The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-20
C0MHERCIAL MATTERS, Etc.


rains in that country having done but little
injury.
Louisiana Corn,
Gaienne & Marks exhibited on Change yes
terday several large ears Of corn, fully ma
tured and OF fine quality, from Col. NJ. F
Johnson's STEAMBOAT plantation, Carroll par
ish, La. They we're taken from q field of fiv,
hundred acres, which yielded fifty to sixt,
bushels to the acre. A good temperance maj
expressed the opinion that this corn lacks tn,
necessary elements for making whisky, and il
he is correct, it would be a good thing for tn
temperance people to buy all the corn in tn
Louisiana 'low lands" and distribute i
throughout the Western States for seed, tina
the vile kind that makes CROOKED whisky
may cease to vex humanity, and leave the ielt
clear to sold rye" straight-St. Louis Times
17h inst
Our Foreign Trade.
baltimore Americana
summary of the exports and imports Of
the United States for the last seven years de.
velops some very interesting points in the
mercantile experience of the country. With
In this seven years our exports, exclusive Of
specie, have nearly doubled. and the balance
Of trade, instead of being over. $50, 900, 00(
against us, as ii stood in 1868 8, is now less
than $4,000, 900. During the fiscal year end.
ing June, 1869, our exports Of domestic and
foreign goods amounted to 1886, 643, 658 in
gold, while our imports for the same period
were SAT-. $50, 979. Last year, ending June
30, our exports reached $5l3, 343 6l8, while
our imports were $3.50. 900, 800.
Indeed, during the year 1884, which COM
prised the period of the panic, our exports
exceeded the imports by nearly $4,000, 600,
caused chiefly by the large demand for our
breadstnffs in the European markets. TAX
ing the seven years from June, 1868, to June
1875. we find the exports to have been $685.
IA, 40 less than the imports, making an aver.
age annual deficiency of s74. 1924, 924. During
the last two years the exports have nearly
equaled the imports. Our exports of mer-
chandise have increased eighty per cent since
1858, while the import demand has only adj
vanced twenty-eiRht per cent during the same
period. Our exports for 1874 are the high
est on record, amounting to 1886, 283, 040
against S513, 343, 6lS last year.
The falling off in the export trade during
the past year in chiefly noticeable in bread
stuffs and cotton. This year we shall have
better figures to show in regard to grain,
while cotton will not more than hold its own.
The specie exported last year amounted to
$92, 1872, 142, while the imports under the same
head reached only $40, 1874 2l7. The previous
year the amounts were $66, $50, 4O5 and $685.
454 906 respectively. During the seven years
the specie sent out of the country was $780,
514, 845, against S152, $50, 232 imported, leav-
ing balance in our favor of $3.50, 964, 6l3 in
the precious metals.
With these facts in view, it is impossible to
avoid the conclusion that notwithstanding
the depression of business and the general
complaint of hard times, the country is as
regards its obligations abroad in better con-
dition financially than it has been since 1860.
We are paying our debts, not always pleas
ant business, but in the end sure to be wise
and profitable one. But for our bonded in
debtedness abroad the balance of trade would
be unmistakably in favor of the United
States
Trading Without Capital.
[Chicago Trbune.l
The London Times in q recent article on
the failures in England, pointed out the great
change which has taken place of late years in
the general conduct of business. That paper
says that, In modern business, the men who
use capital for the carrying forward of the
major operations of commerce and trade are
not the owners of that capital. Our merchants,
manufacturers and captains of industry do
not trade on their own money The active
men on Change have little capital. If these
leaders in the great army Of modern industry
were condemned to use no funds but their
own for one day, the transactions of that day
would shrink into very small dimensions in
deed"
This is more strikingly true in this country
than even in England. The whole basis upon
which business was once transacted has been
reversed. Capital was formerly the basis of
credit, the credit being proportionately
smaller than the capital; now the pyramid is
reversed; upon comparatively small capital
is erected q large superstructure of credit
The men who have capital have been forced
out of business by the more active men who
do business on hired capital The man who
does business On his own capital can not
compete with the man who has such credit
that he can obtain all the money he needs to
use in expanded trade.
The man who can sell his notes or bills, or
have them discounted, can carry on q more
active trade than the man who trades merely
on his own capital Hence the holders Of
capital have become distinct class from
those who carry on the commerce of the |
world. Capitalists, therefore, as class, are
no longer engaged directly in commerce. |
They hire their capital to those who have no |
capital, that the latter may manufacture, and |
trade. produce, sell and exchange. This is
becoming the rule in this country. During |
the last ten years We have constructed many |
thousands of miles of railway in the United |
States, and nothing has been more striking |
sAAoAA sAO OooRAoA0 SOPnAoeAoA "a sA0 S0PAeSA L
and the labor.
The companies or individuals who have |
built these railways had no capital; they had
no money of their own; they went into the
market with their notes or bonds, selling
these to the capitalists at whatever the latter
were willing to give for them. A double con-
sequence Of this was that the cost of the rail-
roads, represented by the amount of the
bonds sold, was SO far in excess of the real
value Of the property produced, that the lat
ter has been unable to compensate or repay
the capitalists for their investments. So in
iii other branches Of industry.
The falsity of obtaining other mems money
with which to engage in all manner Of enter
prises, leads to reckless ventures, which
would be unlikely if the operators were using
their own money. Itleads to over production,
with the subsequent stagnation and loss 1t
stimulates an activity and enterprise which,
n fact, are but speculation. It excludes care,
49,. 4 rv.cn and cnli1itu II 1oads fo that ,poo, |