Full text of The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review : December 1854, Vol. XXXI, No. VI

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H U N T’S

MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE;
E sta b lish ed J u l y , 1 8 3 9 9

BY FREEMAN HUNT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.

VOLUME X X X I.

D E C E M B E R , 1864.

NUMBER VL

C O N T E N T S OF N O . V I ., V O L . X X X I .

ARTICLES.
Art.
p a q i,
I. COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.—No. x ii . Grain—P ro v isio n s-W o o l and
Woolens—Hemp and its Encouragement—Flax— Bounty on Canvas—Irish Linen—Cot­
ton—Silk and Wine—'Tobacco—Rice made Uuenumerated— Leather—Hat Manufacture
and Trade—Rum—Paper—Ship-building—European Trade—The Enumerated L i s t Great Britain—Ireland—South o f Europe—The West Indies—Trade with the Foreign
Islands—Complaint o f the British Islands—Reply o f the Continentals. By E n o c h
Halk , Jr., Esq., o f New Y ork..................................................................................................... 659
II. A STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.—No. i. General A sp e ctCentral Position o f Illinois—Territorial Extent of Seven Largest States—Compared with
other States and European Countries—Manufactures o f Rhode Island and Souih Carolina
compared—Mississippi Valley—Rivers—Temperature— Advantages o f location o f Illi­
nois, etc., etc. By J o h n D. P e y t o n , Esq., o f Chicago, Illinois............................................ 669
III. PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED S T A T E S .-N o. i. The Census o f
1850, being the Seventh Decennial Enumeration under the Constitution. By Professor
G e o r g e T u c k e r , o f Pennsylvania............................................................................................... 675
IV . THE PROFITS AND WASTES OF AGRICULTURE. By Hon. G e o r g e S. B o u t w e l l ,
o f Massachusetts............................................................................................................................ 692
V. COMMERCE OF THE CRIMEA............................................................................................... 701
VI. THE USURY LA W S................................................................................................................... 704
VII. THE COTTON TRADE. By Professor C. F. M c C a y , o f the University o f Georgia.........707

J O U R N A L OF M E R C A N T I L E L A W .
Maritime Law—Collision.......................................................................................................................... 712
Contracts—Sale and Delivery—Waiver.................................................................................................. 714
Extension of Time—Surety’s Liability.................................................................................................... 715

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW:
EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL R E V IE W OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLU STR A­
TED W IT H T A B L E S, E T C ., AS F O L L O W S l

Commercial Embarrassments—The Gathering and Bursting o f the Storm—The Bank Panic—
Condition of the Banks in New York, Boston, and Massachusetts—Illegitimate Banks and
Banking—Deposits and Coinage at the Philadelphia and New Orleans Mints for October, and
at all the Mints for the first Nine Months o f the Year, anti since the Date o f their Organization
—Receipts for Cash Duties at New York and Philadelphia—Imports at New York for Octo­
ber, and since January 1st—Imports of Dry Goods—Exports from New York for October, and
since January 1st—Shipments of Specie—Comparative Exports o f Domestic Produce—Quar­
terly Statement o f Exports from New Orleans, etc.................................................................. 716-725
New York Cotton Market......................................................................................................................... 725
42
V O L. XXXI.---- N O . V I.




658

CONTENTS OF NO. V I., VOL. X X X I.

JOURNAL

OF B A N K I N G ,

CURRENCY,

AND

FINANCE.
PACK.

Real and Personal Property in Chicago in 1854.................................................................................... 726
The California Gold Product.................................................................................................................... 727
Trade and Gold Supplies of England..................................................................................................... 728
Condition of the Banks of New Orleans................................................................................................ 729
The New British Stamp Act.— Hamburg Money-Changers................................................................. 730
Moneys appropriated by the Congress o f the United States............................................................... 731
Bank and Railroad Stocks.—The Issue o f Fraudulent Stock in Vermont......................................... 732
Debts and Debtors in England.................................................................................................................. 732
Expenditures in Boston in 1803-4 and in 1853-4.—Condition o f the Banks o f Vermont in 1853-4. 733

JOURNAL

OF I N S U R A N C E .

Life Insurance—Wright’ s Tables............................................................................................................. 734
Life Insurance Companies........................................................................................................................ 736

COMMERCIAL

REGULATIONS.

French Tariff Alterations............. . ..........................................................................................................
Emigration and the Marine Hospital.....................................................................................................
Act relating to Auctioneers in Minnesota..............................................................................................
Free Ships Make Free Goods—Treaty between the United States and Russia................................
Bonds o f Merchants in China Trade Canceled......................................................................................
The Reciprocity Treaty in Canada.—Letters by the British Mail Packets.—Postage in France... .

COMMERCIAL

737
738
739
741
741
742

STATISTICS.

Statistics o f Trade and Commerce o f Ireland.—Comparative Commerce o f our Cities...................
Statement of the Commerce of each State and Territory from July 1, 1852, to June 30, 1853........
New Orleans Export of Produce and Manufactures.—Commerce o f San Francisco in 1853 .........
Inspection of Flour and Meal at Baltimore..........................................................................................
Navigation, Commerce, and Fisheries o f Massachusetts....................................................................
Kentucky Tobacco Trade in 1854.—American Commercial Enterprise in Australia......................

743
744
745
746
747
747

RAILROAD, CANAL, AND S T E A M B O A T S T A T I S T I C S .
Earnings and Expenditures of the Belgian Railroads.—Increase of Passenger Traffic on Railways
The Canals and Other Public Works of New York, No. VI., Analysis o f the Present Business o f
the Canals...........................................................................................................................................
Effect of Steamer Day at San Francisco.................................................................................................
Historical Notice of the Boston and Lowell Railroad..........................................................................

STATISTICS

748
748
753
754

OF P O P U L A T I O N , &e.

Present Population o f Mexico.................................................................................................................. 754
Population of Ireland from 1805 to 1853.—Figures about the Population o f the W orld .................755

STATISTICS

O F A G R I C U L T U R E , k c.

Division o f Labor— Improved and Unimproved Lands......................................................................
The Culture of Hemp and Flax..............................................................................................................
History and Statistics of Rice..................................................................................................................
The Production of Barley.—Production o f Broom C orn ....................................................................
Corn Measures o f European and other ports.—Public Lands for Actual Settlers and Cultivators
Products of the French Colonies in Algiers.—Farms and Farmers in E ngland..............................
Wool-growing in South Carolina.............................................................................................................

NAUTICAL

756
757
758
759
760
761
762

INTELLIGENCE.

Falkland Islands—Port W illiam............................................................................................................ 762
New Beacon to Indicate Joedderen Reef................................................................................................ 763

J O U R N A L ( IF M I N I N G A N D M A N U F A C T U R E S .
The Mineral Resources o f the United States......................................................................................
Wamsutta Cotton Mills.............................................................................................................................
Coal Fields, Mines, and Trade................................................................................................................
Manufacturing Law o f New Y ork...................................................................... ...................................
Iron Ore in Virginia for Iron Manufactures.—The Pacific Mill at Lawrence...................................
Printing for Lace and Muslin..................................................................................................................

MERCANTILE

763
764
765
767
768
769

MISCELLANIES.

Commercial Importance o f California.................................................................................................... 769
How to Commence Business.................................................................................................................... 770
What a Moralist says o f Gold.—The Adventurous Spirit o f American C om m erce........................ 771
The Commercial Enterprise o f S alem ................................................................................................... 772
The Wife of a Merchant’s Clerk.—The Honest Shop Boy................................................................... 773
The Camphor of Commerce—A Fact Touching It—Acorn and Chicory Coffee............................. 7^4
Progress of Free Trade in Europe.—Credit in Paris.— A Sample Clerk Wanted in a Drug Store.. 775
776
Iceland a Field for Commercial Enterprise.—The Material for Adulterating Tea.................. ..

THE
Hotices o f new Books or new Editions




BOOK T R A D E .
777-784

HUNT’ S

MERCHANTS’ M A G A Z I N E
AND

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
DECEMBER, 1854.
Art. I.— COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES.
N U M B ER X II.
G R A IN — P R O V IS IO N S — W O O L
CAN VAS — IR IS H

M ANU FACTURE

ENUM ERATED

TRADE

W IT H

W O OLEN S— H EM P

L IN E N — C O T T O N — S I L K

LEATH ER— HAT
THE

AND

TH E

AND

L IS T — G R E A T
F O R E IG N

AND

IT S

ENCOURAGEM ENT— FLAX— BOUNTY

AND W IN E — TO B A C C O — R IC E

M ADE

T R A D E — R U M — P A P E R — S H I P -B U IL D IN G — E U R O P E A N

B R I T A I N — IR E L A N D — S O U T H

IS L A N D S — C O M P L A IN T

OF

TH E

OF

EUROPE— TH E

B R IT IS H

ON

UNENUM ERATED —

W EST

TRADE—
IN D IE S —

IS L A N D S — R E P L Y

OF

TH E

C O N T IN E N T A L S .

PRODUCTS OF AGRICULTURE.

G r a in , &e.

All kinds of English grain, together with Indian com,
peas, &c., were produced in all the colonies, and formed important articles
o f export. Flour, meal, and biscuit were also exported in considerable
amount from the middle colonies. The export o f wheat, flour, and
bread, &c., from Pennsylvania for the years 1729, 1730, and 1731, was
as follow s:—
Wheat.
Bush.

Year.

1729
1730
1731

............................
............................
............................

74,800
38,643
53,320

Flour.
Bbls.

Bread.
Casks.

35,438
38,570
56,639

9,730
9,622
12,436

Value o f wheat,
flour, bread, and
flaxseed exp’rtd.

£.

62,473
57,500
68,582

South Carolina exported in 1739, o f Indian corn and peas, 20,165 bush­
els, and o f potatoes 790 bushels. The price of wheat in New York in
1742 was 3s. 6d. per bushel.
A considerable quantity of grain was shipped to the W est Indies, but
the chief markets at this time were in Spain and Portugal. From Great
Britain there was exported to these countries, together with France and
Italy, yearly, about 1732, 800,000 quarters of grain, the estimated value
of which, including freight, was 1,000,000?. The total export o f wheat
from England in 1735 was 153,343 quarters, upon which a bounty was
paid o f 38,335?.; and o f grain of all sorts, 433,893 quarters, upon which




660

Commerce o f the United States.

the bounty was 72,433Z. The colonists lacked the encouragement o f such
a bounty upon the exportation of their cereals.
The French had cleared much o f the fertile lands around the lakes, and
were raising there plentiful crops of wheat, which they designed to make
an article of export, by way of the Mississippi, to their sugar colonies.
P r o v is io n s . The production and export o f various kinds of provisions
was common to all the colonies, but the middle colonies were in the lead
in this branch. Pennsylvania exported barreled beef and pork, bacon,
hams, butter, cheese, &e. For provisions and liquors, she received yearly
from the Dutch island of Curacoa, 4,000 to 6,000 pistoles. The trade o f
New Jersey was chiefly in provisions, shipped through Pennsylvania and
New York. New England, beside those produced by herself, bought large
quantities from the other colonies.
The great markets were the South o f Europe and the English and for­
eign West Indies. The Northern colonies sent large amounts also to the
Dutch colonies in South America— Surinam, Essequibo, &c.
H orses a n d O xen were exported in large numbers from the Northern
and Middle colonies to the West Indies, being raised expressly for that
business.
W o o l was^raised to some extent in all the colonies. In New England,
New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and in Somerset county, Maryland,
there were some coarse woolen manufactures; but this was all for private
use. The enterprise had started and made most progress in Massachu­
setts, but was declining about 1730, the country people, who had formerly
made most of their clothing, now using British woolens for more than
two-thirds their whole consumption, these being cheaper than the home­
made cloth. The Board of Trade admit the raising of sheep to be essen­
tial to the colonial farmers. They also pronounced the wool of Virginia
and Maryland equal to the best English qualities.
There were computed to be, in 1739, employed in the woolen manufac­
tures of Great Britain 1,500,000 people, the average earnings per day of
each individual being sixpence.
W ith operatives so paid to compete
with, it is no wonder that family weaving decayed in New England.
IlEMr. The act o f Parliament, in 1721, to encourage naval stores, also
continued for sixteen years the existing premium o f 61. a ton upon hemp
raised in and imported from the colonies, and made the importation free
o f all customs whatever. The Commissioners o f the Navy were to have
pre-emption of the hemp so imported for 20 days after landing.
In 1730 there was imported 50 cwt. of hemp from New England and
Carolina, and 3 cwt. from Virginia, which is described as an entirely new
export of those colonies. Pennsylvania, about 1730, encouraged the pro­
duction o f hemp by a bounty o f l±d. per lb. additional to that of the
Parliament.
The policy of further encouragement was much discussed in England
about 1737. The merchants petitioned for the prohibition of foreign
hemp, declaring if it had been done before, America, under the existing
bounty, would have been able to supply Great Britain with all the hemp
she needed. The effort failed, along with the attempt to offer encourage­
ments to the production of iron in the colonies.
F l a x was raised, like hemp, in all the colonies, and in the Southern
ones it was of excellent quality. Linen cloth had been to some extent
manufactured, especially in Massachusetts, but was sharing the fate of the




Commerce o f the United. States.

/

661

woolen manufacture, and from tlie same cause, except in New Hampshire,
where, from the large immigration o f Irish people, it was continually
growing. The Massachusetts General Court, before 1732, offered a bounty
o f 30s. upon every piece o f duck and canvas made in that province, which
d id not particularly please the Board o f Trade and Plantations.
The
brovra-holland made there was still felt upon the export thither o f the
calicoes and some other goods of the East India Company. Small quan­
tities of sheeting and shirting were made o f a mixture o f cotton and linen,
the former being obtained from the W est Indies.
A great part of the linen used in the colonies were imports from Ire­
land. The linen manufacture of that kingdom had progressed with as­
tonishing rapidity. In 1688, at William the Third’s accession, the value
o f linen exported from Ireland was not above 6,00Of.; by 1740 it had
risen to 600,000/. annually. Though England discouraged the manufac­
ture in the colonies, she could not herself at all supply them. The imports
into London of linen from Holland, Germany, &c., in 1731, were 14,000,000
ells, the greatest part of which was re-exported to the colonies. The inter­
est of the shipping employed in the transportation wras her main concern
in this point.
C otton , about 1730, was an article of export from Jamaica; but the
French islands far excelled the English ones in its production. O f S t
Domingo it was a staple export. Large quantities of cotton-wool were
exported to various parts of Europe from thence, and some amount also to
th e English continental colonies.
In 1734 the Georgia Trustees sent out a paper of cotton-seed presented
them by a gentleman in England. Cotton was much planted in that col­
ony about 1740, and also in the Freneh colony o f Louisiana.
About 1735 the culture commenced in Surinam.
In 1727 Manchester, England, had a population o f about 50,000, and
had grown up by the eotton manufacture, the material being derived
mostly from the East India Company’s trade.
In 1730, Mr. W yatt first spun cotton yarn by machinery.
In 1741 there was imported into England 1,000,000 lbs. raw cotton,
and in 1742 the first cotton mill was set up in Birmingham, the motive
power being horses and mules. So late as 1760 the total value of cotton
goods manufactured yearly in Great Britain was hut 200,000/.
The cotton culture of Louisiana was greatly benefited by the invention
o f a eotton-gin by M. Dubreuil in 1742.
S ilk an d W in e .
These articles were imported by New England in
considerable quantities from the Freneh islands, whither they were brought
from France. The Georgia Company endeavored their cultivation from
the outset, but though some progress was made, the effort succeeded little
better than it had before done in some o f the other colonies. In 1721
Parliament passed an aet, granting a bounty of 6d. to 4s. per lb. on the
export of the various qualities of silk manufactured in Great Britain, the
manufacture having, under efficient encouragements, been now “ brought
to perfection ” there.
T o b a c c o . The average export o f tobacco to England from Maryland
and Virginia in this period, was about 60,000 hhds., or 36,000,000 lbs.
yearly, o f the value, at 2£d. per lb., o f 375,000/. sterling. The profits to
England on the freightage between that country and the colonies, employ­
ing about 124,000 tons o f shipping, was 90,000/.; and from the distribu-




662

Commerce o f the United States.

tion of this import for the uses of her own people and o f Europe, a profit
was derived of over double the original value. The English revenue de­
rived 2s. per hhd. from the import. The first price had been reduced so
low that the profits of the planters were very small.
Chalmers states that in 1732 Virginia petitioned Parliament for liberty
to have her tobacco bonded in warehouse, but their object was defeated
by the opposition of the English tobacco factors. The privilege denied to
subjects, was granted after they became foreigners.
The Legislature of Maryland, in 1732, made tobacco a legal tender at
one penny per lb. Indian corn was alsomade a tender at twenty-five pence
a bushel.
A little tobacco was raised in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and in
other colonies. The French had also introduced its culture into Louis­
iana.
K ick. The export o f rice from South Carolina for the year 1724 was
18,000 bbls.; for the ten years ending 1728, it was 26,488 bbls., or about
44,081 tons.
In 1730 Parliament took rice out o f the list o f enumerated articles, and
permitted it to be exported from Carolina direct to any part of Europe
south of Cape Finisterre; that is, to all places below France, or on the
Mediterranean. It was considered rice would not bear the expense of be­
ing bonded in England and re-shipped. The export was to be in British
vessels navigated according to law\ The same privilege was extended to
Georgia in 1735.
In consequence of this act, the rice o f America soon superesed that o f
Verona and Egypt wherever they came in competition. The import into
Spain and Portugal from Venice was entirely stopped. In 1731 South
Carolina exported 41,597 bbls. rice ; in 1739 the amount was 71,484 bbls.;
and in 1740 it was 91,110 bbls. The market of Europe became over­
stocked, the price fell, and the profits of the grower became very small.
M isc e l la n e o u s . Among other articles o f export coming under this
head, were sassafras— of such repute at the time o f the early adventures to
America—-of which South Carolina exported 27 tons in 1733 ; snake-root,
and other medicinal herbs and drugs; beeswax, o f which Virginia export­
ed 156 quintals in 1730; apples, cider, &c.
t
PRODUCTS OT MANUFACTURES.

These we have alluded to wherever the raw material has come under
any of the preceding heads.
In 17 32 the Board of Trade and Plantations voluntarily took up the
consideration of colonial manufactures, and found that while not generally
very forward, they had in some points been carried to an extent quite in­
jurious to the interests of British manufactures, and that there was, more­
over, a strong ambition in some colonies, New England especially, to es­
tablish a large manufacturing interest. They earnestly advise Parliament
to withdraw them from this object, by potential encouragements to other
pursuits. Manufactures were very few in the middle colonies, and scarcely
existed in the southern ones.
L eath e r . Most of the leather used in Massachusetts was made in that
colony, and it was also a considerable article of export. There were a
few tanneries in Connecticut. Pennsylvania exported tanned hides; and




v

Commerce o f the United States.

663

from South Carolina there were sent, in 1739, o f the same article, 1,535
hides.
H ats . Within a few years the manufacture o f fur hats had made such
progress in New England, as to cut off the British export thither, and also
to deprive them o f a considerable part of their market in the W est Indies
and the south of Europe. The Board of Trade represented this matter to
Parliament in 1732, and an act was at once passed prohibiting, under
heavy penalty, the export of hats or felts from the colonies to any foreign
parts, forbidding also the manufacture o f hats in the colonies by any who
have not served an apprenticeship o f seven years, and allowing but two ap­
prentices at one time, and no negro to be employed by any hatter. Had
the Americans not been restrained in this manufacture, says Anderson,
“ they would soon have supplied the world with hats,” which, of course,
would have been a great catastrophe to England, who could not supply
one-half the world.
S p ir it s . The manufacture o f Rum had grown up in New England
since the peace of 1713, upon the change in the exportation o f Jamaica
rum occasioned by its improvement, from the colonies to England. The
molasses was brought therefor from the foreign islands, and it is said
20.000 hogsheads, or 1,260,000 gallons of rum were made at this time at
Boston in a single year from French molasses. This liquor was used in
the Indian and African trades and the fisheries.
P a p e r . In 1728, Daniel Henchman and others, desiring to commence
the manufacture of Paper in Massachusetts, the General Court granted
them the right of manufacture, on condition o f making within the first
fifteen months 140 reams o f brown, and 60 reams o f printing paper. The
mill was set up in 1729, and produced paper in the two or three years
next succeeding to the value o f about $1,000 yearly. It was complained
of, together with the act o f encouragement, to the Board of Trade, who
mentioned both in their report o f 1732 as interfering with the profit o f
the British merchant in the trade o f foreign paper, that being almost the
only kind sent to the colonies.
Thus did England vitiate her protectiveprinciple. The tendency of encouraging all her interests, as illustrated in
this effort to benefit the British carrier, was to bring her directly back
from her starting-point— that is, to unqualified free trade.
S h ip - b u ild in g had become a very prominent interest o f New England.
Beside their own use, great numbers o f vessels were built for England, and
for clandestine sale to the French and Spanish W est Indies. In 1741
there were on the stocks in Massachusetts about forty topsail vessels o f
7.000 tons burden.
Pennsylvania appears to have entered the business about 1720. In
1724 were built there 19 vessels, of 954 tons. A t 1732, about 6,000 tons
are said to have been built yearly in that province for its own use, and
about 2,000 tons to sell in the French islands.
A few vessels were built at this time in New York, and some in Virginia
also, but the latter were wholly by and for English merchants. Beverley,
in his account o f Virginia in 1722, states that the colony rather discour­
aged such undertakings among its own people.
M isc e l la n e o u s .
Among the exports of Pennsylvania were starch,
soap, myrtle-wax, and tallow candles, linseed-oil, hair-powder, strong beer,
&c. Many minor manufactures were also made for home use and for the
outward and Indian trades, in Massachusetts, and some in New York.




664

Commerce o f the United, States.

Let us now see with what countries and places the outward trade o f the
colonies connected them, and to what extent:—E u r o p e a n T r a d e G e n e r a l l y . About one-half of the shipping o f Now
England, say 20,000 tons, was at this time employed in the Commerce
with Europe, which was almost or entirely confined to Great Britain, Ire­
land, and the southern countries.
The enumerated articles, or such as were allowed export to the European
continent only by a re-shipment from England, were, of the produce o f the
continental colonies, tobacco, furs, pitch, tar, turpentine, masts, yards, bow­
sprits, and copper o re ; and o f the English islands, the same articles, so far
as produced by them, and sugar, molasses, cotton-wool, indigo, dyeingwoods, ginger.
Pennsylvania, next to England, carried on the largest European trade in
her own vessels.
G r e a t B r it a in . The trade o f Virginia and Maryland with other places
than England was inconsiderable. The Northern colonies eagerly sought
to extend their intercourse as much as possible; yet the whole proceeds
o f their Commerce with all parts of the world eventually centered in
Great Britain, and so naturally, that no restrictions were needed to bring
it there. The manufactures and many other goods which the colonists
needed for their own use, and which were sought by those with whom they
traded elsewhere, could, generally, be nowhere else so cheaply and so
favorably obtained as from Great Britain. The perception that all other
colonial trade was but accessary to their British trade, though not sug­
gesting to the English government its proper policy toward the colonies,
yet induced the disregard of many irregularities and positive violations of
law upon their part, which would not have been tolerated had not Britain
been found to share largely in the gains resulting.
The colonies obtained from England all manner of wearing apparel, of
woolen, linen, silk, & c.; manufactures of iron, brass, copper, and other
metals; household, office, and other furniture; all kinds of domestic uten­
sils ; paper, books, &c. Almost every kind of manufacture, whether of
use, ornament, or luxury, except the most ordinary and less transportable
kinds, was included.
Beside articles of British origin, great supplies came through this chan­
nel, of the goods of Holland, Germany, and other parts of the north o f
Europe, o f the East Indies, and o f China. Even coal was, in 1742, im­
ported into New York from England as a cheaper fuel than wood, with
which the province abounded. New England supplied her own wants to
a far greater degree than any other portion of the British colonies, yet her
ability in that respect was very limited. According to a pamphlet pub­
lished in England in 1730, the yearly imports of the several colonies from
Great Britain were about as follow s:—
W EST INDIES.

CONTINENTAL COLONIES.

New England.............. ........
New Y o r k .................. ........
Maryland and Virginia ........
Carolina.............. . . . . ____

£400,000 Jamaica.................................
150,000 Other British West Indies.. .
150 000
375'000
Total...................................
60,000

Total....................... ........ £1,135,000

£147,700
92,300
£240,000
1,135,000

Total to British America.. £1,375,000

A large portion o f the imports into New England must have been indi-




Commerce o f the United States.

665

rect, as that section was less provided than the others with articles adapted
for direct trade with England, and had to avail itself of their products and
o f exchanges with other places to make up the payment for its British
purchases. But there is much discrepancy between the whole statement
and others of the same period.
The author above alluded to concludes that through her trade with
them, exclusive of the slave traffic, Great Britain gained yearly from her
colonies in America 1,000,000/., and Anderson conceives the profit to be
still greater. B y her colonies, England employed and maintained 18,000
seamen and fishermen. France employed by her fishing colonies alone
about 30,000 seamen.
I r e l a n d . W e have noticed the export of Irish linens to the colonies.
The latter carried on much illicit trade with Ireland, and, the Board of
Trade complain, had, by the clandestine carriage thither o f sugar from the
British and other islands, nearly excluded England from the trade between
Ireland and the W est Indies.
In 1732 there arrived in Pennsylvania from Ireland, 14 vessels; cleared
for Ireland, 23.
In 1731, the act passed under William III., prohibiting the importation
o f any American goods into Ireland, unless first landed in England, was so
far amended or explained as to permit the importation in British ships of
unenamcrated articles, which was simply putting Ireland, in regard to the
trade of America, upon the level of foreign nations. As there were differ­
ent interpretations regarding the intention of that law, it was until now
doubtful which was Ireland’s real position. If totally excluded from direct
intercourse with America, she occupied the attitude neither of a colony of
England nor o f a distinct power. The policy of England, meanwhile, to­
ward this part of the empire seems to have been shaped to the mixed un­
derstandings o f the law in question.
S p a in , P o rt u g al , a n d I t a l y . W e have noticed the trade to these coun­
tries, extending also to the Azores, Madeira, Canary, and Cape de Verde
Islands, dependencies o f the former two, in which New' England, Pennsyl­
vania, and South Carolina, were mainly concerned. This trade was of a
most lucrative character. In exchange for their fish, grain, rice, provisions,
staves, lumber, &c., and for the vessels, often, of New England and Penn­
sylvania, the colonists received wines, brandies, and other spirits, olives and
olive oil, raisins, figs, currants, nuts, silks, straw hats and bonnets, and other
o f the rich products and costly manufactures of those countries. The co­
lonial vessels often returned by way of England, exchanging their valuable
cargoes there for British and continental manufactures and East India
goods.
T he W est I ndies — E n g l is h , F r e n c h , D utch , & c . The importance of
the W est India trade was perpetually augmenting with the natural develop­
ment o f the colonies and islands. All the colonies enlarged their trade
thither except Virginia and Maryland, wdiich, at this time, had been in a
degree pushed out of a traffic to the Leew'ard Islands by New England, New
York, and Carolina. They, however, obtained as much o f the products of
the West Indies as they required, by the exchange of wool and other arti­
cles with Pennsylvania and other colonies engaged in a coast trade with
them.
The ships o f New England had got into the practice of loading at Ja­
maica directly for England, thus sharing with the English their carefully




Commerce o f the United States.

666

guarded carrying business. Pennsylvania also carried sugars to England
by the indirect voyage.
The great bulk of the sugar of the W est Indies was carried to Europe.
The molasses, so far as exported in its raw shape, was carried mostly to
the English continental colonies, where the greater part o f it was manufac­
tured into rum.
The arrivals and clearances at Philadelphia, to and from the chief Eng­
lish islands, were, in 1735, as follows:—
Arrived.......................
Cleared.......................

Antigua.

Barbadoes.

20
20

19
26

Jamaica. St. Christopher. Total.

9
16

9
9

57
71

But it was found the Commerce of the colonists was being rapidly with­
drawn from the English to the foreign islands. Immediately after the
treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, although one o f the conditions o f that treaty
on the part of England and France was non-intercoursee between any
subjects of one with the outward possessions of the other, an active
trade had sprung up between New England and the French islands, in
which the other northern colonies soon joined. This contraband traffic
extended as well to the Dutch islands, and to their colony on the continent
at Guiana. All the foreign W est Indies, indeed, were embraced, though
it appears that Pennsylvania had no intercourse with the Spanish islands.
The colonists thus greatly extended the market for their provisions, fish,
lumber, grain, &c., and found a largo and ready sale for horses and oxen,
which they could raise so easily, but for which there had before been little
demand. English manufactures were also carried there. The returns from
the French islands were vast quantities o f molasses, and less quantities o f
sugar and rum. Large amounts of silver were also obtained, beside indigo,
cacao, coffee, ginger, cotton, and other products. Considerable amounts
o f French manufactures were also said to be imported thence. From
Surinam and the other Dutch possessions, sugar, molasses, and rum were
brought in great quantity. The Island o f Curacoa alone paid Pennsylva­
nia, for provisions and liquors, about 4,000 pistoles yearly.
The northern colonists were not the only active contrabandists in the
West Indies. A general intercourse prevailed between all the foreign
islands, and by this means the products of all could easily be obtained by
the traders of any nation, and the merchandises o f any nation obtained by
any of the islands. The free islands greatly facilitated these operations,
and it was almost impossible to put in full force in any part of the W est
Indies, or the near portions of the continent, the various regulations o f ex­
clusion set up by the powers there in leading dominion. W ith the mag­
nitude and tangible character of the interests concerned, those restrictions
were certainly effective in directing the course of a vast bulk o f the West
India trade ; but the fragment which escaped the supervisory effort was
still an immense interest. The Dutch and Yankees took the lead in this
illicit Commerce. It was shared in by the vessels of England to some
extent, and by those of almost all commercial nations.
The French, indeed, were not anxious to cut off a trade so beneficial to
their islands. The contrabandists were allowed to visit their colonies di­
rect; and while they might at any time seize all the vessels o f English
subjects found there, under the treaty of Utrecht, it was considered a bet­
ter policy to give them all possible, though not open, encouragement.
The northern colonists found this trade more profitable than their legit-




«

Commerce o f the United States.

667

imate intercourse with the British Islands. Though exposed to some risks,
it was of course, as regards duties and other expensive regulations, mainly
free. The products o f the foreign islands were also cheaper than those of
the English, and their wants were more varied and extensive, as the pos­
sessor nations were less able than England to supply o f themselves the
needs of a colony.
But this trade was made in a manner necessary to New England by the
direction which of late had been given an important part o f the trade o f
Jamaica and the other English islands. Until about 1690 molasses was
entirely wasted in Jamaica; but they at length learned from the Barba­
dians to convert it into rum. The northern colonies, at first, took all that
wras made in the English islands; hut they soon learned to make it so
well, that it answered better to send to England, and the price was raised
so high, that thenceforth scarcely any o f it was taken by New England.
This put the latter upon the manufacture herself, to effect which she was
obliged to import molasses from the French islands. Until this time, these
had wasted their molasses, as the Jamaicans used to, not being permitted
to make it into rum, on account o f the interference this would occasion
with the sale, in the islands and elsewhere, of French brandies.
Under the stimulus communicated by this Commerce, and the industry
o f their inhabitants, the French islands started forward with unexampled
strides of prosperity. In 1726 the French government had the wisdom to
allow the exportation o f their products direct to other parts of Europe;
while England still forced a double voyage upon the shipments from her
islands for Europe. A t about the same time, England had begun to feel
the effect o f the development of her enemy’s colonies in the limitation of
the demand for her own colonial sugar. The French rapidly excluded her
from the markets she had before almost totally supplied, and in a few
years she was almost limited to the supply o f her own immediate con­
sumption, even Ireland depending upon the vessels o f the northern colo­
nies instead of the English vessels.
According to the tables o f the Ahh'e Raynal, the produce o f the French
part of Hispaniola was, about 1730, o f more value than that o f all the
English islands, and of eighteen times the amount of that of Cuba. The
exports o f Martinico amounted to 600,000/. sterling. In 1742 the former
produced 848,000 cwt. of sugar; and the latter, with the other French
islands, 622,500 cwt., a total of 1,470,500 cwt.
The Dutch colonies at Surinam, Essequibo, and in the Archipelago, had
also prospered in a remarkable manner, greatly augmenting their products
of sugar, molasses, and rum.
The decline o f their trade with the northern colonies, and the loss o f
their European markets, very materially affected the prosperity o f the
English islands. N o trading communities are so susceptible to influences
of this kind as are sugar-planting countries. Their productions fell off,
and the population o f some o f them diminished. O f the trade remaining
with the northern colonies, the character was materially changed. Instead
o f taking the products of the islands altogether in payment of the neces­
saries furnished them, as formerly, the North Americans demanded, and
for about half their sales received specie, and either returned with this, or
proceeded to the French islands and bought with it their productions.
The total product of sugar in the British islands, about 1730, was
85,000 hhds., or 1,020,000 cwt., o f which Great Britain herself consumed




668

Commerce o f the United States.

840,000 cwt. Her annual import from Jamaica alone was, in the average
of the years 1730-4, per year 539,420/.; and her export thither, 147,675^.
To all her sugar colonies her yearly export was about 240,000/. In 1742
she imported from her islands 60,950 hhds. sugar, and the export to the
other colonies was 5,000 more— a total of 65,950 hhds., or 791,400 cwt.
The total re-exportation from England in 1742 was but 60,000 cwt.*
Alarmed by the decline of their interests, the British islands, which had
complained of the trade of New England with the French islands so early
as 1715, united in 1731 in an urgent appeal to the home government for
the repression of this illicit intercourse. The matter was referred to the
examination of the ever-watchful Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plan­
tations, who, viewing the whole condition o f the whole colonial empire,
endorsed the complaints o f the sugar planters. The subject was also
freely discussed in Parliament. On the part of the planters, was repre­
sented as the effects o f the irregularity, the lamentable decay of their in­
terests, the advance of the foreign islands, the enhanced price o f negroes
thereby occasioned, the use of French manufactures by the northern colo­
nies in lieu of British, &c.
The continental provinces were assumed to be only beneficial to Eng­
land, as the sources whence the sugar colonies were to derive their chief
supplies of certain necessary articles, to effect which result their trade in
that quarter must be confined to the said islands. They must be merely
attendants upon the concerns of the sugar growers. The colonies for
whom this position was proposed, with their advocates, replied, that all
the products o f the British islands were taken off by Great Britain and the
continental colonies ; that the British islands could not supply the great
amount of molasses and rum required in the fisheries and Indian trade o f
the northern colonies; and that if the trade with the French islands were
cut off or heavily taxed, these pursuits could not possibly be maintained;
that the Indian trade alone, by its consumption of British manufactures,
furnished employment to a larger number of persons in Great Britain than
the whole interest o f the sugar islands could d o ; that these colonies gave
employment in their trade to ten British ships for every one employed by
the sugar islands; that if debarred from the trade to the foreign islands,
the colonies would suffer the loss o f employment for several thousand tons
o f shipping; that the French islands would still obtain provisions and
lumber from the Louisiana and Florida settlements, which would thus be
rapidly built up, to the danger o f the English colonies, and horses from the
Dutch Island of Curacoa, or mules from Mexico or New Andalusia; that
the loss of the profits from the French trade, hitherto remitted to Great
Britain, must further limit their use o f British manufactures; that the
measure would lead to a great increase o f French shipping, as they would
then transport all their molasses and rum to Europe. Finally, it would
give an unfair and dangerous monopoly to the British sugar planters, and
would enable them to advance enormously the prices of their products.
The reason of the embarrassment of the British islands, they said, in­
stead of the causes alleged, was simply the notorious indolence and extrav• It may be mentioned, as showing the greater cost o f retaining possession of, and msntaining
quiet within the British West Indies, over the continental colonies, that while the latter were left to
their own resources usually, Jamaica had eight companies o f king’ s troops stationed there, and six
forts, and Barbadoes had twenty-one forts and twenty-six batteries, mounting four hundred and
sixty-three pieces of cannon.




A Statistical View o f the State o f Illinois.

669

agance of the planters; while the prosperity o f the French and Dutch
islands was attributable to the industry and frugality o f their inhabitants,
together with a lower rate of taxes.
They predicted the failure o f any expectations of benefit to either Great
Britain or her sugar colonies from restricting the Commerce of the other
portion of her provincial dominions.

A rt. II.— A STATISTICAL V IEW OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
N U M B ER I.
GENERAL

ASPECT— CEN TRAL

P O S IT IO N O P

S T A T E S — COM PARED W IT H O T H E R

r-

IS L A N D A N D SO U T H

IL L IN O IS — T E R R IT O R IA L

EXTENT

OF

SEVEN

LARO EST

S T A T E S A N D E U R O P E A N C O U N T R IE S — M A N U F A C T U R E S OP R H O D E

C A R O L IN A C O M P A R E D — M IS S IS S I P P I V A L L E Y — R IV E R S — T E M P E R A T U R E — A L T AN*

T A O E S O F L O C A T IO N OF I L L I N O I S , E T C ., E T C .

v

T he United States, occupying the middle portion of North America,
and stretching across the continent 2,900 miles, and containing 3,260,000
square miles, is divided into three distinct regions, the Atlantic slope, the
Valley of the Mississippi, which may be considered as extending from the
Alleghanies to the lofty summits o f the Rocky Mountains, and the transmontane, or country lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
ocean. In these grand divisions, considered without reference to the
North or South, there is every variety of soil, climate, production and
scenery— magnificent rivers, great inland seas, inexhaustible agricultural
and mineral resources, and all the elements o f national wealth, indepen­
dence and greatness. The Confederacy enjoys, by an extended coast of
about 3,000 miles on the East and South, every facility for commercial
intercourse with Europe, Mexico and the Atlantic States of South America,
and by a sea-coast of something over 1,500 miles on the Pacific, like
facilities of free intercourse with Asia and all that portion of the globe.
Commercial men esteem it a settled question that the largest part of what
has been known for so many ages as the Eastern trade, will be diverted to
our western shore and across the continent through the United States.
The rapid settlement of California and Australia, with their increasing
commercial relations, and those o f all the countries lying on both sides of
the Pacific, taken in connection with the onward progress o f improve­
ments in this country, lead unerringly to this conclusion. It is difficult to
estimate the advantages which will accrue to the United States from such
a trade, and the splendid destiny of a country with such vast resources,
and by whose enlightened policy every quarter of the globe is made to
contribute to its substantial wealth, advancement and prosperity.
The State o f Illinois is in the centre, or I should rather say is centrally
situated in this wide-spread country, and from the peculiar advantages of
her position enjoys the trade of an immense region, and free, easy and
natural means o f communication with almost every part of the Union.
Her north-eastern boundary for fifty miles is upon Lake Michigan, which
gives her a valuable trade with the Lake country o f the North and the
Canadas, and the means of communicating through the Saint Lawrence
with all the world.
As a physical section Illinois occupies the lower section of an inclined




670

A Statistical View o f the State o f Illinois.

plane of which Lake Michigan and both its shores are the higher sections.
This plane, falling off from its upper sections, embraces much the larger
part of the State o f Indiana. The lowest section of the plain is at Cairo,
which is 340 feet above tide-water in the Gulf o f Mexico. The extreme
arable elevation o f the State may be stated as 800 feet above tide-water,
and the mean hight o f 550 feet. The periphery o f the State is 1,160
miles, two-thirds o f which is made by navigable streams. Her greatest
length, which is on the meridian line o f Cairo, is 378 miles, and her great­
est width, which occurs on the parallel o f Danville, is 212 miles, and she
contains area of 55,405 square miles. This gives her, as to territorial ex­
tent, the eighth rank among the States of the Union. The seven larger
States a re:—
Square
miles.

Virginia, whose area is.............
Georgia....................................
Florida.......................................
Missouri.....................................

61,852
58,000
59,268
67,380

Square
miles.

IMichigan .................................
|California...................................
I Texas.......................................
j

66,243
188.981
237,321

She is more than forty-two times larger than Rhode Island, and is but
10,720 square miles less in extent than the six Hew England States. She
is then, one of the first States of our government in size, and will occupy
among those States a more prominent position when California shall have
been divided, of which there is very little doubt, and when five new States
have been erected out o f the domain of Texas, for which provision was
made in the joint resolutions of annexation. Her influence in the national
councils will always be felt— a leading State, her voice will always be
heard with interest and respect.
Considered with reference to European powers, she has 5,018 square
miles more of territory than England, is equal in extent to the united ter­
ritories of Holland, Belgium and Portugal, and is more than twice as large
as Denmark, including Holstein and Luneburgh. She only ceases to be
in extent a great empire when compared with such colossal powers as our
whole Union of States, Russia, France and governments of similar size.
But it has been well said, “ It is not the immense extent o f a territory,
happily, which constitutes the grandeur of a State ; for example, the Uni­
ted provinces o f Holland, after having thrown off the yoke of Philip II.,
the most powerful king of his age, sustained with advantage a contest
against Louis X IV ., and having conquered vast distant provinces, has
since given a new7 destiny and high prosperity to a small kingdom. See
also England, who started out with a territory o f less than 150,000 kilom .:
(square) and now rules over millions.”
This fact is so well established as scarcely to justify being illustrated,
but the remarkable results which have been obtained by the indomitable
enterprise and industry o f the people in an inhospitable climate and upon
a flinty soil, as contrasted with those obtained in a genial climate and on
a generous soil, will justify the introduction o f the following facts as to
the States of Rhode Island and South Carolina, and settle beyond a cavil
or a doubt the true grounds upon which a state must rely for its greatness.
The manufactures of Rhode Island are more valuable than the manufac­
tures and cotton of South Carolina. Thus—
Rhode Island manufactures...............................................
South Carolina
“
...............................................
South Carolina raises cotton to value of............................




$8,640,626
2,248,915
4,628,270

A Statistical View o f the State o f Illinois.

671

The population o f Rhode Island is but 147,545, while that o f South
Carolina is 668,507. The area o f Rhode Island is but 1,306 square miles,
while that o f South Carolina is 29,000 !
Illinois is traversed by no ranges o f hills or mountains, and is, with the
two exceptions of Delaware and Louisiana, the most level of the United
States. The southern portion, however, is hilly, and there are many high
and abrupt bluffs upon the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Prairies are
not so numerous or extensive east of the Mississippi as west, south of the
Ohio as north, but Illinois is emphatically a Prairie State. There is but
one prairie west o f the Mississippi larger than Grand Prairie in this State,
none of greater fertility. This prairie has its southern commencement in
Jackson county, and extends, varying in width from one to twelve miles,
north through the counties o f Perry, Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Fay­
ette, Effingham, Cumberland, Coles, Champaign and Iroquois, ★ here it
connects with the prairies that project east from the Illinois river. Prairie
is a French word signifying a meadow or pasture ground. In the West
they are divided into those that are flat and those that are rolling. The
soil o f both is deep, friable, and o f unexampled fertility. The flat present
in summer an expanse of green grass as boundless as the ocean, and the
effect is magnificent when the tall grass is bent to and fro by the winds.
Like all plains they are monotonous, and especially desolate and dreary
when covered with snow or blackened by recent conflagration. Their
aspect is varied and even picturesque, when there is a large growth of
uneven and scattered timber, following the streams that pass through
them, which creates the impression that there are inequalities of surface.
The rolling prairies as they spread out before you, in their vastness
resemble the waves of the ocean after a storm. .Between the “ swells,”
which vary in bight from twenty to sixty feet, there are sloughs, or sec­
tions o f wet and marshy grounds— when ditched a running stream is pro­
duced and the ground is ready for the plow. For the most part they are
interspersed with woodlands or solitary clumps o f trees, which give them
a diversified and beautiful appearance. They are covered during the
spring and summer with an endless variety of bright and beautiful flowers.
There have been many conjectures and theories as to the manner in which
the prairies were formed. The indications are very conclusive that Illinois
was once covered with water— was once the bottom of a great lake. The
writer o f the following lines has fallen, in my opinion, upon the true origin
o f the rich alluvions of the Mississippi valley and the contiguous prairies.”
“ There is no question that the richest soil in the United States is to be found
in the Mississippi valley. There is not, as in so many other cases, a thin cover­
ing over the clay, the sand, the gravel, the chalk or the rock, but the deposit of
ages, effected by the constant operation of mighty agencies. In some cases the
rich black mould is found as much as a hundred feet deep, and when turned up
is as light and free as the driven snow. The pedestrian as he walks over it can
in most instances sink his cane to the very head of it. Nor is it any wonder
that it should be found so deep, when we consider that the vast desert which
intervenes between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains has been gradually
despoiled, that this rich deposit should be made in the lower portions o f the
valley. The great trail which commencing some hundreds of miles to the west
of the river slopes gently up toward the mountains, has been gradually denuded
of its soil, nothing being now left upon it but the dry sand, through which the
rocks project as the bones sometimes protrude through the skin, the whole look­
ing like the cadaver of what was once a fertile region.”




672

A Statistical View o f the State o f Illinois.

The entire northern portion o f the State is composed of rolling prairies,
dispersed with timber. The State of Illinois has been divided and arranged
under three general heads: First, the alluvions of the rivers, which are
from one to eight miles in width, in some places elevated and in others
low and subject to inundation. They consist of an intermixture of wood
and prairie. The most remarkable o f these alluvions from its extent and
the depth of its soil is known as the American bottom, which name it de­
rived from having once been the western boundary of the United States.
It commences at the mouth of the Kaskaskia river and runs up the Missis­
sippi between 80 and 100 miles to the mouth of the Missouri. It is
bounded on the east by a continuous bluff varying in bight from 50 to
200 feet. Its area is 450 square miles, or 288,000 square acres. Along
the bank of the Mississippi there is a growth of timber, with an exceed­
ingly thick undergrowth from a half to two miles in width. Second;
after leaving the alluvions and the rising bluffs that bind them, there is a
tract of level country elevated from 50 to 100 feet, which is sometimes
called table land. The greater proportion of this is called prairie, which
is sometimes dry and at others wet and marshy, depending on the con­
vexity or concavity of the surface. Third ; the hilly and broken sections,
consisting of intermixtures of woods and prairies, the soil in places being
indifferent, as in portions of Fayette and Clark counties. Cook county
deserves to be mentioned in this connection, as it neither, properly speak­
ing, is prairie or alluvion, and does not come under the third general head
in the foregoing classification. It is more level than the genuine prairie,
less fertile, owing to the presence of large quantities o f sand, and resem­
bles the low districts or salt marshes on the sea-coast. The nature of the
soil and the traces left for some distance in the interior, have led to the
conclusion that the lake at no distant day swept over it. Though these
lands be not of equal fertility with others in the State, they have been
successfully reduced into cultivation and are highly productive.
The alluvions constitute a considerable part of the territory of the State,
as may be readily conjectured from the number of streams. It is a source
of regret that there is no sufficient data for ascertaining their exact extent,
but a tolerably correct idea will be derived from a view o f the large num­
ber of rivers in the State. Much of the largest o f these is the Illinois, an
Indian name signifying t h e r i v e r o f m e n . It is formed by the Des
Plaines and Kankakee some fifty miles southwest o f Chicago, and after
pursuing a course in this direction 500 miles empties into the Mississippi
25 miles above the mouth of the Missouri. The current below the mouth
o f the Vermillion is gentle, the bed is wide and deep, and the navigation
good during the whole summer. It spreads out into a beautiful lake called
Lake Peoria, about 200 miles from its mouth. The banks are uniformly
low to the mouth of Spoon river. The alluvions are bounded by high
bluffs consisting of perpendicular ledges of rocks from 200 to 300 feet in
hight.
It receives the Fox, Aux Sable, Little Vermillion rivers, and Crookedcreek and other streams o f less note from the north, and the Vermillion,
Mackinaw, Sangamon and other streams from the south.
The Fox river is a clear and beautiful stream which rises near Lake
Michigan and pursues a southwest course to the Illinois.
The Kankakee is a large and navigable stream, but near the.State line
it loses itself in a marsh.




A Statistical View o f the State o f Illiniois.

<573

llock river rises in Wisconsin and pursues a westerly course 300 miles,
emptying into the Mississippi 300 miles above the mouth of the Illinois.
It is a beautiful stream, and the lands upon it are very fertile.
The Kaskaskia is a large stream rising in the south-eastern part o f the
State, near the head waters o f the Embarras, and runs in a south-western
direction and enters the Mississippi about 100 miles above the Ohio. It
has numerous tributaries, o f which the principal are Lost, Crooked, Elkhorn and Plumb creeks, Fort river, Hurricane fork, Shoal, Sugar, Silver,
Richland and Horse creeks. The river is navigable 150 miles to Vandalia
in high water. Its banks and those of its tributaries are generally fertile.
The Little Wabash has a course o f 150 miles. The banks are very fertile,
but subject to excessive inundations. The country between it and Skillet
fork is particularly liable to inundation, and is in many places low and
marshy, so that the water remains upon it during the whole season. In
autumn the stream is very low and sluggish.
The Embarras River is a navigable stream, the banks of which are flat
and subject to inundation, but very fertile and heavily timbered. Spoon
River is a large and beautiful stream. The land on this river is high and
undulating, well watered, and handsomely diversified with timber and
prairie. It is considered one o f the most eligible sections in the northern
part of the State.
The Sangamon is a large stream, emptying into the Illinois, 130 miles
above its mouth. It is about 150 miles in length. The lands bordering
on it and its tributaries are uncommonly fertile.
The Big Muddy runs through a fine prairie country. It is navigable
about fifty miles, and empties-into the Mississippi about sixty miles above
its junction with the Ohio.
In addition to these streams, there are one hundred and ten or twenty
others not enumerated, whose banks are alluvial deposits. It is safe to
affirm that there is not in this country a territory o f similar extent and
equal fertility, nor is there on the face of the globe any like quantity of
land of greater resources. This fact will be fully demonstrated in a future
number, by a reference to its productions, agricultural and mineral.
Lying between latitudes 37 deg. and 42 deg. 30 min. north, and longi­
tudes 87 deg. 49 min. and 91 deg. 28 min. from Greenwich, Illinois has a
climate differing with the different parts of the State. Every flat country
is subject to extremes of temperature, unless it be surrounded by modify­
ing circumstances. This is the case with Illinois. The causes which op­
erate to correct the extremes o f weather in the State are two great ranges
o f mountains on either side o f the Mississippi Valley and the chain of
lakes extending to the frozen regions o f the North.
In a State of such size, stretching through five degrees of latitude, there
is a wide difference between the climate of the north and south. In south­
ern Illinois the climate is exceedingly mild and pleasant, except for a short
time in summer, when the sun is very powerful and the heat extremely
enervating. Fruits, wines, and almost every production of the soil which
delights in a warm climate, flourish here.
In middle Illinois the climate
is delightful, owing to the exhilarating breezes which prevail during the
whole summer from the northwest. During the most oppressive weather
of the summer, the nights are cool and bracing— the thermometer sinking
at night to sixty deg. and frequently below, when during the day it has
stood as high as 96 deg. and 100 deg.

VOL. xxxi,— no. vi.




43

674

A Statistical View o f the State o f Illinois.

The following results, drawn from three years’ observations made upon
the state of the thermometer near the center o f the State, furnish
a correct idea o f the temperature through the entire year for this re­
gion :—
Mean temperature for the 1st year.............................................
“
“
2dy e a r ..............................................
“
“
3dy e a r ...............................................

55° 62'
56° 98'
56° IS'
56J

Mean temperature for the three years.....................................

MEAN TEMPERATURE FOR EACH MONTH DURING THE ABOVE YEARS :----

January....
February...
March . . . .
April...........

30°
38°
43°
58°

62'
65'
13'
47'

M ay ...
J u n e..
Ju ly...
August

62°
74°
78°
72°

66'
47'
66'
88'

September...
October.........
November . . .
D ecem ber....

THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT W IL L SHOW THE ANNUAL RANGE

OF

THE

70°
59°
53°
34°

10'
00'
63'
33'

THERMOM­

ETER : —

1st year--Lowest. •• • 5° below zero.
2d year—-Lowest. . . . 8° below zero.
3d year--Lowest. . . . 6° below zero.

Highest.. .
Highest. . . .
Highest.. .

101°
96°
100°

Range.. . .
Range. . . .
Range. . . .

