New-York tribune., 1884-01-04
1883. 1882.


rio ditterence in gold movement is nearly Si3'-
ooo ooO. in 1852 we lost about $25,5OOO0O; ana
in 1883 we gained about 81 1oOO'ooO'
The RAILROADS.
pr+ these figures concern foreign trade alone
The far more important domestic trade Is more uAn-
cult 10 measure. But there are some lhulcd'I'n9
which must be accepted as conclusive Inc ran
road, and the banks measure the business transact
ed by them with great accuracy, ana pracucaiy
the whole business Of the country mas us Ie'oiu
either IN the earnings and tonnage OF the ranroaNs'
or in the exchanges Of tie clearing houses OhloII-
pnately. the railroad companies have not yet been
induced to make prompt and full returns, as 'he
hanks do. But the maguitudeof of their traffic may
he accurately Judged from the Official returns made
for - $40 miles of road up to November 30. The
increase of mileage operated these roads had been
las. or 90 per cent; the earnings were as follows
November. Eleven months
lCS3...................-S-l l65t'1dS F55095'aI "a
iss2....................... 253So'92o Zio'ooI,IIo
Ipcreose.................. S2,Ols,623 $24,425,556
In November the increase was about per cent
ond for eleven months nearly ten per cent. There
i reason to believe therefore, that the earnings
ond traffic of the railroads about 10 per cent
lorger in 1883 than ever before and, notwithstand-
inc the enormous increase in mileage, the earnings
rer mile operated were nearly as great as IN any
nreyious year. 4 considerable part of the increase
came from the movement Of grain. The shipments
bvroil from Western lake and river ports amounted
To - OOO 900 bushels in 1888, against 9l,oUo,OoV
bushels II 1882 and OS,7OOU0O III ISL, ana
1O7l1O,OO0 il 1850. For most OF t4e ualnc. 100,
rrnuucratiyc rates were obtained, whereas InothSr
years much of il has been taken by the Ioad Will
CLEARINGHOUSE RECORDS.
Pv far the most accurate measure OF the VoIuhe
Of business. however. IS given by the exchanges OF
the clearing houses, of which there are twenty
eight now reporting regularly. These establish
In,uts register each week and month the payments
made through the banks at all the chief conmer-
cial and manufacturing cities At New-York, owing
70 the decline in stock speculation and prices and
changes in the mode of tranSacting that and other
business. the exchange, have dc lined largely. In
1853 the aggregate Of exchanges at New-Iork was
S37 43 800. .s72 against $lG,9lG,955, ,03l in lSo2
a decline of 20 per cent. But the market value OF
stocks sold during last wear abOut $6,3OO.OOO-
600 against about - zoo, 900 900 in 1NS2 and the
rayment of loans and margins causes the exchanges
arising from this business 10 amount to about
dor',le the market value of stocks. But, moreover
within the past year some of the banks which have
very large exchanges have adopted the plan Of
making settlements directly with each other instead
OF throurn the clearing house, thereby avoiding
plTt of the expense of The CIcaTlnE-louSe system
iti- stated by very well-inlOmed bank officers that
I'M this method a considerable part 0i the 1dnSac-
tors c.pccially i'm stocks and speculative products
ar,. settled without record at the clearing house
whereas they formerly Went INTO exchanges ineSe
causes render a comparison of New York cIcarlngs
Jess valuable indication OF the volume ol Dusl
ues, than those Of other cities.
OF All the cities outside Of Newly ork, AT which
clearing house, exist. fifteen have transacted a
larger business in 1883 than IN 1857, namely, Ihll-
adelphia about per cent Chicago Z per cent st.
Louis per cent, Baltimore about y percent
New-Orlcaus n triic. Pittsburg3 per cent, Cncn-
matt 3 per cent Louisville II per cent, Hartford
Der cent Columbus about 10 per cent, Memphis
about % per cent, Lowell about 10 per cent,
Syracuse about l3 per cent, -. Joseph
about 10 per cent and Kansas CITY 80
per cent. The rapid gIOWtl on some Oh ne western
cities in population in railroad facilities, and in
traffic accounts in some measure Tor the decline IN
business transacted at some of the Eastern cities
At eleven cities. the business transacted III 1883
was smaller than in 1852, but these are NeW-lOrk,
Boston about l-3 per cent, san FRANCISCO about
per cent, Cleveland about per cent, indianapolis
about : per cent New-haven about Eer cent, Pco-
ria about per cent, Portland about per cent
Worcester about per cent, Springfield about
per ceut and Milwaukee about Z per cent
~ Providence the reported increase Is also about
percent but at Detroit the records hayen been kept
1ork at twenty-slX clearing houses has been about
l4Ol3 millions IN lsS3, against about 1851 mill
ions IN iSNZ, an increase Of Ia per cent. During
the Tst half of the year the increase was larger
about 3 2-3 per cent-in comparison with the first
half of 1852, when the movement was small he
cause the crops of 1881 had partially failed and
prices were unnatuTally high. But during the last
half Of 1883 the movement has been smaller than
in the last half of 1852 though the shrlnkage has
been much less than many have supposed. The re-
turns for the last week Of December have not been
received from all cities but can be closely estimat
ed, that the fUOwi ng statement of exchanges at
the different cities for four years will be found sub
stantially correct the amounts being given in