The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-01-08
Interesting Commercial Statistics.
WASHINGTON, December l6

interesting COmmeEcS0l ot"tast'cSs
WASHINGTON. December l6.
The annual report of Joseph Nimmo,
Jr., Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, on
the foreign commerce OF the United
States, is completed. In regard to our
export trade, MIR. Nimmo says:
"Five leading articles Of export during the
year ended June 80, 1850, were as follows:
Bread and brcadsttlifs, $:Ss 0B, So; cotton, UNI
manufactured, $al2,EsI5,!Oj; provisions, $l2',-
Oi3,224:.; mineral oils. $3s.:ls,6.5; tobacco and
manufactures thereof. SIS. 1928. The United
States, he says, already surpasscs every other
country in the magnitude of its exports, both
breadsulis and provisions, and it Is MAIN
tanned that the market for American bread
stutts and provisions in Europe can be still
further extended. Tho United Kingdom Of
Great Britain and Ireland stand first among
importing countries with respect to the value
Of imports, both In breadstutfs and provisions"
Tables arc presented showing that of the follow.
ing commodities imported into Great Britain
and Ireland the percentage imported from the
United States was as follows: Wheat, G8 per
cent; Indian corn, 80 per cent: live animals,
~ per cent: beef, salted, 80 per cent; beef,
fresh or slightly sailed, IS per cent; butter IL
per cent; cheese, CAS- per cent; bacon, 81 per
! cent; hams. % per cent; lard, 96 per cent;
! meat, preserved otherwise than sailed, y per
! cent; pork, sailed, 81 per cent. The report
| says: "During the last ten years the colnpe-
| tition Of American breadstutfs and provisions
In British markets has greatly reduced the
price Of those commodities, and consequently
| the profits OF producing them in the United
Kingdom. ApprhensiOns have been awakened
@ to the ultimate effect of this competition
upon the agricultural interests of the latter
country. The question Is, iii q pOliticoecOnO-
| mic sense, very large one, since it embraces
not only the interests OF tho British farmers,
but also the rate of wages paid to farnl-labor-
| ers, the value of lands devoted to agricultural
purposes, and the revenue derived therefrom
by the British landowners. The growth of the
expectation OF brcadStutfs from the United
States has also led to serious apprehensions in
competing gran-producing countries in which
inferior methods of agriculture prevail and
facilities for handling and transporting grain
and existing methods of commerce are less
advanced than in this country
Regarding the maritime interest of the
United States, Mr.. Nimmo says: 1.-The leca-
dcncc OF that branch of the American mer-
chant marine which is employed in the foreign
commerce OF the country continues to engage
pubic attention. This dcca.:"hce is indicated
by the following facts: The budding of ships
ana parks employed BY or foreign commerce
tell from an annual average Of @3 during the
ten years from ISL TO lsG0 to an annual aver
age OF tifty.six during the ten years from 1871
to 1880 There were only twcnty-three ships
and banks built during the year ended June
81, 1880. The iron steamship is now the con-
trolling vehicle of commerce on the ocean.
The tonnage OF iron vessels built in this coun-
try the last five years amounted to only lOl,-
Ss3 tons, almost entirely for our coastwise or
home trade in which no foreign competition
IS allowed under the provisions of Cur Naviga-
ton laws, whereas the iron ship-bulding of
Great Britain during the last five years re-
ported amounted to l,S0D,l83 tons. 1t Is
stated that the iron steamers designed for
transatlantic trade now in course of constr,c-
ton in the ship yards of Great Britain would,
ii placed IN line, extend about one mile. The
total tonnage of the United States employed
in the foreign trade fell from 23S.9, 39j tons in
lstOto l,5l4,aO tons during the year ending
juno ~, 1850. During the year ending June ~,
lSSt. the total value Of the commodities trans
ported in American and foreign vessels (im-
ports and eXports) amounted to the sum of
Sl5S9, 412,U93, Of which the value transported
in American vessels amounted only to $780,
Co'i9'. The value transported in foreign YES
sells amounted to 81, 1908, ,496. A marked de-
cline in the proportion of commodities carried
in American vessels has taken place during
the past year, the falling Off having been from
3per cent. in ls79to l7.6 per cent in 1880"
After stating in detail the causes Of tho de-
cline in that branch of American merchant
marine employed in foreign commerce, the re-
port continues: "The fact that capital finds
abundant and more profitable emlpoymcnt in
the home industries and enterprises of this
country of vast and widely varied resources
than III the employment Of vessels upon tho
ocean has undoubtedly had n strong influence
towards diverting attention from ship>buiding
ana ship-owning enterprises. This is the
main, underlying cause of our maritime de-
cension. in 50 far as relates to foreign COM
merce." The branch of American merchant
marine which is employed in the internal and
coasting commerce Of the United States, it is
the fact that under our Navigation laws no
foreign vessel Is allowed 70 engage in this
trade. The tonnage thus employed fell from |
3,s3,4S9 tons in 1874 to SIS tons in 1880.
The total tonnage built on the seaboard, EN-.
bracing the Atlantic Gulf and the Pacific
coasts, including both tonnage built for
coastwse and for foreign trade, but chiefly
for the coastwise, fell from 1,Ol30iO tons dur
ing the five years from 1868 to 1870, to only |
$685. 6@ tons during the five years from 1875 to
1850. The American tonnage built on the I
great lakes, almost exclusively for internal
trade, fell from 2l4,a1 tons during the five |
years from 1865 to 1870, to 74,s93 tons during
the five years from 1916 to 1880. The tonnage |
employed in the domestic trade of the United
States the ship ton being 100 cubic feet of |
space on June 30. 1850, amounted to 1861,
tons. This embraces vessels employed both |
In the carriage OF passengers aud freight But |
the capacity OF railroad cars OF al descriptions
employed on the railroads of the L nitcd States |
amounted, according to the latest and most
reliable information, to about 7,lOO.0O similar
tons OF lOO cubic feet Of space. This railroad
car tonnage, however, the report says. actual-
" affords means Of transport for u much
larger amount OF freight tonnage than is indi-
Gated by the foregoing comparison.
After further remarks regarding the excess
of commodities by rail over the commerce by
water, Mr.. Nimmo continues: 1.-The efficiency
OF the railroads as highways of commerce has,
however, increased much more rapidly than
their mileage. This increased efficiency in
railroad transportation has been mainly the
result of substitution of steel for iron rails,
and OF improvements in the equipment and
methods Of managing traffic.
The gross earnings OF the railroads of the
United States for the years mentioned arc
shown to beas fallows: In 1851, ST., at, JJ5S; in
1861, $40 00J,OJO; in ISL, S4E,33:.9,.,S in 1873
sa'ea, ol2,yj9. This increase in gross earnings
has taken place notwithstanding the constant
and Very ar.re dccrnaSe in tho avDra 70 ra4ua