96°
88°
94°

THE AYEEAGE MONTHLY RANGE DURING THESE YEARS IS AS FOLLOWS :----

Deg.

Deg.

January.
February
March . .
A pril . . .
May . . . .
June . . .

..
..

..

3 to 59
74
6
73
83
89
43
94

Range.
tt
tt
u

“
tt

..
..
..
..
..
..

56
68
57
51
46
42

Deg.

Deg.

J u ly ....... .
August.......
Sept............
October. . . .
November...
December.

61 to 99
59
96
40
92
24
81
37
78
19
63

Range.. .
tt
tt
tt
tt
tt

38
37
50
57
41
44

THE MEAN TEMPERATURE OF THE DIFFERENT SEASONS IS AS FOLLOWS :----

Winter.................................
Spring..................................

34° 53' I Summer.................................
54° 74' |Autumn.................................

75° 34'
60° 77'

The winter generally commences about the middle o f December, and
continues till the middle of February. In the same latitude, west o f the
Alleghanies, the climate is milder than it is east. In the winters o f 1819
and 1820, the Mississippi at St. Louis was covered with ice for two months;
but this is very unusual. In the winters o f 1851, 1852, 1853, and 1854,
it was covered over, but not during the winter.
In northern Illinois, the springs are wet and disagreeable, the summers
pleasant, the autumns excellent, but the "winters extremely cold. There is
not, during the winter, a great fall o f snow ; nor is it the extremity o f the
cold which makes the weather so disagreeable, but the perpetual winds
which blow from almost every quarter over the open country. The winds,
when from the lake, can be borne; but from the prairies, they are icy,
freezing, merciless.
The following meteorological observations, taken in Hancock county,
during three years, give the following large proportion o f fair, to rainy
days:—
Pair days.

First year.................................
Second year..............................
Third y ea r...............................

246
250
229

Cloudy.

74
67
98

Rainy.

42
43
48

Snow.

3
5
10

W ith such a display o f figures, it ceases to be remarkable that this
climate is regarded as one of the mildest and most agreeable in the north­
ern portion of the country.




Progress o f Population in the United States.

675

About the middle o f October or first o f November, the Indian summer
commences, and continues from fifteen to twenty days. During this sea­
son the weather is dull and cheerless, the atmosphere is smoky, and the
sun and moon are sometimes almost totally obscured.
Notwithstanding, then, the varieties of her climate— its severity during
the winter at the north, and the enervating heat of the summer at the
south— Illinois may be regarded as having one of the most desirable and
favored climates o f the States in the Union.
W ith all the advantages of her fine situation— an empire in extent—
the richest portion o f the richest country in the world— with navigable
streams on every border, and penetrating her remotest sections— rapidly
increasing her population with an industrious, enterprising, and educated
class o f citizens— can any one doubt her future position o f empire in that
great valley fated to control the destinies o f our republic ?

A rt. III.— PROGRESS OF POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.

THE CENSUS OF

1850,

BEING THE SEVENTH DECENNIAL ENUMERATION

UNDER THE CONSTITUTION.

T h is census differs from every other which preceded it in one important
particular. Hitherto the population had been distributed into classes, ac­
cording to age, sex, and race, by the officers who took the census, but by
the act of Congress for taking the seventh census, the census-taker was
required to return each individual by name, with his or her sex, age,
color, occupation, <tc., and left the classification to be made at the seat of
government, in the office of the Secretary of the Interior.
This mode was recommended by its promise o f greater accuracy, and
by its affording materials for additional classes of the individual citizens,
according to other points o f similarity. It has, however, been found to be
attended with the disadvantages of adding largely to the expense, hnd of
requiring a much longer time to complete a digest of the returns. These
objections, wdiich, if not obviated, must acquire additional force at each
succeeding census, have given rise to a doubt whether the certain inconve­
niences of the new mode do not outweigh its presumed benefits.
The act also greatly enlarged the field o f inquiry. It appointed a Cen­
sus Board which had the power o f prescribing the objects of inquiry, not
exceeding one hundred. In the exercise o f its authority, this Board aug­
mented the number o f agricultural items from twenty-nine to forty-five. It
required a valuation of each person’s lands, improved and unimproved, and
o f their implements and machinery; the annual taxes levied in each dis­
trict ; the number o f aliens, with the places o f their nativity; o f paupers;
of convicted criminals; o f church establishments, with the property o f
each; and of the public libraries ; and, lastly, it aimed at copious details
of medical statistics— as the number o f deaths within the year preceding
the census, the age and color o f each person deceased, and the disease o f
which he died. Though this part o f the census is not to be relied on,
from the incompetency or carelessness of most o f those from whom the
census-takers received their information, the seventh census, on the whole,
furnishes the materials for a greater stock o f statistical information than




676

Progress o f Population in the United States.

has probably ever been afforded in a country containing more than twenty
millions of people.
The decennial increase in 1850, by multiplication and the accession of
Texas, New Mexico, and California, was—
Of the whole population.....................
Of the whites.......................................
Of the free colored...............................
Of the slaves.......................................

23,191,876
19,553,068
434,495
3,204,313

35.87 per cent.
37.74
12.47
“
28.82
“

The distribution o f the different classes under this census, compared
with that o f 1840, was as follows:—
The whites amounted t o ..............
The free colored.............................
The slaves.....................................

In 1840.

In 1850.

83.16 percent.
2.26
“
14.58
“

84.32 percent.
1.87
“
13.81
“

The result of the census of 1850, as to the population o f each State and
Territory, distributed according to age and sex, white or colored, bond or
free, may be seen in the four following tables :—
W H IT E POPULATION IN

States and

Territories.
Maine......................
New Hampshire . . .
Vermont..................
Massachusetts........
Khode Island..........
Connecticut............
New Y ork ..............
New Jersey............
Pennsylvania..........
Delaware................
Maryland................
District of Columbia
Virginia..................
North Carolina........
South Carolina.......
Georgia...................
Florida...................
Alabama................
Mississippi..............
Louisiana...............
Texas......................
Arkansas................
Tennessee...............
Kentucky................
Missouri..................
Illinois....................
Indiana..................
O hio........................
Michigan.................
Wisconsin................
Iow a .......................
California................
Minnesota...............
Oregon....................
U tah........................
New Mexico...........




1850,

CLASSEb ACCORDING! TO AGE AND SEX.

Under 1.
males.
females.

7,041
3,057
3,345
11,527
1,740
3,851
38,090
6,401
31,929
983
6,059
493
12,026
8,171
3,313
7,894
651
6,2S9
4,464
3,467
2,437
2,817
11,679
12,035
10,044
13,546
16,344
28,488
5,462
5,279
3,141
148
66
161
220
639
273,307

6,915
3,030
8,226
11,463
1,804
3,649
37,125
6,436
31,017
970
5,962
506
11,715
7,680
3,139
7,271
646
5,927
4,209
3,421
2,326
2,655
11,247
11,528
9,529
12,995
15,636
27,707
5,362
5,124
2,952
122
102
149
212
694

1 and under 5.
females.

males.
31,497
13,660
15,623
45,460
6,939
16,190
162,659
26,444
131,268
4,191
24,309
2,081
57,266
35,721
17,973
37,844
3,365
30,241
22,045
15,380
11,133
12,441
52,801
52,441
41,124
58,383
68,294
127,036
25,016
20,845
14,302
840
888
902
871
3,773

30,161
13,247
15,366
44,544
6,844
15,908
159,831
25,687
185,990
4,120
24,037
1,964
55,190
34,080
17,084
36,698
8,139
28,983
20,689
14.907
10,638
11,944
50,780
50,140
39,466
56,436
65,613
123,348
23,775
20,045
13,850
784
363
835
863
3,792

5 and under 10.
males.
females.

37,765
17,379
19,437
54,148
7,589
19,292
187,834
30,614
157,099
5,036
27,558
2,451
66,363
40,793
20,589
42,642
8,811
34,205
24,404
16,931
12,277
13,476
60,471
59,604
46,356
66,392
79,563
145,958
30,384
21,765
15,864
1,080
363
907
696
4,402

36,580
16,833
18,640
50,697
7,611
19,052
184,305
89.081
154,424
4,882
27,016
2,466
63,809
39,407
19,988
41,118
3,647
38,485
23,495
16,274
11,317
12,912
58,416
57,315
44,606
63,513
76,369
141,724
28,847
20,432
15,095
1,011
356
934
668
4,325

264,354 1,198,746 1,160,051 1,372,438 1,331,690

Progress o f Population in the United States.
States and
Territories.
M a in e ............................
N e w H a m p sh ire . . .
V e r m o n t .....................
M a s s a ch u s e tts ..........
.Rhode is la n d ............
C o n n e c t ic u t ...............
N e w Y o r k .................
N e w J e r s e y ...............
P e n n s v lv a n ia .............
D e la w a r e ....................
M a ry la n d ....................
D is trict o f C olu m b ia
V ir g i n i a ......................
N o rth C arolina..........
S ou th C a r o liu a ..........
G e o r g i a .......................
F l o r i d a ........................
A la b a m a .....................
M ississip p i..................
L o u is ia n a ....................
T e x a s ...........................
A r k a n s a s ....................
T e n n e s s e e ...................
K e n tu ck y ________ _
M is s o u r i......................
I l l i n o i s ........................
In d ia n a ....................
O h i o .............................
M ic h ig a n .....................
W isco n sin ....................
I o w a .............................
C a lifo r n ia ...................
M in n esota ....................
O r e g o n ..........................
U t a h .............................
N e w M e x ic o ...............

10 and under 15.
males.
females.

36,408
17,426
18,485
49,129
7,365
19,373
170,053
28,213
138,633
4,581
25,307
2,156
59.955
37,577
.18,842
37,075
3,077
30,145
21,105
14,103
10,346
11,930
54,444
51,610
40,589
58,559
68,240
128,101
25,491
17,571
13,172
1,134
209
717
683
3,678

35.18S
16.S44
17,609
48,634
7,37S
18,534
167,472
26,913
133,258
4,342
24,608
2,235
57,485
35,722
18,132
35,674
2,812
29,059
20,081
13,857
9,466
11,178
51,825
49,454
38,673
54,301
64,447
123,632
24,040
16,375
12,137
813
263
692
685
3,187

15 and under 20.
males.
females.

33,352
16,920
17,480
48,868
7,172
18,527
157,151
24,294
116,773
3,814
20,767
1,829
47,638
30,178
14,732
28,497
2,338
24,548
15,847
10,620
7,836
9,059
43,870
42,115
32,250
46,959
55,477
107,689
21,216
14,522
9,961
4,569
225
677
659
3,187

33,439
18,821
16,778
55,044
7,828
19,486
171,592
25,706
124,483
3,954
22,461
2 ,220

50,015
31,777
15,530
30,OSS
2,412
25,215
16,157
12,498
8,073
8,990
45,094
42,801
32,299
45,739
55,196
111,126
21,238
14,217
10,134
877
231
525
666
3,833

677#

20 and under 30.
males.
females.

51,456
28,232
27,431
101,306
14.652
35,239
308,816
42,193
209,438
6,354
40,164
3,523
77,492
46,618
23,474
44,873
4,778
36,360
27,164
30,729
16,454
15,193
64,089
69,673
6S,245
79,465
86,785
178,777
36,186
31,922
16,702
44,770
1,154
2,375
1,264
6,326

48,279
28,948
25,661
107,856
15,192
35,050
308,392
43,152
206,801
6,335
38,173
3,950
77,559
49,630
23,833
43,527
3,727
35,732
23,630
24,569
12,811
13,238
64,537
64,506
40,952
70,679
80,349
168,373
32,491
26,366
15,646
1,597
565
S02
891
6,270

1,225,575 1,176,554- 1,041,116 1,087,600 1,869,092 1,758,469
States and
Territories.
M a in e ............................
N e w H a m p sh ire . . .
V e r m o n t .....................
M a s s a ch u s e tts ..........
R h o d e I s la n d ............
C o n n e c t ic u t ...............
N e w Y o r k ..................
New J e r s e y ................
P e n n s y lv a n ia .............
D e la w a r e .....................
M a r y la n d ....................
D istrict o f C olu m b ia
V i r g i n i a ......................
N orth C a r o lin a ..........
S o u th C a r o lin a .........
G e o r g i a .......................
F lo r id a ..........................
A l a b a m a .....................
M is siss ip p i..................
L o u is ia n a ....................
T e x a s ...........................

Arkansas................




30 and under 40.
males.
females.

35,935
19,558
19,766
72,540
10,335
25,078
216,542
30,181
144,039
4.605
29,460
2,679
51,451
29,340
15,534
28,062
3,558
21,862
19,061
27,451
12,117
10,043

33,606
20,222

19,262
70,002
10,191
24,251
197,333
28,151
133,072
4,481
26,685
2,599
49,907
31,753
15,273
25.534
2,347
21,057
14,216
15,054
7,353
7,420

40 and under 50.
males.
females.

27,436
15,837
15,860
47,696
6,686
17,902
144,496
20,S87
97,558
3,106
18,740
1,647
36,105
20,315
10,573
18,830
2.076
15,976
11,378
13,829
6,939
6,056

25,802
16,445
15,212
47,612
7,005
18,190
128,561
19,631
89,451
2,948
17,414
1,633
34,756
21,922
10,603
17,403
1,410
13,721
8,776
7,529
4,366
4,501

50 and under 00.
males.
females.

17,644
11,299
10,679
28,340
4,047
11,845
85,440
12,796
68,632
1,713
10,647
995
22,631
13.0S4
6,895
10,891
1,269
9,842
6,667
5,639
3,452
3,041

17,460
12.372
10,397
81,293
4,665
18,436
78,911
13,039
55,919
1,805
10,802
1,056
22,258
14,316
6,778
10,125
810
7,842
4,742
3,637
2,117
2,186

*678

Progress o f Population in the United States.

States and
Territories.

Tennessee.............
Kentucky.............
Missouri................
Illinois..................
Indiana................
O hio...................... .
Michigan..............
Wisconsin..............
Iow a.....................
California..............
Minnesota..............
Oregon........ *........
Utah......................
New Mexico..........

30 and under 40.
males.
females.

40 and under 50.
males.
females.

38,947

25,541
28,587
23,540
34,389
35,213
80,204
19,412
14,345
7,784
7,536
290
583
513
2,407

25,860
25,376
18,170
27,683
32,010
70,128
14,809
10,428
5,968
453
131
274
404
1,981

16,269
16,995
12,481
19,119
23,538
43,362
10,356
7,634
4,115
2,029
129
307
221
1,627

14,950
15,142
9,594
14,709
18,501
42,520
7,712
5,567
3,026
182
53
119
204
1,243

840,222

748,,566

498,660

45S1,511

41,006
57,178
57,445
120,612
28,120
26,086
13,613
21,460
720
3,949

38,361
38,672
30.761
45,248
49,853
107,098
23,032
18,638
10,451
986
251
546
598
3.293

1,288,682 1,128,257
States and
Territories.
M a in e ............................
N e w H a m p sh ire . . .
V e r m o n t .....................
M a s s a ch u s e tts ..........
K h od e I s la n d ............
C o n n e c tic u t ...............
N e w Y ork ..............
N e w J e r s e y ...............
P e n n s y lv a n ia ............
D e la w a r e ....................
M a ry lan d .....................
D istrict o f C olu m b ia
V ir g in ia .......................
N orth C a r o lin a ..........
S ou th C a r o lin a .........
G e o r g ia ........................
F l o r i d a ........................
A la b a m a .....................
M ississip p i...................
L o u is ia n a ....................
T e x a s ...........................
A r k a n s a s ....................
T e n n e s s e e ...................
K e n t u c k y ...................
M is s o u r i......................
I l l i n o i s .........................
In d ia n a .........................
O h i o .............................
M ic h ig a n .....................
W is c o n s in ...................
I o w a ..............................
C a lifo r n ia ....................
M in n e s o t a ...................
O r e g o n .........................
U t a h ............................
New M e x ic o ...............

States and
Territories.
M a in e............................
New H a m p sh ire . . .
V e r m o n t ....................
M a s sa ch u se tts ..........




60 and under 70.
males. females.

10,493
7,173
6,639
16,743
2,443
7,408
45.927
7,254
31,814
881
5,429
464
12,724
7,169
3,659
6,202
544
4,544
2,847
2,055
1.212
1,304
8,687
8,904
5,206
7,969
10,395
27,462
4,804
3,201
1,631
388
39
108
100
1,010

70 and under 80.
males. females.

10,230
8,169
6,720
69,807
2,967
8,978
43,920
7,705
32,224
1,005
6,008
537
12,711
8,407
3,809
5,508
376
3,795
2,246
1,678
840
902
8,234
8,616
4,212
6,441
8,846
23,224
3,775
2,339
1,261
69
23
40
94
684

5,224
5,247
3,905
4,556
3,521
3,554
7,784 10,003
1,050
1,510
3,698
4,754
19,947 19,264
3,126
3,454
13,188 13,869
373
440
2,161
2,631
208
133
5,548
5,914
3,383
3,858
1,547
1,825
■ 2,447
2,329
188
125
1,822
1,580
968
860
621
573
365
231
414
278
4,006
3,797
3,994
3,620
1,631
1,340
2,527
2,050
3,672
3,091
10,790
9,157
1,593
1,200
886
653
463
369
64
19
17
3
16
5
31
22
313
259

264,742 256,480

111,416 112,648

100 Sc. upw’ds. Age unknown.
males, females, m.
fe.

9
5
4
4

4
613
6
28
4
26
9 1,016

207
24
11
177

50 and under 60.
males.
females.

80 Sc. under 90. 90 Sc, u. J00.
males. females. m.
fe.

1,683
1,320
1,226
2,335
319
1,174
5,709
888
3,344
76
508
35
1,659
1,054
494
725
40
479
228
126
81
69
1,231
1,188
373
504
871
2,667
317
177
97
15
3
3
1
194

1,760
1,731
1,165
3,420
489
1,661
5,877
1,143
4,035
109
749
52
1,819
1,136
623
797
37
490
225
149
63
82
1,168
1,156
316
434
796
2,349
239'
127
68
8
2
3
125

149
151
116
197
88
109
618
72
335
9
63
5
228
135
78
119
5
103
35
30
9
7
180
177
50
55
144
306
42
5
15
6
2
1

180
251
139
393
48
202
718
122
406
15
114
8
289
216
133
149
8
84
32
29
13
13
196
180
37
54
129
268
25
13
9
2

59

28

1

31,243 34,403 :3,653 4i,499

Total
males.

Total
females.

Grand
total.

296,745
155,960
159,658
484,093

285,068
161,496
153,744
501,357

581 ,813
317 ,456
313,402
9S5,450

Progress o f Population in the United States.
States and
Territories.

Rhode Island..........
Connecticut............
New Y ork..............
New Jersey.............
Pennsylvania..........
Delaware................
Maryland...............
District of Columbia
Virginia..................
North Carolina.......
South Carolina.......
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabama.................
Mississippi..............
Louisiana................
Texas..................
Arkansas.................
Tennessee...............
Kentucky...............
Missouri.................
Illinois....................
Indiana....................
O hio.......................
Michigan................
Wisconsin................
Iow a.......................
California...............
Minnesota................
Oregon....................
Utah.......................
Hew Mexico............

100 & upw’da.

679

^ge unknown.
males, females. m.
fe.

Total
males.

Total
females.

Grand
total.

3
15
2
194
29 1 174
6
85
31
664
24
%■
10
8
0
3
35
156
43
69
24
39
27
104
1
4
10
57
11
67
12
253
12
170
4
18
34
112
31
108
11
80
5
489
8
17tf
22
349
2
61
1
112
1
27
669

27
..
1

70,340
179,884
1 544,489
233,452
1 142,734
35,746
211,187
18,494
451,300
273,025
137,747
266,233
25,705
219,483
156,287
141,243
84,869
85,874
382,235
392,804
312,987
445,544
503,178
1 004,117
208,465
164,351
100,887
84,708
3,695
8,138
6,020
31,725

70,535
183,215
1,603,836
232,057
1,115,426
35,423
206,756
19,447
443,500
280,003
136,816
255,339
21,498
207,031
139,431
114,248
69,165
76,315
374,601
368,609
279,017
400,490
470,976
950,933
186,606
140,405
90,904
6,927
2,343
4,949
5,310
29,800

143,875
363,099
3 048,325
405,509
2 258,160
71,169
417,943
37,941
894,800
553,028
274,563
521,572
47,203
426,514
295,718
255,491
154,034
162,189
756,836
761,413
592,004
846,034
977,154
1 955,050
395,071
304,756
191,881
91,635
6,038
13,087
11,330
61,525

430 7 153 3,154

10 026,402

.
4
33
4
20

7
0
28
18
58
28
1
10
7
9
11
6
28
28
12
10
18
23
5
1

.

62
510
71
446
14
6
14
128
57
42
94
1
41
62
41
19
12
102
72
51
303
132
257
59
80
27
4

38
...

19
357

21

142

9,526,666 19 553,068

IN 1850.
under 5
5 and under 10.

FREE COLORED POPULATION

States and
Territories.

Maine...................
New Hampshire ..
Vermont................
Massachusetts . . . .
Rhode Island........
Connecticut..........
New Y ork ............
New Jersey..........
Pennsylvania........
Delaware..............
Maryland..............
District of Columbia
Virginia................
North Carolina.. . .
South Carolina.. . .
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabama..............
Mississippi.............
Louisiana...............
Texas ....................
Arkansas................
Tennessee..............
Kentucky...............




Under 1,
males. females.

26
7
15
85
37
74
582
361
637
271
1,017
125
695
412
77
44
9
20
8
191

..

6
81
101

13
7
8
114
29
72
539
358
748
271
998
125
717
385
78
30
16
29
6
213
2
5
83
141

1 and

males.

64
22
41
409
164
350
2 213
1,302
2 897
i 145
4 422
523
3 403
1 812
571
178
55
143
58
910
27
42
418
545

emales.

59
23
25
440
159
360
2,390
1,395
2,911
1,140
4,502
511
3,288
1,837
541
165
54
143
61
931
24
39
423
530

males.

83
30
42
459
197
434
2,666
1,484
3,286
1,391
4,950
657
3,924
2,138
695
221
70
160
57
1,188
38
35
483
673

10 and under 15.
females, males

75
22
34
498
194
412
2,800
1,579
3,417
1,361
5,131
662
3,911
2,067
712
202
89
144
53
1,182
27
31
501
648

83
24
44
428
159
397
2,607
1,498
2,900
1,232
4,516
534
3,633
1,907
653
203
62
147
56
1,059
25
37
440
501

64
23
30
433
184
411
2,619
1,421
3,121
1,146
4,582
614
3,609
1,816
634
180
55
154
60
1,034
19
36
407
539

680

Progress o f Population in the United States.

States and
Territories.
Missouri................
Illinois..................
Indiana..................
Ohio ....................
Michigan..............
Wisconsin..............
Iow a......................
California..............
Minnesota...............
Oregon ..................
Utah......................
New Mexico..........

Under 1.
1 and under 5.
males. females.. males. females.

28
65
155
319
35
6
3
2

.
. ,

..
, ,

.

**

Total..................

5,576

States and
h Territories.
Maine....................
New Hampshire . .
Vermont................
Massachusetts . . . .
Rhode Island........
Connecticut..........
New T o r k ............
New Jersey...........
Pennsylvania.........
Delaware..............
Maryland...............
District of Columbia
Virginia................
North Carolina . . .
South Carolina . . .
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabam a..............
Mississippi............
Louisiana...............
Texas ....................
Arkansas..............
Tennessee..........
Kentucky..............
Missouri................
Illinois..................
Indiana...................
O h io......................
Michigan................
Wisconsin..............
Iow a......................
California...........
Minnesota..............
Oregon..................
Utah......................
New Mexico..........
Total...................

31
75
161
370
39
15
3
1

143
329
737
1,493
175

..

.,

23
4

18
1
1

13
1

136
376
867
1,793
176
S i >
50
29
21
1
4

110
312
823
1,572
133
25
17
11
3
9
1

143
371
915
1,811
169
32
28
5
2
19
1

122
343
765
1,613
122
37
20
20
3
11
1

5,600 24,743 24,902 28,806 29,246 26,061 26,247

35 and under 20.
males. females.

69
22
28
381
153
361
2,045
1,174
2,397
1,033
3,396
394
2,637
1,520
395
147
36
115
44
704
18
24
307
396
114
285
627
1,332
105
27
18
72
4
11
3
1

5 and under 10. 10 and under 15.
males. females. males, females.

110
331
772
1,565
177
26
18
3

65
18
40
448
163
397
2,541
1,183
2,975
971
4,015
637
2,978
1,520
495
171
44
127
38
998
24
43
364
459
79
292
625
1,513
104
27
17
14
2
10
2
••

20 and under 30. 30 and under 40. 40 &cunder 50
females., males. females., males, females.
males.

123
41
66
944
363
815
4,556
2,018
4,607
1,328
5,437
672
4,298
2,195
606
198
58
142
90
1,147
40
43
455
634
298
551
903
2,324
281
81
35
374
7
38
2
7

127
44
75
891
339
732
5,280
2,101
5,787
1,522
6,816
1,156
5,159
2,581
812
287
64
226
70
1,761
34
37
497
749
228
533
981
2,457
243
56
37
29
6
15
2
1

105
32
57
704
287
543
3,719
1,525
3,480
975
4,344
531
2,787
1,250
474
131
44
89
49
900
23
39
249
492
205
353
561
1,556
252
88
24
256
4
20
1
5

85
35
32
685
309
541
3,911
1,538
3,792
996
5,273
763
3,344
1,574
635
179
71
131
56
1,474
23
31
339
554
198
277
560
1,431
143
46
17
12
4
9
2
3

69
26
33
472
180
367
2,619
1,049
2,471
683
3,030
367
2,014
793
283
97
29
95
35
678
17
41
236
460
151
216
400
980
146
26
11
111
3
4
..

48
26
37
485
206
389
2,635
1,000
2,589
677
3,625
606
2,272
1,003
356
96
47
98
41
975
19
23
277
489
136
198
371
961
76
17
12
8
1
5
1

4
V

20,395 23,399 35,782 41,765 26,153 29,052 18,199 19,741

States and
Territories.
Maine....................
New Hampshire ..
Vermont...............
Massachusetts . . . .
Rhode Island........




50 and under CO.
males. females.

43
22
26
284
83

47
29
27
337
128

60 and under 70.
70 and under 80.
males.
females. males. females.

29
15
9
129
58

so
12
15
158
106

ii
8
8
61
40

13
11
10
88
51

80 &. under 90.
males, females.

8
8
4
29
15

4
S

5
36
26

Progress o f Population in the United States.
States and

Territories.
Connecticut..........
New York.............
New Jersey...........
Pennsylvania.........
Delaware...............
Maryland...............
District of Columbia
Virginia................
North Carolina . . .
South Carolina.. . .
Georgia............ ... .
Florida...................
Alabam a..............
Mississippi............
Louisiana...............
Texas ....................
Arkansas..............
Tennessee..............
Kentucky...............
Missouri................
Illinois..................
Indiana..................
O h io......................
Michigan................
Wisconsin..............
Iow a......................
California...............
Minnesota..............
Oregon..................
Utah......................
New Mexico.. . , . .

50 a n d under 60.

males.
237
1,432
715
1,467
450
2,104
256
1,259
628
188
62
16
63
31
370
14
20
205
458
108
171
346
568
78
15
6
32

GO a n d under 70.

females. males. females.
161
269
147
820
1,476
702
439
682
407
744
790
1,513
269
480
310
2,252 1,242 1,334
203
353
115
869
1,461
794
362
671
337
281
105
161
99
44
67
20
23
27
36
61
43
25
25
33
683
172
420
2
2
9
12
15
22
123
144
173
334
440
335
64
56
92
64
74
124
166
124
217
413
294
524
40
30
22
13
8
2
5
1
5
6
4

2
2
••




70 a n d under 80. 80 a n d under 90.

males,
61
208
166
297
143
503
52
349
176
47
35
7
18
17
87
3
12
72
178
23
27
57
137
10
3

females, males, females.
29
89
25
171
355
100
188
63
79
120
152
357
52
40
132
239
175
605
67
20
97
182
137
432
89
103
210
41
25
73
IS
8
44
6
8
11
13
.13
31
4
6
9
35
87
156
2
1
1
1
3
9
28
29
56
62
68
156
9
5
14
11
9
34
16
16
52
53
47
138
3
1
13
..
3
1
1
2

2

.,

..

••

..

Total.................. 11,771 12,572 6,671
States and
90 & under 100. 100 & up’rds.
Territories.
m.
f.
m.
f.
Maine ..................
3
New Hampshire ..
2
1
2
Vermont...............
1
1
3
1
Massachusetts . . . .
3
16
3
7
Rhode Island........
1
7
Connecticut..........
3
5
7
1
New Y ork ............
14
24
44
12
New Jersev...........
12
28
3
23
oo
Pennsylvania........
15
60
9
Delaware...............
3
17
13
2
Maryland...............
48
11
45 110
2
District of Columbia
5
11
Virginia................
35
51
64
20
North Carolina.. . .
22
20
7
17
South Carolina.. . .
8
7
13
3
Georgia................
4
9
14
2
Florida...................
1
2
4
4
Alabam a..............
5
5
10
3
2
Mississippi.............
..
1
Louisiana...............
11
21
45
11
Texas ....................
3
Arkansas..............
2
Tennessee..............
11
5
7
1
Kentucky..............
18
25
6
11
Missouri................
1
4
1
4
Illinois....................
5
4
1
2
Indiana..................
6
7
9

681

••

7,362 2,878 3,438 1,106
Age unkn’u.
Total.
males.
females.
m.
f.
726
630
.. , ,
260
260
343
375
t
4,640
4,424
29
12
1,932
1,738
1
1
3,820
3,873
3
1
23,452
22
25,617
7
12,012
11,798
9
9
35
25,369
28,257
so
9,035
9,038
15
5
35,192
39,531
1
6,811
4,248
1
28,331
1
26,002
10
2
13,298
14,165
4,131
4,829
i
1,375
1,556
i
418
514
1,056
1,209
i
474
456
i
9,983
7,479
16
3
186
211
314
294
3,117
3,305
1
4
5,148
4
4,863
5
1,361
4
1
1,257
2,650
1
2,777
2
6,547
9
14
5,715

1,512
Grand
Total.
1,356
520
718
9,064
3,670
7,693
49.069
23,810
53,626
18,073
74,723
10,059
54,333
27,463
8,960
2,931
932
2,265
930
17,462
397
608
6,422
10,011
2,618
5,436
11,262

682

Progress o f Population in the United States.

States and
Territories.

O hio...............
Michigan..........
Wisconsin........
Iow a................
California.........
Minnesota........
Oregon..........
Utah.................
New Mexico..

90 &, under 100. 100 & up’ rds. Age unkn’n.
m.
f.
m.
m.
f.
f.
is
5
8
9
li
2
1
1
l

..

1

Total.. . . . . .

540

SLAVE POPULATION

New Jersey...........
Delaware...............
Maryland..............
District of Columbia
Virginia...............
North Carolina.. . .
South Carolina.. . .
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabama...............
Mississippi.............
Louisiana...............
Texas ...................
Arkansas..............
Tennessee..............
Kentucky..............
Missouri.................
U tah.......................
Total..................

of

114

1860,

229

150

136

Total.
males.
females.

Grand
total.

12,691
1,431
365
165
872
21
120
14
17

12,588
1,152
270
168
90
18
87
10
5

25,279
2,58.3
635
333
962
39
207
24
22

208,724

225,771

434,495

CLASSED ACCORDING TO AGE AND SEX.

1 under 5.
Under 1.
males. females, males. females.
.,
..
..
,.
32
155
14S
27
1,243 1,203 5,961 5,931
41
165
184
30
5,341 5,814 32,419 32,687
4,022 4,064 21,891 22,043
4,450 4,744 27,019 28,229
4,730 4,889 27,984 28,070
463
451 2,840 2,918
3,992 4,118 25,471 25,687
3,611 3,788 22,705 23,417
2,349 2,591 14,260 14,814
705
724 4,406 4,366
540
619 3,475 3,572
3,452 3,609 17,620 18,075
3,023 3,245 14,952 15,311
1,365 1,334 6,420 6,6S4
2
3
••
••

5 and under 10. 10 & under 15.
males. females, males, females.
i
2
2
2
223
178
203
194
6,902 6,712 6,963 6,400
208
341
287
239
35,356 34,897 33,883 32,331
23,400 23,586 20,711 19,830
27,069 28,131 24,890 24,825
28,941 28,711 26,834 26,749
2,889 2,874 2,507 2,442
25,724 25,671 23,190 22,260
23,240 23,106 20,666 19,812
14,874 15,009 13,865 13,410
4,356 4,504 4,152 4,091
3,480 3,546 3,389 3,179
18,647 19,087 17,889 17,252
16,761 16,828 15,602 15,203
7,090 6,845 6,492 6,358
1
1
2
3

39,343 41,266 227,745 232,140 239,163 239,925 221,480 214,712

15 and under 20. 20 and under 30. 30 and under 40. 40 & under 50.
males, females, males, females, males. females, males. females.
2
..
10
1
New Jersey...........
5
2
9
151
212
213
84
31
Delaware..............
219
67
43
Maryland...............
5,643 5,466 8,092 7,443 4,269 4,500 2,953 2,931
325
245
91
Districtof Columbia
319
239
127
182
207
Virginia............... 25,584 24,659 39,991 36,974 25,435 24,240 18,416 17,514
North Carolina.. . . 15,710 15,800 23,969 23,536 13,687 13,927 8,444 8,631
South Carolina___ 20,521 21,875 31,745 33,472 20,5S3 22,938 13,138 14,543
Georgia.................. 21,865 23,072 33,959 34,590 19,146 20,427 12,100 13,006
Florida...................
1.974 2,087 3,878 3,681 2,277 2,312 1,344 1,340
Alabama................ 18,989 19,871 31,658 31,208 19,635 19,514 11,433 11,779
Mississippi............. 16,611 17,087 29,915 30,021 18,565 18,986 9,996 9,933
Louisiana............... 11,151 11,799 26,047 23,971 20,250 18,415 12,690 10,550
Texas ....................
3,175 3,442 5,585 5,683 3,131 3.449 1,750 1,878
Arkansas ..............
2,745 2,765 4,930 4,684 2,528 2,612 1,415 1,421
Tennessee.............. 14,004 14,621 21,709 21,064 11,370 11,984 6,550 7,115
Kentucky............... 12,370 12,695 19,031 17,627 10,325 10,422 6,520 7,156
Missouri.................
5,295 5,400 8,623 7,988 3,902 4,300 2,278 2,779
2
4
2
. .
Utah......................
1
2
1
Total

176,169 181,113 289,595 282,615 175,300 178,355 109,152 110,780




Progress o f Population in the United States.
50 and under GO.
males, females.

New Jersey..........
21
38
22
20
Delaware...............
Maryland..............
1,926 1,850
55
District of Columbia
129
Virginia................ 12,138 10,850
North Carolina.. . .
6,814 6,327
South Carolina.. . .
8,171 8,750
6,584 6,560
Georgia..................
Florida...................
895
798
Alabama................
6,368 6,030
4,854 4,390
Mississippi............
Louisiana ............
5,955 4,864
898
Texas ....................
829
Arkansas..............
653
580
Tennessee..............
4,421 4,468
3,744 3,985
Kentucky..............
1,136 1,291
Missouri................
Utah......................
1
1
Total..................

60 and under 70.
females.

males.
27
8
1,187
44
7,614
3,637
5,426
4,585
474
3,774
8,189
3,032
373
378
2,050
1,819
535

70 and under 80.
females,

:males.
17
6
549
12
3,028
1,520
2,008
i ,399
141
i ,068
825
937
100
75
719
621
141

•• l

••

31
7
510
29
3,264
1,665
2,022
1,430
126
959
727
771
93
88
833
913
220
..

65,254 61,762 38,102 36,569 13,166 13,688
90 & under 100. 100 & over.
m.
f.
m.
f.

Hew Jersey..........
Delaware..............
Maryland...............
District of Columbia
Virginia................
North Caroliua___
South Carolina.. . .
Georgia..................
Florida..................
Alabama..............
Mississippi.............
Louisiana..............
Texas.....................
Arkansas ..............
Tennessee..............
Kentucky...............
Missouri................
Utah......................

42
11
1,175
70
6,981
3,606
5,502
4,544
397
3,4 51
2,839
2,388
332
339
2,137
2,123
632

683

2

5
1
24

74
41
1
3
263 334
132 202
154 200
142 162
22
21
97
93
85
85
81
69
12
12
11
6
82
98
61
94
25
25

87
66
81
81
15
65
47
57
6
9
31
28
8

Total.................. 1,211 1,473

606

i
31
2
184
98
86
79
14
61
73
66
10
5
47
53
9

Unknown.
m.
f.

1
,,
2

80 &, under 90.
males.. females.
9
190
4
958
570
613
480
45
338
288
319
40
30
233
198
63

••

4,378

Total.

males.

96
..
i, 174
i
45,944
.,
1, 422
49
41 240,,562
8
14 144,,581
1,288 1,E!03 187,756
17 18S,,857
27
40
19.,804
. . 171,804
1
127 119 154,,674
3 125,874
7
11
14
28,,700
..
1 23.,658
2 118,,780
3
8
8 105,,063
11
8
43.,484
12

7
o
196
8
1,196
658
638
519
45
338
243
225
34
24
287
255
65

females.

4,740
Grand
Total.

236
140
2,290
1,116
90,368
44,424
2,265
3,687
231,966 472,528
143,967 288,548
197,228 384,984
192,825 381,682
39,310
19,506
171,040 342,844
154,626 309,878
118,935 244,809
58,161
29,461
23,442
47,100
120,679 239,459
105,018 210,981
87,422
43,938
26
14

819 1,581 1,533 1,602.,245 1,601,490 3,204,313

TABLE SHOWING THE AGGREGATE NUMBER OF W H ITES, FREE COLORED PERSONS, AND
SLAVES IN THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITO RIES, ON THE 1ST JUNE, 1 8 5 0 : ----

States & Territories.
Maine................ ..
New Hampshire . . .
Vermont................
Massachusetts........
Rhode Island..........
Connecticut.......... ..
New Y ork ..............
New Jersey............
Pennsylvania . .....
Delaware...............
Maryland...............
District of Columbia




Males.
296,745
155,960
159,653
484,093
70,340
179,884
1,544,489
233,452
1,142,734
35,746
211,187
18,494

■WHITES.-------------------------^

Females.
285,068
161,496
153,744
501,357
73,635
183,215
1,508,836
232,057
1,115,426
35,423
206,756
19,447

Total.
581,813
317,456
313,402
985,450
143,875
363,099
3,048,325
465,509
2,258,160
71,169
417,943
37,941

, ------- FREE COLORED.------ ^

Males.
726
260
375
4,424
1,738
3,820
23,452
11,798
25,369
9,085
35,192
4,248

Females.
630
260
343
4,640
1,932
3,873
25,617
12,012
28,257
9,038
39,531
5,811

Total.
1,356
528
714
9,060
3,670
7,693
49,069
23,810
53,626
18,073
74,723
10,059

/

684

Progress o f Population in the United States.

States Sc Territories.
Virginia..................
North Carolina.......
South Carolina.......
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabama.................
Mississippi...............
Louisiana................
Texas ......................
Arkansas................
Tennessee...............
Kentucky................
Missouri..................
Illinois....................
Indiana...................
Ohio........................
Michigan.................
Wisconsin................
Iow a.......................
California ..............
Minnesota................
Oregon....................
U tah........................
New Mexico............

-Males.
451,300
273,025
137,747
2GB,233
25,705
219,483
150,287
141,243
84,869
85,874
382,235
392,804
312,9S7
445,544
503,178
1,004,117
208,465
164,351
100,887
84,708
3,695
8,138
6,020
31,725

-WHITES.--\
Females.
Total.
443,500
894,800
280,003
553,028
136,816
274,563
255,339
521,572
21,498
47,203
207,031
426,514
139,431
295,1718
114,248
255.491
69,165
154.034
76,315
162,189
756,836
374,601
868,609
761,413
592,004
279,017
846,034
400,490
470,976
977,154
950,933 1,955.050
186,606
395,071
140,405
304,756
90,904
191,881
91,635
6,927
2,343
6,038
4,949
13,087
5,310
11,330
29,800
61,525

Total....................

10,026,402

9,523,666 19,553,068

t

States and
Territories.
New Hampshire___
Vermont................
Massachusetts........
Rhode Island..........
Connecticut............
New York...............
New Jersey............
Pennsylvania..........
Delaware...............
Maryland................
District of Columbia
Virginia..................
North Carolina.......
South Carolina.......
Georgia..................
Florida...................
Alabama................
Mississippi..............
Louisiana................
Texas ......................
Arkansas................
Tennessee...............
Kentucky .............
Missouri..................
Illinois....................
Indiana...................
Ohio.......................




Males.

,-----FTLEE COLORED.-----\
Males. Females. Total.
26,002 28,331 54,333
13,298 14,165 27,463
4,131
4,829
8,960
1,556
2,931
1,375
418
514
932
1,056
1,209
2,265
474
456
930
7,479
9,983 17,462
211
186
397
314
294
608
3,305
6,422
3,117
4,863
5,148 10,011
1,361
1,257
2,618
2,659
5,436
2,777
5,715
5,547 11,262
12,691 12,588 25,279
1,431
1,152
2,683
365
270
635
165
168
383
872
90
962
21
18
39
120
87
207
14
10
24
17
5
22
208,724 225,771 434,495

---------- SLAVES.----------Females.

Total.

96

140

236

1,174
45,944
1,422
240,562
144,581
187,756
188,857
19,804
171,804
154,674
125,874
28,700
23,658
118,780
105,063
43,484

1,116
44,424
2,265
231,966
143,967
197,228
192,825
19,506
171,040
154,626
118,935
29,461
23,442
120,679
105,918
43,938

2.290
90,368
3,6S7
472.52S
288,548
384,984
381,682
39,310
342,844
*309,878
244,809
58,161
47,100
239,459
210,981
87,422

See census of Mississippi.

Grand
total.
5S3,169
317,976
314,120
994,514
147,545
370,792
3,097^394
489,555
2,311,786
91,532
683,084
51,687
1,421,661
869,039
668,507
906,185
87,445
771.623
606,526
517,762
212,392
209.897
1,002,717
982,405
682,044
851,470
988 417
1,980,329

Progress o f Population in the United States.
Stales and
Territories.

685

/------------------------- s l a v e s . ------------- ■----------- x
Males.
Females.
Total.

Grand
total.

Michigan.................
Wisconsin................
Iow a .......................
C alifornia............
Minnesota..............
Oregon....................
Utah........................
New Mexico............

..........
..........

......
..........

..........
........ ..

..........

..........

..........

397,654
305,391
192,214
92,597
6,077
13,294
11,380
61,547

Total....................

1,602,245

3,204,313

23,191,876

1,601,498

The States o f Texas and California, and the Territories of New Mexico
and Utah, have been acquired since the census of 1840. Though the ac­
cession thus acquired to the population is not precisely known, there are
authentic data for a near approximation to it.
Texas was annexed to the
United States in 1845 ; and two years afterwards, by an official census, its
population was 143,205. Supposing its increase to have been nearly as
great in these two years when annexation was expected, as it was in the
live years succeeding, then its population in 1845 must have been about
100,000. The increase in five years, exclusive o f emigrants from the
United States, estimating it at 15 per cent, would make the accession from
this source 115,000.
The population of New Mexico in 1850 that was exclusively born in the
Territory or some other part o f Spanish America, was 60,775 ; the whole
o f which may be regarded as a further accession to the population o f the
United States.
Nothing can be added from Utah, it being exclusively in the possession
of the Indians before it was occupied by the Mormons.
The population in New or Upper California was, according to Hum­
boldt, 15,600 in 1803 ; and from the previous rate of its increase, lie esti­
mated that it doubled in twelve years. Yet by a census in 1831, it was
only 22,995— showing a reduction in the rate o f increase to about 50 per
cent in twenty-eight years, owing, doubtless, to the troubles consequent
on the rupture with the mother country. At this rate, the population at
the time of the cession in 1848, would have been about 30,000, but its
amount seems to have been considerably less— 1st. Because of the 92,507
returned on the gross population in 1850, 62,576 were born in the United
States, and 21,802 were born in foreign countries; the whole o f the
former and a considerable part of the latter had migrated thither between
1848 and June, 1850, attracted by the gold mines discovered in 1848.
2dly. The whole number of females in California in 1850, according to
the census, was 7,799. There is no satisfactory reason for supposing that
the number of the males much exceeded that o f the females. But, sup­
posing it to have been double, the whole population would then be, exclu­
sive of emigrants from the United States, 23,397.
The result of the accessions from these sources in 1850 would be
115,090 + 60,778 + 23,397 = 199,192, which, for the sake of round
numbers, we will call 200,000.
The slave population, which from 1830 to 1840 had increased §3 per
cent, had, from 1840 to 1850, increased 28.8 per cent— showing a greater
ratio in the last ten years o f five per cent. A part of this difference ad­
mits of a ready explanation. The whole number of slaves in 1850 was




Progress o f Population in the United States.

686

increased by the acquisition of Texas; while in 1840 the number had been
diminished by the migrations of slaveholders o f the United States to that
country. The number in Texas at the time of annexation (1845) was
about 21,000, which by natural multiplication would have increased to
somewhat more than 35,000.
This double operation of Texas on the
slave population is sufficient for nearly 21 per cent on the ratio of increase.
The residue is to be referred to several circumstances; there have been
few cases of manumission in the last ten years, owing partly to a change
of public sentiment on this subject in the slaveholding States, and partly
to an extension by State legislation of the policy o f prohibiting it. The
same circumstances contribute to explain the falling off in the increase of
the free colored class in the last ten years, from 20.88 per cent to 12.47
per cent. Another cause of the greater increase o f slaves is a diminished
mortality between 1840 and 1850, both because the Asiatic cholera and
yellow fever had been less prevalent in that period, and because there was
a greater proportion who had become acclimated in the South. That this
class of our population have been better cared for, or have experienced
more frequent or more efficient medical treatment, would also contribute
to explain the difference; but I am aware o f no facts that would much
support such an hypothesis.
The males and females o f each class were thus distributed according to
a g e:—
1.

W H ITE POPULATION.

5. . . *
10. •••
15. . . .
20. , , ,
30. , , ,
40. . . .
50. . . .

Male?. Females.
Per ct.
Per ct.
14.68
14 95 50 and under 60___
13.69
13.98 60
“
70___
12.23
12.35 70
80___
10.39
11.42 SO
90___
18.64
90
“
1846
100___
12.85
11.84 100 and upwards........
8.35
7.86 Age unknown.

Under
5. •. .
5 and under 10. . . .
«(
15. . . .
10
((
15
20. . .
it
30. , ,
20
it
40. . . .
30
U
40
50. . . .

Males.
Per ct.
14.53
13.80
12.49
9.77
17.14
12.53
8.72

2. FREE COLORED.
Females.
Per ct.
13.51 50 and under 60___
70....
12.95 60
“
80___
11.63 70
90___
10.37 80
18.05 90
100___
12.88 100 and upwards........
8.74 Age unknown

Males.
Per ct.
16.67
14.92
13.82
10.99
18.07
10.94
6.81

3. SLAVES.
Females.
Per ct.
17.07 50 and under 60___
14.98 60
70___
13.40 70
80___
90___
11.31 80
17.64 90
100 . . .
11.14 100 and upwards........
6.92 Age unknown

Those under
5 and under
«
10
(,
15
U
20
SO

a

40

it

Males. Females.
Per ct.
Per ct.
4.97
4.83
2.64
2.69
1.11
1.18
0.31
0.36
0.04
0.05
0.04
0.05
0.03
0.07
100.00

Males. Females,
Per ct.
Per ct.
5.64
5.57
3.20
3.26
1.38
1.52
0.53
0 67
0.15
0.24
00.5
0.10
00.6
00.7
100.00

Under
5. . . .
5 and under 10.
15. . . •
10
it
20. . .
15
it
30. . . .
20
it
40.
30
if
50. . . .
40




100.00

100.00

Males. Females.
Per ct.
Per ct.
3.85
4.07
2.38
2.28
0.82
0.85
0.30
0.27
0.08
0.09
0.04
0.05
0.11
0.12
100.00

100.00

Progress o f Population in the United States.

687

As the proportion o f children under ten was less in 1840 than it had
been in 1830 in all the three classes, so was it less in 1850 than it had
been in 1840. Their proportion under that age was—

In 1840.
Of the whites................................
Free colored..................................
Slaves............................................

In 1850.

31.63 per cent.
28.88
“
33.93
“

28.00 per cent
27.36
“
31.60
“

This proportionate diminution of children in the class of whites, may be
caused by the greater delay of marriage, an increase of celibacy from any
cause, and it may in part proceed from an increased mortality among chil­
dren, from a greater number having been transported to less healthy re­
gions. It certainly is affected by the increased number o f immigrants, who
have a larger proportion o f deaths. But in the class o f slaves, only the
second cause, o f a greater number removing to a less healthy climate,
seems likely to have any influence, unless some gradual and unseen change
of manners and sentiments with them also produces postponement of
marriage.
The population in the slaveholding States is distributed among the
three classes, as follows
States and
Territories.

W hole
population.

91,532
Delaware...............
Maryland...............
583,083
District of Columbia
51,687
Virginia.................. 1,421,661
North Carolina.......
869,039
South Carolina.......
668,507
Georgia....................
906,185
Florida..................
87,445
Alabama................
771,623
Mississippi...............
606,526
517,762
Louisiana................
Texas ......................
212,592
Arkansas................
209,897
Tennessee............... 1,002,717
Kentucky................
982,405
Missouri..................
682,044
Total.................... 9,664,656

Whites.

Free
colored.

71,169 18,073
417,943 74,723
37,941 10,059
894,800 54,333
553,028 27,463
274,563
8,960
521,572
2,931
47,203
932
426,614
2,265
295,718
930
255,491 17,462
154,034
397
162,189
608
756,836
6,422
761,413 10,011
592,004
2,618

Per centacre.
Slaves. Whites. F. col. Slaves.

2,290
90,368
3,687
472,528
288,548
384,984
381,682
39,310
342,844
309,878
244,809
58,161
47,100
239,459
210,981
87,422

77.7
71.7
73.4
62.9
63.6
41.0
57.5
54.0
54.0
55.3
49.3
72.4
77.3
75.5
77.5
86.8

19.07
12.08
19.04
03.08
03.01
01.03
00.03

00.04

02.05
15.05
07.01
33.02
33.02
57.06
42.01
45.00
45.00
44.04
47.03
27.04
22.04
23.09
21.05
12.08

6,222,418 238,737 3,204,051

64.9

02.46

33.15

2.92

33.67

The distribution in this class of States in 1840, w as...

63.41

01.00
01.00
00.03
03.04
00.02
00.03
00.06

01.00

From which it appears that the whites in the slaveholding States have
continued to gain on both the colored classes, though the gain of the one
and the loss of the other is not quite one per cent. But in seven o f the
States— North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas,
Tennessee, and Kentucky— the slave population has gained somewhat on
the whites.




688

CHAPTER II.

PROGRESS OP THE POPULATION IN E AC H STATE, AND IN THE UNION, IN SIXTY YEARS.
THE POPULATION OF EACH STATE AND T ERRIT O RY, AS EXHIBITED BY SEVEN ENUMERATIONS IN SIXTY
YEARS, W IT H THE DECENNIAL INCREASE OF EACH.

Maine......................
Mew Hampshire...
Vermont................
Massachusetts........
Jtihode Island........
Connecticut............

New York..............
New Jersey............
Pennsylvania.........
Delaware................
Maryland................
Dis, of Columbia ..

Virginia..................
North Carolina . . . .
South Carolina . . . .
Georgia..................
Florida..................




DECENNIAL INCREASE.

1800.

1810.

1820.

181.

1810.

1850.

