The daily gazette., 1879-08-09
Revival Oa British Trade with
America - i- .f4@

From the London Saturday Review.
At a time when there is SO much that
Is gloomy in the commercial outlook,
ments in this trade or in that abound,
when all our great industries are de-
pressed, and when the fears appear only
too well-founded, that the coming haf-
| vest will be worse even than those Of tue
past four years, bad as they were, 1t Is
satisfactory to find that there is one
glimpse of brightness. This is dis
covered in the growth of our exports to
the United States since the beginning Of
the present year. The importance of
the United States as customer need
not be proved, but it may be we'll 10
illustrate and define it so as to make
more clear the significance of ihe facts
which we are about to lay before our
readers. The depression under which
the commercial world has so long been
labo:ing manifested itself in Vienna in
the May of 1873. But, although the
panic in that city continued intermitr
ten ly throu. hout the summer, we felt
no effects of ii in England. Our busi-
ness relations with Germany are close
and considerable, and Germany was pro-
foundly affected by the Austrian crisis,
yet amongst us no heed was given to the
danger that was imminent. In Septem-
Der, however, occurred the Jay Cooke
stoppage,, and in the beginning of the
| following November the Bank rate was
per cent, and we we're in the midst OF
most serious crisis. We do not forget
the part played in that conjuncture by the
tap,ra xuii l,l oil Of cold
But after events have proved beyond
doubt that our crisis was the direct con-
sequence Of the panic in New York,
though unquestionably it was aggravated
by the German monetary reform. The
rapidity with which the crash in the
United States reacted upon our money
market illustrates the intimacy of the
relations subsisting between the two
countries.
A change in the condition of one GER
tainly makes itself felt by the other. In
the year before the Jay Cooke failure
The exports of British and Irish produce
and manufacture to the United States
we're of the value of f40, 750, 900 without
reckoning the freight, commissions, and
insurance earned by our shipowners,
agents, and underwriters. In other
words, 15a per cent, or nearly one-sixth
| of all the goods Of native growth, or
workmanship which we sold to the rest
of the world, including the colonies, and
dependencies were bought by the United
| States. 1t is easy to see that the sudden
| falling off in SO vast trade may very
materially affect our prosperity. There
is an extraordinary decrease in theAmeri
| can purchases from us. The destruction
of credit by the panic of 1873 was such
| that factories and workshops of all kinds
| were closed all over the Union; and
crowds OF men and women, unable to
find employment, were suddenly left to
starve in every city and town. The re-
suit was an immediate decrease in the
imports into the United States. This
was so marked in the last three months
of l&7@ that the imports of that year
were immensely less than 1872, though
| in the first nine months there had been
a great increase; and every year since
the diminution has gone on to the end of
December last In 1872 the exports from
this country to the United States were
valued at f40,736,507; last year theiI
value was E14,552, 900. This is a de-
crease of G2G, 1S4, ,597, or just Ga per
cent! In the Report of the Commits
sioners of Customs, published last week,
we find list both of the quantities and
the values of the goods exported to the
United States in 1874 and 1878. In 1874
the falling-ofi had already proceeded
considerable way. The exports were
then only eos, PAL ,0S0, which is a de-
crease from 1872 of almost 100000,
or over 30 per cent. Yet 1t may be worth
while to show in detail some Of the de-
creases since 1874. We find, then, in
beer and ale falling-oT in the quantity
exported Of 90 per cent; in cotton goods
of 53a per cent; of linen goods, 30 per
cent; of woollen manufactures, from 81
to S5 per cent; of pig iron 25 per cent;
of cast or wrought iron, "a per cent;
and of railroad iron, 80 per cent. The
faling-off in every case is in quantities,
and it throws new light upon the de-
preston through which we are passing.
The depression in the United States
| worked its own cure. The idle crowds
migrated from the towns to the new
| States and Territories of the West, and
settled down upon the land. Fortunate
| ly for us, a series of bat harvests set in
| at the Unprecedented demand for the
product OF their industry. And, further
more, the war into which Russia plung-
ed greatly diminished her competition.
1t wss not only, however that a ready
market was found in Europe for the corn
and cotton, the meat and buttor which
the agriculturists of the Uuited States
had to sell; the very depression itself
favored them. 1t cheapeued labor to an
unt xampled extent. 1t reduced Lhe price
of ma, hiuery lmpl- -meDts, and manures.
And, above all it lowered the charges of
railways and steamships. Had there been
plenty of traffic for both, as In the ihfia.
ton period Immediately following the
Fran 60 G erman war, their charges
would have continued prohtbitive. In
1879 and 1873 farmers in Iowa found 1t
economical to burn their surplus Indian
corn. 1t used to be SAID that a cart-lOad
in those days had to be paid for a pair of
boots and that the cost of conveying
one bushel to New York was five BUSH
els. Moreover, the steamships were fully
employed in more remuneratve traffic.
1t conse uently would not have paid to
have converted vessels into huge refri-
gerators. But when the more profitable
business fell off. railway companies and
ship.owners cultivated the grain, cattle,
and meat trades, and the expectation OF
these commodities reached such dimen-
sions as to fill the agriculturists of the
Old World with alarm. These acciden
tai favoring circumstances brought
flood of wealth into the United States.
For three years in succession the ex-
ports greatly exceeded the imports-that
is to say, the country as whole sold
much more than it bought; and, of course
the growers of corn, cotton, and tObac-
co, the feeders of cattle and pigs, the
30 lrars of hutter ami cheesa have haan