New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-19
Tile 1RADE RALANCE.

Monthly Report No. % Of the Bureau Of Sta
tistics. of which an abstract appeared recently
is document Of interest and value, for the
reason that it gives US full account OF our
foreign trade for the last fiscal year many months
in advance of the usual annual reports, fol
which we have heretofore been compelled tC
wait. The promptness with which this infor-
nation has been collected from all the ports
along our extended coast-line on both sides OF
the continent, and subsequently arranged and
prepared for publication, shows the feasibility
of doing what has generally been supposed i'm
possible viz: infusng into the public service the
same energy and dispatch which in private
business are the conditions of success.
We first gather from the report the follow
ing general statement, in which we use only
gold values
Imports for the year ending June So 1859 tas 02o5u
Exports for the year ending June So 1862. Blslp,I6o
ReexpOrts for the year ending June 80 1862 2l3Ol67
Adding the exports and rcexports together
we get $343, 1885, 32 as our total exports OF do
nestle and foreign commodities combined, and
subtracting this from our total imports, we
find that the latter exceed the exports and
re6rports by s93,799, 600 in gold. AS par
tial offset to this balance against us. we may
properly
the year in the amount of i'm
ported goods in warehouse. On the
3Oth June, 1868, this amount was,
in round numbers, something over
forty-seVen and half millions, and on the Both
of June, 1869, sixty-two and a half millions,
showing that very nearly fifteen million dol
lars worth of the merchandise imported last
year remains over toward the supply of this
years consumption. If we deduct this amount
from the total adverse balance obtained above,
we shall still have little less than $40, 900
900 as the net balance against us upon the
years transactions, so far as shown by the Gus
tom-H House records of our trade. This state
ment, it will be remembered, includes gold
and silver coin and bullion, imported and eI-
ported, so that the balance is not merely the
excess of our imports Of general merchandise
over our exports of the same, the deficiency of
the latter having been made good by ship.
ments of the precious metals, but is, on the
contrary, an absolute balance Of debt standing
against us unliquidated, unless indeed, we
assume that at the beginning of the year We
were creditors to other nations to that amount
and have received from them more than we
sent to them, simply because they owed it
to us.
This, however, is an assumption from which
our trade records for past years entirely debar
us. On the contrary, we have good reason to
know that the case is exactly the reverse for,
aside from foreign investments In our railroads,
canals, mines and miscellaneous stocks. all of
which draw money or merchandise away from
us in the settlement of interest or dividends,
it is estimated that not less than $9OO,O0O000
of our Government securities are held In Europe,
making an annual draft upon us to the amount
of some $54,00OOO0 in gold on account of in
terest. II would scarcely be extravaganza to
assume that the interest and dividends on
other foreign investments will run the amount
up to S64,0O0,O0O per annum, which we are re-
quired to send abroad every year without
getting any return either in money or mer-
chandise 1t follows that if this sum goes from
us in such form as to be registered in our
Custom Houses our exports Gncluding treasure)
ought to exceed our imports by the same
amount, in order to keep our accounts with
foreign countries even. Applying this
rule to our trade for the last hscal
year, we find that, to balance our importations
and pay off our interest account, our exports
ought to have been greater by about Sl43,-
100000 than the official records indicate. We
say this because it is quite certain that the IN
terest on our bonds held in Europe has been
paid, and nearly certain that the interest and
on our miscellaneous securities have