96,540
141,899
85,416
378,717
69,110
238,141

151,719
183,762
154,465
428,245
69,122
251,002

228,705
214,360
217,713
472,040
77,031
262,042

298,335
244,161
235,764
523,287
83,059
275,202

399,455
269,328
280.652
610.408
97,199
297,675

501,793
284,574
291,948
737,699
108,830
309,978

583,169
317,976
314,120
994,514
147,545
370,792

1,009,823

1,233,315

1,471,801

1,639,808

1,954,717

2,234,822

340,120
184,139
434,373
59,096
319,728

586,756
211,949
602,365
64,273
341,548
14,093

959,049
245,555
810,091
72,674
380,546
24,023

1,372,812
277,575
1,049,458
72,749
407,350
33,039

1,918,608
320,823
1,348.233
76,748
447,040
39,834

1,337,456

1,820,984

2,491,938

3,212,983

748,308
393,751
249,073
82,548

380,200
478,103
345,591
162,101

974,622
565,500
415,115
252,433

1,473,680

1,865,995

2,197,670

.......

1820.

1810.

57.16 50.74
29.50 16.65
80.08 40.95
11.76 11.53
0.01 11.44
5.40
4.40

30.45
13.90
8.29
10.88
7.83
5.02

33.89 25.62
10.03
5.66
19.04
4.02
16.65 20.82
17.02 11.97
8.17
4.13

16.22
11.73
7.59
34.81
35.57
19.62

2,234,822

22.13

19.34

12.77

17.77

14.33

22.07

2,428,921
373,306
1,724,033
78,085
470,019
43,712

3,097,394
489,555
2,311,786
91,632
583,034
51,687

72.51
15.10
38.67
8.76
6.82

....

63.45 43.14
15.86 13.04
34.49 29.55
0.01
13.07
7.04
11.42
70.45 37.53

39.76 26.60
15.58 16.36
28.47 27.87
5.50
1.74
9.74
5.14
9.74
20.57

27.52
31.14
34.09
17.22
24.04
18.24

4,151,286

5,118,076

6,624,988

36.15

36.85

28.77

29.20

23.29

29.44

1,005,379
638,829
502,741
340,987

1,211,405
737,987
581,185
516,823
34,730

1,239,797
753,419
594,398
691,392
54,477

1,421,661
869,039
668,507
906,185
87,445

17.63
21.42
38.75
96.37

10.73
16.19
20.12
55.71

9.31
15.09
21.11
35.08

13.70
15.52
15.60
51.57

....

2.34
2.09
2.28
33.7S
56.86

14.67
15.35
12.47
31.07
60.52

2,547,936

3,082,130

3,333,483

3,952,837

26.62

17.77

15.94

20.96

8.16

18.58

/

1S00.

....

♦

1810.

....

1840. 18S0.

Progress o f Population in the United States.

1790.

*

\

PROGRESS OF THE POPULATION IN EACH STATE, AND IN THE UNION, IN SIXTY YEARS.---- (CONTINUED.)
THE POPULATION OF EACH STATE AND TERRITO RY, AS EXHIBITED B Y SEVEN ENUMERATIONS IN SIXTY
YEARS, W IT H THE DECENNIAL INCREASE OP EACH.

1790.

Missouri..
Kentucky
Ohio........
^Indiana ..
Illinois . .,
Michigan .
Wisconsin
Iowa

1810.

1820.

DECENNIAL INCREASE.

1840.

1890.

1810.

1820. 1830.

1840.

1830,

69.60

63.41

47.89

8,850

*144,317
40,352
76,556

75,448
153,407

85,791

105,602

261,727

14,273
422,813

30,888
681,904

97,574
829,210

85,791

114,452

378,635

810,258

1,374,179

2,245,602

3,321,117 219.78 230.82 1)3.99

73,077

220,955
45,365
4,875

20.S45
406,511
230,760
24,520
12,282
4,762

66,586
564,317
581,434
147,178
65,211
8,896

140,455
687,917
937,903
343,031
157,445
31,639

383,702
779,828
1,519,467
685,866
476,183
212,267
30,945
43,112

219.43 110.94 173.18 77.75
682,044
982,405 20*2.35 83.98 38.82 21.90 13.36 25.98
1,980,329 .... 403.67 151.92 61.30 62.00 30.33
988,416 .... 402.67 500.24 133.07 99.94 44.11
349.30 185.17 202.44 78.81
851,470 ....
86.80 255.65 570.90 87.34
397,654 . . . •
.. .. 886.88
305,391 ....
... . . . . 345.85
192,214 ....
. . .. . . ..

73,077

271,195

699,680

1,423,622

2,298,390

4,131,370

6,879,923 271.11 158.00 103.47

California. .
Minnesota ..
New Mexico
Oregon........
U tah..........

690,756
375,651
352,411

... 142.00 90.86 30.62
771,623
606,526 .... 355.95 86.97 81.08 174.96 61.46
517,762 ....
— 100.39 40.63 63.35 46.92
212,592 . . ... . . . .
112.95 221.09 11542
209,897 ...
1,002,717 195.05 147.84 61.55 61.28 21.60 20.92

92,697
6,077
61,547
13,294
11,380
184,895

Aggregate..........

1800.

ISM.
809,527
136,621
215,739

3,929,827

5,305,925

7,239,814

9,654,596 12,866,020 17,069,453 23,191,876

61.45

79.75

54.43

33.26

32.67

35.87

..
..
..
..
..
___
35.01

36.45

33.35

689

* This number exceeds by 16,416 that recently published at the census office which has followed the first official statement o f the census, whereas the number here given
conforms to a later official statement. (See ante, page 32.)




P ro gress o f P op u la tion in the United Stales.

VOL. X X X I.— NO. VL

Alabama .
Mississippi
Louisiana .
Texas. . . .
Arkansas.
Tennessee

1800.

690

Progress o f Population in the United States.

THE DECENNIAL INCREASE OF EACH OF THE GREAT LOCAL DIVISIONS IN SIX T Y YE ARS.
INCREASE OF POPDLATION FROM AUGUST

50 Years.

60 Years

20 Years.

30 Years.

40 Years.

122.4

145.8

164.4

193.6

221.3

2702

136.2
126.6
319.8
371.6

186.3
149.1
1,058.0
S57.5

240.2
172.9
2,264.0
1,948.0

310.4
209.1
3,839.0
3.145.0

382.7
226.1
6,174.0
5,854.0

495.4
268.2
9,279.0
8,730.0

135.0

184.2

245.3

327.4

434.5

490.1

10 Years.

Local Divisions.

1. New England States . ,
2. Middle States with District of Columbia
3. Southern States..
4. Southwestern States . .
5. Northwestern States ••

1, 1790.

Total of the U. States..

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION INTO THE THREE CLASSES OF W HITES, FREE
PERSONS OF COLOR, AND SLAVES, W IT H THE DECENNIAL INCREASE OF EACH CLASS.

1790.

1800.

1810.

1820.

Whites......................
Free colored............
Slaves.......................

3,172,464
59,466
697,897

4,304,489
108,395
803,041

5,862,004
186,446
1,191,364

7,861,937
233,524
1,538,038

Total free............
Total colored . . . .

3,231,930
757,363

4,412,884
1,001,436

6,048,450
1,377,810

8,195,461
1,771,562

1850.

1840.

1830.
Whites.....................
Free colored ............
Slaves.......................

10,537,378
319,599
2,009,043

14,195,695
386,303
2,487,455

19,553,068
434,495
3,204,313

Total free............
Total colored . . . .

10,866,977
2,328,042

14,581,998
2,873,758

19,987,563
3,038,808

DECENNIAL INCREASE.

1800.

1810.

1880.

1830.

1840.

1850.

Whites..................
Free colored.........
Slaves ..................

35.68
82.28
28.1

36.18
72.00
33.04

34.12
25.25
29.10

34.03
36.86
30.62

34.72
20.87
23.81

37.74
12.47
28.82

Total free........
Total colored ..

97.72
32.23

37.06
37.58

35.05
28.59

32.47
31.45

34.31
23.41

37.07
26.62

THE RELATIVE PROPORTION OF THE T H REE CLASSES AT EACH CENSUS FROM

Whites..............
Free colored . . .
Slaves ..............
Total............

1790

to

1850.

1700.

1800.

1810.

1820.

1830.

1840.

1850.

80.7
1.5
17.8

81.1
2.1
16.8

81.0
2.6
16.4

81.5
2.5
16.0

81.9
2.5
15.6

83.1
2.3
14.6

84.3
1.9
13.8

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

By which the whites have gained and the colored population have lost
3.6 per cent in sixty years, and the free population have gained and the
slaves have lost 4 per cent.




Progress o f Population in the United States.

691

CH A PTE R III,

PROPORTION BETWEEN THE SEXES.

The seventh census exhibits the same preponderance as its predecessors,
o f males until the age of 7 0, with the single exception o f the class from 15
to 20, in which, as well as in the census o f 1830 and 1840, there is an ex­
cess of females o f about 5 per cent. In the census of 1850 the difference
of the sexes between those two ages is only about 2 i per cent. This con­
currence in three different enumerations indicates some general cause for
the exception. Can that cause be a greater mortality of males at that age,
or is a portion o f the females o f more than 20 placed in this class ? So far
as this question is affected by immigration, it tends to increase the propor­
tion of males, as the male immigrants exceed the female at every age. In
this census as well as the preceding, after the age of 70 the females exceed
the males until the age o f 100 is passed, when the males again preponder­
ate. But we could not safely deduce any general law from this last excep­
tion, unless we know the several places of birth in these rare cases of
longevity.
The number of females for every 100 males in the last census—
Of the white population is....................................................
Of the free colored ..............................................................
Of the slaves....... ..................................................................

95.0
108.2
99.9

This showing an excess of males in the whites, an excess of females in
the free colored, and an equality of the two in the slaves.
In both classes of the colored population the females exceed the males
in those who are under one year of age, who are between one and five, and
those who are between five and ten. Thus:—
,— FREE COLORED.— >

,------------SLAVES.-----------,

Males.

Females.

Males.

Females.

Children under 1 year......................
Children between 1 and 5...............
Children between 5 and 10 ............

5,576
24,743
28,816

6,600
24,902
29,246

39,343
227,745
239,163

41,266
232,140
239,925

Total under 10...............................

59,125

496,251

513,331

59,748

Showing an excess of females under ten in both the colored classes o f
something more that 1 per cent.
In this respect the last census differs from those of 1830 and 1840, in
which the males under 10, both of the free colored class and the slaves, ex­
ceed the females. In the census of 1820, also, the males in both classes
of the colored children under 14 exceed the females. If the census should,
from its supposed greater accuracy, be deemed sufficient to overrule the
preceding enumerations, a deviation from what apjiears to be a general
law as to sex, seems to merit further inquiry. Supposing the fact estab­
lished, is it referable to race, or must its cause remain among the un­
solved problems of physiology respecting sex ?
The white males which, according to the census of 1840, exceed the
females 209,424, by the last census exceed them by more than twice the
amount— 499,736. In like manner the females of the free colored class
which in 1840 exceeded the males 7,271, by the last census exceed them
17,044. This increased excess of white males was caused by the great in­
crease of white immigrants, and the increased excess of free colored females
was caused by the greater emigration o f that class, of which emigrants by
far the larger part are males.




692

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.
*

A rt. IV.— THE PROFITS AND W ASTES OF AG RICU LTU RE *
I i n v i t e you to notice with me some commonplace facts and practical
suggestions touching the profits and wastes o f agriculture in Massachusetts.
I do this confidently, under the impression that I have the fortune, distin­
guished though common in this country and rare in most other lands, to
address an assembly o f practical men. Everything in agriculture that is
not practical, is pernicious, or at least useless. There are no good theories
whose value cannot be demonstrated by experiments. The farmer whose
return is less than his expenditures, whether the deficit shows itself in
diminished crops or in exhausted lands, is not a practical man, and does
not deserve the professional name he hears.
On the other hand, he who improves his land, but at such an expense
as to cause a demand upon his other resources, if he is a man of wealth,
or to burden him writh a debt if he is not, is o f little benefit to the pursuit
he has chosen. It is easy in every branch o f industry to demonstrate that
unusual things may be done, but it cannot be said that such experiments
are worthy of imitation until the question o f profit is favorably settled. So
in agriculture.
Amateurs have their place and real value. They demonstrate the feasi­
bility of new projects, and practical men may sometimes take up these ex­
periments and demonstrate their economy. But the useful, practical
farmer, is he who so manages his affairs as to improve his farm, increase
his products each year, realize a return sufficient to meet all his expendi­
tures, and then have a balance in hand equal to the interest on his invest­
ment. That is to say, he demonstrates that the profession is a paying
one, and shows at the same time the process by which it is made so. Such
a man is to be numbered among the benefactors o f his race. In his hands,
the business is an interest; for the majority o f farmers desire to so manage
their affairs as to realize an adequate support for their families ; and, as a
whole, this branch of industry ought to show a better result. But, beyond
this, there is a public expectation concerning agriculture which cannot be
realized unless the business is profitable. If agriculture is indeed hopeless
in this respect, then one result awaits it— extinction as a leading pursuit
of the people. The profits o f agriculture are taken to be small, and so
they are; but it is likewise true that the profits o f all other branches o f
business are small also.
Massachusetts is more than two hundred years o ld ; in all her history
she has been blessed by an enterprising, industrious population; yet the
aggregate accumulation of these two centuries of labor and economy is
only six hundred dollars for each person. Three years of non-production
would make her poorer than she was the day the May Flower first gave
herself to the icy gales o f our coast.
There was even then great wealth in Massachusetts, according to the
standard o f civilization, in unbroken forests and a soil comparatively fer­
tile. This wealth we and our fathers have consumed or so appro­
priated, that it appears in the valuation o f the State. But however this
* W e are indebted to lion. G eorge S. B o u t w k l l , late Governor o f Massachusetts, for the manu­
script copy o f his address, which was lately delivered before the Housatonic Agricultural Society,
on the “ Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.”
It is an able, carefully prepared article, and will be
read with interest.




Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

693

now may be regarded, it is plain that rapid accumulation, as a whole, has
not been our fortune thus far ; nor has it been the fortune of any Ameri­
can State, if from the aggregate valuation proper deductions are made
for the original wealth which civilization has appropriated to its own uses.
Moreover, as regards Massachusetts, one-half o f its valuation in 1850 was
added in the preceding ten years. A part of this addition came directly
from labor, the source of all wealth; but another, and possibly the larger
part, came from labor indirectly, and was manifested in the increased
market value of real estate in cities and manufacturing towns. This ap­
preciation of prices is sometimes deceptive; yet, as much property may
have been omitted in the valuation, it is fair to assume that Massachusetts
was worth six hundred millions of dollars in 1850.
The profits of business are also much over-estimated. There are suecessful merchants, mechanics, and manufacturers, who accumulate fortunes
in short periods o f tim e; but there are larger numbers who accumulate
nothing, and more even, who are ruined in the race. Hence, it is unwise
to infer the general profits of business from examples o f great fortunes,
which are few in comparison with the number o f persons who enter the
lists.
There are also examples o f farmers who have accumulated wealth by
their skill and industry, aided perhaps by an advance in the price of their
real estate; and if the number o f these is small compared with the num­
ber of wealthy men in other pursuits, so the number o f those who fail en­
tirely is small compared with the same class in the departments of which
I have spoken.
As there is more certainty and more uniformity in agriculture than in
other business, its profits have been more accurately determined. But, as
I shall have occasion to say, they have been over-estimated in agriculture,
while everywhere else they are vastly exaggerated. It is plain, from the
single fact of the valuation o f Massachusetts, that the proceeds o f labor
and trade over the support of the persons dependent thereon, are very
small. Yet the farmers of Massachusetts have managed to retain in their
own hands about the share o f property to which, upon a basis o f numbers,
they would be entitled.
In 1850, according to the census, there were 55,082 farmers, and their
numbers would have entitled them to one-fourth o f the property o f the
State, or one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. A t that time their
farms were valued at one hundred and nine millions, live stock at nineand-a-half millions, and agricultural implements at three-and-one-fourth
millions more— in all, one hundred and twenty-two millions. If, in addi­
tion to this, it can be assumed that they had, on an average, five hundred
dollars invested in notes, bonds, and stocks, we account for their share o f
the property o f Massachusetts in their own hands. This fact is material,
as showing the relation of agriculture to all other branches of business
considered together. It is an average business even in Massachusetts, so
far as wealth is concerned, while in health, happiness, and certainty, it is
superior to any.
If, however, it is necessary to make some deduction from this estimate,
we may find compensation for it in the fact that farmers, as a class, are
freer from debt than any other portion of our population. Is it not true,
then, that agriculture is now a fair profession ? On one side of our farmers
is a small number of wealthy men, and on the other side there are large




694

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

classes of poor men. I congratulate them that it is their fortune to have
avoided both extremes, for they are thereby saved from complaint or re­
pentance.
The average profits of farming are small, but the extremes are very
great. A farmer, writing from the county of Norfolk, says that the profit
there is very small— one, two, or three per cent— and then qualifies his
statement by saying that he thinks it too high. But the same year a
farmer from Worcester county presents an example which yielded thirteenand-a-half per cent, after payment of labor. This difference ought not to
appear. O f course, those farmers who cultivate land of the first quality,
or reside near markets, will have an advantage over others ; but we find
in the same neighborhood the greatest diversity in results. In Commerce
and manufactures there are great hazards, and men of skill are sometimes
ruined, while those of ordinary capacities succeed. The hazards o f farm­
ing are small. The seasons have, o f course, great influence, but it is a
general influence, affeeting alike the fortunes of farmers in the same vicin­
ity. It is not, therefore, in the nature of things, that of two farms in the
same region, managed with equal skill, one should yield a profit o f thir­
teen and the other of two per cent a year. But it does not admit of doubt
that in the hands of some men, farming, even in Massachusetts, is a profit­
able pursuit; but this is not the general rule. The returns give an aver­
age net income of four-and-a-half per cent; but even this statement is not
sustained by the examination I have made. If you allow liberal prices for
the produce o f 1850, and assume the growth o f wood to be one cord per
acre, and value it at one dollar and fifty cents per cord, the gross receipts
from the farms of the State did not exceed twenty millions of dollars.
There were, according to the returns, 55,000 farmers, besides occasional
laborers. If you allow each farmer three hundred dollars for his sendees,
the result is sixteen-and-a-half millions of dollars.
To this, add one million more for the labor of 20,000 women, at one
hundred dollars each. Here is an expenditure of seventeen-and-a-half
millions of dollars, leaving a balance of only two-and-a-half with which to
meet incidental expenses and pay a per cent on the investment. The con­
clusion from these facts is, that the net income on the agricultural capital
o f the State does not exceed two per cent. This is an unsatisfactory re­
sult, and if it is a necessary one, the sooner our young farmers emigrate
the better for them.
But it is due to agriculture and to the best interests of the Common­
wealth that a careful examination be made, for the question of profit un­
derlies all others. I f agriculture from necessity is an unprofitable pursuit,
then no general reason in its fatror can be offered to young men who are
choosing a profession. The facts and experience at my command do not
enable me to examine the subject properly; yet I propose to pursue it
with the aid o f the materials within my reach.
As a result of small profits, many farmers are without active capital in
their business, and the want o f capital leads in turn to yet smaller profits.
Others who have capital, decline to invest in agriculture, from an appre­
hension that the returns will be inadequate. Now capital, active capital,
is as necessary in farming as in Commerce or manufactures; yet the
majority have very little. There are, however, many farmers who can
command reasonable sums of money, and it is their duty to show that it
may be profitably used in the profession. When a farmer realizes nothing




Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

695

from liis investment besides the support of his family, he is destitute o f
the means of making the repairs and alterations, and of availing himself of
the improvements in implements and modes of culture which are essential
to his success.
If a farmer has not a barn cellar, or a suitable and comfortable bam,
he needs money to build one. He needs ready money to pay for labor
and tools, for fencing and reclaiming lands, and for the purchase of stock
when it is low, that he may have the advantage o f changes in the markets.
Without money none o f these things can be well d on e; and low profits
have put it out of the power of a majority of farmers to avail themselves of
these benefits which, if within their reach, would make a basis for yet
larger profits in the future. Yet the prevailing idea o f small profits leads
farmers of means to lend their money or invest it in stocks, from a belief
that improvements in agriculture will not pay. This policy is, o f course,
an exhausting and impoverishing one, and as a result, many farms are in
a neglected condition, whose owners are proprietors of stock or enders o f
money.
Under this impression, a class, and a pretty large class, seek only to
make the two ends of the year meet. Indeed, they do not even dream
that they might do better. The admitted fact of small profits and the
prevalent belief that they cannot be increased, are serious obstacles to such
progress as is really practicable. But it is not true that agriculture is
depressed beyond hope of recovery. One of the first things to be done is
to economize labor; and as I am not here specially to compliment my (
hearers, I feel at liberty to say that farmers are often too indifferent to the
changes which have been made in tools and modes of culture within the
last twenty years. Labor is as high on the farm as elsewhere, and there is
as much necessity for economy there as in the shop or manufactory. Civil­
ization has so increased the means and wants of men, that all the improve­
ments in machinery have failed to limit in the least the demand for manual
labor. In truth, there is an increasing demand, which promises to render
those who have labor to sell more independent than those who have labor
to buy.
Under these circumstances, it is a plain duty as well as positive interest,
to realize the greatest possible result from the investment in labor. Care
should, of course, be taken to avoid those changes and innovations which
are not improvements; and for this the judgment of the farmer will be a
sufficient guide, if he is acquainted with what is going in the world. And
the best security, gentlemen, for this, is to take and pay for the newspapers.
The prevalence of the idea we are now discussing deters young men from
settling at home, and of course encourages emigration to the West. It
must be admitted that the chances of success are greater in the new than
in the old States; but a New England man who emigrates ought to secure
many positive and valued advantages as compensation for inevitable and
appreciable losses. lie abandons society and institutions whose purpose
and character are defined and approved, and casts his lot with men whose
experience is in the highest degree unlike his own. Under these circum­
stances, he cannot possibly anticipate his position. He exchanges a cer­
tainty tor an uncertainty. He may gain by the change, but he may lose.
But, as a State, we have a right to look at this subject in another view.
The emigration of a young, intelligent, able-bodied man is a public loss.
Massachusetts has already suffered in this respect; and while we rejoice in




096

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

tlie prosperity of the West, it is our duty to maintain, as far as possible,
the character and position of our own State. Emigration has depressed .
agriculture, and this depression has again stimulated emigration by fur­
nishing new and stronger evidence that the life o f a farmer in Massachu­
setts is without hope.
A State is not advancing when the proportion o f native freehold farmers
is diminishing. To be sure there may be an appearance of prosperity, but
there is always danger that its foundations are unstable. In 1800, 67
per cent of the laborers of England were employed upon the land; now
the proportion is only 27 per cent. In Massachusetts there was a relative
loss from 1840 to 1850 of about 15 per cent. W e are then presented
with two remarkable, and in some aspects inconsistent facts. First, farm­
ing is not in Massachusetts a profitable pursuit; and secondly, our farmers
possess the share of property to which, upon a basis o f numbers, they are
entitled. The first fact is generally admitted, and the second is to be ex­
plained by the consideration that our agriculturists are more economical
than any other part of our population. But if the depression of which
we have spoken is unavoidable and permanent, then this interest is without
hope in New England, and we must await the conclusion of a process
fraught with ruin, not only to agriculture, but to other branches o f indus­
try. It is possible, however, that the errors o f the past are evidence of a
better future ; and it is now my purpose to present some facts calculated
to showr, if they do not prove, that the wastes o f agriculture are equal to
a fair income upon the one hundred and twenty millions of dollars in­
vested. These facts are drawn from the experience of Massachusetts, but
I have no doubt that the experience of all the old States of the Union can
furnish similar ones. Yet it is not possible to present every loss resulting
from bad management, or indolence, or ignorance, and I hope, therefore,
only to make it doubtful whether agriculture is necessarily the most un­
profitable of professions, trusting that you may follow the suggestions of
the hour, if in your judgment they are worthy o f it, with such theories
and processes as shall determine the question.
I. F a r m e r s c u l t i v a t e t o o m u c h L a n d . This observation is old, for it
is so true, and its truth is so apparent, that it must needs be old. For the
reason that the manufacturer economizes his power of water or steam, or
the trader his capital by diminishing his credits, or the merchant his voy­
ages by increasing the speed of his vessels, the farmer should limit the
amount of land in cultivation as far as practicable. It is true to an extent
much beyond the common opinion that the cost o f a crop per ton or per
bushel is diminished as the aggregate per acre is increased. That is to
say, a bushel of corn at twenty per acre costs more than a bushel at
eighty. The same observation i4*true o f every product of the land. The
agriculture o f Massachusetts from 1840 to 1850 was a process o f deterior­
ation and exhaustion. It was altogether a retrograde movement, and the
lessening crop per acre, year by year, was so serious as to threaten the ex­
istence of the interest. It is hoped that the present decennial period will
show a better result. In the year 1850 we cultivated 2,133,436 acres,
and allowing one acre for twenty bushels o f wheat, for fifteen bushels o f
rye, for sixty of corn, for forty of oats, for one hundred and fifty o f pota­
toes, for thirty of barley, for one and a half tons of hay, for one hundred
dollars’ worth o f orchard products, for two hundred dollars’ worth of gar­
den products, and seven acres for the pasturage of every horse, five acres




x

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

697

for every ox, four for every cow, two acres each for young cattle, one acre
each for sheep, and allowing liberally for other crops and uses, the product
of that year ought to have been obtained from 1,772,581 acres, showing
a loss of the use o f 360,855 acres, equal to about 17 per cent of the land
in cultivation. This loss is obtained upon the aforegoing calculation o f
erops, but as I shall have occasion to say hereafter, the loss will appear
much greater if compared with the returns of 1840, when the actual re­
sults exceeded the estimate I have now made.
The first waste to he pointed out is the use o f this large quantity o f
land, which, if allowed to run to wood merely, would yield an annual av­
erage of one cord per acre, or 360,000 cords per annum. If this wood
be estimated at one dollar and fifty cents per cord, you have an annual
loss or waste of $540,000. In the next place this great quantity of land
would be much benefited by allowing it to lie idle, for it is a general rule
that nature yields a growth and imjiroves the land at the same time, while
what often passes for husbandry leaves the land poorer than it finds it.
Now then, let this area of land rest for forty years untouched by the hand
o f man, and it will yield an aggregate o f twenty millions o f dollars, while
its productive power for the future will he greatly increased.
II. As a consequence o f this system, the farmers o f Massachusetts fence,
plow, sow, and mow six acres, when they ought to fence, plow, sow, and
mow but five; and in fine, they extend all their agricultural operations
over 17 per cent more land than is necessary to the result they attain.
Here is a manifest loss of labor— a -waste where there ought to be the
strictest economy. It may not be easy to estimate this waste accurately,
hut it is plain that it materially diminishes the profits o f this branch o f
industry. W e have already estimated the entire cost o f our agricultural
labor at sixteen-and-a-half millions o f dollars. It is moderate to say that
one-eighth o f this is wasted in the cultivation o f 17 per cent more land
than is necessary to the crop ; hut to avoid any unreasonable calculations,
it may ho well to put the loss at one-sixteenth, or one million of dollars.
Be it remembered that the gross proceeds of agriculture do not exceed
twenty millions of dollars, and o f this at least one million is wasted in the
misapplication of labor. Nor is this all. W e shall have occasion to say
that this misapplication of labor is followed by a more serious loss in the
exhaustion o f the land. But what would he said o f a manufacturer who
should be guilty of wasting one-twentieth o f his whole product in the ap­
plication of his labor ? If his labors finally resulted in bankruptcy, would
he be entitled to public sympathy ? Or would judicious men comdemn
the business because it failed in such hands ? It is a duty to economize
labor. Labor is the scarcest and dearest commodity in the market, and so
it is likely to continue. %
III. This waste of labor is followed by a waste o f land. W hen we
cultivate more land than we ought for the crop we get, the process o f cul­
tivation is necessarily defective and bad. This was the character of our
farming through the whole o f the last decennial period. As the land
under bad cultivation loses heart and strength, more and more is required
to meet the demand we make. So then, from 1840 to 1850, we not only
cultivated more land than we ought, hut we actually consumed it at the
rate of many thousand acres a year. The produce of 1840 was much
greater than that of 1850, yet we had 2,133,436 acres in cultivation at
the latter period, and only 1,875,211 acres at the former. The productof




698

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

1840, at the rates before named would have required 2,317,696 acres,
while they were really produced from 1,875,211 acres, showing that my
estimate of the capacity of our soil under ordinary care was too low. If
you take the excess o f the crop of 1840 over that o f 1850, and according
to the rates before named, find the quantity o f land necessary to produce
that excess, and add that quantity to the acres in cultivation in 1850, and
you have 2,507,353 acres, or 632,142 acres more than were cultivated in
1840. These statistics demonstrate two facts— one absolutely and the
other approximately. First, that during the last decennial period our
lands continually depreciated in productive power; and secondly, that
that depreciation was equivalent to the annihilation o f 63,000 acres of
land a year, or nearly 3 per cent o f the value of the farms of the State,
exclusive of buildings and woodland.
In fine, it appears that in 1850 we were cultivating 632,142 acres more
than we should have been if the production o f 1840 had been sustained;
360,855 acres more than would have been necessary at the rates before
assumed; and also that the impoverishing culture from 1840 to 1850 was
equal to an annual waste of 63,214 acres, which was apparent in the di­
minished total product, and in the increased quantity of land in use. This
waste may be estimated with considerable accuracy. The farms o f the
State were valued at $109,076,377. Two-and-nine-tenths o f 1 per cent,
the exact proportion which the annual waste bore to the quantity in cul­
tivation, is $3,163,145. But if you allow that one-half o f the total value
of our farms is in woodland and buildings, the depreciation was $1,581,572
per annum. But whatever may have been the exact depreciation, it is
plain that our culture from 1840 to 1850 was an exhausting one— the
acres continually increasing and the production diminishing. These facts
demonstrate what it is unpleasant to believe, and yet more unpleasant to
say, that the farmers of Massachusetts, of that period, could not as a (lass
be called good farmers. Good culture benefits land— bad culture exhausts
it.
During the ten years to which our statistics refer, the culture o f the
State was bad. Land reclaimed from the water and the forest was not
used to increase production, but its native fertility was required to supply
those crops which our exhausted and abused fields refused to furnish. The
process of our agriculture was that of a corporation which uses its capital
in dividends, or of a merchant who lives beyond his means, and it tended
to the same result— bankruptcy. The idea that cropping land necessarily
exhausts it is an erroneous one, and it is, nibreover, a reflection .upon the
Creator, who has provided for the support o f his children, and not for
their extinction by the exhaustion of the powers o f nature.
The good farmer will so manage his acres that their productive power
will yearly increase, and this he should do even though his acres in culti­
vation diminished.
I beg, in concluding this part o f my address, to present an aggregate of
the wastes to which I have already called your attention :—
1st. The annual income from the growth of wood on 360,855 acres of
land more than was necessary to the crop of 1850.....................
2d. Loss of labor in cultivating this excess of land................................
3d. Loss of land per year by exhausting culture....................................

$540,000
1,000,009
1,581,572

Total........................................................................................

$3,121,572




Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

699

This waste is equal to two-and-nine-tenths of 1 per cent on the value of
the farms, and if it had been saved and added to the actual income, that
income would have amounted to 5 per cent a year. Admit that the cal­
culations I have presented are true, and admit, also, what I am sure is not
true, that all the wastes have been stated, and all the profits of farming
enumerated, and even then the result to which we come is not an unsatis­
factory one, for we are to consider that' an investment in land which pays
for the labor and other expenses bestowed upon it, and yields an annual
income o f 5 per cent besides, is as good an investment as can be made.
Here is no risk of frauds and bankruptcy, as when you purchase stocks or
lend money. It is to be considered that this result has been attained
without reference to an improved cultivation, which is to follow the dis­
semination o f scientific and practical knowledge among farmers. The
view' taken contemplates only that amount of skill wrhich the farmers o f
Massachusetts are known to possess, and it is my desire further to show
that its proper exercise will place them above the evil of low profits.
In farming, three things are necessary: skill, labor, and implements.
Proceeding upon the basis that the skill o f our farmers is sufficient for the
present inquiry, I have next to say that there is as much labor employed
upon the farms o f Massachusetts as there ought to be when we consider
the claims o f other branches of industry. The great practical question is
to so economize it as to produce the best results.
The skillful farmer makes a judicious selection of his implements, and
keeps them in good order. W e can no more afford to work with poor
tools than the manufacturer can afford to use worn or antiquated ma­
chinery.
Among the agencies, if not among the implements employed in agri­
culture in this region, we are certainly to reckon manures. They are to
the farm what water or steam is to the mill. As the want of these, or
their excessive cost, ruins the manufacturer, so the want o f manure, or its
great cost, hurries the farmer to the same end.
The advance made in agricultural knowledge in the last five years, has
changed public sentiment on this point, yet it is feared that the remedy
has been found in the purchase of expensive manures from abroad, rather
than in the prudent husbandry of the resources we have at home. And
the conclusion of this address will be devoted to an inquiry into the amount
of waste in this respect in Massachusetts.
If it is profitable farming to purchase guano, phosphates, and animal
manures from abroad, there is certainly no excuse for neglecting the means
which every farmer can command at a small expense. He who neglects
his harvest is hardly distinguished from the criminal, yet it is common to
neglect the preparation on which the harvest depends.
A waste of manure is a w aste o f the elements, and renders it impossible
for us to add to our crops, or to improve our land. The first thing, then,
to be done, is to economize the manure we have at home, and there may
then be hope of general and permanent improvement. It may be better
to import manures than to be without them, but of all importations it is
the least creditable to the country while the present customs remain. B y
the census of 1850, it appeared that there were 75,000 barns in the State,
and the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture estimates the quantity of
manure at five cords each, worth three dollars per cord, making a total of
$1,125,000. If we assume, what appears liberal, that one-fourth of the




700

Profits and Wastes o f Agriculture.

barns have cellars, it follows that three-fourths of this manure is exposed
to atmospheric and other deteriorating influences. Many competent per­
sons estimate the loss from this cause at one-half, but if it is only one-third,
we show a waste from the exposure o f manure of |281,250 per annum.
Nor is this all. Without a barn-cellar it is impossible to secure the stale,
which is nearly equal in value to the solid manure. Stockhardt estimates
that of the manure of neat cattle 53 per cent is solid, and 47 per cent is
stale. Farmers who neglect the latter ought not to be purchasers of for­
eign manures.
If the calculation o f the Secretary is accurate, this waste is three-fourths
o f 47 per cent o f 81,125,000, which is $748,230. Here is then an ag­
gregate waste in the State in the matter of manures of $1,029,480, which
might and ought to be saved. It may be mentioned, incidentally, as the
observation of a practical farmer, and its truth has been established by
experiments, that gravel, or subsoil, is a much better absorbent than soil
which has been cultivated.
There are other losses o f manures which amount to as much as that
which has been mentioned. It is stated that there are three hundred
thousand domestic fowls in the State, and their manure is superior to any
except guano, and indeed is hardly inferior to that. Satisfactory experi­
ments, made by competent persons in the counties o f Worcester and Mid­
dlesex, show that this manure is sufficient for ten thousand acres of corn,
and though it may be saved and prepared at very little cost, it is for the
most part wasted. A few farmers have built reservoirs for the waste water
o f their houses, yet much the larger part neglect this means of wealth al­
together. I think it safe to say that the farmers of Massachusetts neglect
and waste more manure than they use, and the loss of a million o f dollars
in manure is followed by a loss of much labor, and many millions in the
crop.
It is also practicable and economical for many farmers to avail them­
selves of manures or fertilizers from the shops and mills o f the manufac­
turers. The dirt and waste o f woolen factories is found to be a superior
manure for potatoes. The liquor and deposit of the rag bleaeheries are of
inestimable value. They contain lime, soda, and whatever may be ex­
tracted from the rags. The value of this composition is apparent, and
must be great in most sections of New England. An intelligent manu­
facturer and farmer, who has had many yeftrs’ experience with this fertil­
izer, writes that when used upon land in the immediate vicinity of the
bleachery, its value is equal to the cost o f the lime and soda. There are
also many other manufactories, from whose ordinary operations wealth,
or the means of wealth, may be derived.
I have dwelt thus upon the wastes o f agriculture for the purpose of
showing that its profits may be materially increased, without the aid of
that additional skill which we hope soon to acquire. W e have not spoken
of what may be done when agricultural science is better developed and
more generally understood, but only of what can now be done by those
changes in practice which, in the judgment of all good farmers, ought at
once to be made. Hut we should not fix our minds so exclusively upon
the profits o f agriculture as to neglect the improvement of the landscape
and scenery of Massachusetts. When we cultivate only so much land as
we can cultivate well, and allow the rest to run to wood, our barren knolls,
exhausted plains, and without pasture, will disappear, and the luxuriant




Commerce o f the Crimea.

701

meadows, and lawns, and fields, ricli with the promise o f the harvest, or
burdened by its weight, will add to the beauties o f hill and mountain,
green with the freshness of spring, or variegated by the frosts of autumn.
And, gentlemen, indulge me further while I say, that it is not wise nor
safe to accept the idea, sometimes suggested, that Massachusetts had better
abandon her agriculture as a business, and trust to Commerce and manu­
factures. This we ought never to do. These latter branches are import­
ant, even essential, but they should not be the sole pursuits o f any people.
True prosperity does not rest upon any one branch of industry, and though
Commerce and manufactures have brought great wealth to Massachusetts,
they have not advanced her in those equalities which constitute her true re­
nown more than has agriculture alone. Agriculture, gentlemen, can be
made profitable even in Massachusetts. It is so in a limited number o f in­
stances, and it can be generally so if the farmers but will it. Let them
seize upon the ingenuity and enterprise -which distinguish our mechanics
and merchants, and they will secure for the loading pursuit of the people
the position to which it is entitled. The existence of agriculture in Mas­
sachusetts as the support of a large class o f people is a question of profit,
and it is for the farmers to so determine it, that our youth shall have
courage to engage in a profession which promises a larger share of phys­
ical, moral, and intellectual health, than any of the other avocations of
men.

A rt. V.— COMMERCE OP THE C R IM E A *
S o m e interest will be felt in knowing the nature and importance of the
commercial relations kept up by the Russian province where the allied
armies have already obtained a footing. The following sketch will give
some idea on the subject:—
Let us first o f all remark that the situation o f the Crimea is admirable,
situated, as it is, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff— that is to
say, between the Danube on the west, the Dneiper on the north, and the
Kuban on the east, all grand commercial affluents o f the European con­
tinent, in its eastern portion, and o f southern Russia, as likewise o f the
Caspian basin.
N o position could be better for carrying on the international transac­
tions o f this part o f the globe. The Crimea is, moreover, specially fa­
vored in its interior by mildness o f its climate and by the fertility o f a
large portion of its territory, which is susceptible of every culture. In
1835, Mr. Schnitzler estimated its extent at 1,646 square miles, and its
population at 400,000 inhabitants, about 100,000 of whom are Tartars—
a race which is dwindling away and disappearing before the increase o f
the Christian population.
Corn, wine, cattle, wool, pelts and furs, hides, hemp, honey, oil, salt,
and some fisheries— such are the chief elements composing the wealth o f
the land, where a transit trade also exists, since here corn and grain, ole-




Translated from the Journal dcs Debats.

702

Commerce o f the Crimea.

aginous seeds, tallow and grease, tobacco, silk, eastern tapestry, and the
like, are brought for barter with the stuffs, sugar, hardware, and other ar­
ticles wrought in Europe, more especially in Russia itself.
Corn constitutes the bulk of the exports from the Crimean harbors—
these harbors being adjuncts, we may almost say dependents, on the har­
bor of Odessa, that granary of the Levant, or rather o f southern Europe.
According to the official reports for 1851 from the government o f Taurida,
the corn harvest had increased to 2,568,497 hectoliters. Ten years be­
fore it was hardly 1,000,000. It is particularly in the district of Berdiansk, peopled in part by foreign settlers, that the culture o f the cereals is
most developed, and it is thought that the entire basin of the Crimea,
with that of the Sea o f Azoff, may supply Commerce annually with
5,000,000 or 6,000,000 hectoliters. Moreover, the Crimea, in 1851, was
found to possess nearly 2,000,000 sheep, half of which were fine-wooled,
248,260 head of horned cattle, and 85,700 horses.
The salt mines o f Perekop and Eupatoria have some celebrity, and, al­
though very inadequately worked, are a valuable source o f wealth to the
country. It is also well known what an importance the culture o f the
vine has acquired in the Crimea, especially the vineyards of Simpheropol,
Yalto, and Theodosia. In 1851, their yield amounted to 83,798 hectoli­
ters. The entire vintage o f the Crimea— the greater part o f which is
consumed in the country, and the remainder of which is sold to custom­
ers in the provinces of southern Russia-—may amount, it is said, to double
the figure given above, that is, about 160,000 hectoliters.
The wines exported from the Crimea are, in general, of a secondary
quality, and are chiefly used, like those from the Caucasus, for mixing with
other wines or with other preparations. The rich vineyards o f Prince
W oronzoff are much praised. They yield a sparkling wine, something
like Champagne. Brought originally from Hungary, the Rhine, and Bur­
gundy, the plants to which the Crimea is now indebted for its wines have
almost superseded the indigenous vino of the peninsula. M. de Tegoborski
says that the Taurida possessed, in 1848, 35,577,000 vines, a number six
times larger than what grew there sixteen years before. The Russian
government has at all times made great efforts to develop the culture of
the vine in the Crimea, and, to say the truth, it is almost the only culture
which has acquired there any importance. Manufactures are at the low­
est ebb. There are two or three factories for the weaving o f common
cloth, a few tanneries, and a few yards for making morocco (Russian ?)
leather, and that is all.
As for the value of the exchanges carried on in the entire basin of the
Crimea and the Sea of Azoff, we will give the figures quoted in the A n­
nates du Commerce Exterwur, the best authority on the subject, since it is
formed either from foreign statistics, or from the correspondence of our
consular and diplomatic agents. In 1841, the estimate was:—
Ports in the Crimea........ francs
Ports in the Sea of A zoff........

Imports.

Exports.

Total.

780,000
5,208,000

2,308,000
22,088,000

3,088,000
27,296,000

Ten years later, in 1851, the value o f the traffic o f The Crimea was
only 1,747,000 francs, a result showing a great diminution, and for the
ports in the Sea of Azoff, 34,084,000 francs, which, on the contrary, shows
a great increase. Kertch, placed on the straits separating the Crimea
from the Transcaucasian provinces, and Taganrog, situated quite at the




Commerce o f the Crimea.

703

bottom of the Sea o f Azoff, count for much in this commercial total.
They alone exported, in 1851, corn to the value o f 7,564,000 francs— a
sum almost equal to the aggregate amount from all the other ports.
W e must not, however, measure the commercial activity in the ports of
the Crimea and the Sea of A zolf simply by the results of the foreign
trade. The coasting trade, which is there extremely active, would give
almost an equal value o f exchanges. The home trade is also o f some im­
portance in the Crimea, and it may be judged o f by remarking that there
are seventy-nine fairs held there every year.
Goods to the value o f
2,494,000 roubles (nearly 9,000,000 francs) were brought to them in 1851;
and what is remarkable is the fact that, with the exception o f the two
fairs at Simpheropol, all of them are held in the northern districts, almost
exclusively peopled with Christian agriculturists. To sum up, the foreign
trade of the two seas, in 1851, employed 1,561 ships, carrying 400,000
ton s; and the coasting trade may well have been three times larger.
The coasts of the Crimea offer, in fact, a large number of harbors, that
in all times have been eminently useful to ships frequenting these difficult
and sometimes dangerous seas. The chief harbors are Eupatoria, Theodo­
sia or Kaft'a, Kertch, and Sebastopol, to which we must add, as belonging
to the same sphere o f commercial activity, the ports in the Sea of Azoff,
v iz: Berdiansk, Mariopol, Rostoff, and Taganrog.
The Genoese thor­
oughly understood the importance of such a line of coast when, towards
the end of the 13th century, they purchased, or rather took, from the
Mongol-Tartars the ancient Theodosia, spread their colonies over all Tau-.
rida, covered with their ships the shores o f the Euxine, and founded Kaffa,
which soon became the principal center o f Europe’s Commerce with Asia
Minor, Persia, and the Indies.
Two centuries later, the Crimea was for a long time blighted, as it were,
with sloth and sterility ; its cultures, its Commerce jhned away more and
more through atrophy, and the yoke imposed upon it by the Muscovites
in 1740 was little calculated to restore it. But, thanks to the franchise
granted by'the Empress Catherine to its ports subsequently, the peninsula
saw its prosperity rapidly return. Unfortunately, the Czar Paul, through
some malign inspiration, thought he ought to protect the Commerce of
Taurida by canceling this franchise, and replacing it by an oppressive sys­
tem of customs, with all their restrictive regulations. Nevertheless, the
Crimea has progressed by the force of things, by its own elements o f vi­
tality, by the constant growth o f the Christian population. And, now that
the Black Sea and the mouths of the Danube, free at last, are about to be
opened to navigation, to all the transactions o f the western nations, we
may look upon this country as destined for great things.




704

The Usury Laws.

Art. V I . — T H E

USURY LAWS.

P ublic sentiment throughout the country has o f late been directed more
generally than ever before to the subject of a repeal or modification of the
usury laws, and scarcely a leading journal, North or South, East or West,
reaches us that does not urge a change in these superannuated enactments,
and this, too, at a time when money has been commanding a high rate of
interest. In all our commercial and industrial towns, the borrower and
the lender, the capitalist and the customer, alike demand the entire aboli­
tion, or a radical modification of statutes so adverse to the principles of untrameled trade.
The usury laws in Great Britain have been for years gradually yielding
to the requirements of industry and the demands of commercial and busi­
ness men, until at the recent session o f Parliament an act h a / been passed
— known as chapter 90, 17, and 18 Victoria— and now in operation, by
which it is lawful in the United Kingdom “ to loan money at any rate of in­
terest, and on any description o f property, either real estate or otherwise.”
The bill passed the House o f Lords on the 27th of July, 1854, was imme­
diately brought forward in the House of Commons, and finally passed that
body on the 5th of August, 1854, and, receiving the royal assent, it is now
the law of the land.
Regarding this as one o f the most important commercial measures of
the age, we give the remarks made in the House of Lords on the second
reading of the bill, as we find them reported in the London journals:—

The Marquis o f Lansdowne moved the second reading o f this bill. The in­
conveniences which had been found to result from the operation o f the laws
against usury had been so many and so great that, notwithstanding strong pre­
judices on the subject o f usury and usurers, it had been found necessary so ro
lax those laws from time to time. At the time o f the commercial failures in the
years 1836 and 1837, it was found that the greatest relief which was experienced
was- the result o f a provision which had been introduced not long previously into
the act for the renewal o f the Bank Charter, enabling the Bank o f England to
dispense with the usury laws.
In consequence o f this he (the Marquis o f Lansdowne) had been induced to
take charge o f a bill in that house, by which, with respect to bills o f exchange,
and other securities o f that description, the rate o f interest was to be indefinitely
extended. Considerable apprehension, however, was expressed as to the proba­
ble effect o f such a law ; and it was only passed at that time as a temporary
measure. Nor were those apprehensions altogether removed for many years,
although the difficulties and inconveniences which had been anticipated were not
found to result from it. People could not be brought to believe that money*
was as much a commodity as any ordinary article o f produce; that its value
must be regulated, like the value o f any other commodity, by the ordinary prin­
ciples o f demand and supply; and that it was as impossible to fix the rate o f
interest at which it should be lent as to fix the price at which eorn and butter
should be sold.
This prejudice, however, had gradually disappeared, and the object o f this bill
was, as the same considerations applied to land and other property as applied to
bills o f exchange, to apply to them the same legislation. People were not de­
terred from raising money upon such securities at a higher rate o f interest than
five per cent by the present state o f the law; but they had recourse to collusive
practices and fraudulent proceedings in order to evade its operation. The in­
conveniences to which this led were very seriously felt in England, but they were
much more seriously felt in Ireland, where the circumstances o f many estates




The Usury Laws.

\

705

were such that it was impossible to borrow money upon them within the limits
which the usury laws present.
T he result was that annuities were granted,
and various subterfuges and contrivances were resorted to, and, in the end, a
much higher rate was paid than if the money could have been had, at its market
value, upon a mortgage in the usual way. T he usury laws, in fact, did no good
whatever, but they produced great inconvenience; they affected to do what all
the powers o f the legislature could not do— to apply a different principle to one
description o f commodity from that which was applied to every other, and they
interfered with the principle o f supply and demand.
Having referred to Calvin as among the distinguished men who had doubted
their policy, and to Jeremy Bentham as having dealt the first great blow against
them, the noble marquis concluded by expressing an earnest hope that their lordships would consent to the second reading o f the bill.
Lord Campbell expressed his great satisfaction that the usury laws were about
to be entirely swept away. Prom his long experience in courts o f justice, he
could bear testimony to the mischievous effects which they produced. T h ey
had been practically swept away in all cases except where real security was
given ; but in the cases in which they were retained, they led to a good deal o f
litigation, and proved most disastrous, and even ruinous to those whom they
were avowedly intended to protect. Th ey had given a great deal o f employ­
ment to the Encumbered Estates Court in Ireland, and he believed that many
estates in Ireland which might otherwise have been disencumbered, had been
brought to the hammer through the operation o f those laws.
Lord Brougham supported the bill, both on mercantile and moral grounds.
The Lord Chancellor also supported the bill. T he usury laws could always
he defeated by a person who was willing to resort to something which bordered
upon fraud. Building societies had been exempted from their operation in order
to encourage the industrious classes to make small weekly or monthly invest­
ments ou t o f their earnings. But the exemption had been taken advantage o f
by people who had capital to lay out, and who found that by making use o f
these societies, they could obtain real security for their money without being
subject to the restrictions which the usury laws imposed.
T h is fact had been
brought prominently before him in a ease which had occupied his attention in
the Court o f Chancery during the last tw o or three days, and he thought it was
a strong reason for placing these laws upon a rational footing, and for enabling
people to do openly and directly what they could now accomplish by indirect and
crooked means.
Lord Redesdale would not oppose the second reading o f the hill, hut thought
it ought to have been introduced earlier in the session, that there might have been
more time for consideration.
The Marquis o f Lansdowne said every matter o f detail had been omitted
from the bill, and the principle was one which did not require any long dis­
cussion.

On the 5th of October, 1854, Caleb Barstow, Esq., chairman o f a com­
mittee of the New York Chamber of Commerce, made a report to that
body, embracing a most able argument in favor o f a repeal or radical
change in our usury laws, in adopting which the Chamber were unanimous
as to abolishing these laws on all commercial paper, and on all ordinary
business contracts, and were also unanimous as to the entire ground cov­
ered by the report.*
Subsequently the Chamber o f Commerce recommended, without a dis­
senting vote, (at their meeting November 2d,) the subjoined memorial to
the Legislature of the State of New York. As this memorial will be preseted to the next Legislature, we publish it entire, with the earnest hope
that the prayer of the memorialists may he granted, or that the Legisla­
* See pamphlet report o f Mr. Barstow, page 15.
VOL. X X X I.-----NO.




VI.

