New-York tribune., 1875-02-06
OUR EOREIGN TRADE.

| lie almost lHCTeuDl6 w "h"h
the foreign trade of the United States is sub
jected by fluctuations in the state of credit,
and the ups and downs of the spirit of specu-
| latiOn receive q fresh and most striking Illus
tration in the present changed relations OF
our imports and exports. For the ten months
ended October 81, 1872, the gold value OF the
merchandise imported into the United States
was $j73518,29l, the gold value of the foreign
and domestic produce and merchandise ex-
ported was $3.50, 9,331,9j9, and the excess IN
value of merchandise imported over merchan-
disc exported was 32O4, ,O39. For the ten
months ended October 81 1874, the gold value
of the merchandise imported was S4S7, 1851,
that of the merchandise exported was S463,696,-
G32, and the excess OF imports over eX-
ports was reduced to 1923, ,7S0,059. Tins
VIC have for ten months of the year 1874
difference of $3.50, ,391 973 in the account of our
foreign trade as compared with tho samo
months of 1872 which difference is made up
of 1885, 032 800 decrease in tho value of the i'm
ports. and $94359,373 increase in that of the
| exports. Such violent fluctuatiOn IN our
foreign trade could never have taken place
had not corrcspondingy powerful causes been
in operation. UnqueStionably it is better for
should approach to equality and steadlness in
value. This cannot be, however, unless tho
practice of contracting Indebtedness to for
| eigners be less lndulged in than it has been
| of recent years. The only way foreigners can
| lend us anything is by sending us their gold
| and silver or their goods without re-
ceiying our commodities in return. On
| the other hand, the only means we have
| of paying any portion of our indebtedness to
| foreigners is by sending out our goods and
| gold and silver in greater quantities than we
| take foreign goods and specie in return. That
| there is at present tendency to borrow less
| of foreigners is obvious from several circum-
stances, of which the most striking is the re-
versed relation of the imports and exports,
for though the imports for the ten months
sill somewhat exceed the exports in value,
| the addition of the trade of November and
| December will bring them to about an equality
| without taking account of specie, which does
| not enter into the comparison, as we have stated
! il, and which would make the exports for the
whole year about s400)0,000 greater than the
imports.
1t must be observed that a satisfactory state
ment of the liabilities of the United States to
|
States can never be made. The smuggling by
people of fashion and others, the expenditures
of Americans residing or travelling in foreign
lands, the freghts paid to owners of foreign
vessels on goods landed at our ports, the prof
its of those engaged in foreign trade and,
| above all, the vast transactions on credit and
the effect of bankruptcies cannot even be esti-
mated. Even the tables of exports and i'm
ports are necessarily imperfect and incorrect.
! Still they afford valuable information, and
show very conelusvely that we are now bOr
rowing very little abroad, and their testimony
to this fact is confirmed by the exports of gold
and silver. If We were increasing our liabilities
| by exporting bonds and securities, as we did
| to q great extent from 1868 to 1878, we should
not need, with our enlarged exports and
diminished imports of merchandise, to send
gold at ALL much less such quantities Of it as
we have been shipping for three months back.
| The expectation of 80 much gold at the sea-
son of the year when our imports of merchan
disc are always light and our exports heavy,
| ia pretty sure Indication that the influences
at work in our foreign trade have q tendency
to diminish imports and increase exports. An
iuspectOn of the monthly reports of the
Bureau of Statistics will show that the article
of which the exports have most increased
| since 1872 is wheat Of which Gncluding flOur)
the value for the first nine months of the year
was 3,OS1 ,9S3 in 1874. and only $3f ,221 in
| 1872. But the exports of wheat, as regards
both quantity and value, are now of much less
consequence than they were year ago. The
same may be said of cotton, though the fall
ing off in this article is in much smaller
proportion. Speaking generally, there has
been for five months back tendency in our
exports to fall below the values of the pre-
vous year. This tendency, the shipments of
! gold, more especially if the effect Of them
should be q further advance of the pre-
mum are very likely to correct. The only al
ternatives are q decrease of imports or
an increase of our foreign indebtedness.
| Our imports now show a moderate decrease as
compared with the low range of last year, but
| the falling off is no greater than that in the
! exports. 1t is unnecessary to show that the
influences at work both in Europe and Amer
lea are not favorable to the increase at present
of our indebtedness abroad How long the
existing state of things will continue it is
impossible to say, but the forces now at work,
it seems to us, must result in sustaining the
increase Of our exports, including manufac-
tured products as well as agricultural.
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IN EDUCATIONAL ERROR.