The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-07-23

80 gross that it does not Distinguish
between the ship and tns
cargo. Foreign commerce repre-
! sents the exports and Imports "
q country regardless of the nati''nall'
Q ty of the vessel that may carry tne
commodities of exchange. Our car
| rying trade has from obvious auses
suffered many discouragenents
since 1850, but Our foreign commerc
. has in the sama period steadily and
~prodig'ously increased. Increased
indeed ut u rate and to an amount
which absolutely dwarfs all previous
developments of cur trade beyond the
seas. From 1850 to the present time
the foreign commerce of the United
States divided with approximate
equality between exports and im>
ports reached the astounding aggre-
gate of $24. MOO. 900, OO0.
The balance in the vast commerce
is inclined in our favor, but it would
have been much larger if our trade
with the countries of America, else
where referred to, had been more
wisely adjusted. It is difficult even
to appreciate the magnitude of our
export trade since 1860, and we
c an gain q G. rect conception Of it
only by comparison with preceding
results in the same field. The total
exports from the United States from
the declaration of independence in
l776 down to the day OF Lincoln's
election in 1860. added to all that
had previously BEN exported,
from the American colonies, from
their original settlement amounted
to less than So, 900 Co., O0. On the
other hand our exp )rts from 1860 to
the close of the last fiscal year ex-
ceeded $l2. OOO. zoo, 900. the whole of
it being the proauct of American
labor. Evidently protective tariff
has not injured our exports when
under its influence we export
ed in t%wenty-four years 40 per
| cent. Ll0re than the total amount
tina had been exported in the entire
! previous history of American com
merce. All the details when
analvzed correspond with this
gigantic result The CONNER
cial cities OF the United States
never had such agrowlh as they have
enjoyed since 1885,. Our chief en-
porium, the City of New York, with
its dependencies, has within that
period doubled her popula ion and
increased her wealth i've fold. Dur
ing the same period the imports aud
exports which have entered aud left
her harbOr are more than doubled in
bulk and value the whole am unit
reported by her between the settle
m-nt of the first dutch colony on the
Island uf Manhattan, and the out
break of the civil war in 1850.
AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF.
This interest is by far the largest
in the nation, and is entltlei in
every adj ustm-n of the revenue to
the first consideration. Any policy
hostile to tn. fullest development of
agriculture in the United states
must be abandoned. Realizing this
fact the opponents of the present
system Of revenue nave labored very
earnestly to persuade the farmers Of
the United States that they are
ribbed by a protective tariff and the
effort is thus made to consolidate their
Vast influences in favor of free trade.
But happily the farmers Of America
are intelligent and cannot be misled
by scphistry when conclusive facts
are before them. They see
plainly that during the past
twenty four years wealth has not
been acquired in M section or by
one interest at the expense of another
section or interest. = They see that
the agricultural States have been
even more rapid in their progress
than the manufacturing States. The
farmers See thai in 1850 Massachu-
sets and Illinois had about the same
wealth, between $500, OO0, 900 aud
5000, 600, 900 each, aud that in 1880
Massachusetts had advanced to ST.
600 0OO .00O, while Illinois had ad-
to So, zoo, 900, 900. They see
that New Jersey and Iowa were Just
equal in population in 1860, and that
in twenty years the wealth of NewJer>
was increased by the sum. Of $780,
O0O, 900, while the wealth of Iowa
Was increased by the sum of 81, 500,
No, 900. They see that the nine
leading agricultural States of the
west have grown so rapidly n pros
that the aggregate addition to
their wealth since 1850 is almost as
great as the wealth of the entire
country in that year. They see that
the South, which is almost exclus-
lively agricultural, has shared in the
general prosperity, and that
recovered from the loss
and devastation of wal has
gained SO rapidly that its total
wealth is at least double that which
it possessed in 1860 exclusively of
slaves. In these extraordinary de-
velopments the farmers see the help. {
influence of a home market. and ;
they see that the financial and reve-
nue. system enacted since the Repub. 4;
len party came into power has
aud constantly expanded
home market. They see that {
even in the case of wheat. ,
which is your chief cereal
they have sold an t
average during the years since !
ne Close of the var of three bushels a
vt home to one they have sold abroad. I
Ind b a in the increase of corn. the
'nly other cereal which we export to r
my extent, one hundred bushels Il
lave been used at home to three 4
md a half bushels exported. III q
ome years the disparity has been 50 a
treat that for every peck If corn s
exported one hundred bushels have a
'een consumed in the home mar c
.et. The farmers e that in c
Increasing competition from l
be grain fields of Russia and Il
distant plains of India, the b
of the home market become, Il
ally OF greater oncern to them, and fl
nd that its impairment would de- Il
reclate the value of every acre of tt
liable land in the United States. IL
OUR INTERNAL COMMERCE.. II
These facts touching the growth and n
assumption of cereals at home give t
some slight conception of the vast b.
ess of the International commerce of b.
United States. They suggest also II
! that addition to the al Jauraxe b,
'hlch the American eople enjov in n
against foreign COMPETE it
they enjoy the advantage OF ab- pt
lutte free trade over a larger area pt
with greater population than fir
ny other nation. The internal n.
'-amerce of our thirty-eieht States q.
Id nine Territories il carrioa m VI