45

706

The Usury Laws.

ture w ill g iv e us a law in k eep in g w ith th e gen era lly w ise and exem plary
co m m ercia l legislation o f the E m pire State.
To the, Honorable the Legislature o f the State o f New York, in Senate and
Assembly convened:—
The memorial o f the undersigned, citizens o f the State o f New Y ork, respect­
fully represents,
That the present laws o f this State regulating the rate o f interest are un­
doubtedly the most severe o f any usnry laws in the commercial world. That
this severity has utterly failed o f producing the end for which it was intended,
or any other useful end, all experience having shown that any increased restric­
tion, or attempted restriction, has never failed to enhance the price for the use
o f money during the existence o f any money pressure, to which all commercial
communities are occasionally liable.
That in addition to this increase in the rates o f interest, the provisions o f our
present usury laws lead to circuitous devices and discreditable subterfuges and
stratagems to evade them.
And these evasions are attempted by persons unmindful o f the fact, that inas­
much as both parties can be made to testify in an action under this law, they
cannot evade the penalty without a false oath, provided a prosecutor does his
duty. A ll this has a demoralizing tendency, and can only result in evil.
Your memorialists, therefore, humbly pray that all the usury laws o f this
State may be abolished, retaining only a fair maximum rate to govern in the ab­
sence o f a contract between borrower and lender, also a fair rate to accrue on a
judgment in law, after its rendition.
Y our memorialists would, at this point, respectfully suggest that this freedom
can be extended to our banks with great benefit to our business community.
Those institutions, blended as they are with all the leading interests o f society,
a re pre-eminently serviceable in the encouragement o f credit and in the promo­
tion o f all the useful enterprises o f the day. They are managed by men whose
interest, a s a general rule, must o f necessity harmonize with the pecuniary inter­
e s ts o f the community at large.
Even those w ho have favored restrictive usury laws, admit that banks are
subjected to expenses and risks peculiar to that business. They are required
to have a specie basis, and to conform to rigid requisitions o f law in a way
deemed necessary for the protection o f the currency and for the protection o f the
commercial interests o f the people. Hence, they argue that in any relaxation
granted, banks ought not to be excluded.
Loans secured by mortgages o f real estate should also, in the opinion o f your
memorialists, be allowed to enjoy the benefit o f the wholesome competition
among lenders that would immediately ensue from the relaxation now sought
for.
Y our memorialists, in conclusion, most respectfully advance the opinion that
no matter whether money be called a commodity or not a commodity, parties
owning it should be as entirely free from legal restraint in paying it away, or
receiving it for the use o f other money, as they are in parting with it or reeeiviftg
it for any other service, or for any com modity or any gratuity whatever.
Thus entertaining the full opinion that our usury laws, as they now stand, have
disappointed all hopes o f their useful operation, your memorialists would hum­
bly pray that a law may be enacted like the one herewith subm itted:—
AN ACT REGULATING THE KATE OF INTEREST ON THE LOAN OR FORBEARANCE
OF MONEY.

T he People o f the State o f N ew York, represented in Senate and Assem bly,
do enact as fo llo w s :—
S e c t io n 1. No g r a n t, tra n s fer, b o n d , n o t e , b ill o f e x c h a n g e , c o n tr a c t, o r a g re e ­
m e n t, or lo a n , or fo ib e a r a n c e o f a n y m o n e y , g o o d s , o r th in g s in a c tio n , sh a ll b e




The Cotton Trade.

707

void by reason o f any paying or receiving, or agreement to pay or allow such
rate o f interest as the parties may agree upon.
S e c . 2 . In all c a s e s w h e r e th e ra te o f in t e r e s t is n o t s p e c ifie d , th e in te re s t
sh a ll c o n tin u e t o b e a t th e rate o f s e v e n d o lla r s u p o n o n e h u n d re d d o lla r s f o r
o n e y e a r, a n d a fte r th a t ra te f o r a g r e a te r o r le s s s u m , o r f o r a lo n g e r o r s h o rte r
tim e.
S ec. 3. No greater rate o f interest than is specified in the second section o f

this act shall be charged on any judgment after the date o f the rendition thereof,
entered in any o f the courts o f this State, although such judgment may have
been founded upon a writing stipulating a higher rate o f interest.
S ec. 4. So much o f title third, chapter fourth, and part second o f the Revised
Statutes, and so much o f the laws of 1837, chapter 430, as are inconsistent with
the provisions o f this act, are hereby repealed.
S e c . 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

Ar t. V I I . — TIIE

COTTON

TRADE.

T h e events of the past year have shown the utter insignificance of Rus­
sia as a commercial power. W ith all her ports blockaded on the Baltic,
the White and the Black seas, the prices o f merchandise have been scarcely
disturbed. The demand for cotton, that great barometer of Commerce,
has been undiminished. Though the peace of Germany, Sweden, Greece,
and Italy had been threatened, no falling off in the English exports has
been experienced. All the operations of Commerce move on undisturbed,
just as they did in our war with Mexico. The price of hemp, tallow, sheetiron, and a few unimportant articles, has been affected, but no great im­
portant interest in the commercial world has been seriously injured.
The consumption of cotton has, indeed, slightly declined in England,
France, and on the continent; but so small is this decline, that it is fully
explained by other causes well known and understood. The deliveries to
the trade at Liverpool have only fallen off from 1,430,000 bales to
1,424,000 bales, up to the 7th o f October. A t Havre, the consumption
was 27,000 bales less than it had been in 1853 at the end of the first half
o f the year, but part o f this loss has since been regained; the exports from
the United States and England to the continent of Europe have decreased
more than either o f these amounts ; but this decrease is not over 100,000
bales.
I f war, the deficient harvests in England, France, and Germany, and the
consequent high prices of provisions, be considered, the wonder is that
the decline in the consumption o f cotton has not been larger from this
cause alone than has been really experienced.
Russia may be a great country in territory, or population, or agricul­
tural resources, but as a commercial power she is utterly insignificant.
The events of the past year have also shown the immense benefits which
have already been received from the mines of California and Australia,
and go far to establish the fact that a sensible appreciation in prices is
already observable, from the large supply of the precious metals.
In former wars, the extra demand for specie for the military chests of
the armies disturbed very much the currency of the war-making powers,
and while it depreciated property generally, raised the price o f wheat and




708

The Cotton Trade.

flour and other articles of this kind. The present war, though not less
expensive, has hardly been felt in the monetary world. The extra expen­
ditures of England have exceeded fifty millions of dollars ; of France, about
the same; of Austria, a large sum; and both Russia and Turkey have had
heavy outlays of an extraordinary character. Amidst all, the price of
English consols has not fallen over five or six per cent, the circulation of
the Bank of England has not materially declined, the specie in her vaults
has decreased only four millions sterling, and the demand for money has
not largely increased either in Europe or America.
The rate of interest was, indeed, raised considerably in England, but
this was due mainly to their deficient harvests. The stringency in their
money market produced its effect in the United States, on account of our
close connection with Liverpool and London, and of our large over-trading
and borrowing in the preceding year.
The extra demand for coin for the support of distant, large, and expen­
sive armies, has thus had but a slight influence on Commerce, and this
can only be explained by the large supply of gold from the new fields
which America and Australia have opened to the world.
The two facts that have now been referred to are of great importance
in considering the demand and supply o f cotton. If Russia is of small in­
fluence as a commercial power, the slight decline in the consumption of
cotton during the past year is not due to the w ar; and if the extraor­
dinary supply of the precious metals suffices to meet the extra demands
made by distant and expensive armies, the fair and steady prices we have
received for our exports have been due to the regular and legitimate de­
mands of trade to meet the actual wants of the world. And if the war
only affects, in the slightest degree, both the demand and the rate for cot­
ton, our expectations for the coming jrear may be based on the usual
circumstances that have heretofore influenced the consumption and the
price of cotton.
In the United States, the purchases made by the Northern manufactur­
ers have declined in 1854, if we compare them with 1853. This falling
off is over 60,000 bales. But the amounts used by the factories have not
probably been much less than during the preceding year. The tightness
in our money market this summer compared w’ith last, has made the
Northern manufacturers lay in but small supplies, so that the stocks in
their hands are very low. The prosperity, North and South, of all branches
o f the cotton manufacture, forbids the belief that the wants of 1855 will
decline.
The average consumption for the three years ended 1845, were.......... bales
«
“
“
1848
“
“
“
1851
«
“
“
1854

354,000
461,000
469,000
628,000

650,000 bales will be needed for 1855, against 611,000 and 671,000 for
the last two years.
The deliveries to the trade at Liverpool, which constitute over 95 per
cent of the English consumption, have suffered no decline for the present
year. In the earlier part o f the season they were less than in 1853, but
this loss has been entirely recovered.
On the 30th of June these deliveries were 904,000 bales, against 989,000
of the year before. During the months of July and August this deficiency
remained about the same. On the 14th of July it was 90,000 bales; on




The Cotton Trade.

709

the 18tli of August, 86,000; and on the 25th, 89,000 bales. About this
time the favorable influence of the fine harvests began to be felt, and the
deficiency has lessened every week since. On the 9th of September it was
58.000 bales; on the 23d, 37,000; and on the 30th, only 20,000 bales.
On the 13t.h of October the consumption for 1854 was 1,456,600 bales,
against 1,460,000 for 1853, exhibiting a decrease of only 4,000 bales. For
the whole year we may expect no decline, and as the consumption of 1853
was 1,904,000, against 1,861,000 bales of 1852, the amount for 1854 will
be above rather than below 1,900,000.
For 1855, even supposing the war to continue, we may anticipate an
increase. The favorable harvests in England and on every part of the
continent, and the moderate prices which are likely to prevail, will in­
crease the demand for cotton goods. The prosperity of the agricultural
interest, as well a? every department o f manufactures, will exert a favor­
able influence. In every part of the world, excepting only the United
States and China, the demand for the English exports will be large, and in
these two countries only a slight check will be experienced. The scarcity
o f money, the uncertainties connected with the war, the hesitating and
undecided position o f the German States, will be drawbacks on the other
side; but, taking both into consideration, we may reckon the wants o f
Great Britain as not less than two millions of bales for 1855.
For France the consumption for the coming year will be as large as in
any former year. The slight check it has received during the past season
has been owing to the high prices of food. And though these will not be
low in the coming year, because the supplies of the last crop have been
entirely exhausted, and because the war will interfere with the usual re­
ceipts from the Baltic and the Black Sea, for 1854, the exports of
American cotton to France have been 374,000 bales against 427,000 for
1853 ; and though both these are larger that for 1852 and 1851, the uni­
versal prosperity o f France since the accession of Louis Napoleon to the
Imperial throne, authorizes us to have our expectations for the coming
year on the past two, rather than on the preceding results. For 1S55 the
demand for American cotton in France must therefore exceed 400,000
bales.
On the continent there has been a decline, in consequence of the war
and the deficient harvest. Part o f this will be recovered, but a deficiency
in our exports to the north of Europe will still exist. Russia is, indeed,
o f small importance, still she wants some of our cotton. The decline in
the English outgoings has been greater than ours, because nearly all the
Russian imports were received from England, and not from the United
States. To the whole continent, omitting France, our exports have fallen
off 23,000 bales, while from Liverpool alone they have gone down from
223.000 to 156,000 bales. As the amounts for the whole year were
350.000 bales from the whole of Great Britain, the deficiency for 1854
will be fully 100,000 bales.
The continental supplies exported from
America and England during the year 1852 were 636,000 bales; for 1853
they were 715,000 bales, and for 1854 about 590,000 bales. For 1855
the moderate prices and abundant harvests will probably make up half
this loss, and thus raise the demand to 650,000 bales.
These several estimates for the coming year make a total demand for
1855 of 3,700,000 bales against 3,475,000 for 1854, and 3,717,000 for
1853, as in the following table :—




710

The Cotton Trade.
Consumption.

Great Britain............................... .
United States...............................
France, of United States cotton.,
The continent, of United States and Ea9t
India cotton............................. .
Total..................................

Estimate.

18§<L

1854.

1855.

1,904,000
671,000
427,000

1,900,000
611,000
374,000

2,000,000
650,000
400,000

715,000

590,000

650,000

3,717,000

3,475,000

3,700,000

The supplies for 1854 from the East Indies have fallen off largely from
1853. They were indeed excessively large in that year, compared with
former years, having reached 485,000 bales, on account of the good price
of cotton and the civil war in China. In Liverpool, on the 14th of Octo­
ber, the decline had reached 68,000 bales, and for the whole year the de­
ficiency at London and Liverpool may reach 130,000 bales. But even
with this falling off, the imports from the East Indies will exceed the
amount of any former year. The average receipts from 1848 and 1849
were 205,000 bales; for 1850 and 1851 they were 318,000, and for 1852
and 1853 they were 354,000 bales. The probable troubles at Canton, on
account of the Chinese rebellion, by lessening the demand in that part of
the world, will tend to divert the Indian cotton to Europe ; but this effect
will be counteracted by the moderate prices, and the English receipts will
not probably vary much from 350,000 bales.
The English imports from Brazil and the West Indies are small and sta­
tionary. They have been between 100,000 and 200,000 bales for every
year of the past seven. The receipts at Liverpool, up to October 14, were
65.000 bales against 63,000 of the preceding year ; and as the total for
1853 was 141,500, the amount for 1854 will not exceed 150,000 bales.
The average for the last five years has been 152,000 bales, and for 1855
this average may be anticipated.
In Egyptian cotton the average for the last three years has been 121,000
bales. For 1853 it was 105,000. For the present year there has been an
increase of 24,000 bales, making the probable amount for 1854 as high as
130.000 bales. This limit will not probably be reached for the coming
year, on account of the war. This has interfered with the planting and
gathering o f the present crop, and, therefore, with the expected receipts for
1855. From Egypt, and Brazil, and the W est Indies, the supplies for the
coming year will not probably reach 250,000 bales, against 245,000 for
1853, and 347,000 for 1852.
The crop of the United States exhibits a decrease for 1854 o f '333,000,
compared with the preceding year. Part, but not all, of this decline will
be recovered in 1855. From South Carolina a considerable increase is ex­
pected. The excessive drought of 1853 did more injury than the one we
have this year experienced. The late frosts in April interfered with the
early growth of the plant, but the beautiful weather in May and June fully
made up for the backward spring. The drought o f July and August was
relieved by the partial showers, which have given to many planters most
excellent crops. The lowlands and bottoms have produced very well. The
storm on the 8th of September destroyed not a little by blowing it off the
stalk, as a large amount was open in the fields, under the influence of the
hot unclouded sun of August. The deficiency on the poor uplands, though
not so great as last year, will be considerable. Yet, as the killing frost
has come very late, every boll that could come to maturity has opened,




The Cotton Trade.

711

and the weather for the whole o f October did not interrupt the picking a
single day. From South Carolina an increase o f 10 or 15 per cent may
be expected. From Georgia the prospects are not so favorable.
The
drought was more severe and protracted. The excessive heat of July and
August made the atmosphere drier than it would otherwise have been, and
the forms fell from the stalks very largely. On the rich wet lands produc­
tion has increased, and on some favored spots in the uplands fine fields
may be seen. But generally the crop is short, though not so much so as
it was last year. The shipments from Columbus and South-western Geor­
gia to Savannah will be increased by the extension o f the railroads in that
direction. The receipts at Savannah will thus probably be higher than
last year, though the increase will be small. From Florida the promise of
good crops is very general, and an increase may be expected, notwithstand­
ing the extension of the South-western Railroad to Americus. In eastern
Alabama the drought has been very severe, but on the prairie lands, and
on the Tombigbee and the Tuscaloosa, the gain will more than balance the
loss on the Alabama River. A t New Orleans, and throughout the Missis­
sippi Valley, the storm on the 22d of September was long continued, and
very disastrous. The drought and heat which injured the Atlantic States
did much damage on the uplands. But so numerous are the rivers, so wide
the bottoms, so late the frost, that the favorable influences much exceed the
adverse. From Texas the reports o f a fair crop are uniform and invariable,
the drought having done no damage on the Gulf. From the whole Uni­
ted States the crop may be estimated at 3,200,000 bales, as follows:—
Receipts.

1858.

1854.

Estimate.

1855.

Texas............................................................ bales
New Orleans.........................................................
Mobile..................................................................
Florida...................................................
Georgia................................................................
South Carolina.....................................................
Other places..........................................

86,000
1,581,000
545,000
179,000
850,000
463,000
59,000

110,000
1,347,000
539,000
155,000
316,000
417,000
46,000

120,000
1,500,000
560,000
160,000
325,000
475,000
60,000

Total..........................................................

3,263,000

2,930,000

3,200,000

These receipts with the English imports from Brazil, Egypt, and the
East and W est Indies, will make the whole supply 3,800,000 bales, against
a probable demand o f 3,700,000.
As the stocks on hand are lower than last year, this slight excess of
supply will not produce any great influence in depressing prices. The
amount held in Liverpool, October 13th, was 791,000 bales against 819,000
o f the year before, and the stoeks in our northern and southern ports on
the 1st o f September, showed precisely the same figures in 1853 and
1854.
N or is the stock on hand in all parts o f the world excessive. It was
941,000 bales at the end of 1853, against 837,000 in 1852, and 757,000
in 1851, and 798,000 in 1850.
For the 31st of December, 1854, it will
not probably reach 900,000 bales.
The price now (November 2d, in New Orleans,) is 8 } cents for middling,
and as this is above the average o f the last fifteen years, it can scarcely be
maintained. The low rates of freight which are certain to prevail for the
com ing winter, on account o f the total cessation in our exports of grain




7 12

Journal o f Mercantile Law.

and flour, and the depression of the shipping interest at Liverpool, will
tend to keep up prices at our sea-ports.
For the ten years from 1840 to 1849 we exported 7,116,000,000 pounds
of cotton, which was valued at the custom-house at 1545,000,000, or at
an average price of 7| cents per pound. For the last five years, the ad­
vanced price of our exports has raised the average to
cents. W ith a
supply above the probable demand, and with a fair stock on hand, this
price cannot well be exceeded.
But no decline below this average can
take place without encouraging consumption, so as to restore these rates
for middling cotton.
The prosperity o f the South still continues. Our planters have fair
crops and fair prices. Neither is large, but both are calculated to cheer
and encourage. From 1850 up to the present year, the rates for our great
staple have been good, and our crops large. In the five years ending 30tb
of June last, our exports have sold for about §471,000,000, against
$276,000,000 from 1845 to 1850, and $269,000,000 from 1840 to 1845.
The present season is not so promising as- the last five, but still its rates
promise to be remunerative, and its returns abundant. The excessive highprices of land and negroes, which have been prevailing, cannot be main­
tained, but no- disastrous decline or depreciation is upon us. I f we arewise, and diversify our planting, by raising those other agricultural pro­
ducts which now bring such fine returns to the farmer, and avoid the ex­
cessive production of cotton, this decline may be easily stayed, and our
prosperity not only preserved but advanced.

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.
MARITIME RAW— COLLISION.

Tn the United States District Court, (Massachusetts District,) 1854, JudgeSprague on the Bench. Matthew Hunt el at., vs. the Brig Clement.
This was a cause of collision promoted by the owners of the pilot-boat Hor­
net, of Boston, against the brig Clement, for running down and sinking the Hor­
net in Boston harbor, near the “ Graves,” in June, 1854.
The libel alleged that the two vessels were coming into the harbor by the
wind, which was W. N. W., the Hornet about half a mile to leeward- of the brig,
and both vessels on the starboard tack, bound for Broad Sound; that where
nearly up to the N. E. ledge of the “ Graves,” the brig suddenly kept off three
or four points toward Light-house Channel, and ran afoul of the Hornet, and
sunk her.
The answer of the respondent denied this statement, and alleged that the brig
was sailing towards Light-house Channel by the “ Graves,” two points free,
while the Hornet was close hauled; that the Hornet persisted in trying to run
across the bows of the brig, although bailed and told to keep off, and thereby
caused the collision.
The answer further alleged that the brig was so- near the “ Graves,” that she
had no room to luff or tack; hut the Hornet had plenty o f both room and time
to have avoided the other vessel by keeping off.
S prague, J. The collision between these two vessels took place in Boston
harbor, at about noon, on a fine summer day, when there was a good breeze, and
the sea smooth. It is a necessary inference, therefore, that it must have been
eaused by the fault of one or both of them. The sudden change in the course
of the brig, stated by the libel, I think is not made out by the evidence, but the




Journal o f Mercantile Law.

713

libel, taken in connection with the answer, presents a case o f two vessels sailing
on converging courses, both on the same tack, the one close hauled and the other
tw o points free. Then the question is, which is to give way ?
There is some discrepancy o f testimony as to where the collision took p la ce ;
but from the respondent’s witnesses, taken in connection to those o f the libel­
lant, I infer that it must have been outside o f the buoy which is on the north­
east ledge o f the “ Graves.” The captain o f the brig says he was then eastward
o f “ the b u oy ;” and it is shown that there is but one buoy near the “ Graves,”
and that half a mile from the “ G raves” proper.
The respondent says that the Hornet was trying to run across the brig’ s bows.
That is tr u e ; but it is equally true that the brig was trying to run across the
schooner’s b o w s ; and it is to prevent collision in similar eases that a rule o f the
sea has been established. The present case appears to be one to which the rule
applies, viz : that when tw o vessels are approaching on convergent or conflicting
courses, one close hauled and the other free, and there is danger o f collision,
that vessel having the wind free must invariably give way. I f the brig had been
close hauled, and the Hornet close hauled also, and the convergence o f their
courses had been ow ing to the schooner’ s ability to lie nearer to the wind than
the other, then the brig would not have been bound to give way, for the reason
that the schooner would have been in a condition in which she would have had
an advantage over the square-rigged vessel, and she might have altered her
course, and still been on equal terms with the other. But in this case the brig
was not close hauled; she was tw o points free, and it was therefore incumbent
on her to have given way. It is in evidence that the captain o f the brig saw the
Hornet half an hour before the collision.
H e then had it in his power to have kept off at once in front o f the schooner,
or he might subsequently have gone under her stern, or he might have hauled
his wind and either backed his topsail or gone about, and I am o f opinion that
there was room enough between her and the “ G raves” to have done so. In
tact, the brig luffed and wore round after the accident, and it is therefore justly
inferable that there was room enough for her to have done so before. A s she
was heading towards Light-house Channel, and was up to windward, she might
have adopted either o f the above measures without any more detention than
would be caused by a short deviation; while the schooner being as close to the
wind as she could go, heading for a narrow passage near the “ Graves,” any de­
viation she made would have been a detention and a loss o f ground to leeward.
It was therefore incumbent upon the brig to have adopted some one o f these
measures, I need not state which, and so have avoided the schooner.
Another fact tends to show negligence on the part o f the brig.
It appears
that the captain saw the schooner half an hour before the collison, and that al­
though he saw that the tw o vessels were upon conflicting courses, he says he
paid no attention to her from that time till the collision was imminent. This
was negligence oh the part o f the brig. Every vessel is bound to keep watch
o f all vessels in her vicinity, and to observe their motions and courses.
But in addition to this, the man at the wheel testified that he heard the hail
from the schooner before the collision, but took no measures to alter the course
he was steering, and he gave as his reason for not doing so that he had no order
from the captain to that effect, and would not do so until he had. This cannot
be justified. It was his duty in the present case, having it in his power to avoid
the collision when it was imminent, to have done so immediately, without wait­
ing for orders from the captain, when life and property were hazarded b y his de­
lay. F or these reasons I think the brig was to blame.
T he question then arises:— W as the Hornet in fault also because she didn’ t
keep away when hailed from the brig? I don’ t think she was. I f she were to
be adjudged in fault because she persevered in holding her course, then the rule
requiring a vessel with the wind free to give way to one close hauled, w ould be
practically abrogated. The effect o f this rule should and must be enforced to
enable the vessel by the wind to hold her course under the confident belief that
the other will give way. It is not for the brig to complain that the Hornet held




Journal o f Mercantile Law.

714

her course, when she herself was already o ff the wind, and could have kept o ff
a little more without difficulty. I think the brig was alone to blame in this col­
lision, and therefore a decree must be entered for the libellants, and an assessor
appointed to fix the damages, unless-the parties can agree on the amount thereof.
CONTRACTS— SALE AND DELIVERY----WAIVER.

Bailey vs. The Vermont Western Railroad Company.
This was an action brought by Bailey to recover the value o f an amount o f
iron delivered to the railroad company.
It appears that Bailey agreed to ship to the railroad company 5,300 tons o f
iron, 500 in June 1851, 2,500 in July and 2,500 in August, if it were practicable
within that time, and the railroad company agreed to give their notes for each
parcel o f iron that should be shipped on receiving each bill o f lading. N o iron
was shipped in June, and only part o f what was required in July, and only part
in August. By the 25th o f O ctober only 2,900 tons had been shipped in all.
These, however, were received by the company without objection, nothing being
said about the delay; but they neglected to give their notes for the iron actually
received, and in April, 1852, this action was brought to recover the amount due
on the iron. The case was argued before three Judges in the New Y ork
Supreme Court, (first district, New York city,) and the decision, which has not
yet been reported, was rendered in June last, by his H onor Judge Mitchell. It
was substantially as fo llo w s :—
The defendants by accepting part o f the iron, out o f time and without objec­
tion, waived that part o f the contract which required the iron to be delivered in
due time, or admitted that it was delivered as soon after that time as was prac­
ticable. In either case they were bound to give their notes. Th ey neglected
to do so. This discharged the plaintiffs from any obligation to deliver the rest
o f the iron until the defendants should furnish their notes for the part delivered,
and entitled the plaintiffs to commence a suit for the notes which should have
been given, without tendering the delivery o f the rest o f the iron, although the
time for the delivery o f all was past before the suit was brought. The contract
may not be rescinded b y the omission o f the defendants to give their notes, but
the obligation o f the plaintiffs to deliver the iron is suspended by that omission.
Take a familiar case and similar to this, as an illustration. A builder agrees
to erect a house for a certain sum to be paid by instalments; a certain part o f
this sum when the first tier o f beams is on, another certain part when the second
tier o f beams is on, and so on throughout the work. H e finishes the house so
far as to have the first and second tier o f beams on, and the owner refuses to
pay him. H e waits patiently for his money until the time elapses when the
whole house should have been completed, and then sues for the sums to be paid
under the contract when the first and second tiers o f beams should be on. The
owner denies his liability, because the whole house was not finished in due time,
and appeals to the laws o f New Y ork as deciding that he never shall be liable
for what was done for him, although he was in fault in neglecting to pay as the
contract required, and that neglect w ould probably prevent the builder’s being
able to complete the work. Such a defense could never be sustained.
This case differs from that only because in this the iron was not delivered in
due time. But it is conceded that the acceptance o f the iron by the defendants
waived the objection as to time. That being so the first fault and the continu­
ous fault is in the defendants in not giving their notes, and it makes this case
precisely like the one proposed.

If a servant is employed for $120 per annum, to be paid in equal monthly
instalments, and leaves his employer before the year is out because he is not
paid the instalments due, can he not recover at the end of the year for those in­
stalments ?
I f a tenant hire a house for a year at a certain sum, payable in equal quarterly
payments, and is evicted after the end o f the third quarter, is the eviction any
defense for the instalments o f rent previously due?

A contract to pay for land by instalments and for a delivery of the deed when




115

Journal o f Mercantile Law.

the last instalment should be due, is different, because there the consideration
on one side cannot be, and is not intended to be divided into parcels ; and there
it is properly decided that if the vendor do not sue until the last instalment fall
due, he must aver a tender o f the deed. But a different principle would apply
if the contract were to buy one hundred different lots o f land, and to pay for
each lot, whenever a deed for that lot should be tendered. I f the title were to
fail as to one lot the vendor could, even after the time for the delivery o f all was
expired, recover for the ninety-nine lots conveyed, and justice would be done by
allowing him damages for the non-delivery o f the deed as to the one lot.
T he answer in this case admits that the iron was received, but states, in sub­
stance, that it was received under protest. The answer cannot be read to prove
th is ; but even if there were a protest that the defendants should not be bound
to pay for the part delivered, if the rest should not be delivered in a reasonable
time thereafter, that protest would not exonerate the defendants from liability
to give their notes pursuant to the contract for the part actually delivered. They
should have given their notes and protested that they would not hold themselves
liable on them, nor excuse the past delay, nor accept or pay for the rest o f the
iron, but would claim damages for all breaches o f the contract unless the rest o f
the iron should be duly delivered.
I f there is an entire contract, and no payment to be made by the defendant
until the whole contract be completed, the decisions in this State are strict and
do not allow a recovery for the part performance, but that is because the bond
is so ; the parties have chosen by their agreement to say that payment shall be
made only when all is completed. Here the bond is not s o ; the parties have
prudently chosen to say that payment shall be made as the parcels are shipped.
T he principle o f both decisions is the same, that the parties may be a law to
themselves, and that the courts will carry out their contracts as they make them.
EXTENSION OF TIME— SURETY’ S LIABILITY.

In the Supreme Court, General Term, June, 1854.
Roosevelt, and Clerke.

Before Judges Mitchell,

Draper vs. Rorneyn.

Action against the defendant as surety o f a promissory note.

Defense, agree­

ment by the plaintiff with the principal to extend the time o f payment.

It ap­

pears that when the note fell due, the principal, who is employed by the plaintiff
as his agent, called upon him to obtain an extension o f time, and in urging him
for it, expressed his willingness to forward the sale o f his lands during his ab­
sence in Europe, without any additional cost to the plaintiff.

T he plaintiff

agreed to let the note stand for some days, but refused to fix any specified time
for payment.
C lerk e , J.— Did the plaintiff make such an agreement with the principal as to
entitle the surety to a discharge from his liability as surety ?
It is a rule too w ell settled to admit o f dispute now, that an extension o f the
time o f payment for a single day, without the consent o f the surety, would ex­
onerate him. But this extension o f the credit must be founded on a considera­
tion, and must be such an agreement as precludes the creditor from enforcing
payment against the principal until the expiration o f a specified period. In this
case, the evidence in relation to the alleged extension shows nothing like an
agreement o f this nature. There is nothing in it from which a sufficient consid­
eration can ever be inferred, or such a promise on the part o f the plaintiff that
could prevent him from commencing an action against the principal at any time
after the note became due. T he willingness o f the principal to serve the plain­
tiff in another matter could not be deemed a legal consideration sufficient to
support an agreem ent; and even if it were, the promise was too indefinite and
uncertain to debar the plaintiff from resorting to his legal remedy against the
principal at any time after the note became payable by its terms. The' promise,
at most, was merely gratuitous, and imported no legal obligation whatever.




Commercial Chronicle and Review.

716

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.
C O M M E R C IA L

EM BARRASSM EN TS— TH E

P A N I C — C O N D IT IO N OF T H E

B A N K S A N D B A N K IN G — D E P O S IT S
FO R O C T O B E R , AND A T
THE

DATE

OF T H E I R

ALL

G A T H E R IN G

B A N K S IN N E W
AND

TH E

C O IN A G E

M IN T S

AND

B U R S T IN G

OF T H E

S T O R M -------- T H E

AT

FOR T H E

O R G A N IZ A T IO N — R E C E IP T S

TH E

P H I L A D E L P H I A A N D N E W O R L E A N S M IN T S

F I R S T N IN E

FOR

CASH

M O N T H S O F T H E Y E A R , A N D SIN C E

D U T IE S A T N E W Y O R K A N D P H I L A D E L ­

P H I A — I M P O R T 8 A T N E W Y O R K F O R O C T O B E R A N D SIN C E J A N U A R Y F I R S T — I M P O R T S O F D R Y
EXPORTS

FROM

NEW

YORK

TO

F O R E IG N P O R T S

M E N T S OF S P E C IE — C O M P A R A T IV E
E XPO RTS FROM

NEW

EXPORTS

BANE

Y O R K , B O ST O N , AND M A S SA C H U S E T T S— IL L E G IT IM A T E

FO R O C T O B E R

A N D S IN C E

GO O D S—

JA N U A R Y F IR S T — SH IP ­

OF D O M E S T I C P R O D U C E — Q U A R T E R L Y S T A T E M E N T OF

O RLEAN S, ETC.

The commercial embarrassments noticed in our last have continued, and in
many sections of the country the pressure has increased, until credit is shaken
everywhere, and all classes are made to realize the insecurity o f worldly posses­
sions. The causes which led to this have been a long time at work. The pros­
perity which prevailed almost universally up to the middle of last year had made
our business men so confident in their own strength, that all classes had expand­
ed their engagements for beyond the protection of their own resources, and were
exposed to the storm which began to gather on, every side. The first great
shock to credit was the discovery o f the Schuyler fraud, which brought to a
stand nearly all those works of internal improvement for whose successful com­
pletion a large share of public confidence was so necessary. From that moment
sacrifices began, and the Railroad interest will never wholly recover from the
blow. The war in Europe created more or less money pressure abroad, and
capitalists there were less liberal in their investments here, at a time when their
assistance would have been most acceptable. Goods which had accumulated
abroad where the demand has almost ceased, were crowded upon our shores, at
whatever advance could be obtained, thus aggravating the evil-. At that moment)
instead of liberal shipments of breadstuffs to cover this new drain upon our
resources, the exports fell off, owing to the high prices o f cereals in the interior)
and the great scarcity at the seaboard. The failure in the harvests here had
been greatly exaggerated, and farmers were led to hoard their products. The
cotton crop, part o f which might have been relied upon in this emergency, was
kept back by the dreadful ravages of the epidemic which prevailed in the vicinity
of Southern ports. From New York, those who had contracted large foreign
debts were obliged to send the specie, and this rapidly increased the evil. While
this was going on at the seaboard, a worse panic began in the interior, and espe­
cially in the West and Northwest. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wiscon­
sin, Iowa and Missouri, and to some extent in the States on the south of the
Ohio, a large circulation of bank notes, mostly of the free banks, had been ob­
tained through expenditures for railroad purposes, and the general expansion of
business. When the contraction began, this circulation came in rapidly, and
found the banks wholly unprepared to meet it. As the difficulty became known,
the excitement increased, and every effort made for relief only hightened the
panic. All the banks which had balances at the East drew for them, and bor­
rowed to the extent of their credit besides, while between twenty and thirty,
perhaps more, of institutions which were really solvent, were compelled to sus­
pend payment. A large number of private bankers were carried down in the




Commercial Chronicle and Review.
crash, and the distress became general.

Ill

The public mind is now less excited,

but the difficulty is not removed, and cannot well be until there be a revival o f
business, by large shipments o f the produce now hoarded.

A t the South the

evil has not, as yet, been so seriously felt. T he planters have not been for
many years in so secure a position, and if the crop o f cotton now making shall
sell briskly in Europe, they will escape to a great extent the panic which has
elsewhere prevailed.

During all this severe pressure in the money market, and

general disturbance o f public confidence, it is a cause for congratulation, that
the mercantile community have stood the trial so nobly.

Very few merchants

previously in good credit have been obliged to suspend payments, and even
among the weaker houses the failures have not been as numerous as might have
been expected.

T h e reason o f this may be found in the increased supply o f

metallic currency remaining in the country.

Over one hundred million dollars

in gold coin have been added to the circulation o f the United States, since the
discovery o f gold in California.

Thus although the rates o f interest have been

high for nearly eighteen months, there has been no such scarcity o f money as
has been felt in former periods o f commercial embarrassment. The impression
n ow prevails that the convulsion has reached its hight, and that having passed
the crisis affairs must now gradually mend.
T he banks have been severely tried, but those in our large cities (with the
exceptions before noticed,) have mostly stood the shock unmoved. In New
Y ork the deposits have been drawn dow n by country institutions, and thus the
loans on call, reserved for such an emergency, have been called in, reducing the
total under that head. The discounts have also been contracted to meet the
drain o f specie for export. W e annex a continuation o f the weekly averages o f
the N ew York city banks :—
W EEKLY AVERAGES OF NEW Y O RK CITY BANKS.

W eek ending

Capital.

June 3____ $47,454,400
June 10 . . . . 47,454,400
June 1 7 . . . . 47,454,400
June 24___ 47,454,400
July 1 . . . . 47,657,400
J uly 8 . . . . 47,657,400
J uly 1 5 . . . . 47,657,400
July 2 2 . . . . 47,657,400
July 29___ 47,657,400
August 5 .. 47,657,400
August 12.. 47,657,400
August 19.. 47,657,400
August 26.. 47,657,400
Sept. 2 ........ 47,657,400
Sept. 9 ........ 47,657,400
Sept. 1 6 . . . . 47,657,400
Sept. 23___ 47,657,400
Sept. 3 0 . . . . 47,657,400
Oct. 7 ........ 47,657,400
Oct. 14........ 47,657,400
Oct. 21........ 47,657,400
Oct. 28........ 47,657,400
47,657,400
N ov . 4 .......
48,163,400
N o v . 11.........
48,163,400
N o v . 18.......




Average amount
oi Loans
and Discounts.

91,916,710
91,015,171
90,063,573
88,751,952
88,608,491
88,347,281
90,437,004
92,011,870
92,588,579
98,723,141
93,435,057
92,880,103
91,447,075
91,391,188
91,528,244
91,639,782
92,095,911
92,102,013
91,380,525
88,618,936
87,092,810
84,709,236
83,369,101
82,717,052
82,191,974

Average
amount ot
Specie.

10,281,969
9,617,180
10,013,157
9,628,375
11,130,800
12,267,318
15,074,093
15,720.309
15,386,864
14,468,981
13.522,023
14,253,972
14,395,072
14,714,618
14,446,317
14,484,259
12,932,386
12,042,244
10,630,517
11,130,377
10,320,163
9,826,763
10,004,686
10,472,538
10,801,532

Average
amount of
Circulation.

9,381,714
9,307,889
9,144,284
9,009,726
9,068,253
9,195,757
8,837,681
8,768,289
8,756,777
9,124,618
8,917,179
8,855,523
8,811,369
8,934,632
8,968,707
8,S20,609
8,802,623
8,712,136
8,918,492
8,534,188
8,497,556
8,131,933
8,238,126
8,197,444
7,877,684

Average
amount o f
Deposits.

71,702,290
72,495,859
71,959,195
69,598,724
71,457,984
72,718,443
75,227,333
75,959,082
74,790,656
76,3784S7
74,626,389
73,834,568
73.731,179
72,856,727
73,831,235
74,467,701
72,938,453
71,795,423
70,285,610
69,141,597
65,627,886
62,792,637
62,229,011
61,662,387
62,1S1,007

Commercial Chronicle and Review.

718

W e also annex a continuation o f the weekly statement o f the condition o f the
Boston banks:—

Capital.........................
Loans and discounts......
Specie............................
Due from other banks...
Due to other banks........
Deposits........................
Circulation......................

Oct. 23.

Oct. 30.

Noy. 6.

Nov. 13.

$32,037,050
50,417,690
3,312,555
9,187,049
5,895,417
14,05^,923
8,718,781

$32,081,250
50,867,242
3,399,289
8,878,262
6,017,152
14.245,487
8,568,134

$32,110,650
51,183,713
3,422,696
8,977,444
6,045,959
14,570,929
8,535,116

$32,130,750
51,423,284
3,086,900
8,314,811
5,904,258
13,985,387
8,656,451

T he follow ing will show the latest returns o f the banks o f Massachusetts, not
including the Boston banks noted a b ov e:—

Capital...........................................
Loans and discounts........................
Specie..............................................
Deposits.........................................
Circulation.......................................

1 1 7 BANKS.

1 1 8 BANKS.

Sept. 2.

Oct. 1.

1 3 0 BANKS.

Nov. 4.

$22,503,837
42,457,655
928.598
5,647,772
15,981,496

$22,618,892
40,561,900
903,591
4,186,014
15,377,207

$24,814,727
43,844,265
961,402
5,952.827
12,778,692

H ow far the present excitement will go before it is permanently checked, it
is n ow impossible to predict; but the people will ere long discover that they
are the worst sufferers, and that any blow s aimed at sound banks can but
fill on the heads o f the business community.

W hile, therefore, all who have

the gift o f reason should exercise patience and forbearance toward the banks at
such a crisis, the banks themselves should derive a useful lesson from the ex­
citement.
Nearly all o f the new banks which have been started in the W e s t and North­
west within the last tw o years, have been originated by speculators and not by
capitalists, and a great many o f them have been managed in a way little calcula­
ted to inspire confidence. They have pushed out their circulation as far from
home as possible, and some have tried various dodges, in the way o f inaccessible
locations and inconvenient coins, to evade or delay the redemption o f their is­
sues.

Banks without capital can flourish only in prosperous times.

Th ey are,

in fact, borrowers o f money, and when the people ask them to pay up, they find
the settlement exceedingly inconvenient. I f banks, which are lenders o f money,
becom e so expanded as to risk their existence, what dependence can be placed
upon banks which have no capital to lend ? The recent shaking up o f these in­
stitutions will sift out some o f the weakest, and entitle those which sustain them­
selves to greater confidence.
N ow that tiie Assay Office at New York is in full operation, the deposits at
the Ph'ladelphia mint have, o f course, largely decreased; but the receipts from
California have been augmented by the arrangement for weekly steamers.
DEPOSITS AND COINAGE AT PH ILA DE LPH IA AND N E W ORLEANS MINTS.
DEPOSITS FOR OCTOBER.

Gold from California. Total Gold.

Silver.

Total.

Philadelphia Mint...........
New Orleans Mint..........

$550,000
26,140

$600,000
29,571

$200,000
24,671

$800,000
542,47

Total deposits.............

$576,140

$629,571

$224,671

$854,247




Commercial Chronicle and Review.

719

GOLD COINAGE.

P h il a d e l p h ia .

N e w Orlean s.

Double ea gles...........
E a g le s .......................
H alf eagles................
Three-dollar pieces..
Quarter eagles...........
D ollars.......................
B a rs ...........................
Total gold coinage

Pieces.

Value.

1 1 ,0 0 0

§ 3 3 ,0 0 0

1 1 ,0 0 0

$ 3 3 ,0 0 0

Pieces.

Value.

323,743

$323,743
1,822,768

323,743

$2,146,511

168,000
24,000
500.000
700.000

$84,000
6,000
50.000
85.000

1,392,000

$175,000

486,246

$4,862

2,201,989

$2,326,373

SILVER COINAGE.

Dollars..........................
H alf dollars.................
Quarter dollars..........
Dimes...........................
H alf dimes...................
Three cent pieces . . .
Total silver coinage

6 0 0 .0 0 0

$ 2 5 0 ,0 0 0

8 0 0 .0 0 0

7 5 ,0 0 0

800,000

$325,000

COPPER COINAGE.

Cents................
Total coinage

811,000

$358,000

W e annex a summary of the items of coinage at the mint and all the branches
down to the close of September:—
SUMMARY OF COINAGE EXECUTED AT THE MINT OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS BRANCHES,
FRO M JANUARY 1ST TO SEPTEMBER 3 0 T H , 1 8 5 4 .
GOLD.

Pieces.

Value.

Double eagles.......................................
Eagles..................................................
Half eagles...........................................
Three-dollar pieces...............................
Quarter eagles......................................
Dollars...................................................
Fine bars..............................................
Unparted bars......................................

750,813
177,574
514,697
129,9S8
667,759
1,002,303
..........
..........

$15,016,260
1,775,740
2,573,485
389.984
1,669,397
1,002,303
9,476,546
4,086,479

Total..................................................

3,243,144

$35,990,205 12

00
00
00
00
50
00
62
00

SILVER.

Pieces.

Dollars....................................................
Half dollars............................................
Quarter dollars .....................................
Dimes.....................................................
Half dimes.............................................
Trimes.....................................................

Value.

33,140
6,768,000
11,796,000
3,380,000
5,800,000
400,000

$33,140
3,384,000
2,949,000
383,000
290,000
12,000

28,627,140

$7,051,140 00

Cents.......................................................

3,777,689

$37,775 89

Total coinage.....................................

35,647,873

$43,079,121 10

Total..................................................

00
00
00
00
00
00

COPPER.




Commercial Chronicle and Review.

720

The total amount of coinage at the Mint and Branch Mints of the
United States since the organization in 1793 to 30th Sept., 1854.
Of this sum there was ingold........................................................
“
silver.......................................................
“
copper.....................................................

§424,876,420
328,234,597
95,090,529
1,551,293

Of the gold coined at the Mint and Branches since the discovery of
gold in California, the amount i s ................................................
Of the latter sum, the Georgia and Carolina gold mines have pro­
duced, from 1849 to 1853, both inclusive...................................

02
06
00
09

251,654,291 56
3,560,635 50

The receipts for cash duties at the port of New York correspond with the
value of dutiable goods entered for consumption and withdrawn from warehouse.
For the month of October, as well as during each previous quarter of the year,
the total shows a comparative decline.
CASH DUTIES RECEIVED AT THE POE T OF N E W YO R K .

GO

1851.

1851.

1854.

First quarter........ . §9,295,257 30 §7,617,887 72 §11,125,500 47 §10,873.699 31
Second quarter__
7,357,408 30
6,63*2,<425 16 10,041,829 03
8,864,261 45
Third quarter....... . 9.402.997 30 10,281. 190 03 13,613,105 14 12,699,868 05
In October............
1,958,516 17
2,39*2. lt.9 57
2,705,694 33
2,402,115 10
Total 10 months,. §28,014,179 07 $26,923,612 48 $37,486,128 97 §34,839,943 91
The following will show the comparative receipts, for duties, at Philadelphia
since January 1st :---1854.

January................
February..............
March...................
A p r d ....................
M ay.....................
June......................
July.......................
August..................
September............
October.................

§539,292
525,008
316,333
379,471
328,422
304,754
485,163
601,153
315,292
247,187

T ota l............

18 5 2.

76
25
70
46
95
75
50
70
50
79

§3,562,724 72

§315,877
489,003
367,407
303,922
257,736
261,290
414,884
490,190
825,077
210,149

1851.

55
00
70
53
70
60
85
70
00
52

§3,635,845 45

$267,010
623,624
394,023
264,753
.282,221
628,503
555,489
515,512
521,811
302,941

25
75
80
55
30
90

00
10
00
80

§4,355,426 65

T he imports from foreign ports continue to decline, both in quantity and
value. A t N ew Y ork the receipts for O ctober were $1,151,887 less than for
O ctober last year, but §2,383,165 greater than for October, 1852, and §2,453,364
greater than for October, 1851.

The falling off in dutiable goods is still

greater, but the receipts o f free good s have largely increased, and will be still
greater when the Reciprocity Treaty with the British Provinces is carried into
effect. W e annex a carefully prepared sum mary:—
FOREIGN IMPORTS AT N EW YO RK FOR OCTOBER.

1851.

1851

1851

1854.

Entered for consumption..............
Entered for warehousing.............
Free goods...................................
Specie and bullion.......................

§5,790,795
1,204,994
1,558,720
23,165

Total entered at the p ort........
Withdrawn from warehouse.........

§8,577,674 §8,647,873 §12,182,925 §11,031,038
1,602,436
1,256,570
1,188,983
2,070,644




§7,775,614 §9,637,601 §7,645,071
594,426
1,866,866 2,210,646
215,143
422,156 1,086,467
62,690
256,302
88,854

721

Commercial Chronicle and Review.

It will be seen that the total entered warehouse during the month is much
larger than for the same time last year, but the withdrawals show a much
greater increase, holders being anxious to crowd off stocks, as money has been
scarce and prices daily declining. The total imports at New York since January
1st, are $4,160,649 less than for the same period of last year, but $52,609,120
greater than for the same period of 1852, and $44,757,982 greater than for the
same period of 1851. The falling off, in comparison with last year, would be
still greater but for the increase in the warehousing business and the receipts
of free goods.
IM PO RTS

OF

FOREIGN

M ERCHANDISE

AT

JANUARY

NEW

YO R K

FOR

TEN

MONTHS,

FROM

1ST.

1851.

1852.

1851.

.

1854.

Entered for consumption.......... $96,216,865 $91,080,891 $184,775,790 $120,408,905
Entered for warehousing......... 11,914,911
7,134,316 19,258,112 26,780,359
8,728,332 10,384,813 11,386,972 14,204,525
Free goods................................
Specie and bullion.....................
1,805,694
2,214,644
2,163,559
2,029,995
Total entered at the port.......... 118,665,802 110,814,664 167,584,433 163,423,784
Withdrawn from warehouse.. . 11,403,970 13,463,496
12,871,001
19,607,761

In classifying the receipts of foreign goods at New York for October, we find
that the decline has been altogether in dry goods, and that in fact the falling off
in this particular is greater than the total decline for the month, showing an in­
crease in other foreign merchandise. Thus, the total receipts o f foreign dry
goods for October are $2,101,436 less than for October, 1853; $899,621 less
than for October, 1852; and only $22,854 greater than for October, 1851.
IM PO RTS OF FOREIGN D R Y GOODS AT N E W YO RK FOR THE MONTH OF

OCTOBER.

ENTERED FOR CONSUMPTION.

1851.

1852.

1858.

1851

Manufactures of w ool.....................
Manufactures of cotton...................
Manufactures of silk.......................
Manufactures of flax......................
Miscellanous dry goods..................

$416,738
229,166
687,355
273,065
195,475

$1,077,608
387,454
1,317,305
413,464
168,379

$1,270,014
505,323
1,397,424
436,059
292,485

$578,508
256,956
631,959
342,655
245,993

T o ta l............................................

$1,801,799

$3,364,210

$3,901,805

$2,056,071

W IT H D R A W N FROM W AREHOUSE.

1851.

1852.

1851.

1854.

Manufactures o f w ool.....................
Manufactures of cotton...................
Manufactures of silk.......................
Manufactures of flax.......................
Miscellaneous dry g o o d s ...............

$78,782
48,188
144,646
53,667
68,538

$49,936
28,798
141,266
30,519
32 556

$114,578
49,881
53,824
22,597
17,964

$336,435
62,319
166,019
45,483
18,863

Total withdrawn.........................
Add entered for consumption. . . .

$393,821
1,801,799

$283,075
3,364,210

$258,844
3,901,805

$629,119
2,056,071

Total thrown upon the market.

$2,195,620

$3,647,285

VOL.

X X X I . ---- N O . V I .




46

$4,160,149 $2,685,190

fc

Commercial Chronicle and Review.

722

ENTERED FOR W AREHOUSING.

1851.
Manufactures of w o o l...................
Manufactures of cotton .................
Manufactures of s ilk ...............
Manufactures of f la x .....................
Miscellaneous dry goods...............

90,130
494,462

Total........................................
Add entered for consumption. . . .
Total entered at the p o r t __ ..

1852.

1851.

1851.

$86,195
57,130
19,718
27,984
63,776

$208,609
244,155
278,991
155,144
22,624

$193,851
70,586
111,091
179,705
98,088

$244,803
3,364,210

$909,523
3,901,305

$653,821
2,056,071

$2,686,538 $3,609,013 $4,810,828 $2,709,392

The total imports of dry goods at New York since January 1st, are 16,430,660
less than for the same period o f last year; but $22,867,711 greater than for
the same.period of 1852, and $18,776,877 greater than for the same period of
1851.
IMPORTS OF FOREIGN D R Y GOODS AT N E W Y O RK FOR TEN MONTHS, F RO M JANUARY 1ST.
ENTERED FOR CONSUMPTION.

1852.

1851.

oo1

1851.

Manufactures of w o o l.................. $12,382,696 $13,156,688 $22,989,636 $17,209,293
8,294,133 12,722,383 12,559,194
8,677,533
Manufactures of cotton................
Manufactures of silk.................... 20,515,911 IS,337,561 28,922,551 23,398,759
5,194,736
5,921,826
5,434,990
6,835,193
Manufactures of flax......................
3,282,954
3,644,199
4,750.538
4,932,265
Miscellaneous dry goods..............
Total..................................... $50,294,084 $48,627,317 $76,220,301 $64,021,337
W IT H D R A W N FROM WAREHOUSE.

1851.

1852.

185?.

Manufactures of w o o l..................
Manufactures of cotton................
Manufactures of silk......................
Manufactures of fla x ...............
Miscellaneous dry goods..............

$1,766,937
1,285,528
1,370,361
561,144
380,185

$1,517,239
1,819,801
1,779,733
745,126
329,108

$1,912,709
931,970
1,217,435
230,754
299,697

Total.....................................
Add entered for consumption.. . .

$5,364,155 $5,691,007
50,294,084 48,627,317

1854.
$3,879,052
2,451,505
2,780,003
771,476
350,425

$4,592,565 $10,232,461
76,220,301 64,021,337

Total thrown on the market. $55,658,239 $54,318,324 $80,812,866 $74,253,798
ENTERED FOR WAREHOUSING.

1851.

1852.

Manufactures of w o o l..................
Manufactures of cotton................
Manufactures of silk ....................
Manufactures of flax......................
Miscellaneous dry goods..............

$2,067,617
1,432,335
2,288,843
718,765
431,756

$1,185,072
802,609
1,832,565
328,368
366,575

$2,410,638 $4,599,8S7
1,404,349
2,424,134
1,614,669
3,358,043
453,823
1,076,589
337,157
530,287

Total.....................................
Add entered for consumption___

$6,939,316 $4,515,189
50,294,084 48,627,317

$6,220,636 $11,988,940
76,220,301 64,021,337

•

185?.

1854.

Total entered at the port. . . $57,233,400 $53,142,506 $82,440,937 $76,010,277
The receipts of cottons and miscellaneous goods have slightly increased, while
silks and woolens have materially declined. To show this more clearly we have
thrown into one comparative table the goods entered directly for consumption,




723

Commercial Chronicle and Review.

and those entered for warehousing, thus showing the total receipts at the port,
of each class of goods:—
TOTAL RECEIPTS OF FOREIGN D R Y GOOES AT N E W YORK FOR TEN MONTHS FROM JANUARY 1ST

18(53.

1854.

