the account, VIC End that our trade with
Hamburg, Scotland, the British East Indies Cub1,
rorto Rico Mexico, New Granada, Venezuela, Bra
"a Buenos Ayrcs Chile and China, runs this coun-
try every year in debt to those States--ther people
consuming considerably less OF our ODDS aud pro
duce than we do Of theirs. Tue countries with
= which our trade is most unequal aud the balance
heaviest against US are Cuba and Brazil
which, together sold Va last fiscal year
s3s. oCe 600 more OF their produce than they
bought of ours. The fact is due, in the
case of Cuba, to the antiquatcd and narrow
minded legislation of the Spanafds who, in orderto
impede commercial intercourse between the United
States and Cuba, and also to favor the producers
and merchants in Spain, compel their colonists at
o. rot ;ncraaen nf cost To lmnurt most of the