Manufactures of w o o l....................$25,400,274 $21,809,180
Manufactures of cotton................ 14,126,732 14,983,328
Manufactures of silk..................... 30,537,220 26,756,802
Manufactures of fla x ....................
7,289,016
6,998,415
5,087,695
5,462,552
Miscellaneous dry goods..............
Total imports......................... $82,440,937 $76,010,277

D iffe re n c e .

Decrease.. $3,691,094
Increase . .
856,596
Decrease.. 3,780,418
Decrease..
290,601
Increase..
374,857
Decrease.. $6,430,660

The receipts of dry goods are daily diminishing at all the ports, and the total
for November will show a still greater comparative decline.
The exports from Southern ports have increased, but from New York the
shipments of produce for the month show a decline, owing to the high prices^
and the continued scarcity of stock. The total shipments in October from the
last-named port, exclusive of specie, are $1,325,813 less than for the correspond­
ing month of last year, but $1,051,248 greater than for October, 1852, and
$1,949,209 greater than for the same month of 1851, as will appear from the
following comparison:—
EXPORTS FROM N E W Y O R K TO FOREIGN PORTS F O R THE MONTH OF OCTOBER.

1851.
Domestic produce.........................
Foreign merchandise (free)..........
Foreign merchandise (dutiable)...
Specie...........................................
Total exports...........................
Total, exclusive of specie........

1852.

$2,702,382 $3,497,874
82,886
106,626
358,292
484,801
2,452,301
1,779,707

1854.

1851
$5,459,401
63,687
719,534
4,757,972

$4,672,017
128,780
316,012
3,359,398

$4,947,007 $6,517,862 $11,000,594 $8,476,207
6,442,622
5,116,809
3,167,300
4,065,561

The exports of specie have been large, but not quite up to the total shipped
during the same month of last year. Enough has, however, been sent to in­
crease the monetary excitement, and add to the severity of the pressure. The
total exports of produce and merchandise since January 1st are $2,044,700
greater than for the corresponding period of last year, $14,450,623 greater than
for the same period o f 1852, and $15,145,213 greater than for the same period
o f 1851. The shipments of specie for the year show an excess even over the
large total for the first ten months o f 1 8 5 1 —
EXPORTS FROM NEW YO RK TO FOREIGN PORTS FOR TEN MONTHS, FROM

1851.

1852.

1853.

JANUARY 1 s t ]

1854.

Domestic produce...........................$34,200,828 $34,239,486 $45,884,119 $47,897,861
Foreign merchandise (free)..........
637,527
799,512
1,217,683 1,445,079
Foreign merchandise (dutiable)..
3,275,027
3,768,974 4,112,093 3,915,655
Specie............................................ 33,040,978 23,106,137 19,765,730 33,563,141
Total exports........................... $71,154,360 $61,914,109 $70,979,625 $86,821,736
Total, exclusive of specie........ 38,113,382 38,807,972 51,213,895 53,258,595

As much interest is manifested in regard to the exports of specie, we annex
a statement showing the monthly shipments from New York since January 1st
1850




724

Commercial Chronicle and Review.
EXPORTS OF SPECIE FROM NEW YO RK TO FOREIGN PORTS.

1850.

.

January..........
February........
March............
A p ril.............
May............... .
June...............
July................ ...
August.......... . .
September...... .
October...........
November.......
December.......

$90,361
278,708
172,087
290,407
741,735
880,434
1,518,080
1,441,736
1,033,918

Total. . . .

1851.

1852.

1853.

$1,266,281
1,007,689
2,368,861
3,482,182
4,506,135
6,462,367
6,004,170
2,673,444
3,490,142
1,779,707
5,033,995
5,668,235

$2,868,958
3,551,543
611,994
200,266
1,834,893
3,556,355
2,971,499
2,935,832
2,122,495
2,452,301
809,813
1,180,305

$747,679
1,121,030
592,479
767,055
2,162,467
3,264,282
3,924,612
1,183,973
1,244,191
4,757,972
3,855,775
3,131,851

$43,743,209

$25,096,255

$26,753,356

1851.
$1,845,682
579,724
1,466,127
3,474,525
3,651,626
5,168,183
2,922,452
4,548,320
6,547,104
3,359,398
..............

The total for the year will hardly reach the same amount as for the corre­
sponding period of 1851. W e do not look for very large shipments of produce
from New York, or any of the Northern ports, before the opening of navigation
next spring, but from the Southern ports, and especially from New Orleans, the
exports will probably be large during the winter months. W e annex a com­
parison of the shipments of certain leading articles o f domestic produce from
the port of New York from January 1st to November 18th, inclusive :—
E X PO R T S FROM N E W YO R K TO FOREIGN PORTS OF CERTAIN LEADING ARTICLES OF
DOMESTIC PRODUCE, FROM JANUARY 1ST TO NOVEMBER 1 8 t H.

18M .

1853.

1854.

1851.

Ashes— pots........bbls
9,288
8,827 Naval stores.. . ..bbls 410,018
574,973
pearls..........
663
1,819 Oils—whale.. . . .galls 243,734
279,187
sperm . ..
Beeswax................lbs 184,715 202,489
603,574
lard . . . . ........ 51,239
B r e a d s t u f f 's —
28,732
Wheat flour . .bblsl,632,295
911,638
linseed . . ....... 19,323
7,038
Eve flour..............
3,161
9,454
Corn meal.............. 39,415
63,844 P r o v i s i o n s —
Pork.............. .bbls 63,595
W heat.......... bush5,584,288 1,574,626
96,119
R y e ....................... 10,202
315,158
Beef...............
50,256
Cut meats. . . . . .Ibs7,727,537 16,196,048
Oats ...................... 61,037
40,554
Butter..........
1,875,963
B a r l e y ...............
100
Cheese............
Corn...................... 719,561 3,429,680
9,537,659
Lard.............. ___ 6,029,612 12,778,443
Candles—mold-boxes 41,468
46,975
sperm........
4,994
8,815 R ic e .................. .trcs 23,085
21,545
Coal.................. tons 28,133
21,606 Tallow................ . Ibs2,564,776 4,995,620
Cotton................bales 355,284
272,159 Tobacco, crude.. .pkgs 21,747
33,758
Hay.......................
4,634
3,476 Do., manufactured,lbs5,366,275' 3,103,471
Hops............ ... .........
306
5,855 Whalebone....... ___ 2,815,075 1,532,944

As an indication of what may be expected when the returns from all the ports
are compiled, we annex a comparative summary of the shipments from the port
o f New Orleans for the quarter ending September 30th, showing an increase, as
compared with last year, of about 75 per cent. The shipments for the last
quarter named include $4,500,000 to Great Britain, and $2,000,000 to France.
EXPORTS FROM NEW ORLEANS TO FOREIGN PORTS FOR THREE MONTHS ENDING SEPTEM­
BER

Domestic produce in American vessels.
Foreign vessels.....................................
Total domestic produce




30.

1852.

1851

$4,175,452
1,342,181

$3,828,949
1,539,918

$8,203,116
1,186,638

$5,517,633

$5,368,867

$9,389,754

1854.

125

Commercial Chronicle and Review.

1852.

1851.

72,504
3,184

27,393
13,753

26,250
22,827

85,593,321

85,410,013

$9,438,831

Foreign produce in American vessels.
Foreign vessels..................................
Total exports...............................

1854.

W e do expect this ratio o f increase to continue for another quarter, but we
do look for large shipments both o f cotton and breadstuffs, during the whole of
the next five months.
N EW YORK COTTON M ARKET FOR MONTH ENDING NOVEMBER 17.
PRRPARRD

FOR T H E

M E R C H A N T S ’ M A G A Z IN E

BY U H LH ORN &

P R E D E R IC K S O N , B R O K E R S , N E W Y O R K .

Our market during the entire month under review has been extremely spiritless ;
the weather for maturing and picking the crop has continued favorable ; larger esti­
mates of the yield have been indulged in ; buyers have operated with caution, and
with the exception of the moderate demand for the home trade, the inquiry for export
has been of a most limited character. The shipments, nevertheless, from f i r s t hands
have been large, and with increasing stock and a stringent money market, there has
been no other outlet to the successive accumulations. The foreign advices received
during the month in relation to cotton are but a repetition of those of the month pre­
vious, namely, an eagerness on the part of holders to realize, and in consequence, a n d
a s u s u a l , classification has been sacrificed to price, in order to obtain a buyer.
The
demand in our own market has been mostly on spinners’ account and for immediate
consumption. The few lots b o u g h t for export have been on a parity with Liverpool
prices, which the irregularity in prices of the last two weeks of the month have
caused holders to accept.
For the week ending October 27th the sales are estimated at 3,000 bales; buyers
obtained a slight advantage in price. Foreign accounts being of a gloomy character,
and the large and extensive failures reported in Liverpool and London, induced opertors to act with more caution. Our market closed quietly at the annexed figures :—
PRICES ABOPTED OCTOBER

27tH FOR

THE FOLLOWING Q U A L IT IE S: ---

Upland.

Ordinary...........................................
Middling...........................................
Middling fair....................................
Fair..................................................

7J9&
104
10£

Florida.

74
94
lOf
lo|

Mobile. N. O. & Texas.

7f
9$
10£
11

8
9f
104
11£

The transactions for the week ending November 3d, continued on a moderate scale
at a still further decline. The sales did not exceed 4,000 bales, of which the home
trade took a large proportion. Several lots in t r a n s i t u changed hands ; but with the
exception of a few purchases for the continental ports, there was but little inquiry for
shipment. The market closed at the following rates :—
PRICES ADOPTED NOVEMBER

3d

Ordinary........................................
Middling........................................
Middling fair..................................
Fair.................................................

FOR THE FOLLOW ING Q U ALITIE S:—

Upland.

Florida.

74
9J104
104

74
9f
10£
lOf

Mobile. N. O. & Texas-

74
94
lo j
11

7£
9f
10J
11£

The sales are estimated at 3,000 bales for the week ending November 10th. The
market was very irregular, and holders were anxious sellers, but owing to the favora­
ble reports from the South in regard to the crop, buyers were not disposed to operate,
and the principal sales were for domestic consumption. The week closed heavy at
the following nominal quotations:—




726

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.
PRICES ADOPTED NOVEMBER 1 0 T H FOR THE FOLLO W IN G V A R IE T IE S :—

Upland.

Ordinary.........................................
Middling.........................................
Middling fair..................................
Fair.................................................

Florida.

Mobile.

N. O. & Texas,

7$ *
9$
10$
lOf

7$
9f
10$
10J

7£
9f
10f
11

7$
10}10$

With sales of about 3,500 bales the market for the week ending November 17th
showed more variation in prices, and holders seemed disposed to sell at any rate ob­
tainable. Towards the close of the week, however, rather more favorable foreign
accounts were received, and in connection with reports of killing frost as far south as
Alabama, the decline in the staple for the moment was arrested. The general feel­
ing however, is rather against present prices, and nothing short of a low range of
figures are now in favor. The market closed at the following rates :—
P RICES ADOPTED NOVEMBER 1 7 t H F O R THE FOLLOW ING QUALITIES :----

Upland.

Ordinary..................................... ..
Middling.........................................
Middling fa ir .................................
F a ir ...............................................

7$
9
9£
10$

Florida.

M obile. N. O. & Texas.

7$
9$
9-|
10J

7$
9f
101
10$

7f
9$
10f
10|

C r o p — e s t im a t e s .
The weather since our last has been extremely fine for the
crop, and the damage by frost of rather an unimportant character. The decline in all
the Southern markets gives an additional value to the increased estimates now put
forth, and which range from 3,100,000 to 3,250,000 bales.

JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE.
REAL AND PERSO NA L PR O PE R T Y IN CHICAGO IN 1854.

Each succeeding year, says the Chicago D e m o c r a t , shows a steady increase in the
valuation of the real and personal property in Chicago. The figures on the assessors'
books are one means by which we may gauge our prosperity, when one year is com­
pared with another; but it must be remembered that these valuations are much be­
low what the property would bring in the market. We present from the assessors’
books the following:—
GENERAL SUMMARY OF TAXES FOP. 1 8 5 4 .

____

V a lu a tio n o f
rea l estate.
$ 8 ,6 5 7 ,8 4 0

_____

7 ,4 4 2 , 7 9 9

C ity
d iv is io n s .

V a lu a t io n o f
p e r s o n a l estate.
$ 4 ,4 6 7 ,5 4 6
6 4 7 ,9 0 6

North........................................... .. . . .
Total.....................................

G e n e ra !
ta x e s .
$ 5 6 ,2 7 5 9 6
2 9 ,0 3 9

04

6 6 ,9 8 5

20

5 ,8 3 1

15

2 6 ,0 1 0

94

2 8 6 ,0 4 3

2 ,5 7 4

39

5,401,496

1 8 6 ,7 1 6

39

2 ,8 9 0 , 1 0 5

The value of the real estate, as assessed in 1853, was $ 1 8 , 4 7 9 , 0 0 7 ; f o r t h e p r e s e n t
year it is $18,990,744—showing an increase of $511,737.
The valuation of the personal property in 1853 was $4,450,630; for 1854 it is
$5,401,495—showing an increase of $950,865.
The total valuation of real and personal property for 1853 was $22,929,637—giving
an increase of $1,462,602.




Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.

121

T H E CALIFORNIA GOLD PRODUCT.
[F R O M

TH E

SAN F R A N C IS C O P L A C E R

T I M E S .]

In regard to the gold resources of the State, the mines, notwithstanding the appre’
hensions frequently expressed abroad, continue to yield their treasure in unabated
abundance, and at no time, perhaps, since their discovery, have the prospects been
more cheering. It is true that in many localities, where the surface diggings have
been exhausted, successful mining requires more labor, and a greater investment of
capital than formerly. The surface diggings which “ pay” are comparatively few,
and the great bulk of the gold hereafter to find its way into the market will probably
be obtained either by tunneling the mountains or fluming their streams. Still, many
of the old localities, long since thought to be exhausted, are found, since the introduc­
tion of water by ditching, to reward well the labor bestowed upon them. Such works
as those referred to are invaluable to the mining regions, and it is to be regretted that
so little well-directed attention has heretofore been bestowed upon them. Some
counties, recently involved in debt, have been redeemed through their operation, and
are now prosperous. El Dorado may be mentioned as an instance. Eighteen months
ago her stock could scarcely be sold for thirty cents on the dollar. She is now out of
debt, and has some $20,000 surplus in her treasury. She owns about $2,000,000 in
ditch property.
The introduction of water has opened a*new field of operations on the hill-sides,
and mountains are being washed from their summits to their bases. The present is
the commencement of the season for such an enterprise, the river beds being relin­
quished, in consequence of the rise of the waters.
It is doubtful whether the number of persons employed in mining is as great as in
former years, but at no previous period, perhaps, was individual gain so great as at
present. By combining labor, and investing capital in extensive works, miners have
become more provident, and save more of their earnings than was formerly the case
when they depended on individual enterprise. Moreover, the cost of the means of
living is scarcely one-sixth of what it was a few years ago, and hence the miner is
enabled to save a much larger share of his earnings now than then.
By the following tabular statements, it will be seen that, so far as we may judge
from the amount of treasure shipped by steamers from the port of San Francisco, or
deposited in the Branch Mint for coinage, the yield of the mines the present year, up
to the 1st inst,, exceeds that of a corresponding period of last year about half a mil­
lion of dollars. It is probable, however, that much dust, the result of the present
year’s labor, yet remains in the hands of the miners, as occasions to part with it have
been far less pressing the present than during any previous year.
The following have been the semi monthly shipments, for the first nine months of
1853 and 1854 respectively :—

1851
January 16____
February 1___
February 1 5 ...
March 1............
March 16..........
April 1.............
April 16...........
May 1 ..............
May 16............
June 1..............

1851.

1854.

$1,744,399
2,430,000
2,890,558
2,066,338
2,419,400
2,234,308
2,596,560
2,130,738
2,511,986
2,604,583

$1,729,532
1,755,488
2,081,729
1,549,647
1,816,724
2,206,789
2,312,424
2,149,681
2,347,444
2,685,615

1854.

June 16.......... . $2,223,870
July 1 ............ . 2,004,149
July 16.......... . 2,128,052
August 1........ . 2,462,4S8
August 16__ _ . 2,243,094
September 1... . 2,416,709
September 16. . 2,193,864
October 1....... . 2,559,636

$2,245,213
2,067,876
1,966,953
2,159,318
2,155.898
2,383,551
1,951,456
2,301,738

Total........... $41,860,732

$37,858,076

Showing a decrease in 1854 of $4,002,656. To effect this deficiency, we have the
following amounts deposited at the Branch Mint in San Francisco for coinage, since
that establishment went into operation in April last:—
GOLD DEPOSITED FOE COINAGE.

A pril...
May----July----- ........

OS RfiS
25^104.72

$667,991.25 I Aug........ . ..oz. 56,580.62 1,042,511.95
776,322.60 |Sept........
437,629.02
457,775.10 1 Total.. . .oz. 248,369.66 $4,527,168.34

By adding, therefore, the amount deposited for coinage, to the amount manifested
by steamers, we have $42,385,244 or $524,512 more than was shipped during a cor­
responding period of 1853.




728

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and, Finance.
TRADE AND GOLD SU PP L IE S OF ENGLAND,
[From the London Morning Chronicle o f October 18,1854.]

The importations of the precious metals have for weeks and months past been con­
siderable, keeping pace with the demand for gold, whether for home purposes or for
shipment to the continent. It will not, however, have been forgotten that we have on
several occasions, since the eastern question assumed a serious aspect, called attention
to the certainty of an European war drawing gold from this country to a very con­
siderable extent, and beyond the general anticipation. The enormous yield of the
Californian and Australian mines has not greatly increased our stock of bullion in the
Bank of England. We have shown that the expansion of trade, caused by an en­
larged supply of the precious metals, would absorb the whole of that supply, and
that it would not remain in this country an unproductive and cumbersome burden, but
would be distributed alt over the world. Wherever gold has been in demand, there
it has gone. Europe has taken a large share. India and China another portion, and
the rest has been generally distributed. It has not remained in England, and the
supply and demand have been more or less equal. That gold has become more plen­
tiful abroad since its discovery in the Australian and Californian mines, is evident
from a variety of facts. Take, for example, France. Until the present year, gold
has almost borne a premium, greater or less, as the supply or demand varied, and no
later than last year the exchange brokers 6f Paris invariably demanded a premium
upon gold in exchange for notes. During the present year they, on the contrary, give
gold freely for notes without a premium. At Constantinople, again, English sover­
eigns, which once were scarce, are now plentiful. The natural expansion of trade,
produced by the abundance of the precious metals in England during the last few
years, combined with general prosperity, and the absence of any disturbing causes,
are, in conjunction with the large amount of corn we had to pay for, the primary
causes of the great distribution here referred to. Of the enormous arrivals of gold
in England, nothing now remains of them here. Gold and silver are still wanted on
the continent; and whatever may be the amount of the importations into this coun­
try, the demand abroad will still be supplied by us, and will keep in check any very
great preponderence of supply over our own wants. It will be seen by the following
table that, although the importation from all parts this year have been very large, the
stock of bullion has not increased; on the contrary, it has decreased. This is so far
satisfactory, as it shows how ready a market we find for what would otherwise be a
most serious burden. While the stock of bullion in the bank does not fall below a
certain point, there is no cause for uneasiness when we see gold go out as fast as it
comes into the country, for we shall do a larger trade, and consequently derive a
greater profit —
Week ending—

Total
arrivals of
gold.

Bullion
in Bank of
England.

7 .. . . £1,070,000 £15,831,072
280,000 16,069,132
14..
21..
575,000 16,096,206
28.. . ,
820,000 16,223,214
385,000 16,226,683
February 4 ..
400,000 16,203,528
li..
18..
730,000 16,255,313
240,000 16,286,165
25. . . .
4 ..
4,000 15,908,903
March
672,000 15,396,685
11. . . .
400,000 14,822,839
18..
14,629,282
25..
922,000 14,449,718
1..
April
270,000 14,140,599
8 .. , .
13,510,873
15. .
600,000 13,314,093
22..
720,000 12,915,926
29.
218,000 12,608,079
6.
May
94,000 12,589,366
13..
650.000 12,513,969
20. . ••
610.000 12,740,849
27..

January

Week ending—

June

3___
10___
17___
24___
July
1 ....
8___
15___
22___
29___
August
5 ....
12___
19___
26___
Septemb’r 2 . . . .
9 ___
16___
23___
30___
October 1 . . . .
14___

Total
arrivals of
gold.

Bullion
in Bank o f
England.

£110,000 £12,750,149
573,000 12,728,053
850,000 13,109,377
760,000 13,869,975
670,000 14,215.598
250,000 14,021,207
162,000 13,823,872
830,000 13,633,679
372,000 13,484,324
800,000 13,299,510
576,000 13,561,821
408,000 13,701,292
206,000 13,635,424
700,000 13,368,371
232,000 13,321,819
1,000,000 13,279,370
357,000 13,228,886
730,000 13,059,870
480,000 12,972,466
1,000,000

We have here a total importation of gold into this country, during a period of nine
months and a half, of £20,720,000, and a diminution during the same period in the




129

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.

stock of bullion held by the Bank of England of £3,313,679. Until -within the last
few weeks, the fact of the large arrivals of gold finding no resting-place here has
caused no surprise, because the public were well aware that shipments to the conti­
nent continued. Since the late favorable turn, however, in the rates of the foreign ex­
changes, which it was expected would check the drain upon our metallic resources, it
has become a matter of surprise that gold does not accumulate, notwithstanding the
large arrivals week after week, and the well-known fact that, so far as they can be as­
certained, the exports to the continent have nearly ceased. None of the late arrivals,
it must be observed, have gone into the vaults of the Bank of England, for the stock
of bullion has steadily diminished. It is evident, therefore, that a very large quantity
of gold goes abroad, of which the public have no knowledge, and the amount of which
cannot be ascertained. The payment of the troops in the East, and the expenses of
the commissariat and other departments necessarily absorb a very large sum. This
drain goes on, to some extent, irrespective of the state of the foreign exchanges, and
thus it will continue. It is highly desirable that some record should be taken at the
various custom houses of England of the precious metals exported, but at present
there is no such return kept. The subject is, however, intended to be brought before
Parliament next session, with a view to obtain as authentic a record as possible under
the circumstances, for tbe guidance of the monetary and commercial interests.
CONDITION OF TH E BANKS OF N EW ORLEANS.

The returns of the banks of New Orleans for the weeks ending October 16th and
23d, are given in the subjoined statement. For similar statements for last weeks in
April and June, see M e r c h a n t s ’ M a g a z i n e for July and September, 1854.
CASH ASSETS.
,------------------LOA NS.----------------- \

Oct. 23.

Oct. 16.

,---------------- SPE CIE.-----------------^
Oct. 2 3 .
Oct. 16.

Citizens’ Bank....................
Canal Bank.............. ........
Louisiana............................
Louisiana State..................
Mechanics’ and Traders . . . .
Bank of New Orleans........
Southern Bank....................
Union Bank........................

$3,453,806
2,701,474
3,423,273
2,945,422
963,136
846,451
561,656
769,400

$3,423,486
2,653,141
3,305,154
2,867,499
973,319
818,911
612,298
715,797

$1,397,536
1,248,969
1,696,232
1,738,567
242,112
238,343
156,741
165,312

$1,352,206
1,261,255
1,365,393
1,721,290
186,185
225,115
118,815
155,799

Total...............................
Increase...............................

15,661,624

15,369,509
292,115

6,783,832

6,486,368
297,464

CASH LIABILITIES.
,-----------CIRCULATION.----------- ,

Citizens’ Bink .............
Canal Bank...................
Louisiana Bank.............
Louisiana State............
Mechanics’ and Traders’
Bank of New Orleans ..
Southern Bank..............
Union Bank..................
Total
Increase

Oct. 23.

Oct. 16.

$1,748,320
1,136,305
962,409
1,077,960
81,515
393,945
272,565
309,705

$1,710,065
1,145,565
1,003,549
1,037,420
56,535
402,915
271,410
303,315

5,982,724

5,580,774
1,950

■DEPOSITS.

Oct. 23.
$1,817,528
1,128,152
2,656,196
2,821,968
620,898
540,188
252,680
494,588

Oct. 16.
$1,799,967
1,041,129
2,479,884
2,831,230
625,049
540,485
316,673
443,755

10,826,898

10,878,172
248,726

In addition to the foregoing cash assets, the banks hold foreign and domestic ex­
change to the extent of the respective figures opposite :—
Bank of Louisiana................
Canal Bank...........................
Southern Bank ....................
Louisiana State Bank..........
Total




$157,098
308,040
458,330
11,257

Mechanics’ and Traders’ Bank.
217,566
Citizens’ Bank.......
Bank of New Orleans............
Union Bank.........
181,882

$ 10,703
221,023
$1,565,899

730

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.
T H E N EW B R ITISH STAM P ACT,

The following is a brief summary of the alterations made by the new stamp act of
1854, which is now in force. We hare taken chiefly such parts of the act as relate
to bills of exchange, <fec., drawn out of the United Kingdom, and which are of interest
to the readers of the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e in the United States:—
Bills drawn out of the United Kingdom are to be denoted by adhesive stamps, and
not to bo negotiated without such stamps being affixed. With regard to bankers’ drafts,
by the present law drafts drawn on bankers within fifteen miles are exempted from
duty, but by this act a draft cannot be remitted or sent beyond fifteen miles unless
duly stamped, or be received in payment, or as a security, or otherwise circulated,
under a penalty of £50.
All bank-notes other than the Bank of England are to be liable to duty. There is
a clause repealing the exemption from receipt stamp duty of letters by the general
post, acknowledging the arrival of bills, notes, or other securities for money. Receipts
for money paid to the crown are to be exempted from stamp duty. Some alterations
are made with respect to stamps on conveyances of property. The duty on pawn­
brokers’ licenses in Dublin is reduced from £15 to £7 10s. All contracts to serve as
artificers, servants, & c ., in the colonies, are to be exempted from duty, as also public
maps and documents referred to in deeds or writings. Leases for a period less than
a year are to be chargeable with duty on the rent received.
In order to encourage the purchase of stamps, persons buying stamps not exceeding
Is. duty are to be allowed at the rate of 7 < per cent on £5 worth and upwards. No
charge is to be made for the paper, either on notes or bills, where the same does not
exceed the duty of Is. An allowance is to be made, up to the 6th April next, for
stamps rendered useless by this act.
All instruments liable to stamp duty are to be admitted in evidence in criminal
proceedings, although not properly stamped.
Foreign Bill of Exchange drawn in, but payable out of the United Kingdom, if
drawn singly or otherwise than in a set of three or more, the same duty as on an Inland
Bill of the same amount and tenor. If drawn in sets of three or more, for every bill
of each set:—
Where the sum payable thereby shall not exceed
Where it shall exceed £25 and not exceed..........
it
“
50
it
75
it
100
“
200
((
800
((
K
400
it
500
it
750
it
“
1,000
it
1,500
it
2,000
tt
3,000
It
4,000 and upwards

£25
50
75
100
200
800
400
500
750
1,000
1,500
2,000
3,000
4,000

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
1
1
i
2
3
5
6
10
13
15

1
2
3
4
8
0
4
8
6
4
0
8
0
4
0

Foreign Bill of Exchange drawn out of the United Kingdom, and payable within
the United Kingdom, the same duty as on an Inland Bill of the same amount and
tenor.
Foreign Bill of Exchange drawn out of the United Kingdom, and payable out of
the United Kingdom, but indorsed or negotiated within the United Kingdom, the
same duty as on a Foreign Bill drawn within the United Kingdom, and payable out
of the United Kingdom.
HAMBURG MONEY-CHANGERS,

The following graphic and amusing description of a Hamburg money-changer’s
hffice, is from a new work (not published in this country) entitled “ A B r a c e B r e a k e r
w i t h t h e S w e d e s , ” by W. B lanchard J errold :—On entering a dirty little office in a side street, we discovered a long coarse deal




Journal o f Banking , Currency, and Finance.

*731

counter, extending nearly the length of the room, behind which were an old man and
an elderly woman. The man was in a dirty, shabby condition; the woman looked
like a superior housemaid. A sturdy German or Dane had planted his elbows firmly
upon the counter, and was intently watching the old man, who, with a bit of chalk,
was wildly running a sum about the board. Presently, after mature reflection, and
trying the calculation two or three ways, he gave the sturdy customer his load of
Hamburg money; and the customer went on his way rejoicing, perhaps to have a
‘p e t i t s o u p e r in one of the cellars, with his chum.
The old lady addressed us; and
while the captain was talking Swedish to her Danish, I amused myself looking about
the queer little office. Behind the old lady lay a heap of filthy, ragged, greasy pa­
per ; and here and there, in careless heaps, gold and silver of various countries. Money
seemed to be very carelessly treated, to a passing observer; but I noticed that it was
as carelessly counted; at stray intervals, and dropped, as by accident, into little
drawers under the counter, which by the merest chance the old man happened to lock.
Presently, to my infinite disgust, the old lady caught up the heap of ragged, dirty,
greasy paper, and threw it upon the counter; then with a look of inquiry seemed to
ask the captain if that was what he meant. The captain’s eye glowed with pleasure
at the sight of the well-remembered dirt and grease; and forthwith he began to fum­
ble about it, and in mysterious under-tones to talk of rix and banco. Then the old
man came to the help of the partner of his bosom and his bank, or, as I should think
they would say in Hamburg, of his bank and bosom. Forthwith, after a glance at
the heap of official Swedish rags and the bright English gold displayed by the cap­
tain, the old man seized his chalk, and ran a sum vehemently up and down the coun-ter, here and there rubbing out a wrong figure with his cuffs. Having drawn a perfect
boa-constrictor of figures, (the earlier ones being in wide rows, tapering off gradually
in graceful curves to a single figure,) he opened a little drawer, and threw a handful
of Swedish gold upon the table. The sight of this made the captain exceedingly
wroth ; he declared that he had been in Sweden a whole year, had never seen one
piece of Swedish gold in circulation, and that these coins had been recalled. But the
old gentleman persisted in counting them out, while the captain persisted in vehe­
mently declining to accept them. At this point, with a look that hovered between
indignation and despair, the old lady went to fetch her son; the man who could divide
anything by anything, and, as he proved, subtract to perfection. This prodigy was a
pale, spare, angular, yellow young man, with a forehead of astonishing proportions,
and an eye, I thought, of remarkable duiness; of shabby appearance, and with a
lump of chalk firmly planted in his lean right hand. His father whispered hurriedly
to him, and forthwith he began to whirl a sum of terrible intricacy about the table.
The old gentleman, presently catching his idea, also began another sum. And then
the two seemed to race, running the figures of their respective sums into one another,
without creating the least confusion; the father adding where the son was dividing ;
the son firmly planting his quotient upon the parental dividend. In the end the son
gave a patronizing nod to the father, intimating that the old man’s calculation was
right; whereupon the old lady once more advanced to action, and began to count out
the Swedish gold. This attempt threw the captain into a terrible passion. He
snatched up his English money, and began deliberately to replace it in his purse. The
changer and his family looked astonished and disgusted; but at last the captain
agreed to take the paper-money, (of which there was only ten or twelve pounds’
worth,) and with this we left the most remarkable money-changing establishment it
has ever been my lot to visit.
MONEYS APPROPRIATED BY T H E CONGRESS OF T H E U NITED STATES.

We give below the official totals of the sums of money appropriated at the last
session of Congress for the undermentioned purposes:—
Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous................................................
Army, fortifications, Military Academy, Ac......................................
Indian Department, naval, revolutionary, and other pensions........
Naval service ...... .............................................................................
Post-office Department............••.......................................................
Treaty with Mexico...........................................................................
Total...........................................................................................




$15,944,852
11,373,568
3,984,686
12,510,868
11,293,904
10,000,000

14
90
19
46
63
00

$65,107,825 32

Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.

732

BASK AND RAILROAD STOCKS.

A correspondent of the Boston T r a n s c r i p t administers comfort to railroad share and
bond holders, drawn from the fact that the present depreciation in the market value
of their property is not without its parallel in bank stocks. He says:—
About fifteen years ago, there was a like panic in bank stock throughout the coun­
try, affecting both sound and unsound institutions. Bank stock had previously been
up as at present to par and an advance. The stock of the Atlas Bank fell from 105
to 72; Granite, to 76 ; Traders’, 76 ; North, 79 ; South, to 60, and was then wound
up, and paid the stockholders 0 7 The Atlantic sold for 81, Shawmut 80, Tremont,
City, and others of the same class at similar figures ; Merchants’, Globe, Union, State,
below par. The Market Bank from 104 fell to 55, then had its capital reduced to 70
per share, its present par value.
The Suffolk was the only bank that kept up to par. Bank dividends were then
mere skeletons. Stockholders, on consulting the semi-annual report, found to their
dismay, n o n e scattered up and down the page. A semi-annual list of that period
commenced as follows:—
American, none; Atlantic, none; Atlas, none. The Atlas paid no dividend for two
or three years ; some institutions eked out H, some 2, some 2^ per cent semi-anually.
The Suffolk alone kept up to 4, the Merchants’ and one or two others to 3 per cent.
Bank stock was then looked upon as railroad property now is. There were more
eellers than buyers at low figures. Railroads from that date took a start. The Wor­
cester from 77 went up gradually to 122; Western from 40 to 112; Lowell from 86
to 130; Maine from 75 to 118 ; Fitchburgh from 90 to 128, and so on. That bank
panic was like the present one in railroad property. Some few were mismanaged,
some failed, and distrust settled upon them all, depreciating their market value from
10 to 50 per cent. So at present with railroad stock and bonds; some rascality has
been perpetrated, some roads have been mismanaged, and nearly the whole, stock
and bonds, settle down from 5 to 50 per cent below par. That new roads that have
got submerged in debt should lose nearly all market value, as regards the common
stock, is not surprising ; but that old, established roads, and first mortgage 7 per cent
bonds for about one-third the actual cost of building, on finished roads running through
a populous and fertile country, should be forced down to 50 per cent discount, is in­
deed a marvel.
TH E ISSU E OF FRAUDULENT STOCK IN VERMONT.

The Legislature of Vermont has passed a law to punish the fraudulent issue and
transfer of stock in that State. The example should be followed by every State in
the Union. The act passed by both houses, and was approved by the Governor No­
vember 1st, 1854, and is now in force.
t r a n s f e r o f c e r t i f i c a t e s o f s t o c k i n cor.
:—
S e c t i o n 1. Every president, cashier, treasurer, secretary, or other officer, and every
agent of any bank, railroad, manufacturing, or other corporation, who shall wilfully
and designedly sign, with intent to issue, sell, or pledge, or cause to be issued, sold, or
pledged, any false, fraudulent, or simulated certificate, or other evidence of the own­
ership or transfer of any share or shares of the capital stock of such corporation, or
any certificate! or other evidence of the ownership or transfer of any share or shares in
such corporation, or any instrument purporting to be a certificate or other evidence of
such ownership or transfer, the signing, issuing, selling, or pledging of which, by such
president, cashier, treasurer, or other officer or agent, shall not be authorized by the
charter and by-laws of such corporation, or by some amendment thereof, shall be ad­
judged guilty of felony, and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars, and imprisonment in the State’s prison not less than one year, nor more than
ten years, in the discretion of the court.
S ec . 2. This act shall take effect from its passage.
A n

a ct to p u n is h th e f r a u d u le n t is su e a n d

p o r a tio n s

DEBTS AND DEBTORS IN ENGLAND.

According to an official report, made to Parliament in 1822, 15,249 insolvent debt­
ors had been discharged, whose debts amounted to £ 11,000,000, and whose estates




Journal o f Banking, Currency, and Finance.

733

had produced only £60,000, each estate, therefore, producing about £4. When in­
quiry was made iuto the statistics of insolvency, as exhibited under Lord Brougham’s
Act of 1842, it appeared that 1,500 insolvent debtors had passed through the Court
of Bankruptcy, under that law, in about fifteen months, whose estates had produced
£5,000 only, that is about £3 10s. each case. Assuming that the average amount of
debt in each of the 1,500 cases was the same as in each of the 15,249 cases, that is,
about £720, then these 1,500 insolvents owed about £1,000,000. The London district
may be taken as one-third of England and Wales, and if so, then the loss by the in­
solvents of England and Wales who pass through the Court of Bankruptcy may be
taken at about £3,000,000. Besides this loss, there is the loss by those insolvents
who pass through the Insolvent Debtor’s Court, by bankrupts, by debtors who com­
pound privately, and by those who fly to foreign countries. Taking all into consid­
eration, the losses sustained in this way cannot be less than £ 20,000,000 per annum.
A London editor, alluding to these facts, complains of the loss so enormous, and re­
marks :—
“ The question is, can any system be devised, by which the loss by bad debts can
be diminished ? Now it is obvious that the best mode of diminishing these losses is
by bringing the insolvent debtor to an arrangement with his creditors at the earliest
possible period, for it is during the last few months of struggle that the greatest waste
occurs.”
EXPENDITURES OF BOSTON IN 1803-4 AND IN 1853-54.
A correspondent of the Boston T r a n s c r i p t gives a full and complete account of the
expenses of the town of Boston from May, 1S03, to May, 1804, derived from the
printed report of Benjamin Sumner, Town Treasurer and Collector. It is interesting,
if not instructive, to note the changes of the last half-century. From Mr. Sumner’s
statement, it appears that in 1803-4, Boston had 7 schoolmasters, whose salaries were
$S66 64 per annum. The ushers had $433 33 a year. The whole amount paid for
salaries to teachers, and the incidental expenses of the schools, was only $16,687 11,
of which sum $6,295 12 was required for a new school-house. The expenses of the
schools now are $329,800 20. The salaries of all the teachers were $9,266 46; now"
they are $193,039 41. The Watch Department in 1804 cost $6,257 60. In 1853 it
was $87,803 96. The salaries of city officers and judges were $8,954 22 ; now they
are $66,252 98. The expense of the Fire Department was $1,441 65; now it is
about $70,000. In 1804, the amount paid for the repairs and widening of streets was
$12,210 68; in 1853 it was $253,048 10. The sum then paid for assistance rendered
by the Overseers of the Poor was $15,339 90. Last year it was $27,000. The total
expenditures of the year 1804 were $71,491. The city tax was $88,000; the town’s
proportion of the State tax was $17,620, and the county tax was $20,200, making a
total of $125,820. Among the expenses in 1804, we find the following items:—Ex­
penses of “ visitation dinner,” $365 10; ink to the schools, $60; expenses of several
town committees, $44 ; “ regulating ” jury boxes, $62 50 ; repairs, and cleaning the
Old South Church, after a town meeting, $92 50; expenses of visit to Deer Island
$274 46.
CONDITION OF THE BANKS OF VERMONT IN 1853-54.
D aniel R oberts has made his annual report to the Legislature as Bank Commis­

sioner, giving the condition of the various banks in the State. From an abstract of
this report, published in W a l t o n ’ s D a i l y J o u r n a l , the following facts appear, in com­
parison with the report of last year:—
Increase in the number of banks.
7
“
of authorized capital.. . . $835,000
“ of actual business capital 409,816
“ of specie........................
8,151




Decrease in circulation........ $805,108
“ of discounts........... 420,664
“ in deposits abroad .
206,801
“ in total resources_
279,639

734

Journal o f Insurance.

J OURNAL

OF I N S U R A N C E .

LIFE INSURANCE— W RIG H T’S TABLES.

late Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in the West­
ern Reserve College, Ohio, has just completed a series of “ V a l u a t i o n Tables, on the
Combined Experience Rate of Mortality, for the Use of Life Insurance Companies.”
These tables were constructed at the special instance of six Life Insurance Companies,
viz.: the New England Mutual, of Boston ; the Union Mutual, of Augusta, Me.; the
Connecticut Mutual, of Hartford ; the United States, of New T ort; the Charter Oak,
of Hartford, and the Mutual Benefit, of Newark, N. J., under an agreement that for
ten years no company or person is to obtain possession or use of them without paying
Mr. Wright, the proprietor of the copyright, the same as each of the above companies.
Each company paid, we believe, two hundred and fifty dollars for a copy, a sum total
of $ 1,500, which scarcely remunerates the author for time occupied in preparing these
tables. The value of Mr. Wright’s tables can scarcely be too highly estimated, and
we should suppose that every Life Insurance Company in the United States would
regard the possession of these tables as indispensable.
E

l iz l r

W

e ig h t ,

The utility of Air. Wright’s tables to Life Insurance Companies is, 1st, a saving of
labor, enabling an ordinary clerk to do in one-tenth of the time, what could otherwise
only be done by a professional actuary. 2d, a simplification by which the vital ques­
tion of the solvency of the company, which is now intelligible only to the actuary,
can easily be understood by any director of common intelligence, who chooses to
spend a little time in verifying the clerk’s valuation of policies. Mr. Wright has, in
brief, “ unmystified ” a vital subject, by giving the companies a perpetual actuary, that
don’t talk in l o g a r i t h m s , or affect a profundity of science by an array of symbols de­
rived from the higher mathematics.
We give below the larger part of the author’s introduction, omitting his lucid ex­
planation of the use of the several tables, leaving it with the managers of Life Insur­
ance Companies to estimate the value of Air. Wright’s incomparable work:—
“ As popular intelligence and refinement advance, Life Insurance must become a
more and more essential part of the social fabric. It will involve a larger and larger
portion of the capital of the country, and become, perhaps, the chief treasury of
accumulated savings. It is important, therefore, that its principles should be gen­
erally understood, and especially that its practice should be reduced to the range of
ordinary mathematical ability and freed from unnecessary expense. Thus far, to the
million, it has been enveloped in considerable mystery. Under the cloud, fraudulent
companies have largely bled the confiding; and those of a different character have
felt obliged to saddle themselves with high salaries for “ eminent mathematicians” to
pilot them annually across the unknown depths of the logarithm table. The hiero­
glyphic veil which concealed from the common herd the learning of the ancient Egyp­
tian priesthood was thin ; and that which renders a priesthood of professional actu­
aries necessary for the safe conduct of modern Life Insurance is not thick. The more
carefully, then, must it be preserved by those who have it for a livelihood. In Great
Britain it is well cared for by a society of able actuaries, who, as if nothing had been
settled, vastly magnify the importance of further scientific observations to ascertain
the law of the decrement of human life and original mathematical investigations to
produce new formulas to govern its application. Monthly they enlighten the public,
and particularly the boards of Life Insurance directors, with nice discussions clothed
in algebraic symbols, mathematically converting the hair of the subject into fur, and
cultivating the reverent estimation in which their important services are held. They




Journal o f Insurance.

735

keep up a running dispute, and split into several rather belligerent sects, on the sim­
ple matter of the proper way to ascertain and exhibit the balance between the re­
sources and liabilities of a Life Insurance Company—as if it were a question of the
profoundest difficulty. Indeed, it is not to be expected that men, who enjoy honor
and emolument from being considered the exclusive depositaries of a science so useful
to the world, should so popularize and simplify it as to remove the bread from their
own mouths and the glory from their own wigs. The genius of European institutions
does not tend in that direction. It is otherwise with ours.
In this country, corporations for Life Insurance have existed for a quarter of a cen­
tury or more, and during the last ten years they have rapidly multiplied; but in most
cases their directors have been guiltless of any undue expenditure for mathematical
skill to aid in their management. It is not many years since a New York Life Office,
having lost a considerable sum by the defalcation of one of its officers, paid a London
actuary three hundred pounds to ascertain its liabilities to its policy holders, that it
might know whether the balance of its assets were sufficient to meet them. Had
this office been supplied with the tables, its humblest clerk might have relieved its
anxiety with equal exactness in one week.
“ Out of a given large number of lives existing at a given age, the number that
will terminate in each year thereafter, till all are extinct, has been found to be re­
markably near the same thing, whether the observation be directed to population at
large, to classes of annuitants, or to assured lives. There is an obvious tendency in
human life, a9 the basis of observation is enlarged, to a fixed law of decrement, or
one which is as nearly fixed as the character of social and sanitary institutions.
Accordingly it is found that, when the scales derived from the different observations
which have been careful and extensive are adjusted, so as to free them from slight
and obviously fortuitous anomalies, they do not considerably differ. Assuming an
average rate of interest below that which will probably accrue on money safely in­
vested, so long as money is invested at all, any of them may safely be made the basis
of premium. In actual practice, the premiums charged by existing offices are mostly
estimated on the Carlisle rate of mortality, assuming interest at three or four per cent,
and adding twenty or twenty-five per cent to the mathematical requirement to meet
expenses and contingencies- While, therefore, the interest of money is actually six
or seven per cent, and the companies are honestly and economically conducted, they
cannot fail to accumulate a surplus; and, if no division should be made, a mutual
company might cease to issue policies, meet all its obligations as they fell due, and
leave its last survivor a millionaire. Justice requires that the surplus should be kept
down by frequent dividends, so as never much to exceed the requirement of the law
of mortality. What at any time this requirement may be, is the vital question for a
company. In selecting a scale to express the law, for the purpose of ascertaining
what may be divided, it is of no importance that it should be the same as that by
which the premiums have been fixed; but it should be well adjusted, and should not
too favorably represent the ratio of mortality that is to be expected. The premiums
may have been fixed on too low a rate of mortality, and yet, by virtue of the arbi­
trary addition or “ loading,” be sufficiently high. What shall be held in reserve at
any time, as equivalent to the present liability on the policies, is an entirely indepen­
dent question. It has nothing to do with the premiums as “ loaded,” or with future
probable expenses, which are provided for by the loading of future premiums.
In selecting a basis for the tables, I have preferred that scale of mortality which I
found nearest the mean of modern observations and containing the fewest irregulari­
ties. It was deduced from an observation of sixty-two thousand five hundred and
thirty-seven town and county assurances in seventeen British offices, including the
ancient “ Amicable” and “ Equitable,” by a committee of leading British actuaries,
and is known by the name of the “ Combined Experience.” It has sometimes been
objected to the authority of this scale, by those who prefer the “ Carlisle,” that it is
founded, not on so many distinct lives, but on policies, and that the average duration
of these policies scarcely exceeded eight years, half of them not averaging five and a
half years ; and therefore, by virtue of recent selection, these lives were better than
similarly selected lives would be during a long course of years. Observations on the
force of selection do not give great weight to this objection. But if the Carlisle rate
be received as good authority, the objection is entirely futile, because the Combined
Experience requires on the whole a considerably larger reserve, and there is no ques­
tion of its better adjustment. Indeed, it requires a rather larger reserve than the
very carefully prepared experience of the old Equitable Company, which has been




736

Journal o f Insurance.

called an adjusted Carlisle. Of the rules now generally adopted for governing the
business of Life Insurance, it is that which is safest for the company. There is not
the slightest probability that future observations will show the propriety of changing
this rule till there occurs some radical social change affecting the general tenure of
life ; and that change, it is to be hoped, will not render this rule less safe.
To determine how the affairs of a company should be exhibited, and what should
appear on each side of the balance sheet, let us suppose a case of one which has been
in business some time and is free from outstanding claims. Its resources for meeting
its engagements consist of actual cash assets and premiums that will hereafter accrue,
according to an assumed rate of mortality, on the policies in force. Its liabilities are
for the payment of claims under the policies, as they will terminate by death, accord­
ing to the same ratio of mortality, and the unavoidable expenses of conducting the
business. Let us represent the assets by A ; the present value of the future premi­
ums, as discounted at the assumed rates of interest and mortality, by P ; the present
value o f the future claims, or sums assured, discounted at the same rates, by S ; and
the present value of future probable expenses, <fcc., by E. If there be any surplus to
divide, let it be represented by D. Then A -j- P = S + E + D. This equation, the
first member of which is the c r e d i t and the second the d e b i t side of the balance, is
commonly offered to the public annually by the British offices as a statement of their
affairs. But it is not so lucid as it might be. The discounted sum of the future pre­
miums, P, is larger than that of the net premiums that are required by the assumed
rates of interest and mortality by a sum which is precisely equal to E. Or letting p
represent the present value of the net premiums, P = p -f- E. Substituting this value
of P iu the above equation, A -f- p -f- E = S -f- E -f- D. Subtracting p + E from both
sides, A = S — p -j- D. Now S — p, or the difference between the present value of
the sums assured and the present value of the net premiums upon the policies, is the
same as the sum of the value of the policies at the present time. In other words, it
is the reinsurance, or what the company in equity would have to pay to be released
from its engagements. Of course it is the true measure, according to the assumed
standard of mortality, of what the company should reserve from dividend. The bal­
ance of its assets it may divide. It is therefore as needless as it is embarrassing to
lumber the balance sheet with a valuation of loaded premiums, to be offset by the
value of the loading on the other side, or to leave the real liability to be arrived at by
subtracting the present value of the future premiums from the present value of the
amount insured.”
L IF E INSURANCE COMPANIES.

In these companies a wife can insure the life of her husband, and receive the
amount of the policy if she survives his death, free from the claims of the representa­
tives of her husband or of any of his creditors. A creditor may insure the life of his
debtor; a young man may procure capital by getting an insurance on his life, and as­
signing the policy as collateral security for a loan. Dividends are added to the prin'
cipal, or go to the reduction of annual premiums, at the option of the insured party.
A congregation can insure the life of their pastors, and thereby provide for their sur­
viving families.
Parties who do not feel that their circumstances will warrant their engaging to pay
a specified annual sum during life, may take an accumulative policy, by paying from
time to time any small sum, which insures a certain amount to their families at death
In case of sickness or casualty, the party can draw any part of the money paid in, by
which he will only reduce the amount insured, and therefore as available to the poor
man and more advantageous than a savings bank. We quote the following from
McCulloch’s Commercial Dictionary in favor of life insurance:—
The relief from anxiety afforded by life insurance very frequently contributes to
prolong the life of the insured, at the same time that it materially augments the com­
fort and well being of those dependent upon him. It has also an obvious tendency to
strengthen habits of accumulation. Having thus been led to contract a habit of saving
to a ce rtain extent, it is most probable that the habit will acquire additional strength,
and that he will insure an additional sum, or privately accumulate.




737

Commercial Regulations.

COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.
FRENCH T A R IF F ALTERATIONS.

The M o n i t e u r of the 23d October, contains a decree which abolishes the law of the
17th December, 1814, and the decree of the 8th September, in 1852, relative to the
customs duties on certain articles in the French tariff, and for which the undermen­
tioned duties are in future to be charged:—
Dyestuffs are to be entirely freed from duty when brought direct from the place of
production in French bottoms, and when coming from bonding warehouses in Eu­
rope, or brought in foreign vessels, to be subjected to differential duties calculated to
afford sufficient protection to the French flag. Vanilla from the Island of Reunion,
which now pays one franc the kilogramme, is to be admitted free. Beet-root, which
has hitherto been classified under the head of fresh vegetables, and as such pays a
duty of fifty centimes the one hundred kilogrammes, is to be reduced to thirty
centimes. The duty on bamboos, reeds, and odoriferous woods to be suppressed when
imported in French vessels, and proportionately reduced when brought in foreign bot­
toms. Potash is to be reduced two-thirds when brought from foreign countries, and
one-half when coming from any part of Europe; and the duty on marble is to be
made the same for importations by land as by sea:—
IMPORTATION.

Vanilla from the Island of Reunion.................................
Beetroot................................................ .............................
Dyestuffs, by French vessels from foreign countries........
“
“
bonding warehouses...
“
by foreign vessels...............................................
Odoriferous woods, by French vessels from foreign coun­
tries................. ............ .................
“
from bonding warehouses....................
“
by foreign vessels...............................
Bamboos and foreign reeds, by French vessels from for­
eign countries....................
“
“
from bonding warehouses....
“
“
by foreign vessels.................
Exotic rosins, by French vessels from foreign countries...
“
“
bonding warehouses
“
by foreign vessels.........................................
Dyestuffs, by French vessels from foreign countries.........
“
“
bonding warehouses ..
“
by foreign vessels................................................
Galinuts, by French vessels from foreign countries......... ..
“
“
bonding warehouses . ..
“
by foreign vessels..............................................
Marbles, imported by land........................................... |
Iron ore, imported by foreign vessels...............................
Paving or other large stones, imported by land or by
French vessels............... ..................................................
Charcoal and stalks of hemp peeled, by land or by French
vessels..............................................................................
Potash, by French vessels from French colonies................
“
“
foreign countries not in Eu.
rope ..............................
“
“
bonding warehouses.........
“ by foreign vessels...................................................

5

Exempt.
30 c. 100 kilog.
Exempt.
00
100

6

00

0 f.

100

Exempt.
00
100

10
15

00

30
40

00
00

10

15

00
00

3
4

00
00

3

00
00

100

Exempt.
100
100

Exempt.
100
100

Exempt.
100
100

Exempt.
100

4
100
Same duty as by
French vessels.
0
25
100
Exempt.
3

00

Exempt.
100

6

00

100

10
12

00
00

100
100

EXPORTATION.

Sand for manufacturing glass and earthenware................

VOL. xxxi.— no. VI.




47

Exempt.

Commercial Regulations.

738

EMIGRATION AND T IIE MARINE HOSPITAL,

The following act of the State of New York to amend the several acts relating to
the powers and duties of the Commissioners of Emigration, and for the regulation of
the Marine Hospital, was passed April 13th, 1853, and is now in force:—
1. The time allowed by the second section, of chapter three hundred and thirtynine, of the laws of eighteen hundred and fifty, to any owner or owners, consignee or
consignees of any ship or vessel bringing emigrants or passengers to the city of New
York, for giving the bond or bonds first mentioned in said section, or paying the
money, also therein mentioned, shall henceforth be twenty-four hours instead of three
days, from the landing of said passengers, and the time allowed by the said section to
the said owner or owners, consignee or consignees of any such ship or vessel, for giv­
ing other bond or bonds mentioned in said section shall be twenty-four hours instead
of six days from the making of the requirement for such last-mentioned bond or
bonds.
2. The said commissioners of emigration are and each of them is hereby vested with
the same powers in regard to the administering oaths of office to employees, and to
the binding out of children with the consent of parents or next of kin, actually charge­
able upon them, and also in regard to persons in the institution, or any of them under
the charge of said commissioners for the prevention or punishment of an infraction or
violation of the rules or orders and regulation of Such commissioners or their officers
in regard to such institutions as are possessed by the governors of the almshouse in
the city of New York, or any of them for the same purposes.
3. The commissioners of emigration shall annually, on or before the first day of Feb­
ruary in each year, report to the legislature the amount of moneys received, under the
provisions of this act, during the preceding year, and the manner in which the same
have been appropriated ; stating particularly in detail the sum of each appropriation,
and the purposes for which the same have been made.
4. The office of physician of marine hospital as constituted by section seventeen of
chapter three hundred and fifty of the laws of eighteen hundred and forty-nine, is
hereby restored, together with the duties and compensation of the same as specified
in sections eighteen and twenty of said chapter three hundred and fifty of the laws of
eighteen hundred and forty-nine.
5. The physician of marine hospital shall have power to select and appoint, subject
to the approval of the commissioners of emigration, such and so many assistant phy­
sicians, graduates in medicine, as may be found necessary for the proper medical
treatment of the inmates of the marine hospital, and to suspend or remove any of the
same ; but the number and rate of pay of said assistant physicians shall be regulated
and determined by the commissioners of emigration. The physician of marine hos­
pital shall have power to select, appoint and dismiss at pleasure, such and so many
nurses and orderlies for the departments of such marine hospital as he may deem
requisite for the proper care of the inmates thereof. And the commissioners of emi­
gration shall regulate and determine the rate of pay of the nurses and orderlies em­
ployed at the marine hospital.
6. All discharges of patients from the marine hospital shall be in writing and by
the physician of marine hospital, who shall be responsible for the same, and who is
hereby expressly prohibited from discharging any patient sent to the marine hospital,
and affected with a contagious or infectious disease, until such patient be cured of such
disease; and the said physician of marine hospital shall receive into the marine hos­
pital all cases of contagious, infectious and pestilential disease which may be sent
thither by the health officer or under the authority of the board of health of the city
of New York, except itch and syphilis, which shall not be construed as diseases en­
titling those suffering from them to be admitted as patients into the marine hospital.
7. All officers and employees of the marine hospital except chaplains shall be re­
quired to reside within the quarantine inclosure, and the commissioners of emigration
are hereby required to provide suitable accommodations for the same.
8. The power granted to the health officer by an act entitled “ An act relative to
the public health, in the city of New York,” passed April tenth, eighteen hundred
and fifty, in so far as relates to the arrest and detention of persons eloping from the
marine hospital, or persons invading the quarantine grounds, is hereby granted to the
physician of marine hospital for the purpose of enabling him to maintain a marine




Commercial Regulations.

739

hospital as a quarantine establishment; and the said physician of marine hospital is
authorized and required to prescribe rules for regulating intercourse with the hospital
and its inmates, and he is expressly prohibited from admitting visitors at all, when in
his judgment there may be danger of their communicating disease without the pre­
cincts of the quarantine grounds.
9. The physician of marine shall present to the legislature annually, on or before
the first of March, a report of the general condition of the hospital under his charge,
with the statistics of the institution in detail, and such other information and sugges­
tions in regard to the same as he may deem advisable, and testify the same by his
affidavit; he shall also furnish to the board of health of the city of New York and to
the commissioners of emigration, whenever required by them so to do, an official
return of the numbers ;and diseases of the patients in the marine hospital.
10. The health officer shall have no authority or control over the marine hospital,
nor any charge or care of the sick inmates or employees of the institutions ; he shall
at all times, however, have free access to the several wards, with the privilege of ex­
amining the condition of the sick sent to the hospital under his authority, for the pur­
pose of enabling him to judge as to the necessity for detaining the vessels from which
said sick may have been landed; but nothing in this act shall be construed so as to
interfere with the rights, duties and power of the health officer in regard to existing
provisions of law, in so far as his control and authority over vessels and quarantine
regulations upon the water may be concerned.
11. The commissioners of emigration shall remove from the marine hospital, and
take charge of all emigrants whose quarantine has expired, and who shall have
sufficiently recovered from the diseases with which they were admitted, on the
notification in writing of the physician of marine hospital that such removal will
not, with ordinary care endanger the safety of the individual or the health of the
community.
12. The physician of marine hospital shall discharge the duties of superintendent
of marine hospital, under the commissioners of emigration, and without further pecu­
niary compensation than that allowed him as physician.
13. The amount for which the master, owner or owners, consignee or consignees of
any such ship or vessel may commute for any bond or bonds authorized or required
by or pursuant to the seventh section of chapter five hundred and twenty-three of the
laws of eighteen hundred and fifty-one, shall from and after the passage of this act be
two dollars for each and every such passenger instead of one dollar and fifty cents as
now provided by law, and fifty cents of the amount commuted for any passenger or
passengers shall be set aside as a separate fund for the benefit of each and every
county in this State, except the county of New York. The commissioners of emigra­
tion shall deposit the moneys of said fund so set apart in any bank that the said com­
missioners may select, and the same, or as much of it as may be necessary, shall be
distributed to the several counties, except the county of New York, once in every
three months, and the balance that may be left after such three months’ payment,
shall be paid over to the commissioners of emigration for general purposes.
14. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with or repugnant to the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed.
15. This act shall take effect immediately.
ACT RELATING TO AUCTIONEERS IN MINNESOTA,

The Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Minnesota has passed the following
act, which was approved March 4, 1854:—
B e i t e n a c t e d b y t h e L e g i s l a t i v e A s s e m b l y o f t h e T e r r i t o r y o f M i n n e s o t a ; The
Governor of this Territory shall appoint for the term of one year, one or more persons,
who shall be legal voters, in each county in the Territory, to be auctioneers, and the
person or persons receiving such appointment, shall pay to the clerk of the Board of
County Commissioners, for the use of said county where such persons reside, the sum
of one hundred dollars annually.
S ec . 2. No appointment under this act shall take effect until the payment of the
one hundred dollars mentioned iu the first section of this act to the clerk of the Board
of County Commissioners of the county in which said appointee shall reside, and it is




740

Commercial Regulations.

hereby made the duty of the said clerk to record every appointment made, and forth­
with pay over to the treasurer of the county the amount so paid, taking the treasurer’s
receipt therefor.
S eo . 3. Each auctioneer, before making any sales as auctions, shall give a bond to
the treasurer of the county in which he or they reside, with two or more sufficient
sureties, to be approved by the said treasurer, in such penal sum as the said treasurer
shall require, not less than $ 1 ,0 0 0 nor more than $3,0 00 , with condition to pay all
auction duties required by law to the treasurer of the said county; and also, that he
shall in all things well and truly conform to the laws relating to auctioneers; which
bond shall be filed in the office of said treasurer, with the indorsement of his approval
thereon
S ec . 4 . If any person licensed as aforesaid shall receive for sale at auction any
goods, wares, merchandise, or personal property, from any minor or servant, knowing
him or her to be such servant or minor, or shall sell by auction any of his own goods
before sunrise, or after sunset, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $200 for each and
every offense.
S eo . 5. E v e r y licensed a uctioneer sh a ll k e e p a pa rticu lar a ccou n t o f a ll g o o d s , ch at­
tels, and p ro p e rty sold b y him , the n a m es o f the p ersons from w h o m th e sam e w e re
receiv ed , and th e nam es o f th e p ersons t o w h o m the sam e shall h a ve b een sold.
S ec . 6. If any person, not licensed and qualified as an auctioneer as prescribed in
the preceding sections of this act, shall sell, or attempt to sell, any real or personal
estate, goods, wares, merchandise, or chattels whatsoever, by way of public auction,
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding $100, for each and every offense.
S ec . 7. The tenant or occupant of any house or store, having the actual possession
and control of the same, who shall knowingly permit any person to sell any real or
personal estate by public auction in his house or store, or in any apartment or yard,
appurtenant to the same, contrary to the provisions of this chapter, shall forfeit a sum
not exceeding $300.
S ec. 8. N oth in g in this ch a p ter shall e x te n d t o sales m ad e b y sheriffs, d e p u ty sher­
iffs, coroners, con stables, or collectors o f taxes.
S eo . 9. No appointment granted as aforesaid shall, remain in force more than one

year from the date thereof.
S eo . 10. All appointments of auctioneers heretofore made, and all. privileges and
rights in virtue thereof, shall cease and determine at the time the provisions of this
chapter shall take effect.
S eo . 11. No person, in virtue of any appointment heretofore made, shall be deemed
a licensed auctioneer; but every person holding snch appointment shall be subject to
all the provisions of this chapter, in the same manner as all other persons not being
appointed as above provided.
S ec . 12. This act shall take effect from and after its passage, and all laws and parts
of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.
S ec . 13. No person, or association of persons, or body corporate, except such bodies
corporate as are expressly authorized by law, shall issue any bills or promissory notes,
or checks, certificates of deposit, or other evidences of debt, for the purpose of loaning
them, or putting them in circulation as money, unless thereto especially authorized by
law; and every person and every member of a corporation who shall violate either
of the provisions of this section shall forfeit for each and every such violation the
sum of $100.
S ec . 14. No person shall pay, give, or receive in payment, or in any way circulate,
or attempt to circulate as money, any bank bill or promissory note, check, draft, or
other evidence of debt, which shall purport to be for payment of a less sum than one
dollar, or payable otherwise than in lawful money of the United States; and any
person who shall wilfully violate any of the provisions of this section shall forfeit
twenty-five dollars.
S ec . 15. The penalties prescribed in this chapter shall be recovered by suit in the
name of the Board of County Commissioners of the county in which the offense is com­
mitted, to be presecuted by the district attorneys of said counties respectively; and
the same shall be paid into the county treasury.
S ec . 16. If the District Attorney or Board of County Commissioners, whose duty
it is to comply with any of the requisitions of this chapter, shall neglect or refuse so
to do, he or they shall forfeit and pay a sum of not less than ten, or more than one
hundred dollars, for each and every day he or they shall delay a compliance.




Commercial Regulations.

741

F R E E SH IPS MAKE F R E E GOODS.
TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE EM PEROR OP ALL THE P.USSIAS.

Hon. F ranklin P ierce , President of the United States, has issued a proclamation
of a convention between the United States of America and his Majesty the Emperor
of all the Russias, which was concluded and signed by their respective plenipoten­
tiaries at Washington, on the 22d of July, 1854. The ratifications on both parts were
exchanged on the 31st of October, 1854, by Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of
State, and Mr. Edward de Stoeckl, the Russian Charge d’Affaires, on the part of their
respective governments, and made public by the President on the 1st of November,
1854. Omitting the verbiage with which the official document opens and closes—we
mean no disrespect to the “ high contracting parties,” for it is a time-honored form—
we proceed to lay before the readers of the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e , “ word for word,’
every article of the treaty, as follows:—
A rticle 1. .The two high contracting parties recognize as permanent and immutable
the following principles, to w it:—
1st. That free ships make free goods— that is to say, that the effects or goods be­
longing to subjects or citizens of a power or State at war are free from capture and
confiscation when found on board of neutral vessels, with the exception of articles
contraband of war.
2d. That the property of neutrals on board an enemy’s vessel is not subject to con­
fiscation, unless the same be contraband of war. They engage to apply these princi­
ples to the Commerce and navigation of all such powers and States as shall consent
to adopt them on their part as permanent and immutable.
A rt . 2 The two high contracting parties reserve themselves to come to an ulterior
understanding, as circumstances may require, with regard to the application and ex­
tension to be given, if there be any cause for it, to the principles laid down in the first
article. But they declare from this time that they will take the stipulations con­
tained in said article first as a rule, whenever it shall become a question, to judge of
the rights of neutrality.
A rt. 3. It is agreed by the high contracting parties that all nations which shall or
may consent to accede to the rules of the first article of this convention, by a formal
declaration stipulating to observe them, shall enjoy the rights resulting from such ac­
cession as they shall be enjoyed and observed by the two powers signing this conven­
tion. They shall mutually communicate to each other the results of the steps which
may be taken on the subject.
A rt . 4. The present convention shall be approved and ratified by the President of
the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of
said States, and by his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, and the ratification
of the same shall be exchanged at Washington within the period of ten months, count­
ing from this day, or sooner, if possible.

BONDS OF MERCHANTS IN CHINA TRADE CANCELED.

The following letter from the Secretary of State, under date Department of State
Washington, Nov. 9th, 1854, to Messrs. Goodhue A; Co., Merchants, of New York, is
of interest to a portion of the mercantile public:—
G entlemen : Referring to your communication inclosing a memorial, signed by the
merchants of New York, engaged in the China trade, requesting that instructions might
be given to the United States Consul at Shanghae, to cancel the bonds exacted from
American merchants during the period that city was in possession of the Insurgents:
I have now to inform you that the United States Consul at Shanghae has been in­
structed to cancel all bonds and obligations received at that Consulate, under the pro­
visional rules for clearing ships, issued by Mr. Cunningham, the late Acting Consul,
on the 9th of September, 1853, and return them to the parties to whom they respecttively belong, and rescind the said regulation.
I am, gentlemen, respectfully, your obedient servant,




W . L. MARCY.

742

Commercial Regu la tions.
TH E RECIPROCITY TREATY IN CANADA.

The Inspector-general of Canada has issued the following public notice touching the
Treaty between Great Britain and the United States:—
I n spector G ene ra l ’ s O ffice , C ustom s D e pa r t m e n t , Quebec, Oct. 18,1854,

His E xcellency the G overnor G eneral in Council, has been pleased to order
and direct, that, pending the action of the Lower Provinces, and the completion of
any further measures required for giving entire effect to the Reciprocity Treaty re­
cently concluded between Great Britain and the United States, the several articles
mentioned in the schedule to an act passed in the present session of the Parliament of
Canada, entitled “ An Act for giving effect on the part of this Province to a certain
Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America,” and hereinafter
enumerated, that is to say:—
Grain, flour, and breadstuff's of all kinds.
Pitch, tar, turpentine, ashes.
Animals of all kinds.
Timber and lumber of all kinds, round,
Fresh, smoked, and salted meats.
hewed and sawed, unmanufactured, in
Cotton-wool, seeds, and vegetables.
whole or in part.
Undried fruits, dried fruits.
Firewood.
Fish of all kinds.
Plants, shrubs, and trees.
Products of fish, and all other creatures Pelts, wool.
living in the water.
Fish oil.
Poultry, eggs.
Rice, broom-corn, and bark.
Hides, furs, skins, or tails, undressed.
Gypsum, ground or unground.
Stone or marble, crude or unwrought.
Hewn or wrought or unwrought burr or
Slate.
j
grindstones,
Butter, cheese, tallow.
j Dye-stuffs.
Lard, horns, manures.
Flax, hemp, and tow, unmanufactured.
Ores of metals of all kinds.
Unmanufactured tobacco,
Coal.
i Rags.
shall be admitted to importation into this Province from the United States, under
special bonds to her Majesty, conditioned for the due payment of the customs duties
legally chargeable at the time of importation on the articles so imported, in the event
that the said Reciprocity Treaty and the act hereinbefore mentioned in relation there­
to, do not go into operation and take full effect within six months from the date hereof,
W1I. CAYLEY, Inspector General.
L E T T E R S BY T H E BRITISH MAIL PACKETS.

The following is an approximate estimate of the number of letters originating in
and destined for England, conveyed in the course of the year by the British mail
packets, namely:—
By Cunard’s packets................
By the Vest India packets....................................................................
By the Brazil packets.............................................................................
By the Pacific packets..........................................
By the Peninsula and Oriental Company’s packets, to and from India,
China, and Australia...........................................................................
By the Cape of Good Hope packets....................................................
By the West Coast of Africa packets...................................................

2,400,000
1,100,000
800,000
200,000
2,300,000
280,000
50,000

POSTAGE IN FRANCE.

A letter Bent from the United States to any place in France is invariably charged
with double postage when inclosed in an envelope. This fact should be remembered
by those writing to their friends in that country. In order to save postage, letters
should be written very close on good, thin paper, and directed without an envelope.
Letters without envelopes, weighing over 7J grains, ( f of an ounce,) are charged
double postage in France. A letter on light paper, without an envelope, sent by an
American steamer, costs twenty-four cents to Liverpool, and seventeen cents from
there to Bordeaux, France, making forty-one cents if single, and eighty-two cents if
enveloped or over weight. If sent by a British steamer, there is an additional charge
of ten cents.-




743

Commercial Statistics.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
STATISTICS OF TRADE AND COMMERCE OF IRELAND,

We are indebted to the editors of the M e r c a n t i l e J o u r n a l a n d S t a t i s t i c a l R e g i s t e r ,
one of the most reliable commercial papers published in the United Kingdom, for the
subjoined statistics of Irish trade, as taken from the British Board of Trade returns.
The first of the tables below shows the amount of the revenue received at Irish ports
in each year from 1815 to 1853, inclusive. The second table shows the quantity of
wine, spirits, tobacco, tea, coffee, and sugar retained for home consumption in Ireland
during the years 1845 to 1853; and the third table gives the quantity (in quarters)
of certain breadstuffs imported into Great Britain from Ireland in each of the lastnamed years:—
REVENUE RECEIVED IN IRELAND FROM 1845 TO 1853, INCLUSIVE.
1845
1846
1847

...
...
...

£4,265,729
4,478,791
4,692,462

1848
1849
1850

...
...
...

£4,325,844
4,275,375
4,332,469

1851
1852
1853

.
..
..

CH IEF ARTICLES RETAINED FOR HOME CONSUMPTION IN IRELAN D FROM

1845

£4,094,653
4,000,682
4,621,869
TO

1853,

INCLUSIVE.

Wine,
galls.

Years.
1845............
1846............
1847............ ........
1848............
1849............
1850............
1851............
1852............
1853............ ........

633,945

586,809

Spirits,
Tobacco,
lbs.
galls.
6,481,251 5,579,234
7,638,993 5,871,888
7,995,120 5,949,691
6,267,688 5,101,139
7,282,698 5,138,314
7,228,809 4,737,267
7,621,549 4,604,083
7,753,016 4,457,980
8,348,047 4,624,141

Tea,
lbs.
5,851,632
6,618,211
6,975,959
6,513,853
6,713,272
6,383,316
6,410,263
6,573,278
7,832,235

Coffee,
lbs.
941,511
994,521
1,516,330
1,739 046
1,313,951
1,013,399
745,958
684,840
880,516

Sugar,
cwt.
363,620
414,998
568,767
579,101
510,867
465,813
460,851
467,701
487,705

QUANTITY OF GRAIN EXPORTED TO GREAT BRITAIN FROM IRELAND.

Years.
1845...
1846...
1847...
1 8 4 8 ..
18 49 ..

.
.

Wheat and
flour.
440,152
779,113
419,228
221,986
318,426

Oats and
oatmeal.
732,439
2,353,985
1,343,458
723,542
1,491,875

Wheat and
flour.
249,489
16S,726
95,116
74,197

Years.
1850 ..
1851 ..
1852 . .
1853 ..

Oats and
oatmeal.
1,077,864
1,055,388
1,141,976
1,542,579

COMPARATIVE COMMERCE OF OCR CITIES.

A correspondent of the C o u r i e r a n d E n q u i r e r at Washington, gives the following
tabular statement of the revenue for a single month, (September, 1853-54,) which
furnishes at a glance the relative importance of several of our principal commercial
cities, in so far at least as our import trade is concerned:—
REVENUE OF SEVEN CITIES FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER.

1854.

1854.

New Y ork .................................
$3,440,000
$4,237,000
Boston........................................
688,000
844,COO
Philadelphia.......... ....................
328,000
522,000
Baltimore....................................
117,000
94,000
New Orleans ..............................
210,000
226,000
Charleston.......................................
42,000
74,000
St. Louis.....................................
72,000
29,000
Total.................................




$4,897,000

$6,025,000

Decrease.. $797,000
“
156,000
“
194,000
Increase..
23,000
Decrease..
16,000
“
82,000
Increase..
43,000
Decrease. $1,128,000

ST A TEM EN T OF T H E COMMERCE OF EACH STA TE AND TE R R IT O R Y FROM JU LY 1, 1 8 5 2 , TO JU N E 3 0 , 1853.

States.
Maine...............
NT. Hampshire .
Vermont..........
Massachusetts .
Rhode Island...
Connecticut . . .
New York . . . .
New Jersey....
Pennsylvania ..
Delaware........
Maryland........
Dis. of Columbia
Virginia..........
North Carolina.
South Carolina.
Georgia............
Florida............
Alabama.........
Louisiana.........
Mississippi. . . .
Tennessee........
Missouri..........
O hio................
Kentucky........
Michigan..........
Illinois............
Texas..............
California.........
Oregon............
Indiana.............
Minnesota.. , . .
Total............




- Value of exports. - Value of imports.
— Foreign produce.
Total Ameri­
-Domestic produce.In foreign
can and foreign In American
In American
In foreign
In American In foreign
vessels.
vessels.
vessels.
Total.
vessels,
produce.
Total.
vessels.
vessels.
$1,386,589
$132,550
$1,254,039
$1,692,412
$1,761,929
$273,783
$5,075
$2,040,787
$278,858
$69,517
32,608
24,752
1,126
7,856
1,126
250
876
82,376
11,741
184,512
184,512
’l l ’,741
82,876
94,117
41,367,956
15,457,553
1,299,002
25,910,403
19,955,276
3,059,972
11,497,123
16,895,304
1,760,970
6,898,181
366,116
302,454
104,397
261,719
310,485
8,031
300,228
2,226
7,864
167
545,793
71,496
509,434
11,665
11,665
497,769
497,769
474,297
78,206,290 132,009,768 46,261,231 178,270,999
46,217,717 19,812,638
66,030,355
8,364,727 3,811,208 12,175,935
3,539
3.539
1,354
1,354
1,354
66,678
18,834,410
10,454,563
6,527,996
1,567,960
8,379,847
206,089
4,687,269
6,255,229
272,767
4,782,518
75,456
2,119,435
193,870
6,459,491
4,953,557
1,046,921
9,916,652
47,628,019

2,985,706
1,183,126
120,272
8,940,917
2,418,326
651,285
6,870,261
20,140,705

7,768,224
75,456
8,302,561
314,142
15,400,408
7,371,883
1,698,206
16,786,913
67,768,724

103,807

54,611

158,418

224,977
79,139
251,040

70,832

295,809
79,139
569,918

318,878

107,056

31,179

138,235

4,280

459,304

4,230

64,630

523,934

9,512

48,364

57,876

446,382

13,381

459,763

7,906,459
75,456
3,306,791
314,142
15,400,408
7,371,888
1,698,206
16,786,913
68,292,658

5,235,659
70,086
255,363
125,779
1,199,780
275,968
18,132
297,453
10,856,058
5,876
256,846

1,094,419
1,403
143,641
145,459
608,737
232,293
47,302
512,109
2,774,628

158,418

750,598
175,358
207,782
7,559
156,144
101,312

97,162

353,685
79,139
1,029,681

3,448
125,315
85,932

12,810,026

70,607,671

213,417,697

11,663,323

5,339,684

\

17,003,007

230,420,704

r

258,253
612
191,688,325

76,290,322

6,330,078
71,494
399,004
271,238
1,808,517
508,261
65,434
809,562
13,630,686
5,876
256,846
859,654
847,760
175,358
211,230
7,559
281,459
101,312
85,932
258,253
612
267,978,647

745

Commercial Statistics.
N EW ORLEANS EX PO R T OF PRODUCE AND MANUFACTURES,

Col. T homas J. B urke, Export Abstract Clerk at the New Orleans Custom-house,
furnishes for publication in several of the New Orleans journals, the following report
of the exportations of the growth, produce and manufacture of the United States from
the port of New Orleans to Foreign countries and Coastwise ports, during the second
quarter of 1854, ending 30tli June, 1854 :—
England.......................
France (Atlantic).........
Italy............................. ........
Holland.........................
Spain (Atlantic)...........
Brazil...........................
Belgium.......................
Trieste.........................
Cuba.............................
Mexico.........................
Central America..........
Hamburg......................

British American Colonies.. .
Gibraltar....................................
406,890 Sweden.....................................
Danish West Indies................
France (Mediterranean)........
Scotland.................................
Spain (Mediterranean)..........
Bremen.....................................
French West Indies..............
British West Indies...............

$44,634
77,728
282,429
10,356
164,597
51,103
439,366
943,854
23,607
2,475

Total................................ $19,510,542

The exports of foreign merchandise to foreign countries during the quarter amount­
ed to $121,403. The exports to coastwise ports in the United States to $6,295,337.
The total value of exports from New Orleans for the three months ending June 30th,
1854, was t w e n t y J i v e m i l l i o n , n i n e h u n d r e d a n d t w e n t y - s e v e n t h o u s a n d , t h r e e h u n d r e d
a n d tw e n t y -t h r e e d o lla r s .

COMMERCE OF SAN FRANCISCO IN 1853.

The clearances from the port of San Francisco in 1853 were no less than 1,653, gen­
erally large vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 640,07 2 tons, of which the following
is a recapitulation :—
Tons.
No.
168,269
748
American vessels clearing coastwise........ ...............................
u
u
u
1,835
on whaling voyages.........................
7
128
1
Foreign
“
“
coastwise........ ..............................
4S1
338,407
for foreign ports
American “
131,433
416
for foreign ports ...............................
Foreign
“
“
Total from January 1 to December 31,1853.........................
VESSELS CLEARED FROM

Eastern domestic ports.
Pacific domestic ports .
Whaling voyages........
Vancouver’s Island___
Sitka, Russian America
European ports............
New Grenadian ports—
Central Amer. ports—
San Juan.................
Realejo....................
in general..................
Valparaiso..................
Other Chilian ports . . .
Peruvian ports............
Ecuadorian ports.........
Mexican ports—
Mazatlan.................
San Bias..................

JANUARY

No.
25
726
7
21
3
2

Tons.
30,580
137,860
1,835
4,634
981
856

39

53,859

22
6
3
121
5
269
2

25,464
1,008
797
39,725
1,196
169,022
446

34
15

1

TO DECEMBER

Mexican ports—
Acapulco............ ..
in general................
Sandwich Islands........
Other Pacific islands ..
Chinese ports..............
British Australia.........

Singapore...................
Batavia.......................
Calcutta.......................
A lioth.........................
Akyah, Bay of Bengal.
Madras & ' Pondicherry,
(French E. I . ) ..........
Rio Janeiro.................
Ports in the Pacific . . .
8,421 Ports in S. America...
4,664 New Archangel. . . . . .

Total from January 1 to December 31,1853.........................




640,072

1,653

81, 1853,

FOR

No.

Tons.

2
21
56
28
95
52
21
9
43
10
1
1

227
3,057
16,479
5,600
58,207
14,428
15,930
4>30
25,369
9,408
512
608

4
2
4
1
2

1,223
686
847
282
500

1,653

640,072

746

Commercial Statistics,

TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNT OF DUTIES RECEIVED AT THE

CUSTOM-HOUSE, SAN FRAN ­

1853 :--Cash duties.
§56,862 55
43,958 25
42,597 99
49,930 65
41,588 40
47,232 15

CISCO, DURING THE LAST HALF OF THE T E A R

Net deposits.
Ju ly..............................
August...........................
September ..................
October.........................
November................... .
December.....................
Receipts from January to June, inclusive. .
Receipts from July to December, inclusive

§1,128,918 85
1,453,056 99

Total for the year 1853

§2,581,975 84

TABLE SHOWING THE AMOUNT AND VALUE OF QUICKSILVER
CISCO DURING THE T E A R

Hong Kong..................
Shanghae ....................
Canton.........................
Whampoa....................
Calcutta.......................
Mazatlan.....................
Mazatlan and San Bias
San Bias.......................
Callao.........................
Valparaiso....................
New York....................
Philadelphia................
Total exports

Total duties.
§157,231 00
201,533 35
213,197 35
214,698 70
199,347 30
142,911 15

1853

EXPORTED

FROM SAN FRAN­

TO

Flasks.
5,642
812
366
300
50
2,811
255
1,942
1,800
1,977
1,845
1,000
18,800

Value.
§180,272
31,199
14,125
11,500
1,875
95,250
10,000
72,463
66,500
71,875
77,130
50,000
§683,189

INSPECTION OF FLOUR AND MEAL AT BALTIMORE.

The following table shows the number of barrels and half-barrels of wheat and
rye flour and corn-meal inspected in the city of Baltimore from the year 1841 to 1st
of September, 1854 :—
Wheat flour.
Rye flour.
Barrels.
Half-barrels.
Barrels.
Half-barrels.
1841...
614,006
31.716
3,831
22
1842.,
544,801
26,962
5,436
34
1843...
547,224
26,415
8,401
45
,,
1844...
486,475
26,052
9,904
1845...
563,632
26,226
618
24
..
1846..
834,555
31,322
5,482
1847..
27,339
6,666
49
945.787
1848..
724,970
22,933
7,520
106
9
1849..
750,686
27,667
8,007
1850..
26,630
5,419
22
882,777
896,034
32,828
7,654
53
1851..
1,288,990
1852..
36,353
6,449
43
1,171,266
5,624
2
1853..
24,872
1854..
598,198
10,413
6,540
38
Corn-meal.
Corn-meal
J-bbls. Years.
Hhds.
Bbls.
i-bbls.
Years.
Uhds.
Bbls.
10,736
33 1S48.
333
60,225
1,322
1841..........
459
428
51,772
2,051
1842 ..........
715
7,712
437 1849.
82 1850.
272
42,403
3,369
13,359
535
1843 ..........
1,625 1851.
1844 ..........
25,051
620
28,917
2,256
245
1,450 1852.
1,491
747
52,658
1845 ..........
631 • 23,959
1,745 1853.
1846 ..........
40,942
150
38,714
4,016
1,076
1,298 1854.
134
20,118
934
733
1847 ..........
105,842




Commercial Statistics.

747

NAVIGATION, COMMERCE, AND FISH E R IE S OF MASSACHUSETTS.

According to the Boston T r a v e l e r —good authority—the number of foreign arrivals
at the ports of this State rauk as follows:—
Boston..........................................
Salem................... .......................
Gloucester...................................

2,996 vessels, averaging 200 tons each vessel.
468
“
“
100
“
“
207
“
“
100
u
“

In tonnage owned, they stand in the following order:—
Boston...................
Newburyport.........
New Bedford.......
Salem ....................
Gloucester...........
Nantucket..............
In tons of shipping built:—
Vessels.
Tons.
Boston..................
___
Newburyport..
New Bedford. . . . ___

82,000
80,000
26,000
Vessels.
51
28

Tons.
4,202
2,800

Barnstable County owns 78,000 tons of shipping, but as that county includes the
whole of Cape Cod, with twelve or fifteen towns, some of them greatly exceeding
Barnstable, the port of entry in tonnage, we have not placed this district in the list.
For the districts above, at the port of entry were owned about all the tonnage, the
out ports being unimportant.
In the fisheries, towns of Essex County rank about as follows, June, 1858:—
Gloucester............................................
Marblehead and Lynn...............................
Newburyport.............................................
Beverly......................................................

Vessels. Tons each.

250

80
75
50

80
80
80
80

Tons.

20,000
6,400
6,000
4,000

The entire county of Barnstable, with its great fishing interests, including the ports
of Provincetown, Orleans, Eastham, Falmouth, Truro, Wellfleet, Harwich, Dennis,
Chatham, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Brewster, &c., has engaged on the fisheries 22,400
tons of shipping, equal to 250 schooners, or about the same as the port of Gloucester
alone. The district of Gloucester has 27,000 tons in the fishing business, all of which,
with the exception of 7,000 tons, sails from the harbor of Gloucester, the rest sailing
from Rockport, Annisquam, and Manchester harbors, which we comprehend in Glouces­
ter collection district.
The smallest district in the United States is that of Ipswich, Massachusetts, owning
367 tons shipping.
Not an entry or clearance occurred at that port during the year 1853. The district
will soon be abolished, resulting in a gain to the United States Government of some
hundreds of dollars per annum.
KENTUCKY TOBACCO TRADE IN 1854.

The commercial year for the tobacco trade closed on the 31st of October, 1854.
According to the L o u i s v i l l e J o u r n a l , the sales of the year amount to 10,200 hogsheads.
These are the sales exclusive of reviews. The total sales last year were 16,543
hhds., and two years ago they were 23,185 hhds. The stock on hand this year is
estimated at 1,500 hhds., while that of the same time last year was estimated at
6,000 hhds. This, it will be seen, exhibits a very great falling off. It has not been
produced by a decrease in actual business, but by a large deficiency in the growing
Crop.
AMERICAN COMMERCIAL E N T E R P R IS E IN AUSTRALIA.

A magnetic telegraph line has been established in Australia. It cost about $1,000
a mile, and was built by a Mr. McGowan, formerly of Boston, Massachusetts. The
Americans appear to maintain their go-ahead character in that country. Besides the
telegraph, which is under the management of Americans, a line of coaches has been
established with several imported coaches from the States, running between the cap­
ital and its suburbs. An express-office, a fire brigade, a post-office, and the best hotels
in the country, are all improvements introduced by our countrymen.




748

Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

___

i

RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.
EARNINGS AND EX PEN D ITU R ES OF T H E BELGIAN RAILROADS.

The Belgian Government has not published full accounts of the operations of their
roads since 1852, particularly in the matter of operating expenditures, probably be­
cause they have now reached that pitch of prosperity at which it is usual with some
people to commence to observe secresy, a course, however, which generally defeats
the object in view, besides leading to a departure from the principles of economy and
geueral carefulness, so necessary to the continued prosperity of railway property.
The following figures give the general facts so far as they can be arrived at, of the
operations of the Belgian Government railways from 1848 to July 1st, 1854:—
Revenue Per cent of
Miles
per mile expenses on
of lino
Expenses. per annum. revenue.
Years.
opened. Revenue.
72.40
1848 ....................
£350,650 £1,309
£484,310
63.98
1849.....................
331,101
1,337
617,437
61.93
1,534
367,812
1850.....................
793,902
387
56.83
1,642
1851.....................
361,120
635,420
387
51.90
1,748
1852
............
351,138
676,530
387
1853
............
1,971
762.818
1,230
1854, ^ year........
392,628
387
The worliing expenses have somewhat advanced with the increased traffic, but the
increase in them has not at all kept pace with the increase in the traffic.
TH E INCREASE OF PASSENGER TRAFFIC ON RAILWAYS.

One of the most singular things connected with railways is the increase of passenger
traffic, and the c r e a t i o n of new business. It appears, from the returns of the British
railways, that while the number of miles in use has remained nearly the same, the
number of passengers has increased very rapidly. The returns for passengers in the
last three years were as follows:—
In 1851.............................................
In 1852............................................
In 1853............................................

78,989,622
86,958,997
94,966,440

10 per cent increase.
9 per cent increase.

At this rate, the entire passenger traffic will double in less than ten years; and that
in a country where everything is fixed and population increases slowly.
In the United States the entire traffic of railways d o u b l e s i n s e v e n y e a r s ; and, as
the expenses do not increase in the same proportion, the proprietors of railway stock
have the certainty that t h e i r p r o p e r t y i s r a p i d l y i n c r e a s i n g i n r e a l v a l u e , i n s p i t e o f
v ic is s it u d e s o r f lu c t u a t io n s

in

th e m o n e y

m a rk e t.

T H E CANALS AND O TH ER PUBLIC WORKS OF N EW YO RK ,*
N U M B ER V I.

ANALYSIS OF THE PRESENT BUSINESS OF THE CANALS.

The following table furnishes a comparative statement of the tonnage and toll o f
all and each of the canals, of that arriving at, and that leaving tide-water, of the
tonnage shipped from the western termini, of that from this and the Western States,
* For the first number o f this series o f papers (derived from the admirable report o f VV. J
Me A l p i n e , Esq., State Engineer and Surveyor,) exhibiting a comprehensive history o f “ The Pro­
gress o f Internal Improvements in the State of New York,” see Merchants' Magazine for July, 1854,
(volume xxxi., pages 123-126). For number 2, relating to “ The Canals and Railroads as a Depen­
dent System," see Merchants' Magazine for August, 1854, (vol. 31, pages 247-219;) for number 3,
relating to " the Extension of Trade and Travel beyond the State of Mew York," see same for Septem­
ber, 1854, (vol. xxxi., pp. 374-377;) for number 4, relating to "The cost and Charges of Trans*
port," see same for October, 1854, (vol. xxxi., pp. 496-499;) and for number 5, for November, 1854,
(vol. x x x i, pages 629-633,) touching "the Comparative Cost, Capacity, and Revenue of the Erie Canal
and theparallel Railroads, and the Cost and Charges of Transportation thereon.”




Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

749

the tonnage and tolls of the several classes, and of some of the principal articles of
each class transported:—
Items.

Per centage
Per centage
o f the whole, 1852. o f the whole, *53.

Tonnage. Tolls. Tonnage. Tolls.
Of all the canals..................................................
100
100
100
Of the E rie........................................................
.89
.75
.52
Champlain..............................................
.04
.14
.03
Oswego....................................................
.18
.03
.13
Cayuga and Seneca................................
.02
.01
.02
.01
Chemung................................................
.00
.04
.06
Crooked Lake.........................................
.00
.01
.01
Chenango................................................
.01
.00
.02
Genessee Valley................................... .
.01
.04
.02
Black River.............................................
.00
.01
.00
Oneida Lake........................................... ............... 01
.00
.01
.00
Of all the canals..................................................
100 ' 100
100
Arriving at tide-water.......................................
.59
...
Leaving tide-water...........................................
. ..
.14
...
Shipped elsewhere.............................................
.27
...
Of all the canals..................................................
100
100
100
Shipped at Hudson R iver.................................
... - . . .
. •.
Lake Erie.........................................
.19
.27
Oswego.............................................
...
.12
.13
Whitehall.........................................
.08
. .02
on Chemung Canal...........................
.06
.04
Of all the canals..................................................
100
100
100
Tonnage from Western States...........................
.32
68
...
this State.....................................
Of all the canals..................................................
100
ioo
100
Products of forest................................................
.14
.43
.18
.02
.02
animals...........................................
.03
Vegetable food .................................................
.45
.25
.40
Other agricultural products.................................
...
...
...
Manufactures......................................................
.03
.05
.04
Merchandise........................................................
.21
.22
.11
All other articles................................................
.04
.14
.04
Of all the canals.................................................. ___
100
100
100
100
.10
boards and scantling.....................................
.13
.27
timber...........................................................
.92
.04
.03
staves.............................................................
wood..............................................................
.08
ashes..............................................................
flour and wheat..............................................
.32
.18
.31
wheat.............................................................
...
...
c o r n ................................................................
.03
.04
.07
barley.................., ........................................
.02
.01
.02
.02
.02
.02
Domestic salt......................................................
.01
.03'
.01
Railroad iron........................................................
...
.04
Stone, lime, and c la y .........................................
.01
.05
.01
...
.05
.01
C oa l....................................................................
Sundries................................ ...........................
.02
.02
.02
Tolls collected on all the canals.........................
100
.26
At New York, Albany, and West Troy............
Rom e............................................................
.02
.02
Syracase.........................................................
.02
Montezuma....................................................
.05
Rochester.......................................................
.04
Lockport........................................................
.32
Tonawanda, Black Rock, and Buffalo...........
Oswego.................................................. .
.10
.02
Whitehall......................................................
.02
Geneva, Penn Yan, and Dresden.................
.03
Havana, Horse-heads, and Corning..............
...
...




750

Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

This table has been made by taking the tonnage and tolls of all the canals as a
standard, and stating the proportions which each of the canals, shipments, classes, and
articles named, bear to the amount of all the canals. A glance at the table as thus
arranged, is sufficient to furnish the reader with a tolerably correct idea of the relative
business done upon each canal at the chief localities, and in the transportation of each
of the classes and articles carried.
The following deductions from these tables will serve to present some of the more
striking points in the business performed:—
1st. That while the tonnage upon the Erie Canal is but little more than one-half of
the total tonnage of the canals, the receipts for tolls are three-fourths of the whole
receipts.
2d. That while the tonnage of the Oswego and Champlain Canals forms nearly
one-third of the whole tonnage, the receipts for tolls on both are 16 per cent of the
whole, and while that of the Chemung, Genesee Yalley, and Cayuga Canals forms
one-ninth of ihe whole tonnage, the receipts for tolls on them are 8 per cent of the
whole.
3d. That the tonnage arriving at tide-water is nearly three fifths of the whole;
that leaving tide-water is about one-seventh; and that shipped elsewhere is nearly
three-tenths of the whole tonnage.
4th. That the tonnage shipped at Lake Erie is nearly one-fifth; at Oswego nearly
one-eighth, and at Whitehall one-twelfth of the whole tonnage.
5th. That the tonnage from the Western States forms nearly one-third, and that
from this State about two-thirds of the whole tonnage carried.
In the classification of the articles transported, the following deductions are made
from the table:—
1st. That the tonnage of the products of the forest is 43 per cent; of vegetable
food, 25 per cent; of merchandise, 11 per cent, and other articles, 14 per cent; while
the receipts for tolls from the first are but 18 per cent; from the second, 40 per cent;
from the third, 22 per cent, and from the fourth, but 4 per cent of the whole. The
tonnage of manufactures being 5 per cent, and the tolls 4 per cent, and the tonnage
and tolls of the products of animals being each but about 2 per cent of the whole.
2d. That the tonnage of lumber is about one-fourth of the whole, and the receipts
for tolls one eighth; that the tonnage of flour, wheat, and corn, is nearly one-fourth,
while the tolls are over one-third.
3d. That timber, salt, and railroad iron, form each 4 per cent of the tonnage, while
the tolls of the first are 3 per cent, and of the two latter are each 1 per cent of the
whole.
The foregoing statements and deductions have been made from the report of tolls,
trade, and tonnage, as prepared by the Auditor.
The tonnage and tolls due to the movement on each of the canals, cannot he ascer­
tained from these reports, as they only show the tonnage cleared at each collector’s
office, and the whole tolls collected thereon, whether the articles are conveyed on one
or more of the canals.
Thus the tonnage of lumber shipped at Buffalo in 1852, was 81,102 tons, and the
tolls collected thereon, were 859,340. If this was all white-pine carried on boats, the
amount of the tolls shows that it had a movement equal to that of 20,000,000 tons
moved one mile, or nearly equal to an average movement of 56,000 tons from Buffalo
to tide-water.
The tonnage of lumber shipped at Oswego is 147,086 tons, and the tolls collected
thereon were 864,800, which shows a movement equivalent to that of 21,000,000 tons
moved one mile, which, for the length o f that canal, (38 miles,) would be equal to an
average movement of nearly 570,000 tons from Oswego to Syracuse, (which is absurd,)
or of 106,000 tons to tide-water. Three fourths of the movement of this tonnage and
of the tolls is, therefore, evidently due to the Erie Canal, and one-fourth only to the
Oswego.
The tonnage and tolls on up-freight, on the other hand, are credited, in these re­
ports, to the Erie Canal, when a portion of the movement and of the tolls is due to
the lateral canals.
This method of stating the tonnage of the several canals is incorrect, and operates
so as to show a less amount done on the Erie Canal than is due to it, because the uptonnage is but one-fourth of the down-tonnage.
The annexed table has been prepared from the reports of the business done in 1853,
and shows the tonnage, tolls, and total movement of each article and class of freight
on all of the canals:—




Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.
TRADE UPON THE CANALS FOR THE TEAR

1S53,

751

EMBRACING THE TONNAGE, TOLLS, AND THE

MOVEMENT OF THE TONNAGE, BEING THE EQUIVALENT NUMBER OF TONS MOVED ONE MILE.

THE FOREST.
Fur and peltry...................................
P ro d u c t o f
W o o d —
Boards and scantling......................
Shingles..........................................
Timber...........................................
Staves.............................................
W ood .............................................
Ashes, pot and pearl......................

Tons.
425

Rates
of toll per
2,000 lbs. per
Tolls.
mile.
C. M. Fr.
$548 2 . .

1,165,354
23,264
173,074
86,792
365,123
7,493

403,952
5,806
85,750
51,911
9,791
13,541

Total of the forest.................
AGRICULTURE.
P r o d u c t o f a n im a ls —
Pork................................................
B eef................................................
Bacon.............................................
Cheese...........................................
Butter..............................................
Lard, tallow, and lard-oil...............
W ool...............................................
H ides........................... .................

1,821,625

$571,299

20,032
15,592
10,012
6,016
3,679
6,669
4,035
4,577

21,724
25,055
13,343
3,045
3,882
6,011
9,106
5,706

Total product of animals. . . .
VEGETABLE FOOD.
Flour...................................................
Wheat................................................
B ye...................... ...........................
Corn.......................................- .........
Corn-meal..... .....................................
Barley................................. ..............
O ats...................................................
Bran and ship-stuff...........................
Peas and beans.................................
Potatoes.......................... .......... .......
Dried fruit.........................................

70,612

$87,872

370,914
382,588
7,878
121,248
481
65,427
71,883
27,371
3,131
19,734
645

565,744
433,218
5,172
134,933
892
76,204
54,511
21,889
3,128
2,897
1,052

Total vegetable food..................
ALL OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
Cotton................................................
Unmanufactured tobacco...................
Hemp................................................
Clover and grass seed........................
Flax-seed............................................
Hops....................................................
Total all other agricul products.
Total agriculture.................

2 4
3
2 4
2
1 5
8

758
2,046
325
2,230
938
2S0

9,012

$6,577

1,150,923 $1,394,089

168,313,333
1,935,333
35,729,166
25,955,500
6,527,333
1,687,625
240,175,690

3
6
3
3
6
3
8

7,241,333
4,176,833
4,447,666
1,015,000
647,000
2,003,300
1,138,250
570,600

i

21,238,972
6
6
6
4
4
6
4
4
6
2
• 8

.

.

1,071,300 $1,299,640
3,345
3,067
531
967
917
185

No. of
tons
moved
one
mile.
27,400

94,290,666
72,203,000
862,000
33,733,222
223,000
12,700,666
13,627,7.50
5,472,250
521,333
1,448,500
131,500
234,913,887

.

2
8
2
8
8
8

.

379,000
255,750
162,500
278,750
117,253
36,000
1,228,253

.

.

257,381,112

MANUFACTURES.

Domestic spirits.................................
Oil-meal and cake.............................
Leather...............................................
Furniture...........................................
Bar and pig lead................................
Pig iron..............................................
Bloom and bar iron............................
Castings and iron-ware......................




21,058
8,493
4,773
3,030
159
31,2 1
7,014
18,773

$28,876
7,654
4,087
2,996
25
24,723
2,842
26,845

.

6
4
8
6
8
4
4

•

6

.

4,812,666
1,913,500
510,875
499,333
3,125
6,180,750
710,500
4,307,500

752

Railroad , Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.
Rates
o f toll per

Tons.
Domestic woolens.......................
“
cottons........................
“
salt.............................
Foreign salt................................ ___

3,021

Total manufactures............

Tolls.
121
809
24,070
2,273

mile.
C. M. Fr.
. 8 .
. 8 .
. 2 .
1 . .

$124,321

.

•

38,872
18 836
13,717
15,244
23,091
7,261
177,172
164,134

$719,870

.

8
3

458,327

$719,870

Live cattle, hogs, and sheep..............
Stone, lime, and clay.........................
Gypsum.............................................
Mineral coal........................................
Copper-ore.........................................
Sundries..............................................

255
202,176
59,153
225,507
946
99,

150
27,139
9,837
26,258
484
82,492

Total other articles.....................

587,041

$146,360

No. of
t0 D 8

moved
one
mile.
15,125
101,125
12,035,000
227,300
31,316,799

MERCHANDISE.

Sugar................................................
Molasses..............................................
Coffee..................................................
Nails, spikes, and horse-shoes...........
Iron and steel.....................................
Flint-enamel, crockery, and glass-ware
All other merchandise......................
Railroad iron.....................................
Total merchandise.....................

.

74,411,666
41,625,666

.

115,937,332

OTHER ARTICLES.

Total................................... 4,247,853 $2,955,939
248,779
Amount collected on empty boats, etc.
$3,204,718

4
2
2
1
1
8

37,500
18,669,500
4,91S,500
26,258,000
484,000
10,311,500

■ •

55,579,000

.
.
.
.
.
.

. 700,389,933
• • ........................

...................

The report of the Auditor, as before stated, does not furnish the means of showing
a similar statement for each of the canals.
The whole movement of 1853 was equal to 700,000,000 tons moved one mile, or
an average movement of nearly 165 miles for each ton. The average movement of
the tonnage on the Erie Canal, excluding that of the lateral canals, is, probably, near­
ly 300 miles for each ton.
The average rate of toll in 1853 was 4 6-10ths mills per ton per mile, for the whole
tonnage; 2 2 5tbs mills, for the products of the forest; 4 l-10ths for animals; 5 \ for
vegetable food ; 5 2-10ths for manufactures, except salt; 6 2-10ths for merchandise,
and 2 6-10ths mills per ton per mile for all unenumerated articles.
The comparative movement of each class, compared with the whole movement, is
as follows:—
Products of the forest, 84 per cent; agricultural products, 37 per cent; merchan­
dise, 16J per cent; manufactures, 4| per cent; miscellaneous articles, 8 per cent.
The comparative movement of some of the principal articles embraced in these
classes is as follows :—
1st. Of t h e F o r e s t . Boards and scantling, 24 per cent of the whole movement of
all articles on all the canals ; staves, 4 per cent; timber, 5 per cent.
2d. O f the P roducts of A nimals. Pork, 1 per cent; beef and bacon, 6-10ths;
lard, 3 lOths ; wool, 2-10ths ; butter, cheese, and hides, each l-10th of 1 per cent of
the whole movement.
3d. O f V egetable F ood. Flour, 13| per cent, and wheat, 10J- per cent; com ,
4 7 lOths per cent; oats, 8-10ths of 1 per cent, and barley, 2 per cent.
4th. Of M anufactures. Salt, 2 per cent; pig-iron, 9-iOths of 1 per cent; and do­
mestic spirits 7-10ths of 1 per cent; castings, 6-10ths; bloom-iron, furniture, and
leather, each l-10th of 1 per cent of the whole.
5th. Merchandise, 10£ per cent; and railroad-iron 6 per cent of the whole.
6th. U n c l a s s i f i e d A r t i c l e s . Coal, 3 J-lOths per cent; stone, lime, and clay, 2 per
cent; and live cattle, sheep, and hogs, 5-lOOOths of 1 per cent of the whole.




Railroad, Canal, and Steamboat Statistics.

753

EFFEC T OF STEA M ER DAY AT SAN FRANCISCO.

To stiy that the semi monthly occurrence of Steamer Day is an epoch in life in San
Francisco, conveys but a faint idea of the importance of this day, and the effect there­
of. The people of California and San Francisco, according to the A l l a C a l i f o r n i a ,
seem to count time from the 1st to the 16th of each month ; or, in other words, from
Steamer Day to Steamer Day. During the dullest season, go into California or Bat­
tery street, and everything is lively and brisk ; which, to a stranger, would seem as
if a tremendous business was being carried on. Not so. The merchant is engaged in
“ making up” his remittances ; and when seen tearing through the street, i9 about
visiting a neighbor to inquire if there is “ anything over, to-day.” Everything—trade,
pleasure, money, and newspaper offices—is subservient to it. More especially is this
the case during the present tightness of the money market.
There is no postponing your engagements. Steamer Day, and the promised pay­
ment of a certain note must be fulfilled, or steps are taken towards legal proceedings
in a manner that induces you at once to “ pungle.” Go into a banker’s, and a little
door labelled “ Private ” is closed. Knock, and one of the clerks will inform you Mr.
------ is busy, and there is no admittance to-day except on extraordinary business.
Attempt to draw a check, and a grunting announcement, “ Take your place in the
line,” is the prelude to half an hour’s detention. Apply for a draft, and you are told
it will be ready in one hour, and the amount required in advance, together with 3 per
cent additional.
Ask some one of your acquaintance to return that loan, and he replies : “ My dear
fellow, it is steamer day, and my remittances must be made up, and I was about ask­
ing you for a further sum to help me out.” By the way, the same man will tell you
the next day that the steamer has just gone, and all his spare cash gone, too. Verily,
steamer day is to him a convenient excuse to avoid settling with creditors, and to
San Francisco what an imperial uka9e is to Siberia, or a pronunciamento to a Mexi­
can.
Human nature can be studied to advantage on this occasion. Go to the Post Office,
and watch the small aperture through which letters for the “ loved ones at home ” are
deposited. First comes a hardy miner, with long beard, greasy hat, uncombed hair,
buckskin shirt, revolver and belt. He tremblingly drops his letter and walks away,
as if in deep thought. Next comes a mechanic, with a smile on his countenance in­
dicative of pleasure. Perhaps he has received a letter, and this is an answer. He
feels proud of his calling, and firmly walks away, fully convinced that he will come
again next “ steamer day.” Observe a moment longer, and you see a well-dressed
oily-faced man, with fobs and seals dangling from his vest, deposit a dirty yellow
envelope, addressed perhaps to some of his kind in the East, where he learned to
g a m b le .
That is h i s secret, and we let him, pass on. An old man, worn down by
age, comes tottering along, and, first wiping his “ specs,” he takes out a wallet, care­
fully undoes the fastening, and takes out a clean white letter without any envelope.
What care is there 1 He looks at the direction: it is all right, and in it goes with the
rest. Could he but see the basket emptied on the table, and the clumsy clerk hastily
tie it in a bundle with many others, and all “ mashed up” to one size, his feelings
would certainly be indignant.
But we have wandered from our subject. Turn around from the box, and you
again see the visible effect of Steamer Day. The newspaper stands are crowded, and
the persons behind the counters have their hands full, administering to the wants of
their customers. The steamer papers of the city, and other places in California and
on the Pacific coast, are piled up, and an ocean of postage stamps is seen in a paste­
board box lying on the counter. We have known as many as 6,000 steamer papers
to be sold by one of these stands on steamer day.
Everybody is surprised that steamer day occurs so often; and the day before, when
all is still and quiet, we have heard persons ask, “ When does steamer day come ?”
and a friend who is going home comes to you some day and tells you that to-morrow
he will bid you farewell. Travel down to the steamer, the indirect cause of all the
excitement, and there is Babel indeed. Friends recognize friends, and a rush to the
gangway plank takes place— but hold 1 a string of unhappy individuals are leaving
the vessel, and you cannot go on board until they are ashore. Getting on board, a
scene takes place that defies description. Not a few who are toted on board the
steamer are toted off, the range of their vision being rather limited. As the steamer
moves away from the dock, friends are pelted with oranges, or pears, or wines. Bob)
VOL. XXXI.---- NO. VI.




48

754

Statistics o f Population, etc.

in a voice of Stentor, bawls out a blessing to Dick, who is all smiles and good nature,
the outward coating of a swelling heart, and who promises to rejoin his friend as soon
as practicable.
In short, steamer day is a sort of financial crisis, a commercial panic, and the next
day its effect is plainly perceptible. The public pulse beats calmer. Everybody
breathes freer and affairs again flow in their natural channel. It is impossible to con­
ceive what would be the effect if we had no steamer day; and therefore we believe
that its visit causes trade to take a new start—merchants to be brisk—bankers busy—
boot-blacks busier—stock-brokers happy—note-shavers more so— letter-writers anx­
ious—post-office clerks disgusted—dock loafers excited, and newspaper people in a
continual whirl of business for three days prior to and three days after steamer day.
HISTORICAL NOTICE OF T H E BOSTON AND LOWELL RAILROAD.

The Boston and Lowell Railroad was first opened to the public in June, 1835, and
has therefore been in operation nearly nineteen and a half years. A committee, ap­
pointed four years before, to report upon the probable earnings of such a road, should
it be constructed, estimated the amount of business thus: passengers 37,440, mer­
chandise 15,217 tons—making the gross receipts $58,514 per annum. The difference
between the estimate and the actual result is quite remarkable. Thus, during the
last year, the number of passengers was 657,891, and merchandise 303,630 tons—
while the gross receipts were nearly half a million of dollars, or $434,600. Since the
opening, up to January last, the trains had run 8,237,955 miles, and carried 125,000,000
of passengers one mile, without the loss of life or limb iu the cars.
During the same period, seventy-five millions of tons of merchandise were carried
one mile, with losses less than a quarter of one per cent upon the amount of freight
earned. Two of the conductors, (Jol. Barrett and Josiah E. Short, and one engineman, Henry Brown, have been on the road from its commencement, and have trav­
eled over 500,000 miles each. Col. B. had a beautiful and costly badge presented to
him some time ago ; and during the past summer Mr. Short received a present of a
superb gold watch, with from two to three hundred dollars, from the season-ticket
passengers.

STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c.
P R E S E N T POPULATION OF MEXICO.

According to the latest census of the population of the Republic of Mexico,
published in the last Mexican papers, the entire number of inhabitants is 7,853,395,
to w it:—
Population.
States.
Population.
States.
Aguascalientes........
81,727 San Luis Potosi.......... ........
394,592
66,228 Sinoloa.......................
Coahuila................
161,914 Sonora .........................
Chiapas....................
Chiuahua..................
147,600 Tobasco.......................
Durango................
137,593 Tamaulipas.................. ........
100,064
Guanajuato............
718,775 Vera Cruz....................
Guerrero................
270,000 Yucatan........................
774,461 Zacatecas......................
Jalisco......................
Mexico....................
1,001,875 Distrito.......................
491,679 Baja California............
Michoacan..............
Huevo Leon..........
133,261 Colima.........................
489,069
........
82,395
683,725 Tlascala.......................
Puebla....................
132,124 Isla de Carmen............ ........
Queretaro..............
12,325
Total............

........

7,853,395

There are 85 cities and towns; 193 large villages; 4,709 villages; 119 communi­
ties and missions; 175 haciendas or estates ; 6,092 farms and hamlets.




Statistics o f Population, etc.

755

POPULATION OF IRELAND FROM 1805 TO 1853.

Esq., the Secretary, Census Commissioners, gives, under date
Census Office, Dublin, August, 185-1, the subjoined return, showing the population of
Ireland, from 1805 to 1853, as far as the same has been ascertained:—
E

dw ard

S in g l e t o n ,

1805 TO 1852.
Population. Years.
6,801,827 1837 .........
6,892,719 1838.........
6*984*826 1839.........
7,078,164 1840.........
7,172,748 1841.........
7,268,598 1842.........
7,365,729 1843....... .
7,464,756 1844... .
7*563,898 1845.......
7,664,974 1846.......
7,767,401 1847.......
7307^241 1848.......
7,847*285 1849.......
7^887*534 1850.......
7*927*989 1851.......
7,958,655

POPULATION OF IRELAND FROM

Years.
1805 .........
1806......... .
1807.........
1808 .........
1809 ....... .
1810....... .
1811.......
1812.......
1813.......
1814.......
1815.......
1816.......
1817.......
1818.......
1819.......
1820.......

Population.
5,395,456
5,460,447
5,526,224
5,592,792
5,660,162
5,728,343
5,797,347
5,867,181
5*937^856
6,039,544
6,142,972
6,248,174
6,355,177
6,464,013
6^574^712
6,687,306

Years.
1821...........
1822......... .
1823.........
1824......... .
1825.........
1826.........
1827 .........
1828......... .
1829.........
1830.........
1831 . . . .
1832......... .
1833......... .
1834......... .
1835.........
1836.........

Population.
8,009,527
8,050,609
8,091,902
8,133,408
8,175,124
8,217,055
8,259,200
8,301,563
8,344,143
8,386,940

6,651,970

The number of persons returned for 1805 is the result of a computation made in
that year by Major Newenham, based upon the returns furnished by the collectors of
hearth money. The population for 1813 is partly the result of an enumeration and
partly of computation, no returns having been made for the following places, namely,
the cities of Limerick and Kilkenny, and the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Wexford,
Cavan, Donegal, and Sligo. The population for 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851 is taken
from the census returns made in these years under specific acts of Parliament.
The population as shown in this return for the intermediate years has been com­
puted from the increases which took place between the periods from 1805 to 1813,
from 1813 to 1821, from 1821 to 1831, from 1831 to 1841, and at the same rate from
1841 to 1846. In 1847, and the succeeding years, a considerable decrease is known
to have taken place, but the annual amount is not known.
FIGURES ABOUT TH E POPULATION OF T H E WORLD.

We find the following statements in one of our exchanges. We cannot vouch for the
entire accuracy of all the figures. Some of the statements are undoubtedly correct.
others we have not found time to investigate. Perhaps some mathematical student
of the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e —and there are many such—will enlighten us and our
readers on the subject:—
The number of languages spoken in the world amounts to 8,064; 587 in Europe,
896 in Asia, 276 in Africa, and 1,264 in America. The inhabitants of the globe pro­
fess more than 1,000 different religions. The number of men is about equal to the
number of women. The average of human life is about 28 years. One-quarter die
previous to the age of 7 years; one-half before reaching 17 ; and those who pass this
age, enjoy a facility refused to one-half the human species. To every 1,000 persons,
only one reaches 100 years of life; to every 100, only six reach the age of 65 ; and
not more than one in 500 lives to see 80 years of age. There are on earth 1,000,000,000
inhabitants; and of these 33,333,333 die every year, 91,334 every day, 3,780 every
hour, and 60 every minute, or 1 every second. These losses are about balanced by
an equal number of births. The married are longer-lived than the single, and, above
all, those who observe a sober and industrious conduct. Tall men live longer than
short ones. Women have more chances of life in their favor previous to being 50
years of age than men have, but fewer afterwards. The number of marriages is in
proportion of 75 to every 1,C00 individuals. Marriages are more frequent after the
equiuoxes—that is, during the months of June and December. Those born in the
spring are the most robust. Births and deaths are most frequent by night. The
number of men capable of bearing arms is calculated at one-fourth of the population.




Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.

156

STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE, &c.
DIVISION OF L A B O R -IM PR O V E D A N D UNIMPROVED LANDS.
[F R O M T H E C IN C I N N A T I G A Z E T T E .]

For four or five years past, it must have been apparent to every careful observer of
current events, that labor in the United States has not beeD distributed in a manner
calculated to promote the best interests of the laborer or the country at large. This
is attributable mainly to the progressive spirit of the age, under the influence of
which people became restless in their respective positions, and too anxious to accu­
mulate wealth. The various modes under which people had previously acquired pro­
perty w'ere unadapted to the times. Everybody wanted to get rich, and to get rich
at once. Views on this point were likewise expanded, and what would previously
have been regarded as a competency, was looked upon as a very moderate capital to
start upon. Then the country was converted into a field for speculative operations;
and the attention of the great majority of the population was turned from the prose­
cution of interests that underlie all others, to merchandising, stock speculations, money
dealing, etc. People did not stop to reflect that only a certain amount of money was
in the country; and that all supposed profits were realized by having them transfered
from one party to another; that this sudden transfer, and the general inflation in the
value of everything purchasable, would, in accordance with the settled laws of trade,
react; and that under this reaction capital would take to itself wings, and depart.
The days of supposed prosperity were experienced. Men counted their riches by
thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands. The effect of a reaction is
now to be seen, as it is felt, on every hand. The riches, which consisted of stocks,
bonds, houses, lands, Ac., are not available, except at greatly reduced prices; and
even at low figures, sales cannot be made to any great extent. Parties who have
money are disposed to hold it.
Tliis state of things has brought matters to a point, from which parties can readily
discover the great and fatal errors into which the country at large has fallen. It is
now evident that all other than agricultural pursuits receive too much attention, and
that the latter was greatly neglected; thus labor was improperly divided, and al­
though this for a time secured for the latter a high nominal compensation, it has really
operated against the interests of that class. What advantage has a man who receives
two dollars per day, and pays one dollar and fifty cents for a living, over a man who
receives the latter amount and pays one dollar ? The profits in both cases are alike.
When labor and living advance in proportion, neither the laborer nor the producer
can be benefited. Such advances result from inflation ; and secure imaginary, not
real wealth. Actual wealth can only result; from P r o d u c t i o n . Yet we have been es­
timating a large increase of wealth, while our productions have, if anything, dimin­
ished, and our imports from foreign countries largely increased. Our population in­
stead of mining, manufacturing, or cultivating the soil, hare been heavy consumers of
foreign manufactures; and a large portion of our people have been laying down for­
eign iron over the richest coal and iron beds in the world. Thus, while supporting
the manufacturing interests of Europe, we have been producing hardly sufficient to
feed ourselves. Millions of acres of lands have not been cultivated, and millions more
have been only half or quarter tilled. But even with the heavy foreign imports, had
our agricultural interests been properly attended to, the effects of the extravagance
and imprudence that have been practiced, would not be felt to any serious extent.
Last year the English and French markets would have taken from us three or four
times the amount of breadstuffs that we furnished, had we been able to supply such a
demand ; and we would have been able, had a portion of the forces that were other­
wise employed been engaged in agricultural pursuits; and not only so, but supplies
would have been furnished to home consumers at reasonable prices. Instead of the
latter, the most exorbitant rates prevailed for every article of breadstuffs and provis­
ions. This is also the case now. The leading articles of food are everywhere scarce.
There is a demand for cereals abroad, but we have not the supply to meet it. Our
current rates, which are based on meagre receipts, prohibit shipments. It is true that
the season was an unfavorable one, but the difficulties arising from this cause would
have been measurably obviated by an increased cultivation. In the latter respect, the




757

Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.
United States has the advantage of all other countries. The
how much we c a n produce, but how much we w i l l produce.
duction depends on the amount of labor bestowed. This is
amount of unimproved land in the country. In five of the
over f i f t y - t w o ‘m i l l i o n acres of land, only t w e n t y - t h r e e m i l l i o n
These lands are distributed as follows:—

question with us is not
The extent of the pro­
evident from the large
Western States we find
of which are improved.

Ohio.....................................................................................
Indiana...............................................................................
Illinois....................
Michigan.............................................................................
Wisconsin............................................................................
Iowa....................... ! ........................................................

Improved.
9,861,493
5,046,643
5,089,545
1,929,110
1,045,409
824,682

Unimproved*
8,146,000
7,746,879
6,997,677
2,454,780
1,931,159
1,911,882

Total......... ; ......... ..... .'............................................

23,737,782

29,188,067

Supposing the forces that have been employed in the construction of railroads that
are now unfinished and almost worthless, with those who have been engaged in other
unfortunate enterprises, had been distributed through the country, and had devoted
their labor, enterprise, and money to the cultivation of lands, the State of Ohio would
to-day be millions of dollars richer than she is. Now, food is scarce and dear, while
labor is plenty and depreciating. This is a condition of things that must operate with
terrible severity upon a large class of our people.
It is a great evil, however, that does not produce some good. Though our present
•difficulties are of fearful magnitude, changes that will prove permanently beneficial
•are likely to grow out of them. The movements that are going on in all the leading
•cities of (lie United States at this time promise to lead to a more equal distribution
of labor. Thousands will remove from this city next spring to engage in agricultural
pursuits, and tens of thousands who have been crowding every avenue to employment
in other cities, will do likewise. Thus, forces will be transferred from places where
there is a large surplus to fields where they are in demand. Men of some means will
also remove. Tired of the uncertainties and harassmeuts of business life, they will
give their 'attention to agricultural pursuits. Thus this great interest will receive
an impetus that will very soon add hundreds of millions to the real wealth of the
•country.
T H E CULTURE OF H E M P AND FLAX,

Mr. W. D. Porter, in a communication to the N a t i o n a l I n t e l l i g e n c e r , presents some
interesting facts in relation to the export and demand for hemp and flax, and the
inducements to their increased culture in this country. According to the statistics he
has gathered, the import of hemp and flax into Great Britain was as follows: In 1820,
28,238,000 pounds; in 1839, 122,374,000 pounds; being an increase during these
years of 94,136,000 pounds. Iu 1840, there were imported into Great Britain,
127,830,480 pounds of flax, and 69,744 936 pounds of hemp. In 1849, the amount
had risen to 184,292,000 pounds of flax, and 108,250,000 pounds hemp; the average
import during these two years being 139,379,848 pounds flax, and 82,665,556 pounds
hemp. Russia exported to Great Britain in 1847, 55,000,000 lbs. hemp, and the
United States only 127,806 lbs., making a difference in favor of Russia of 54,875,000
lbs. England also requires an annual supply of 650,000 quarters of linseed to be
used as seed for crushing purposes; this requires an outlay of $600,000, which goes
principally to Russian northern ports. Besides this, Austria produces about 3,000,000
lbs. hemp ; Denmark, 1,788,000 lbs. These countries will be the most affected by the
war, and the above great commercial staple will for a while at least be cut off from
a market, so far as most of the above-mentioned nations are concerned. Russia ex­
ported to the United States in 1853 about 2,000 tons. There is now on hand about
1,500 toni.; the price of which is in cash $400, and on time $500 per ton. There will
be required for 1854, for the navy and commercial marine, 33,500,000 lbs., and for
other domestic purposes 5,000 tons. No Russiau hemp will be imported into this
country this year; the demand will therefore be for all purposes of home consump­
tion, and to meet the demand abroad, 113,400,000 lbs. of hemp, which amount must
be raised by the American agriculturist; the value of which is in round numbers
about $24,000,000. These few facts are thrown out that our Western hemp growers
may take the hint




758

Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.
HISTORY AND STATISTICS OF RICE.

Rice, the chief food, perhaps, of one-third of the human race, possesses advantages
over wheat, maize, and other grains, of preserving plenty during the fluctuations of
trade, caused by war, famine, or short crops, and is also susceptible of cultivation on
land too low and moist for the production o f most other useful plants. Like several
other bread-plants in common use, it is never found wild,* nor is its native country
known, unless we except the statement of the Danish missionary, Klein, that he found
it growing spontaneously in India, which is doubted by some. Linneeus considered it
as a native of Ethiopia, while others regard it of Asiatic origin.
Rice was first introduced into Virginia by Sir William Berkeley, in 164*7, who re­
ceived half a bushel of seed, from which he raised sixteen bushels of an excellent
quality, most or all of which was sown the following year.
This grain is stated to have been first brought into Charleston, South Carolina, by
a Dutch brig from Madagascar, in 1694, the captain of which left about a peck of
paddy (rice in the husk) with Governor Thomas Smith, who distributed it among his
friends for cultivation. Another account of its introduction into Carolina is, that Ashby
was encouraged to send a bag containing 100 pounds of seed vice to that province,
from the crops of which 60 tons were shipped to England in 1698 ; while Darymaple
maintains that rice in Carolina is the result of a small bag of paddy sent as a present
from Dubois, Treasurer of the “ East India Company,” to a Charleston trader. Up­
land or mountain rice was introduced into Charleston from Canton, by John Bradby
Blake, in 1*772.
The culture of rice was introduced into Louisiana by the “ Company of the West,*'
in 1718.
The amount of rice exported from Charleston, South Carolina, in 1724, was 18,000
barrels; in 1781, 41,957 barrels; in 1740, 90,110 barrels; in 1747-48, 55,000barrels;
in 1754, 104,682 barrels; in 1760-61, 100,000 barrels.
From Savannah, in 1755, 8,299 barrels, besides 287 bushels of rough rice; in 1760,
8,283 barrels, and 208 bushels of rough rice; in 1770, 22,120 barrels, besides 7,064
bushels of rough rice.
From Philadelphia, in 1771, 258,375 pounds.
The amount of rice exported from this country in 1770, was 150,529 barrels ; i»
1791, 96,980 tierces of 600 pounds each ; in 1800, 112,056 tierces; in 1810, 131,341
tierces.
The following table shows the quantity of domestic rice, and its valuation, exported
from the United States for the last thirty-three yearst—
Years.
1821............
1822............
1823............
1824............
1825............
1826............
1827..........
1828..........
1829..........
1830..........
1831..........
1882..........
1833..........
1834..........
1835..........
1836..........
1837..........

Rice,
tierces.
88,221
87,089
113,229
97,015
111,063
133,518
175,019
171,636
130,697
116’517
120,327
144,163
121,886
110,851
212,983
106,084

Value.
$1,494,307
1,553,482
1,820,985
1,882,982
1,925,245
1,917,445
2,343,908
2,620,696
2,514,370
1,986,824
2,016,267
2,152,631
2,744,418
2,122,272
2,210,331
2,548,750
2,309,279

Years.
1838............
1839............
1840............
1841..........
1842..........
1843........ ..
1844..........
1845..........
1846..........
1847..........
1 8 4 8 ......
1849..........
1850..........
1851..........
1852..........
1853..........

Rice?
tierces.
93,320
114,617
106,766
124,007
144A27
100,403
128,861
127,069
105,590
119,733

Value.
$1,721,819
2,460,198
1,942,076
2,010,107
1,907,387
1,625,726
2,182,468
2,160,456
2,564,991
3,605,89®
2,331,824
2,569,362
2.631,557
2,170,927
2,241,029
1,657,658

According to the census of 1840, the rice crop of the United States amounted to
80,841,422 pounds; of 1850, 215,313,497 pounds; showingan increase of 134,472,075
pounds. The amount of rice cultivated in the Union in 1853, may be estimated at
250,000,000 pounds, which, at 3J cents, would be worth $8,750,000.
* It is to b e understood that the w ild rice, o r water-oat, (Zizania, afuatica,) w hich grow s along
the m uddy shores o f our tidal and inland waters, is a distinct plant trom th® eom tnon rice, and
should not b e con fou n ded w ith it.




Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.

759

TH E PRODUCTION OF BARLEY.

It is a remarkable fact that w e a r e still in uncertainty whether barley grows wild
in the Old World ; and if so, in what region this occurs. Even the authors of antiquity
were at variance as to whence barley, as well as wheat, the grains chiefly used at that
time, had been derived. It has been cultivated in Syria and Egypt for more than
three thousand years, and it was not until after the Romans adopted the use of wheat
bread that they fed this grain to their stock, as is practiced by the Spaniards and
Italians at the present day. It is evidently a native of a warm climate, as it is known
to be the most productive in a mild season ; still its flexibility is so remarkable, that
it will grow on the Himalayas at an elevation of from 10,000 to 13,000 feet above the
level of the sea, and mature in favorable seasons and situations on the Eastern Con­
tinent as far north as 7'2°.
The introduction of barley into the North American colonies may be traced back to
the periods of their settlements. It was sown by Gosnold, together with other Eng­
lish grains, on Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands, in 1602, and by the col­
onists of the “ London Company,” in Virginia, in 1611. By the year 1648, it was
raised in abundance in that colony; but soon after its culture was suffered to decline
in consequence of the more profitable and increased production of tobacco.
Barley appears to have been cultivated in New Netherland as early as the year
1626, as samples of the harvest of that year, raised by the colonists of Manhattan
island, were sent to Holland, with other grains, as an evidence of their prosperity.
According to the records of the “ Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay
in New England,” barley was introduced into that colony in 1629. In 1633 good
crops were raised in Lynu.
In 1796 the chief agricultural product of the isle of Rhode Island was barley, con­
siderable quantities of which were raised.
Barley has never been cultivated much in the United States, nor has it entered
extensively into our foreign commerce, as we have been consumers rather than pro­
ducers of this grain. It has been chiefly employed for malting and distillation, and
also in considerable quantities as a substitute for sago or rice, after being hulled.
According to the census returns of 1840, the amount of barley raised in the United
States, the year preceding, was 4,161,604 bushels; of 1850, 5,167,015 bushels; show­
ing an increase of 1,005,511 bushels. The amount of the barley crop of the United
States in 1853, may be estimated at 6,590,000 bushels; which, at 75 cents per bushel,
would be worth $4,875,000.
PRODUCTION OF BROOM CORN.

In the Mohawk Valley, New York, vast quantities of this crop are annually grown’
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Connecticut are the next largest producers of it. Its origin,
as a cultivated plant in this country, i3 attributed to Dr. Franklin. It is a native of
India. Franklin saw an imported whisk of corn in the possession of a lady in Phila­
delphia, and while examining it, as a curiosity, found a seed which he planted, and
from this small beginning arose this valuable product of industry in the United States.
In the same manner, England and America are indebted for the weeping willow, to
the poet Pope, who finding a green stick in a basket of figs sent to him, as a present,
from Turkey, stuck it in his garden at Twickenham, and thence propagated this beau­
tiful tree.
Broom corn is of a different genus from Indian corn. They will not mix. In the
Mohawk flats the best cultivators of it sow with a drill as early in spring as the ground
will admit, in rows, three and a half feet apart. As soon as it is above ground it is
hoed, and soon after thinned to three inches apart. It is only hoed in the row to
remove the weeds near the plants; the harrow and cultivator are then run through
to keep down the weeds, and a small double mouldboard plow is run shallow between
the rows. It is not left to ripen, but cut green. It is not lopped till ready to cut.
One set of hands goes forward and lops or bends the tops on one side ; another fol­
lows and cuts them off when bent; a third gathers them in carts or wagons. At the
factory they are sorted over and put into bunches, each bunch of brush of equal length.
The seed is then taken off by a sort of hatchel, worked by six horses. It is then spread
thin to dry on racks in a building for the purpose. In about a week it can be packed
away closely. The brooms are made in winter, about 75,000 dozen to each 100 acres
of land. The stalks are left on the ground to be plowed in the next spring. For the
handles a peculiar lathe, turned by horse power, is used, which manufactures them
with great rapidity.— F a r m e r ’s C o m p a n i o n a n d H o r t i c u l t u r a l G a z e t t e .




Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.

760

CORN M EASURES OF EUROPEAN AND OTHER PO RTS.

For the following table, reducing the corn measures of the different countries of
Europe, & c ., we are indebted to our cotemporary of the Belfast (Ireland) M e r c a n t i l e
J o u r n a l a n d S t a t i s t i c a l R e g i s t e r ;—
CORN MEASURES OF THE DIFFERENT PORTS

OF

EUROPE, ETC., W IT H TH E IR

EQUIVALENT

IN ENGLISH QUARTERS.

A ustria . Trieste, 3$ stajas, 1 quarter.
B elgium. Antwerp, (grain sold by weight,) 1,015 kilos. 2,240 lbs.
D enmark . 8 scheffels, 1 toeDde or ton ; 21 tons 10 quarters. Some calculate 20S
tons, 100 qrs., for wheat, and 210 ton3, 100 qrs., for oats.
E gypt . Alexandria, 100 ardebs of wheat, & c ., 62$ qrs.; 100 ardebs of beans,

65 qrs.
F rance. 112 lbs., (cwt.,) 50 8-10thskilogrammes; 100 litres, 1 hectolitre; 2 hecto­
litres 88 litres, 1 qr.; 36 litres, 1 bushel; 1 English ton, 1,015 kilogrammes.
G ermany . Bremen, Hanover, 10 scheffels, 1 wisp; 2 wisps, 1 last; 1 last, 11$ qrs.
wheat, 11 qrs. barley. Hamburg, the last of wheat, peas, beans, is 11$ qrs.; barley,
10$ qrs.; oats, 10$ qrs, Rostock, 1 last, 18 qrs.
H olland. Rotterdam, 1 last, 10$ qrs. wheat and rye; 10$ qrs. barley, and 10$
qrs. oats. Groningen, 1 last, 10 qrs. oats.
I taly-. Ancona, 104$ rubbeu, 100 qrs. Genoa, 2$ mini, 1 qr. Some calculate 245
minas, and some 248 minas, 100 qrs. Milan, Venice, 3$ staja, 1 qr. Naples, 5 2-5ths
tomoli, 1 qr. Leghorn, 4 saccki, l qr.
M alta . 101 salma, 100 qrs. Some take 102 salma, 100 qrs.
M oldavia. Galatz, 100 kilos, 145 qrs.
P ortugal. Vienna, 17 alquieres, 1 qr.; 1 moio, 3 qrs.
P russia . Dantzic, Memel, Konigsberg, Pillau, 56$ scheffels, 1 last; 1 last, 10$ qrs,
Anclam, Barath, Woolgast, Stralsund, 1 last, 14 qrs. Berlin and Stettin, 1 last,
13 l-12th qrs. Wismar, 1 last, 13$ or sometimes 13 qrs.
R ussia. Petersburg, Odessa, Riga, 2 osmin, 1 cbetwert.; 100 chetwerts, 72 qrs.
S icily . Palermo, 4 salma of 20 tumoli, or 5 salma of 16 turnoli, 5 qrs., old meas­
ure.
S myrna . (Asia Minor,) 1 kilo. 1 imperial bushel.
S weden . 2 spann, 1 ton or barrel; 18 tons, 10 qrs. Some take 176$ barrels,
100 qrs.
S pain . 5 fanegas, 1 qr.
T urkey. Constantinople, 816 kilos. 100 qrs.
W allaohia. Ibrail, 100 kilos, 225 qrs. Some take 222$ only.

PUBLIC LANDS FOR ACTUAL SE TT LER S AND CULTIVATORS.

The following is a correct copy of an act passed at the last session of Congress, and
approved August 4th, 1854:—
AN ACT TO GRADUATE AND REDUCE THE P RICE OF THE PUBLIC LANDS TO ACTUAL SETTLERS
AND CULTIVATORS.
B e it en a cted b y th e S en a te

and

H ou se

o f R e p r e s e n ta tiv e s o f th e

U n ite d S ta te s

o f

That all the public lands in the United States which
shall have been in market ten years or upwards, prior to the time of application to
enter the same under the provisions of this act, and still remaining unsold, shall be
subject to sale at the price of one dollar per acre; and all of the lands of the United
States that shall have been in market for fifteen years or upwards, as aforesaid, and
still remaining unsold, shall be subject to sale at seventy-five cents per acre ; and all
of the lands of the United States that have been in the market for twenty years or
upwards, as aforesaid, and still remaining unsold, shall be subject to sale at fifty cents
per acre; and of all the lands of the United States that shall have been in the mar­
ket for twenty-five years and upwards, as aforesaid, and still remaining unsold, shall
be subject to sale at twenty-five cents per acre; and all lands of the United States
that shall have been in market for thirty years or more, shall be subject to sale at
twelve-and-a-half cents per acre: P r o v i d e d , This section shall not be so constructed
as to extend to lands reserved to the United States, in acts granting land to States for

A m e r ic a in

O o n g r e s s a sse m b le d ,




Statistics o f Agriculture, etc.

761

railroad or other internal improvements, or to mineral lands held at over one dollar
and twenty-five cent9 per acre.
S ec . 2. A n d b e i t f u r t h e r e n a c t e d , That upon every reduction of price under the
provisions of this act, the occupant and settler upon the lands shall have the right of
ire emption at such graduated price, upon the same terms, conditions, restrictions, and
imitations, upon which the public lands of the United States are now subject to the
right of pre-emption, until within thirty days preceding the next graduation or reduc­
tion that shall take place; and if not so purchased, shall again be subject to the right
of pre-emption for eleven months as before, and so on from time to time as reductions
take place; Provided,That nothing in this act shall be so constructed as to interfere
with any right which has or may secure by virtue of an act granting pre-emption to
actual settlers upon public lands.
S e o . 3. A n d b e i t f u r t h e r e n a c t e d , That any person applying to enter any of the
aforesaid lands shall be required to make affidavit before the register or receiver of
the proper land office, that he or she enters the same for his or her own use, and for
the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, or for the use of an adjoining firm
or plantation, owned or occupied by him or herself, and together with said entry, he
or she has not acquired from the United States, under the provisions of this act, more
than three hundred and twenty acres, according to the estab ished surveys; and if
any person or persons taking such oath or affidavit shall swear falsely in the premises
he or she shall be subject to all the pains and penalties of perjury.

f

PRODUCTS OF TH E FRENCH COLONIES IN ALGIERS.

The European population of these colonies is 130,000, of whom 80,000 live in
towns, and 50,000 are devoted to agriculture; but they are unskilled in the art, and
are not provided with the best implements. Among the products exhibited at Paris
from these colonies, are the following;—
C otton.
The culture of which is encouraged b y the French government. The first
experiments were made in 1848. In 1852,1,500 acres were planted for this crop, but
it was much injured by the rains, and nearly destroyed. Georgia Sea-Island appears
best suited to the soil and climate. The culture of this staple can only be maintained
by the help of the government.
"W o o l .
The samples were from the native African sheep, and the quality is good.
T obacco.
These samples were numerous and well grown, but of inferior flavor.
There are now about 600 planters of tobacco, the cultivation having been commenced
in 1844. 500 hectares, equivalent to about 1,166 acres, are now grown, which pro­
duce some 500,000 lbs. of tobacco.
C e r e a l s . Grains are produced to some extent. Rye is but little used, but produces
well. The wheat is good. Barley is the most important of these crops. The Arab
and his horse live upon it. Mohammed said—" Every kernel of barley given to a
horse is worth an indulgence in the other world.” Barley is also used extensively in
brewing.
M in e r a l s.
In this department, iron, copper, lead, antimony, carbonate of zinc,
manganese, and mercury, were exhibited. Copper mines are numerous, and many of
them are worked by English companies. Fuel is too scarce to work them, and the
ores are sent to England. No coal has been discovered; but plaster of Paris, alabas­
ter, porcelain clay, and soapstone are found. Fine varieties of marble occur. Some
of these are equaled only in whiteness by the marble of Carrara.
The coral fisheries are extensive and profitable. About 1,500,000 francs’ worth are
annually taken from the sea.

FARMS AND FA RM ERS IN ENGLAND.

According to the Census Report, farms occupy two-thirds of the land of England
The number of the farms is 225,318, the average size is 111 acres. Two-thirds of the
farms are under that size, but there are 771 above 1,000 acres. The large holdings
abound in the south eastern and eastern counties, the small farms in the north. There
are 2,000 English fanners holding nearly 2,000,000 acres; and there are 97,000 Eng­
lish farmers not holding more. There are 40,650 farmers who employ five laborers
each; 16,501 have ten or more, and employ together 311,707 laborers; 170 farmers
have above sixty laborers each, and together employ 17,000.




N autical Intelligence.

7G2

WOOL-GROWING IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

The Charleston M e r c u r y says that the experiment of rearing fine breeds of sheep
for wool in the upper part of South Carolina, promises to be completely successful.
Mr. J. D. Wagener, the Hon. R. F. Simpson, and other gentlemen in Pickens have en­
gaged in it, and they seem to have established the facts that sheep flourish in that re­
gion remarkably w ell; that they can be raised at trifling cost compared with that of
the wool-growing regions of the North, and that the quality of the wool of the choice
European breeds does not degenerate. Mr. Wagener has taken an active part in this
enterprise, and has imported a stock of the famous Saxon sheep, which is found to
thrive well in Pickens. Specimens of wool of his raising were transmitted to one of
the largest manufacturers in New England, who pronounced a most favorable judg­
ment on them, and rated them at the top of the market. The M e r c u r y attaches no
slight importance to the introduction of wool-growing in the upper districts, which,
properly followed up, will prove a source of wealth to that part of the State.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.
FALKLAND ISLANDS— PO RT WILLIAM.

The captain of the English steamship Great Britain, has made a very favorable re­
port of Stanley Harbor, as a place of call for steamers. He says:—
“ The government charts are exceedingly correct; the land, as you approach it, is
made out without any difficulty, and we saw Pembroke Point and its beacon (now to
be superseded by a light house) at the distance of about seven miles. The harbor
itself is like a large dock, secure from all winds, and with an entrance sufficiently
wide for a good smart sailing vessel to beat through with ease. All the dangerous
points are distinctly marked by the seaweed. The anchorage is excellent, varying
from four to five fathoms at low water. The facility for watering ships is good ; a
reservoir, holding about 200 tons of water, communicates by means of pipes with the
end of a jetty, where, even when the tide is out, there is always about three feet
depth of water, which is sufficient for a flat-bottomed boat to float off ten tons at a
time. The Governor promises that, should Stanley become a port of call for steam­
ers, a floating tank should be built, so that water could be alongside the ship immedi­
ately on her arrival, and pumped into the tanks or casks as the case may be There
are considerable herds of cattle on the islands, and when put up to feed, their beef is
very good; vegetables of the more ordinary kind, such as potatoes, cabbages, and
turnips, can be had when in season; ship chandlery and grocery stores can also be
purchased to a limited extent. Labor is scarce, as the population of Stanley (the
only settlement) is only about 400 ; but every year, as these islands become better
known, this want will, no doubt, be less felt.”
SAILING DIEECTIONS FOE ENTERING POET W IL LIA M J THE STANLEY SETTLEMENT BEING NOW
THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.— BY MR. PH ILLIPS, PILOT AT STANLEY^

Ships from the southward should sight Cape Pembroke, which is the easternmost
point of the Falkland Islands, and on which there is a wooden beacon, 36 feet high,
with a base nine feet square, tapering to five feet, and surmounted by a mast 30 feet.
It is distinctly visible at the distance of ten miles; with a commanding breeze any­
thing south of west, keep to seaward of Wolfe Rock, and pass between the Seal
Rocks and Cape Pembroke, and then between the Billy Rocks and Seal Rocks, where
there is plenty of water, and no danger that may not be seen. Having passed the
Billy Rocks, haul up, and if in doubt, or if the pilot has not come off, anchor abreast
of the William Islets; but in daylight there is no danger in standing into the entrance
of Stanley Harbor. The above directions are for westerly winds, which generally
prevail; but when the wind is easterly, o u t s i d e of the Seal Rocks.
Coming from the northward with westerly winds, make Cape Carysfort, or with
easterly winds, Volunteer Point; when they are passed steer for Cape Pembroke, on
which the beacon will be seen, until Port William opens to starboard, when run in and
anchor, or wait for a pilot, according to the above directions.
In case of darkness or fog, ships may anchor in the mouth of Berkeley Sound, or
of Port William, or stand off and on, as may be expedient; there being no danger
that is not buoyed by the kelp.




763

Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

The Wolf Rock bears from Cape Pembroke S. •£ W. by compass ; distant nearly
three miles. It is of a triangular shape, each side being about three cables’ length.
The Seal Rocks lie about three-quarters of a mile from Cape Pembroke, and are
clean on all sides. The tide runs north and south about three knots between Cape
Pembroke and the Seal Rocks ; the flood setting to the northward, and the ebb to the
southward.
N EW BEACON TO INDICATE JtED D EREN R E E F .
O ffice of C o m m it t e e of P r iv y C ouncil for T r ad e , /

Marine Department, Sept. 6,1854.

)

I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade to trans­
mit to you, for the information of the Committee for managing the affairs of Lloyd’s>
the annexed copy (translation) of a Notice to Mariners, issued by the Royal Norwe­
gian Marine Board, reporting the erection of a beacon to indicate the position of
Jcedderen Reef.
Capt. G. A. H alsted , R. N., Secretary Lloyd’s.

JAMES BOOTH.

Hereby is made known, that on a small bill called “ Blomhong,” just inside the reef
of Jcedderen, on the southwest coast of Norway, a Beacon has been erected, consisting
of four wooden spars, which unite together on the top; on this is placed a triangular
of wood, visible from the sea. It is dark-colored.
Longitude E. from Greenwich 5° 35', N. latitude 58° 45'. Visible from 4 to 6 miles
The Royal Norwegian Marine Department,
Christiania, August 24, 1854.

O. W . ERICKSEN.

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.
TH E M INERAL RESOURCES OF TH E UNITED STATES.

From a recently published work of Professor Emmons, on American Geology, we
derive the following facts, figures, and statements, in illustration of the importance to
be attached to the mineral resources of this country:—
N orthern N ew Y ork . The net proceeds per annum, which may be realized from
the ores of iron in northern New York, will pay the interest, at seven per cent, on
£3,000,000.
The mines of Adirondack have just been sold for £500,000, a sum much below their
real value. The Sandford ore bed in Essex County cannot be estimated at much less
than $500,000. At this mine, from two pits alone, 21,000 and 23,000 tons of ore per
day have been raised at a cost not exceeding fifty cents per ton; and which, when
crushed and separated, yields from five to fifteen tons of phosphate of lime per one
hundred tons of ore, which is worth on the ground twenty dollars per ton, and twentyfive to thirty dollars in New York.
There remain the Clintonville and the Saranac Iron Districts, together with inex­
haustible quantities of the specular ore in Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, and
the magnetic ores of the Highlands.
Pennsylvania furnishes an amount of iron which may be estimated at $5,000,000
annually.
Missouri, from the Pilot and Iron Mountains, is capable of furnishing as much iron
as any part of the world. Situated in the great Valley of the Mississippi, its value
can scarcely be overrated.
The iron mountains of Lake Superior are equally as rich as northern New York.
There are some, perhaps, who may regard this comparison as unjust to Lake Supe­
rior ; but it must not be forgotten that one mine, the Sandford Lake Mine, is between
six and seven hundred feet thick. A cubic yard of ore weighs four tons.
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, possess inexhaustible supplies of iron ore,
which are mostly the hydrous peroxides of iron. The hematites of Vermont and of
eastern New York are very extensive.
The brown ores of iron in the south-western counties of North Carolina, and in
eastern Tennessee, are immense.




764

Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

A mineral so important as iron should be widely distributed, and it appears that in
the United States every important section is supplied with it. The largest sections
or formations which are destitute of the ores of iron and of the metals, are the Cre­
taceous and Tertiary, which shirt the Atlantic coast, and which form our great basins
and valleys. So, also, the Silurian and Devonian systems are, in a great measure,
destitute of iron ores, with the exception of the argillaceous and oolitic ores of iron
of the Clinton group.
I have already spoken of the value of the lead ores of Wisconsin, Missouri, and
Iowa. The highest estimate which I have noticed of the probable productive capaci­
ties of the lead region, is from one hundred to one hundred and fifty millions of
pounds annually, having already reached that of fifty millions under unfavorable cir­
cumstances.
. The production of copper is in its infancy. It is too early to attempt to determine
the value of its mines, and yet the Lake Superior Copper District has already pro­
duced two thousand tons in a single year. The value of the copper which has been
produced equals, at twenty-five cents per pound, $2,700,000. The copper region
which ranks next in value is in North Carolina. It has been referred to. The ore is
the yellow sulphuret; the country is far better adapted to mining than that of Lake
Superior. Indeed, it is of all others the best, whether we consider its climate, its
means of sustaining a mining population at a cheap rate, or the production of timber
for shaftiug, tunneling, fuel, etc. We do not yet know the real extent and value of
its copper ores, but we have no doubt of the ultimate success of its copper mines.
It is not to be expected, however, that one-quarter of the veins which are now be­
ing tested will prove to be mines. Even if one in ten turn out well, North Carolina
will become one of the richest mining districts in the Union.
The resources in copper in Tennessee are also remarkable, and particularly so, as
several mines became productive from their first trials. I allude to those of Ducktown.
Although gold has been obtained in considerable quantities for half a century, still
the mines and deposits have not been worked in a systematic manner. Present and
immediate gains have been sought for, and hence no permanent works have been
erected, except in a very few instances. Within the last two years, more system and
more capital have been employed, and a better and more consistent view is now taken
of gold mining, and the prospect is becoming daily more favorable to the enterprise.
North Carolina is the center of the gold region, and will rank in value next to Cali­
fornia. There are no accurate returns for the amount of gold North Carolina has
furnished. Of the gold of California, the estimated production is less than the actual.
The Hon. T. Butler King estimated it for 1848-9 at $40,000,000.
Our plaster, salt, marble, granite, and free-stone, form other large items of mineral
wealth with which the United States abound. In the list of mineral property, min­
eral springs should not be forgotten. They administer to the health of the people.
The only mines oi quicksilver which are now known in the United States, are situ­
ated in Santa Clara, twelve miles from San Jose, in California. It is found in bunches
in ferruginous clay, forming in part a hill 1,360 feet above tide. It is associated with
broken down magnesian rocks. The deposit is large, but no accurate returns of the
yield of quicksilver have been published. The mine is being worked in a systematic
manner.
We have no mines of tin, properly speaking.
I have said nothing of coal. It is almost impossible to measure or weigh in calcu­
lation its amount; but President Hitchcock observes truly, that the whole amount in
solid measure of the coal in the United States equals at least 3,500,000 square miles.
WAMSUTTA COTTON MILLS,

The Wamsutta Corporation at New Bedford, Massachusetts, have just completed a
new mill, 245 feet long, 70 wide, and 3 stories high. The new building is connected
with the old in the form of an L, and both together are equal in length to 463 feet,
and 70 feet wide, containing 32,400 square feet to each floor. The M e r c u r y states
that the whole establishment, when in full operation, will run 34,000 spindles, 700
looms, and will produce 3,200,000 yards fine sheeting and shirting per annum. (This
will employ 6,000 operatives. It will require an annual consumption of 8,000 tons of
coal, 3,200 bales cotton, 50,000 lbs. of potato starch, 3,000 gallons of sperm oil, 2,000
gallons of whale oil, besides a great variety of other supplies.




Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

765

COAL FIELD S, M IN ES, AND TRADE.

The interesting facts and figures relative to the Schuylkill, Lehigh, Lackawanna,
Shamokin, Cumberland and Pittsburg districts, and the coal fields and coal mines on
the Western waters, are derived from a carefully prepared statement of the M i n i n g
R e g i s t e r , and from official documents :—
Taking the past year’s business as a basis for estimating the production of the year
1854, allowing 10 per cent as safe figures of increase, and we have this result, with
the estimated capacity for transportation, viz.:—
Where from.

Schuylkill Region, by Railway................
“
“
by Canal.....................
The Lehigh Region.................................
Lackawanna or Del. and Hudson Canal...
Shamokin District.....................................
By Union Canal........................................
Dauphin and Susquehanna Co..................
Cumberland (Hd.) district.......................
T ota l................................................

No. tons carried in 1853.

No. tons estimated for 1854.

Estimated
capacity.

1,582,211
888,695
1,080,423
1,004,000
12,000
80,655
20,000
536,575

1,740,433
977,564
1,188,465
1,104,400
300,000
88,720
40,000
590,232

3,000,000
1,250,000
1,300,000
1,200,000
900,000
400,000
600,000
800,000

5,204,559

6,029,814

9,350,000

The production of bituminous coal in the Pittsburg district, in 1853, was 26,708,921
bushels; and in 1854, allowing 10 per cent increase, will be 29,379,813.
This table gives the increase for 1854, at 825,255 tons; and it is questionable
whether the market, in a healthy condition will demand more. It will be seen that
the estimated tonnage capacity is in excess of anticipated demands 3,320,186 tons;
but we will not be surprised to find the actual capacities of these carrying companies,
tested closely, to accommodate the tonnage on figures indicated for 1854, their higher
inviting figures to the contrary.
Having said thus much with reference to the trade of our own section, we purpose
taking a brief glance at the deposits lying on and contiguous to the Mississippi Val­
ley, and see, if possible, what the future prospects of that great extent of country is.
The most reliable data at our command is to be found in the report of the late Secre­
tary of the Navy. There was a commission appointed to examine the quality of the
coal, and extent of deposits in that section. The gentlemen composing the commission
say they proceeded to Pittsburg, and thence down the Ohio and Mississippi river as
far as Memphis, examining all the principal coal workings on those rivers. From
Memphis they passed up the Mississippi as far as St Louis, making examinations in
that vicinity and in the States of Missouri and Illinois. Coal is developed in the great­
est quantity on the banks of the Ohio and its tributaries for nearly 900 miles below
Pittsburgh. They found no coal workings below Casey ville, a village in Kentucky,
about two miles above Trade "Water Creek, a tributary of the Ohio river. At New
Madrid, or what is called “ Sand Blows,” after an earthquake, small lumps of coal are
found of various sizes.
The convulsions or earthquakes which usually visit that pi .ce follow long continued
rains, and the received opinion is that the coal is ignited thereby. How much below
the surface the coal is found has never been ascertained. The specimens of coal
thrown up by the convulsions of nature which they saw at New Madrid, had the ap­
pearance of being subjected to the action of fire, and would seem to establish the
theory of the inhabitants, that the coal is ignited by long continued rains.
In judging of the quality of the different kinds of coal, they were governed by the
appearance, and the result of trials on board the steamers on the liver and in the
workshops which came under their immediate observation, as well as the opinions of
persons using it on steamboats and for manufacturing purposes.
The value and importance of the coal lands in the West, have not heretofore engaged
the particular attention of the owners.
The time, however, has now arrived when their value and importance are being
daily developed. The scarcity, as well as the high price of wood, on the banks of the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers, will compel the owners of steamboats navigating those
streams to resort to the use of coal.
The same cause will induce the large sugar establishments on the Mississippi to
substitute its use for that of wood. These considerations, in connection with the in­
creasing demand for coal at New Orleans and other points of the Mississippi, for




766

Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

domestic, mechanical, and steamship purposes, have induced many enterprising capi­
talists to embark in coal operations in the West. Companies have been and are now
forming to open and work extensively the mines on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
and their tributaries ; and there is no doubt that their labors will develop one of the
most extensive coal regions on this continent, and at the same time afford those who
engage in the business a profitable remuneration for their outlay of capital. At pre­
sent the capital employed in mining is but trifling in comparison to the importance of
the object, and the working has been confined generally to the upper strata. When
the mines have been further worked, and more deeply penetrated, doubtless in many
instances the coal yielded will be of a superior quality to that now taken from the
surface. All the coal examined in the West burns remarkably free. The coal in the
neighborhood of Pittsburgh is generally esteemed the best, and bears handling and
transportation without crumbling—which is a characteristic of all western coal that
came under their observation. One of the principal reasons why the Pittsburgh is
esteemed the best, arises from the fact that the mines have been more extensively
worked than any other in the Valley of the Mississippi. There is no doubt that the
coal at other points on the Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries, when the mines
are properly developed, will be equal in every respect to what is known as Pittsburgh
coal.
There are extensive coal fields in the neighborhood of Wheeling, in Virginia, on both
sides of the Ohio river. The quality of the coal is not esteemed as highly as that of
Pittsburgh, but answers for all domestic purposes as well as some branches of manu­
factures. The Pittsburgh coal is generally used at Wheeling for manufacturing pur­
poses.
There is little or no coal shipped down the river from Wheeling.
At Pomeroy, in Ohio, coal is found in great abundance on the bank of the river, and
workings are very extensive, supplying nearly all the passing steamboats.
The mines in connection with salt-works are owned by a company, who are said to
realize large profits. The coal resembles that found in the neighborhood of St. Louis
and in Illinois.
On the opposite side of the river in Kentucky, several workings of coal have been
commenced. Of the character of the coal they had no opportunity of judging.
In the vicinity of Gallipolis, in Ohio, it is said coal of a superior quality is found in
large quantities. A railroad is in progress of construction from the mines to the river.
On the Elk River, in Virginia, is found pure cannel coal. Specimens are in the de­
partment and at the navy-yards in Norfolk and Washington.
The only obstacles to the introduction of this coal into general use is the difficulty
encountered in getting it to market When they were at Louisville, a boat-load of
coal from that region arrived which had been eighteen months on the way. It com­
mands in the market from two to three cents more per bushel than Pittsburgh or any
other coal.
Near the region of the Kanawha River large deposits of coal are found, partaking
of the character of that on the Elk River, which is a tributary of the Kanawha. The
difficulty of getting it to market is a serious obstacle to its general use.
Arrangements are being made by capitalists to work these mines extensively. The
Cannelton coal mines are on the Ohio River, in the State of Indiana. They examined
several openings of these mines which have been worked at a r o y a l t y , or mining
privilege of one cent per bushel. The strata are about four feet thick, and formed of
two distinct kinds of coal—the upper part being a strong resemblance to the cannel
coal, and the lower portions resembling the Pittsburgh deposits. The upper portion
is a light, chaffy, free-burning coal, with little durability. Any quantity of the coal
can be obtained with the greatest facility at the mines, at a price varying from five to
six cents per bushel.
« At Hawesville, Kentucky, opposite Cannelton, coal is found in great abundance, of
the same description and quality as that of the Cannelton.
The mines are now being worked, and the passing steamers furnished with it. The
Saline Coal Mines, in the State of Illinois, on the Saline River, two miles from the
Ohio River, are most advantageously situated for the supply of passing boats, having
a fine harbor.
The coal beds are said to be a portion of the great Illinois coal field. The charac­
ter of the coal is said to be good; and the geological surveys represent six distinct
strata, the lower one of which is seven feet thick.
The Mulford Mines, two miles above Trade Water Creek, in the State of Kentucky,
are conducted on an extensive scale by the enterprising proprietors, and with great




Journal o f Mining and Manufactures.

767

system. The passing boats can get supplied with certainty, and large quantities are
sent to New Orleans and other points.
These mines have the same distinct strata as those on the Saline River. In one of
the mines there is a peculiar formation; sulphur is found in large lumps, almost
pure. It is separated from the coal, and wasted with the slack, near the mouth of the
mine.
The mines of the Hon. John Bell on Trade Water Creek, in Kentucky, about one
hundred and twenty miles above the mouth of the Ohio, are extensively worked, and
yield a large profit.
The distinct strata developed at the Saline Mines are peculiar to these. The coal
is of an excellent quality, and, from the tests to which it was subjected, it is consid­
ered well adapted for steaming and manufacturing purposes. There is a greater
density about it than the Cannelton coal, and it makes a better hollow fire.
Mount Carbon Coal Mines, Jackson County, Illinois, are situated on Big Muddy
River, a tributary of the Mississippi, about seventy miles above the mouth of the
Ohio. They are not now in operation. The vein of these is about five feet thick, running
into a side of a hill having a thinner vein above, and I think one below, the present
opening.
The mines are fifty-six miles from Cairo by the Central Road, terminating at that
point. A railroad, thirteen miles in length, would bring this coal to market at a navi­
gable point on the Mississippi River in large quantities. The proprietors have not
found it convenient to make this improvement. There is a small tract near the Mount
Carbon Coal Fields, which is an out cropping of that vein. Two of the small veins
in this tract are now worked, and the passing boats and the St. Louis market sup­
plied, when the stage of water in the Big Muddy will allow it to be floated down.
In Calloway County, in the State of Missouri, there is a most remarkable coal field
of cannel formation. The vein is reported to be of great thickness, inexhaustible, and
is situated but a few miles from the river.
These coal lands are owned by a company of Eastern capitalists, who have built a
railroad to the river, (Mississippi,) and will in a short time have the coal in market.
The coal about St. Louis, on both sides of the river, is of an inferior quality, and
only used to a limited extent for domestic purposes.
The gas works and principal manufactories at St. Louis use the Pittsburgh coal, or
that brought from the Big Muddy.
In consequence of the low stage of water, they could not visit the coal land in Ten­
nessee, but, from all they could learn, the mines on the Cumberland River and at
other points yield coal of the character and description generally found in the western
country.
The transportation of coal on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries
is by flat-boats, containing from 10,000 to 12,000 bushels, or from 300 to 400 tons.
These boats are floated in pairs to New Orleans and the intermediate points, -when
there is a high stage of water, which is generally in the spring and fall seasons.
Coal is usually sold at New Orleans by the barrel, the price varying from 30 cents
to 75 cents per barrel, depending altogether upon the quantity in market and the
demand. It can be delivered on ship board at New Orleans from S3 68 to S4 50 per
ton. At Memphis they do not think the maximum cost would exceed $3 68 per ton.
The cost of the transportation from New Orleans to Pensacola they had no positive
means of ascertaining, but from the best information it would cost from $ 2 50 to $3
per ton.
The business of mining in Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Tennes­
see is yet in its infancy. The proprietors of the coal lands are now fast becoming
aware of their great value and importance.
MANUFACTURING LAW OF NEW YORK.

The following important amendment to the General Manufacturing Law of New
York, was passed at the last session of the Legislature :—
1. Section twenty-seven of chapter forty, of the laws of 1848, entitled “ an Act to
authorize the formation of corporations for manufacturing, mining, mechanical or
chemical purposes,” shall read as follows :—
When any person or persons owning fifteen per cent of the capital stock of any
company formed under the provisions of this act, shall present a written request to
the treasurer thereof, that they desire a statement of the affairs of such company, it




\
Journal o f M ining and Manufactures.

768

shall be the duty of such treasurer to make a statement of the affairs of said company
under oath, embracing a particular account of all its assets and liabilities in a minute
detail, and to deliver such statement to the person who presented the said written
request to the treasurer, within twenty days after such presentation, and he shall also
at the same time, place and keep on hie in his office for six months thereafter, a copy
of such statement, which shall at all times during business hours, be exhibited to any
stockholder of said company, demanding an explanation thereof. Such treasurer,
however, shall not be required to deliver such statement in the manner aforesaid,
oftener than once in six months. If such treasurer shall neglect or refuse to comply
with any of the provisions of this act, he shall forfeit and pay to the person present­
ing said written request, the sum of fifty dollars, and the further sum of ten dollars
for every twenty-four hours thereafter, until such statement shall be furnished, to be
sued for and recovered in any court having cognizance thereof.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
IRON ORE IN VIRGINIA FOR IRON MANUFACTURES.

The L y n c h b u r g V i r g i n i a n commends the glowing account of the mineral re­
sources of Montgomery County, in Virginia, given by a correspondent of the C h r i s t e n b u r g H e r a l d , to the attention of those engaged in, or designing to engage in the iron
business. The ore referred to in the following communication is said to be in richness
and purity equal to any in the world, and the editors of the V i r g i n i a n state that
there is no place in the State where it can be manufactured cheaper than in Mont­
gomery. We trust it will not be long before the great and varied natural resources
with which Virginia abounds will be fully developed, and devoted to the purposes for
which nature intended them. We cheerfully transfer the communication to the pages
of the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e . The correspondent of the C h r i s t e n b u r g H e r a l d says
There is iron ore enough in the city of Montgomery, Virginia, to build a railroad
with a double track of heavy T rail, 210 tons to the mile, from Washington City to
San Francisco. It is found at different points within from one to five miles of the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The ore is of the very best quality; rich enough
to yield from 50 to 75 per cent of pure iron. This ore is so situated that it can be
mined or gotten out at a cost of from 12^ to 50 cents per ton, it being situated on
gentle slopes in immense ledges, from which it can be blasted in large masses.
There is stone coal of the very purest and best quality for iron manufacturing pur­
poses, enough within from five to teu miles of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad,
(and to which a branch railroad will be built in 1855,) to supply ihe demands of the
whole world for years. In short, an inexhaustible amount which is so situated that
it can be mined at a cost from 50 to 75 cents per ton. There is on New River, Little
River, and Roanoke, and their branches, in the county of Montgomery, convertible
water-power equal to at least 10,000 horse-power.
The country, though fertile and productive, has still a very large proportion of
heavily timbered forest, from which might be obtained immense quantities of char­
coal and fuel.
The foregoing facts are strictly true ; and yet, strange as it is, there has never been
a ton of iron made in the present limits of the county of Montgomery.
TH E PACIFIC M ILL AT LAWRENCE.

According to the L o w e l l J o u r n a l , good authority, the Pacific Mill at Lawrence is
the largest and most comprehensive mill in the world. It makes none but the finest
kinds of goods, and the success of its operations is looked to with great interest by
manufacturers. The floor surface of this immense structure is sixteen acres— the
largest mill in England is eleven and a-half acres. There are now in operation 40,000
cotton spindles, and 10,000 worsted spindles ; and these are to be increased to 80,000
and 20,000 respectively. There are 1,200 looms in operation, to be increased to 2,400.
These, with 2,000 hands, produce 800,000 pieces of cloth per annum, one-half delaines.
The weekly consumption of cotton is 20,000 lbs., say 1,500,000 lbs. per annum, and
500,000 lbs. of wool. Once a month the 2,000 hands assemble at the cashier’s office,
where Mr. Clapp pays out to them f 500,000 for wages, appropriating to each one the
exact amount she has earned.




Mercantile Miscellanies,

1Q9

PR IN TIN G FOR LACE AND MUSLIN.

Under the name of nature’s own printing, says the J o u r n a l o f I n d u s t r i a l P r o g r e s s ,
Mr. Von Auer, of Vienna, has announced a peculiar method for obtaining impressions
of the leaves of plants, die. The process consists simply in taking two polished metal
plates, one hard, the best substance being copper, and the other soft, as for example,
a plate of lead, and laying the article to be copied between them, and passing the
plates between the rollers of a press, such as lithographers use. By the great pres­
sure exerted, a beautifully sharp and faithful copy of the article is produced on the
leaden plate, from which impressions can be obtained, which can be employed for
printing thousands of copies. The dried leaves of plants can be copied in this way,
and by using gutta percha gently heated, even moist plants will give impressions.
The chief use of this new art will, however, be the reproduction of lace, <fcc., for if
a piece of lace, or of worked muslin, be placed between the plates instead of leaves,
a beautiful intaglio copy will be produced, from which printed patterns can be pro­
vided. Such plates might be at once employed to print designs upon the muslin sent
out to be worked. It is but just to remark, that a similar invention was made about,
twenty years ago by a Dane of Copenhagen, of the name of Peter Cyhl, who, having
died before he perfected the art, the idea was lost sight of.

MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.
COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF CALIFORNIA.

The Hon. Mr. McD ougall, member of Congress from the State of California, in a
speech on the Pacific Railroad Bill, delivered in the House of Representatives, May
29th, 1854, presents in a condensed form the commercial progress and importance of
the Gold State:—
The State of California has now a population of 300,000 persons; and, from the
fact that they are almost exclusively effective men, they may be considered fully equal
to any other population of 700,000 in capacity either for labor or enterprise.
The city of San Francisco has a population of from 50,000 to 75,000 persons, and is
already second only to New York in point of commercial importance, as we have be­
fore stated in the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e , while in the amount of her tonnage she is
competing with the second city in the Union.
It has been said that “ money is power.” The gold of California has been the mas­
ter-power that by its force has seemed to realize the fabled birth of the ancient Tyre,
said to have sprung perfect, with the palace and temple aDd busy mart, from the foam
of “ the great sea.” The gold fields of California have proved rich beyond any known
parallel. Within the last five years they have produced over $300,000,000. Within
the past year over $80,000,000 in treasure, the products of our own rivers and moun­
tains, have passed out of our golden gate. During the great currency controversy,
about 1835 and 1836, the estimated amount of the entire specie basis of the currency
of the United States was $80,000,000. The State of California contributes annually
to the currency of the country an amount equal to the entire real currency of the whole
Union eighteen years ago.
In 1833 the entire exports of the United States of her own domestic products were
but $69,000,000. Out of the golden gate we have exported within the past year more
of the domestic products of California than was exported by the whole Union twenty
years ago. As late as 1845 we exported of our domestic products but $98,000,000,
including all articles of exportation, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and the fabrics of our manu­
factories. California exports nearly as much as the whole Union did eight years ago,
just before our gold had entered into, stimulated, and swelled our commerce.
Again, during the year 1853 there was imported into San Francisco from the
Atlantic seaboard 423,230 tons of merchandise for its own and its independent mar­
kets; amounting in value to not less than $100,000,000. It must be understood that
the market of San Francisco is not limited by the State of California. It embraces
the entire coast from Acapulco to the Russian possessions, and all the islands that
vol . xxxi.— no . vi.
49




110

M ercantile Miscellanies.

possess a commerce as far as the coasts of Asia. The market of San Francisco is as
large a market for the Atlantic coast as the whole foreign market of the United States
eight years ago.
While upon this subject Mr. McDougall states a fact incident to the commerce of
California, which will serve somewhat to disabuse members of Congress of the im­
pression that California is a burden upon the Federal treasury. For the last four
years the customs collected at San Francisco have averaged $2,500,000 ; during the
year 1851 over $3,200,000 was paid for customs at that port. These amounts have
been principally paid upon direct importations from abroad, while more than twothirds of our foreign merchandise pays duty in the Atlantic cities ; so that the people
of the State of California have in fact paid annually into the Federal treasury over
$7,000,000. While the people of the Atlantic States pay two dollars per capita per
annum into the Federal treasury, the people of California pay over twenty dollars.
As liberal as the Federal Government has been to California, it should be remembered
that while in her infancy, just sprung out of chaos, with scarce her wings adjusted, she
has returned more than she ever received from the parental bounty; besides having
poured out upon all these States treasures of wealth that have given an impulse and
a support to agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, felt everywhere, from the Gulf
of Mexico to the Northern lakes.
While the mineral wealth of California has heretofore constituted its most marked
feature, it must not be understood that the treasures of the mine constitute its only
claim to consideration. No part of the Union, not even the rich bottoms of the Mis­
sissippi, equals in fertility the valleys of that State. We know of no other soil that
yields such rich returns to the labors of the husbandman. And this soil is not con­
fined, as many have supposed, to a few scattered valleys, but constitutes a large pro­
portion of the superficial area of the entire country. With a fertile soil there is a
uniform, invigorating, and salubrious climate, a better climate than that in which
were bred the men of old Rome, a better climate than that of Italy.
Far-seeing and intelligent men for the past century have there located (the Great
Bay of San Francisco) the point where was to grow up a great city, which would hold
the keys of the Commerce of the Pacific, and command the rich commerce not only of
that great ocean, but of the ancient East. In five short years the foundations of that
city have been laid, and already vessels freighted to and from her wharves are to be
found upon every sea and in almost every port of the civilized world.
HOW TO COMMENCE BUSINESS.

Well, boys, we doubt not that you would like to rise high in the world, and be­
come good farmers, merchants, <fcc. Here is a good motto for you—Begin at the low­
est round on the ladder and keep climbing; and here i9 a story which will illustrate
just what we want to say. One of the wealthiest merchants of New York city tells
us how he commenced business. He says:—
I entered a store and asked if a clerk was not wanted. “ No,” in a rough tone, was
the answer, all being too busy to bother with me—when I reflected that if they did
not want a clerk, they might want a laborer; but I was dressed too fine for that. I
went to my lodgings, put on a rough garb, and the next day went into the same store
and demanded if they did not want a porter, and again “ No, sir,” was the response—
when I exclaimed, in despair almost, “ a laborer i Sir, I will work at any wages.
Wages is not my object—I must have employ, and I w'ant to be useful in business.”
These last remarks attracted their attention ; and in the end I was hired as a laborer
in the basement and subcellar at a very low pay, scarcely enough to keep body and
soul together. In the basement and subcellar I soon attracted the attention of the
counting-house and chief clerk. I saved enough for my employers in little things
wasted to pay my wages ten times over, and they soon found it out. I did not let
anybody about commit petty larcenies, without remonstrance and threats of exposure,
and real exposure if remonstrance would not do. I did not ask for any ten hour law.
If I was wanted at 3 A. M., I never growled, but told everybody to go home, “ and I
will see everything right.” I loaded off at daybreak packages for the morning boats,
or carried them myself. In short, I soon became indispensable to my employers, and
I rose, and rose, until I became head of the house, with money enough, as you see, to
give me any luxury or any position a mercantile man may desire for himself and
children in this great city.




Mercantile Miscellanies.

11 1

WHAT A MORALIST SAYS OF GOLD.

One of our cotemporaries becomes quite eloquent in discoursing of gold. He looks
however, only on the dark side of his theme, and will, we think, leave the readers of
the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e with the inference that he has not succeeded in “ putting
money in his p u rs e —
GOLD !

GOLD !

GOLD 1

How shall we escape the yellow finger of this demon of the earth ! The unholy
cry is echoed everywhere, our life is a gilded thread. The letters of every printed
page point towards gold. It is echoed in every conversation that man holds with his
fellows, and from his birth to hie grave, gold and the lust of gold peoples his thoughts,
spurs his desires, tinges every fancy, and prompts every action. The matin song min­
gles with chime of gold! Gold! is rung on every tinkle of the vesper bell—gold
twines itself with every dream of love, with every aspiration after fame, even that
purchased at the cannon’s mouth. .Gold is trilled from the syren lips of beauty’s
daughter. Gold is the hoarse cry that ascends from the throats of insatiate gamblers.
Gold buys and sells the merchant's principles. Beneath that golden varnish vice
looks so attractive that even charity is compelled to shed indignant tears at the gilded
counterfeit. Where is the wisdom that gold cannot steal, and make its former pos­
sessor play the fool. See that reverend judge—that haughty secretary—that imperi­
ous governor. Gold will buy them all thrice, and make them fetch and come like
your spaniel. Gold makes man a thing of naught, only fit to hold the endless last
for shining yet unalloyed dross. Gold 1 gold! the words ring in our ears as we
write; gold is the coveted theme which echoes in our churches— the preacher means
it even when he holds aloft the sign which is not that of mammon. Gold at the cra­
dle—gold at the tomb.
Look’ at the golden lust of the merchant, who, at the sacrifice of the best years of
his life, has acquired enough to render him independent, each day of the week still
hankering after more dross, with the fiendish sentiment to get that he may keep others
from using. False dreamer and sophist, you must render to your God an account of
your stewardship. Mark, then, that boy, too lazy to work except just enough to keep
up an appearance, and bowing to images there. Poor idiot 1 learn that it is not the
image you love ; but her golden dross, and that you are but a beggar that should en­
noble manhood.
See yon wanton! Gold is hers, and for it she sold her birthright and her heaven.
And you, ye idols of fashioD, whose hair is decked with jewels, and whose limbs are
clasped with gold, are only her superior by the sport of circumstances. Cast from
your high and polished brow the glittering gewgaws, unclasp the gilded bands ; let
those black eyes flash such as gleams from the thunder-cloud as the bolt falls, or those
soft orbs of liquid blue shine like stars in a sea of azure. Gather flowers to adorn
your foreheads, as Eve did ; place on your brows earth’s offerings ; entwine the orange
blossom with tresses, the rose-bud unite with your blushes, and let the Cornelia rival
in icy dignity those snowy blossoms. There is a nobler aim for man than a passion
for gold. There is the love of power, that you may do good to your fellow man,
succor the distressed, and espouse the cause of the oppressed. Let intelligencejguide
your wandering thoughts; think, and while providing for your own household, remem­
ber there is yet a higher sphere of action to which you must be called, where the
gold you coined on earth will be as worthless as the dust of the sinews which toiled
for it.
TH E ADVENTUROUS S P IR IT OF AMERICAN COMMERCE,

A late number of the London D a i l y N e w s graphically portrays the adventurous
spirit of our American Commerce, after this manner:—
“ We own to a cordial admiration of the spirit of American Commerce, in its ad­
venturous aspect. To watch it is to witness some of the finest romance of our time.
No idea can be formed of our own older, quieter, more traditional way of setting to
work. It was an American who first thought of carrying ice to India. Instead of
going out in ballast, as was often done then, with dollars to buy some oriental cargo
to exchange from place to place, coming home with something very rich indeed, he
took out a cargo of ice from a familiar Massachusetts pond. A fourth of the cargo
melted while the people in Calcutta were learning what it meant, and the rest sold




Mercantile Miscellanies.
for six cents the pound. The next time plenty of buyers were on the lookout; scarcely
any ice had time to melt, and the price was nearly doubled ; since which time it has
been a good speculation to send ice 12,000 miles, and thrust saltpetre out of the mar­
ket. It was an American who first saw the beauty of Manilla hemp, though it was
not unknown to us. He carried home a few bales, and in ten years the importation
rose to 20,000 bales. The Americans were on excellent terms with the Chinese long
before we could make anything of them. In Salem—well named the city of peace
from its civilizing commerce—the highest order of mercantile spirit is found—a spirit
which reminds the traveler of old Venice and the Hanse towns. The particular dig­
nity coveted at Salem is membership in its museum; and to be a member it is requi­
site to have doubled both Capes, and to have brought something remarkable from far
lands. There a young man’s education finishes with his being sent, not to his travels,
but his voyage ; and a father, uncle, or friend makes him supercargo of a good freight,
and sends him to China, or Borneo, or Madagascar. Henceforth, it will probably be
to Japan, or to shake hands with the Chinese in the plains of Thibet, or with Euro­
pean travelers at Timbuctoo, for the New England merchants are penetrating to the
very heart of Africa, to handle the cotton and sell their goods. It is an every day
matter for a Salem merchant to tell his wife that they may as well go round the
world, as he has a ship ready; and then the older children are sent to school, and the
infants and their parents sail away, trafficking from land to land, in another hemisphere,
and returning with a little fortune, sun-burnt faces, and a batch of curiosities for the
museum. We hail such doings in any nation whatever, and in the American case
this is evidently their true field of conquest. If we would only emulate them as far
as suits our different circumstances—making railways in India, and raising cotton
there, and wherever in our dominions it will grow—there would soon (as we may talk
of incidents in national life being soon,) be an end of charge and recrimination ; and
offense and subtlety about Cuba’s and ‘ Uncle Tom’s Cabins,’ and fishery and bound­
ary questions would be found easy of settlement between the two most commercial
nations upon earth.”
TH E COMMERCIAL E N T E R P R IS E OF SALEM,
S alem , as most of the readers of the

M e r c h a n t s ’ M a g a z i n e are aware, is one of the
large towns “ out of Boston,” and is situated some sixteen miles in an easterly direc­
tion from the last-named place. The population of Salem, according to the census of
1850, was 20,204. The time was when its foreign trade exceeded that of any other
place in New England. In noticing the clearance of the bark Edward Koppisch,
Captain John H. Eggleston, which sailed from Salem on the 18th of last October, for
a voyage to Japan and ports in the Pacific Ocean—the Koppisch was formerly owned
in Newburyport, and Captain Eggleston, her present owner and commander, who
makes, it is believed, the first clearance from any port in the United States direct for
Japan for commercial purposes, likewise sailed the first vessel from Salem for Cali­
fornia, which was previous to the gold discovery.
The Newburyport H e r a l d says, in noticing this fact, a common clearance even to
trade with a new people would not deserve particular attention; but in this instance,
it is so perfectly characteristic of Salem, that the mind is naturally drawn to other
enterprises of late years. The H e r a l d then goes on to give the following interesting
reminiscences, which, although not new to us, may be to some of the readers of the
M e r c h a n ts’ M a g a z in e .
The H e r a l d says:—

The Commerce of this country has been almost entirely connected with the great
cities, Boston, New York, New Orleans, & c . ; yet, now and then there remains a sur­
vivor of the past generations, within whose recollections those places were little more
than villages, and who can amaze the young with stories of other towns—who can tell
us of Salem, when she astonished the world by the enterprise of her merchant princes
__the Derbys, Greys, Crowninshields, Peabodys, and others, by whom she became
more wealthy and distinguished than any other port on this continent. In that early
time, and to the present, it has been peculiar to Salem to trade where nobody else
traded, to seek new and distant peoples, and to carry out a Commerce of her own.
W e will venture even now, that Salem has commenced the trade with more different




M ercantile Miscellanies.

113

peoples in Asia, Africa, South America, and the islands of the seas, than all other
American ports put together; and if the history of her Commerce was written, it
would be one of the most valuable and interesting books ever issued from the press.
Once Salem held all the trade of the Indies, and fortunes of millions of dollars—
such as are not now known out of the great cities—were amassed therefrom. The
first American ship around the Cape of Good Hope was from Salem ; the first to
trade at Hindostan, Java, Sumatra, China, and, through the Dutch, with Japan, as
with many other Asiatics, were from Salem. The first at Madagascar, at Zanzibar,
where they retain almost the total gum and ivory trade to this day; and at other
ports in East Africa, were from Salem. She was among the first, if not the very first,
for ordinary commercial pursuits, on the west shores of Africa—and there she is the
first now. She was the first at the mouths of the great South American rivers, at
Matirided, at Para, where she retained the control for a long time, and yet leads in
the rubber trade—and other ports in South America. She opened trade with the
Feegee Islands, and has ships there now; she sent the first American goods to traffic
in New Holland ; she has her trade to-day with New Zealand, and Salem men, if not
vessels, were among the first from this quarter on the northwest coast; and now the
first ship for commercial pursuits sails from her quiet waters to Japan.
These facts for such a place, now comparatively insignificant, are singular indeed,
and a well arrayed history thereof, from the time of her fisheries and the primary
investments of Higginson, and in foreign traffic, with narratives of early voyages,
sketches of eminent sea captains, and of the leading merchants, down to the Brookhouses, Uptons, Shepherds, Bertrams, and Phillipses of those times, who are like unto
and not behind their predecessors, would be a work of intense interest.
T H E W IFE OF A MERCHANT'S CLERK,

A merchant’s clerk, of the Rue Hauteville, recently married. His master had a
niece, of Spanish birth, an orphan. She is not pretty, though very sensible and well
informed. At the balls, last winter, little or no attention was paid to her, indeed, she
eeemed to attend them rather as a whim than from inclination or amusement, as she
seldom danced. But if she did not dance, she noticed much, and listened to more.
The clerk soon observed that the lady was only invited to dance when no other part­
ner could be obtained. She herself had already noticed the same fact. Being a gal­
lant man, he acted accordingly. The incidents that led to the d e n o u e m e n t may be
easily divined. In six weeks after his first dance with the fair Spaniard, he obtained
her permission to ask her uncle for her hand in marriage. He, astonished, gave his
clerk’s proposal a very cool reception, and then had a long interview with his niece.
Finally, however, all was arranged, and the lovers were married on Tuesday. The
Thursday after, at breakfast, Adeline said to her husband, who exhibited considerable
chagrin at being compelled to return to the duties of his office thus early in the honey­
moon.
“ Very well—don’t go there—go there no more 1”
“ My love, it is very easy to say so, but ”—
“ Easy to say and easy to do-—both. I have a million and a half. Nobody knows
it but my uncle. I always made a point of forgetting it myself, because I wished to
choose a really disinterested husband. There need be no more office work for you,
if you do not wish it. Yet still, my advice is, husband, that you neglect nothing.”
TH E HONEST SHOP BOY.

“ That is right, my boy,” said the merchant, smiling approvingly upon the bright
face of his shop boy. He had brought him a dollar that lay amongst the dust and
paper of the sweepings.
“ That is right,” he said again, “ always be honest; it is the best policy.”
“ Should you say that ?” asked the lad timidly.
“ Should I say what ? that honesty is the best policy ? Why it is a time honored
old saying. I don’t know about the elevating tendency of the thing; the spirit is
rather narrow, I’ll allow.”
“ So grandmother taught me,” replied the boy, “ she said we should do right be­
cause God approved it, without thinking what man would say.”
The merchant turned abruptly toward the desk, and the thoughtful-faced little lad
resumed his duties.




774

M ercantile Miscellanies.

In the course of the morning a rich and influential citizen called at the store. While
conversing, he said, I have no children of my own, and I fear to adopt one. My ex­
perience is that a boy of twelve (the age I should prefer) is fixed in his habits, and if
they are bad ”—
“ Stop 1” said the merchant, “ did you see that lad, yonder ?”
“ With that noble brow 8 Yes, what of him ?”
“ He is remarkable”—
“ Yes, yes—that’s what everybody tells me who have boys to dispose of. No
doubt he will do well before your face. I’ve tried a good many, and have been de­
ceived more than once.”
“ I was going to say,” remarked the merchant calmly, “ that he is remarkable for
principle. Never have I known him to deviate fromtheright, sir—never. He would
restore a pin ; indeed, (the merchant colored,) he’s a little too honest for my employ.
He points out flaws in goods, and I cannot teach him prudence in that respect. Com­
mon prudence, you know, is—is—common—common—prudence—ahem 1”
The stranger made no assent, and the merchant hurried on to say:—
“ He is a parish orphan—taken by an old woman out of pity, when yet a babe.
Poverty has been his lot. No doubt he has suffered from hunger and cold uncounted
times; his hands have been frozen, so have bis feet. Sir, that boy would have died
rather than been dishonest. I can’t account for it, upon my word I can’t.
“ Have you any claim upon him ?”
“ Not the least in the world, except what common benevolence offers. Indeed, the
boy is entirely too good for me.”
“ Then I will adopt him; and if I have found one really honest boy, thank God.”
The little fellow rode home in a carriage, and was ushered into a luxurious room;
and he who sat shivering in a cold corner, listening to the words of a pious old crea­
ture who had been taught of the spirit, became one of the best and greatest divines
that England ever produced.
T H E CAMPHOR OF COMMERCE— A FACT TOUCHING IT .

Camphor is a vegetable gum, semi-transparent and colorless. It is exceedingly
volatile. When exposed to the air it flies off in vapor. On account of its strong
aromatic smell it is much used to preserve cabinets and clothes from moths and other
insects. From its strong smell has arisen the idea that it is a preservative against
infective disorders ; as it is poisonous, disease is more liable from the camphor than
from infection. Although camphor is dissolved in water only in a small quantity,
sufficient, however, is taken up to give the water both its aromatic odor and bitter
taste. If some shavings of camphor are thrown on the surface of perfectly clean
water in a large basin, the pieces immediately begin to move rapidly, some round on
their centres, others from place to place. The cause of these motions is unknown. Cam­
phor exists in many plants, but is chiefly obtained from two—one a native of China and
Japan, much resembling the laurel. It is obtained by chopping the leaves, branches,
roots, & c ., into small pieces and placing them in a still, with water. The other cam­
phor tree is a native of Borneo and Sumatra. The camphor is obtained by splitting
open the tree, when it is found in large pieces in the interior.
ACORN AND CHICORY COFFEE.

There is in Berlin, Prussia, according to a correspondent of the U n i t e d S t a t e s G a z e t t e ,
a large establishment for the manufacture of coffee from acorns and chicory, the arti­
cle being made separately from each. The chicory is mixed with an equal weight of
turnips to render it sweeter. The acorn coffee, which is made from roasted and ground
acorns, is sold in large quantities, and frequently with rather a medicinal than an
economical view, as it is thought to have a wholesome effect upon the bloods particu­
larly of scrofulous persons. Acorn coffee is, however, made and used in many parts
of Germany for the sole purpose of adulterating genuine coffee, and has been import­
ed into the United States for the same use, so that, no doubt, many persons who
would shrink from knowingly drinking acorn coffee have actually drunk it under
another name. If it be medicinal in its nature, as is said, the use of it ought to be
encouraged. And at any rate, as it is healthy in its nature, and can be made very
cheaply from the superabundance of acorns in our forests, it seems to recommend
itself under certain circumstances as a substitute for coffee, the price of which would
thereby be much reduced.




M ercantile Miscellanies.

11b

PROGRESS OP FREE TRADE 1ST EUROPE.
The friends of free trade in France have formed the plan of an extensive associa
tion—a free-trade league, somewhat resembling the corn law league in England. An
application is published in the late Paris papers, with numerous signatures, addressed
to the minister of the interior, asking that the signers may be permitted to form them­
selves into a society, the object of which is to convince the country of the great benefit
to be derived to all classes from an extensive reduction of the customs tariff. Among
the signatures for Paris are those of M. Carlier, ex-prefect of police, M. Michel Cheva­
lier, M. Horace Say, several deputies, members of the Chamber of Commerce, judges
of the tribunals, the two Pereires, and other capitalists, and many of them leading
merchants and manufacturers. For Lyons the signatures are equally numerous and
important. This is also the case for Limoges and Alsace; the principal manufacturers
there are among the petitioners. For Havre there are very few signatures. Boulognesur-Mer is represented by M. Adam, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, and
some of the principal manufacturers. Other petitions to the same effect, have, it is
said, been drawn up at Marseilles, Bordeaux, and many of the great trading towns of
France.
The doctrine of free-trade is making manifest progress in France; and every year
embraces a greater number of the politicians as well as the writers of that countryIt is said that the emperor himself favors the cause of free trade.
Meantime other countries of Europe are breaking, one by one, the fetters of the old
commercial despotism. A letter published in the London T i m e s , dated Turin, August
19th, announces that a treaty has been signed at that place by the representatives of
the British and Sardinian governments, securing free access to the coasting trade of
each country by the subjects of the other. It is said also, that a treaty with similar
provisions has been ratified at Constantinople between Sardinia and Turkey.
CREDIT IJV PA RIS.

There is an anecdote which began twelve years ago, and the denouement of which
has but lately occurred. The C a f e F o y has, or had, a standing rule never to call back
or ask an explanation of any individual leaving the establishment without paying.
The doctrine was, if the gentleman is merely forgetful, he will rectify the error the
next day; if the omission is a swindle, it is better to suffer the loss than provoke pub­
licity, and perhaps unpleasant consequences.
For five years an individual had breakfasted regularly at the C a f e F o y , and as
regularly had acquitted his each morning’s indebtedness. At last he omitted to do
so, but no notice was taken of it. He went on in the same way for a week, but as
he was a habitue of so long standing, it excited no uneasiness. The waiter finally
asked the proprietor if he should remind the gentleman of his delinquency. “ By no
means,” was the reply; “ he has been punctual in his payments for five years, and if
he is less so now, it is perhaps that he is in want of money. At any rate, do not let
him suppose, by a look or word or any want of attention, that his recent irregularity
has been noticed.” At the end of eight months the gentleman disappeared, leaving
his bill unsettled. It was put down to profit and loss, and in five years more had
almost passed from the recollection of the master of the house. Not long ago he re­
ceived from a distant port a shipment of genuine Moka, worth a thousand dollars, and
a draft upon a Paris banker for eleven hundred francs, the approximate amount of
two hundred and fifty breakfasts. The latter was a reimbursement—the former a
“ recognition of an act of delicacy, rare in any station in life.”
A SAMPLE CLERK WAIVTED IN A DRUG STORE.

Jem B. is a wag. A joke to Jem is both food and raiment; and whenever and
•wherever there is an opening forjfun, he has it.
Jem was recently in a drug store, when a youth, apparently fresh from the




Mercantile Miscellanies.

776

“ mounting,” entered the store, and at once accosted Jem, stating that he was in
search of a job.
“ What kind of a job ?” inquired the wag.
“ Oh, a’most anything—I want to git a kind of a ginteel jo b ; I’m tired o’ farmin’,
an’ kin turn my hand to most anything.”
“ Well, we want a man—a good, strong, healthy man, as sample clerk.”
“ What’s the wages ?”
“ Wages are good ; we pay 81,000 to a man in that situation.”
“ What’s a fellow have to do t”
“ Oh, merely to test medicines, that’s all. It requires a stout man, one of good
constitution, and after he gets used to it, he doesn’t mind it. You see, we are very
particular about the quality of our medicines, and before we sell any, we test every
parcel. You would be required to take— say six or seven ounces of castor-oil some
days, with a few doses of rhubarb, aloes, Croton-oil, and similar preparations. Some
days you would not be required to take anything ; but, as a general thing, you can
count upon—say from six to ten doses of something daily. As to the work, that does
not amount to much—the testing department would be the principal labor required of
you ; and, as I said before, it requires a person of very healthy organization to endure
it; but you look hearty, and I guess you would suit us. That young roan— pointing
to a very pale-faced, slim-looking youth, who happened to be present—has filled the
post for the past two weeks; but he is hardly stout enough to stand it. We should
like to have you take right hold, if you are ready, and if you say so, we’ll begin to­
day. Here’s a new barrel of castor-oil just come in; I’ll go and draw an ounce------”
Here verdant, who had been gazing intently upon the slim youth, interrupted him
with—
“ N-no, no, I g-u-ess not; not to-day, anyhow. I’ll go down and see my aunt; and
ef I o’clude to come, I’ll come up termorrer an’ let you know.”
As he did not return, it is to be supposed he considered the work too hard.
T H E M ATERIAL FOR ADULTERATING TEA.

There is scarcely an article known in Commerce exempt from the clever inventions
of the dishonest dealer, either as maker or vendor. Some few months since sixty
tons of one of these adulterious compounds, purporting to be Gunpowder Tea, was
received in Hew York from San Francisco. The J o u r n a l o f C o m m e r c e stated at the
time that there was “ not the least smell or taste of tea about it, but in a p p e a r a n c e it
is the most complete imitation we ever saw. It is probably thin paper rolled in mud •
but in weight, color, and peculiar shape of the leaf, and everything else but f l a v o r , it
cannot be distinguished from the genuine article. Even the little bits of broken stonesseen in good samples of Gunpowder Tea, are imitated to the life—apparently from
the same material. Once mixed with genuine tea, the adulteration could hardly be
discovered ; and it may be well for dealers to keep a look-out as to the disposal of
this invoice.”
_____________________
ICELAND A FIELD FOR COMMERCIAL E N T E R P R IS E ,

A correspondent of the London M o r n i n g C h r o n i c l e says that the Iceland papers
exult in the new Free Trade Bill, and anticipate large Commerce, especially with.
England. As an instance, they state that in the last two years there has been an ex­
port from Iceland to England of 563 young horses, at an average of a guinea a piece ;
and this branch alone, which is quite in its infancy, can be indefinitely increased. In
1851 the population of Iceland amounted to 60,206. In 1842 there were 2,442 births,
and 1,444 deaths; surplus of births over deaths, 998—total population, 61,204. This
interesting country is therefore progressing favorably, and it only wants the kindly
co-operation of English capital to advance rapidly. Its resources have hitherto been
suffered to lie dormant. I (says the C h r o n i c l e s correspondent) can assure our coun­
trymen that they will find this island a noble field for commercial operations. Its
mines, sheep, horses, wool, fish, and a number of other articles, will give a large re­
turn for any trouble bestowed on them. Now that the old monopoly is broken up,
it is to be hoped that our merchants will not allow this hint to escape them.




The Booh Trade.

Ill

THE BOOK TRADE.
— N o d e s A m b ro sia n c e .
By the late J ohn W ilson, Professor o f Moral Philosophy
in the University o f Edinburgh, Editor Blackwood’s Magazine, author o f the Isle
o f Palms, <fec., and W m. M aginn, LL. D , J. G. L ockhart, J ames H ogg, dtc. With
Memoirs*and Notes. By R. S helton M ackenzie, D.C. L., editor Shiel’s “ Sketches
o f the Irish Bar.” 12mo., 5 vols., pp. 486, 432, 469, 468, 465. New York: J. S.
Redfield.
This is beyond all question the most complete edition of the famous “ Noctes Am­
brosian® ” of Blackwood, which contributed so largely to the reputation of that cele­
brated repository of conservative literature and politics. The biographies of Wilson,
Lockhart, Hogg and Maginn, the accredited authors of these sparkling scintillations
of genius, wit and humor, and the copious notes and illustrations, so necessary to a
true understanding of the allusions with which the work is crowded, and the personal
satire it contains, are features which lend a value and interest to the work they could
not otherwise possess. These have been prepared by Dr. Mackenzie, one of the best
names in English literature, in the most scholarly and satisfactory manner. The
History of the Rise and Progress of Blackwood’s Magazine, from the pen of Dr. Mac­
kenzie, is very properly introduced in connection with the papers that formed so
unique a feature of that work. The volumes are illustrated with first rate' engrav­
ings of the distinguished writers of the “ Noctes.” Mr. Redfield, the liberal and enter­
prising publisher, has produced the work in a form and style that must commend it
to every library gatherer in this country. It may and must be regarded as the only
complete library edition of the work that has been or is likely to be published on this
side the Atlantic.

1.

2. — W o o d c r a f t : or Hawks About the Dovecot. A Story of the South at the Close
of the Revolution. By W illiam G ilmore S imms, Esq., author of “ The Partisan’s
“ Mellichampe,” “ Katharine Walton,” “ The Scout,” “ The Yemasse,” “ Guy Rivers,”
dtc. 12mo., pp. 518. New York: J. S. Redfield.
The American people are greatly indebted to Mr. Redfield for producing in a sub­
stantial style a handsome library edition of the complete works of the most distin­
guished novelist of the “ sunny South.” The present story is one of a series connected
with the events of the great American revolution. It was first published some years
since, and has probably received the final revision of the author. Without making
any comparison, we may be allowed to remark, that the historical and other romances
of Mr. Simms are deserving of a high rank in our purely American literature. The
South, nay, more, the American nation, may well be proud of possessing a novelist
and poet so capable of illustrating their history.
,
3. — T h e W r i t i n g s o f T h o m a s J e f f e r s o n ; being his Autobiography, Correspondence,
Reports. Messages, Addresses, and other Writings, Official and Private, published
by order of the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, from the Original
Manuscripts deposited in the Department of State, with Explanatory Notes, Tables
of Contents, and a Copious Index to each volume, as well as a General Index to the
whole. By H. A. W ashington. Vols. 3, 4 and 6, 8vo., pp. 599, 591 and 612. New
York : Riker, Thorne ds Co.
The third, fourth and fifth volumes of the present collection of the varied writings
of Jefferson, include the letters written while in Europe, from 1784 to 1790, and the
letters written after his return to the United States down to his death, in 1826. We
have given in former numbers of the M e r c h a n t s ' M a g a z i n e , some account of the char­
acter of this great national work, and we repeat the title above as it gives a concise
and comprehensive description of the contents of the volumes published. The com­
plete writings of Jefferson should be read by all who desire to understand the history
and philosophy of our free democratic institutions, and become familiar with the mind
and character of their great exponent. The nine or ten volumes which will include
the larger part of the most interesting and important writings of Mr. Jefferson, must
be regarded as indispensable to every public library. We have ever regarded Mr.
Jefferson, in his views and opinions, as far in advance of the statesmen of his time, and
but comparatively few in our own day have attained so commanding an eminence in
the science of popular government and democratic institutions.




11 8
4.

— A

The Book Trade.
C o m p e n d iu m o f th e T h e o lo g ic a l

a n d S p iritu a l

W ritin g s o f

E m a n u el Sw eden ­

being a Systematic and Orderly Epitome of all his Religious Works; select­
ed from more than thirty volumes, and embracing all his Fundamental Principles,
with copious Illustrations and Teachings. With an appropriate Introduction, pre­
faced by a Full Rife of the author ; with a brief view of all his Works on Science,
Philosophy and Theology. 8vo., pp. 574. Boston ; Crosby <St Nichols. New York:
Fowlers ife Wells.
The contents and character of this large and handsome volume are concisely and
comprehensively described in the title page, as above quoted. In its preparation
Professor BronsoD, who is understood to be compiler, brought to the labor an earnest
devotion to the views and principles of the Swedish Seer, combined with a thorough
knowledge of his voluminous writings, religious and philosophical, as well as good
taste and sound judgment. The writings of Swedenborg are quite voluminous, and
his spiritual works abound in repetitions ; and it appears to be the object of Mr. B. in
this collection to avoid these, and furnish the reader with a comprehensive compen­
dium of the writings of a man, whom the compiler regards as “ the most transcendent
luminary that has ever yet shone upon the world.” He was certainly one of the most
extraordinary men that have ever lived. We acknowledge our obligations to Dr.
Bronson for culling from the works of his author just what we, and nine-tenths of
Swedenborg’s readers, will be glad to possess. Swedenborg, in his day, divided the
readers of his writings into five classes. The first, he said, neglected them entirely,
because they are in another persuasion, or because they are in no faith. The second
receive them as scientifics, or as objects of mere curiosity; the third receive them
intellectually, and are in some measure pleased with them ; the fourth in a persuasive
manner; and the fifth, he concludes, receive them with delight, and confirm them in
their lives. To these several classes we commend the present volume, and particu­
larly to those who are in ignorance of the character of his remarkable writings on
subjects of the deepest interest to the human race.
b org :

5.

— T h e R h y m e a n d R ea so n o f C o u n try L i f e ;
or Selections from Fields Old and
New. By the author of “ Rural Hours,” etc,, etc. 8vo„ pp. 428. New Y ork: G. P
Putnam & Co.
Miss Cooper, a daughter of the celebrated American novelist of that name, has
evinced, in the preparation of this really unique volume, all the characteristics of a
successful book-maker. Correct taste, sound judgment, with a full appreciation of
“ the good, the beautiful and the true,” in country life, are displayed in every page of
the present work. The selections here embodied relate to one subject only—but that
comprehends a very wide sphere—that of rural life. She has explored its many dif­
ferent fields, old and new, and gathered and grouped all the variety from them that
the most capacious spirit could desire. In it she has brought together, classified and
arranged cleverly, many beautiful passages from the best writers, mingled with others
interesting rather from their quaintness and oddity, or their antiquity. Not only have
the poets of our own tongue in England and America, been laid under contribution for
the reader’s amusement, but translations from some dozen different languages havo
also been introduced.

6.

— M a r t i n M e r r iv a le X h is M a r k .
By P aul C rayton. 12mo. Boston: Phillips,
Sampson & Co. New York : J. C. Derby.
This story, after the manner of Dickens and other writers of the day, “ is being ”
published in semi-monthly parts. The hero of the story, an ambitious youth from the
country, who, coming poor and inexperienced to the city, attempts to earn a livelihood
and win a name in literary pursuits. In tracing his varied fortunes the author gives
us some amusing and characteristic sketches of life and society, with some clever
touches of humor and satire. The previous writings of “ Paul Crayton ” have been
extensively read and very generally admired. Many of his deliueations would not
detract from the fame of a Dickens.

7. — L e t t e r s f r o m R o m e , A . D . 138. By the author of “ Clouds and Sunshine,” “ Spir­
itual Visitors,” etc. 12mo., pp. 239. New York : D. Appleton & Co.
This we take it is an imaginary correspondence between distinguished Romans.
The volume contains twenty letters from Marcus Sextorius to Lucius Virginius, Marcellina to Octavia, Publius to Caius, Julia to Valeria, and others. The author’s epis­
tolary style is easy and graceful, and the series of letters may serve as a suggestive
model for friendly and familiar correspondence.




119

The Boole Trade.
8. — T h e

P a r a b le s

o f t h e N eu> T e s t a m e n t

P r a ctic a lly

U n fo ld e d .

By Rev.

W

il l ia m

B acon S tevens, D. D., Rector of St. Andrews, Philadelphia. Elegantly Illustrated.

Royal 8vo., pp. 326. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler.
The parable has ever been regarded as one of the most agreeable and attractive
methods of conveying to the mind the salutary lessons of wisdom and truth. It con­
veys the latter in a less offensive or more engaging form than that of direct assertion.
In using parables as the Media of instruction, the Great Teacher of the New Testa­
ment conformed to the usage of all preceding ages, and to the constitution of the hu­
man mind. The design of the volume before us, as its title indicates, is a practical^
unfolding of the impressive parables of Christ, as we find them recorded in the writ­
ings of the Apostles. The author does not give the explanations of various writers,
nor store up in his pages the treasures of exegetical criticism, as such a plan would
have made his work less acceptable to the popular mind, which he specially aims to
reach, enlighten, and expand. The publisher, aided by the artist, has produced a
book of great beauty, fitly designed as a gift for the approaching Christmas and New
Year. It has, however, a perennial value, and like the parables it illustrates, will
stand the test of time.
9. — E l o c u t i o n ; or Mental and Vocal Philosophy: embracing the Principles of Read­
ing and Speaking, and designed for the Development and Cultivation of both Body
and Mind, in accordanee with the Nature, Uses, and Destiny of Man, etc., etc. By
Professor C. P. B r o n s o n , A. M., M. D. 8vo., pp. 881. Boston: Otis Clapp and Cros­
by, Nichols & Co.
This volume contains all that its title indicates, and forms altogether one of the most
unique and instructive works of the kind we have ever seen. It is not a mere dry
treatise on the elementary principles of elocution; it is a treatise on elocution, and in
our judgment a good one ; but it is more—it embodies a fund of information, wisdom
and philosophy, the earnest study of which cannot well fail of enlarging the mind, and
elevating its moral and mental faculties. Some idea of its contents may be learned,
when we state that the volume contains near three hundred choice anecdotes ; three
thousand oratorical and poetical readings; five thousand proverbs, maxims, and lacon­
ics, and several hundred engravings. The present edition (the fortieth thousand) has
been revised and corrected, with large additions, embracing original and selected dia­
logues and speeches. It is just such a book as we desire to see widely circulated
among the young men of America.
10. — A J o u r n e y t o C e n t r a l A f r i c a : or Life and Landscape from Egypt to the Negro
Kingdoms of the White Nile. B y B ayard T aylor . With a Map and Illustrations
by the author. 12mo., pp. 522. New York: George P. Putnam & Co.
Books of travel are as plenty as blackberries,” to use an old saw, which is not
always correct, unless indeed, “ the exception proves the rule.” Mr. Taylor, in choos­
ing fresh fields, and paths which few had trodden before him, evinced his usual good
6ense and sound judgment. Those, however, who have read his other books of travel,
would scarcely need a recommendation to induce them to take up anything from hi3
graphic pen. His pure and beautiful style, and his ready perception of whatever is
interesting in “ life ” or pleasing in “ landscape,” gives a value to whatever path he
attempts to portray. The present volume is not wanting in the characteristics that
constitute the readable and the agreeable traveler. It is a model in its way, and as
such we commend it to all who would be amused and instructed at the same time.
11. — P o e m s . By T homas W illiam P arsons. Boston: Ticknor Fields.
Dr. Parsons evinces much true poetic power and imaginative faculties of a high
order. There is classic beauty in some of his productions. His style at times, has
been likened to Milton, yet he has originality. This volume contains some fifty pieces
on varied subjects, grave and gay ; one on the death of Daniel Webster, and the Hud­
son River, are fine productions. Several addresses written for theatrical inaugurations
are included in the collection. The poets of America have in this author one of their
most brilliant stars.
12. — U n c l e J e r r y ' s l e t t e r s t o Y o u n g M o t h e r s . Compiled by A nna E. P orter . 18mo.,
pp. 144. Boston : John P. Jewett & Co.
This book contains some useful hints on the physical, moral, and intellectual train­
ing of children, the necessity of a personal supervision, and other subjects interesting
to mothers.




180

The Book Trade.

IS.— O r n a m e n t s o f M e m o r y ; or Beauties of History, Romance and Poetry. With
Eighteen Engravings, from Original Designs. 4to., pp. 189. New York: D. Ap­
pleton A Co.
Historical events, embellished with the best efforts of the novelist’s art, it is well
remarked, have long been a favorite study with the lovers of polished literature. We
treasure up passages of our favorite authors, and remember and dwell upon them with
pleasure. Taking advantage of this taste, or passion, the editor of the volume before
us has given what may be esteemed the “ Ornaments of Memory,” richly illustrated
with choice gems of history, romance and poetry, and embellished with eighteen fine
engravings on steel, drawn from some of the best specimens of the painter’s art, and
which may well challenge comparison with any which have ever been executed.
Among the engraved illustrations we notice faithful copies from the paintings of Cole,
Leutze, Durand, Ranney, Hinckley, and other American artists of merit. On the
whole the volume embodies some of the purest productions of the pen, with plates
from paintings of a high order of artistic skill. It is a fitting “ ornament ” of “ mem­
ory,” and well may grace the center table of every “ family circle ” in which culture,
taste, refinement, and a love of the beautiful predominate.
14. — T h e M e a n i n g o f W o r d s : analyzed into Words and Verbal Things, and TTnverbal
Things classified iuto Intellections, Sensations, and Emotions. By A. B. J ohnson,
author of a “ Treatise on Banking,” “ Religion in its Relations to the Present Life,”
etc., etc. 12mo., pp. 266. New York: D. Appleton A Co.
It is out of the question, in the little space allotted to our “ book-trade ” notices, to
give our readers anything like an adequate idea of the contents or character of this
volume, and we should do the author great injustice were we to make the attempt.
Mr. Johnson possesses an eminently sound, acute, philosophical, and analytical mind,
and is very clever in the treatment of every subject he attempts to discuss. His
style is terse, vigorous, and original. These characteristics of mind and manner mark
every page and paragraph of the present work. We trust, however, the reader of
this notice will not take our word in the matter, but examine for himself, as we feel
quite sure he will add much to his store of information by so doing; that is, if he
have any taste for the study of “ words,” which Mr. J. has so ingeniously “ analyzed ”
into “ unverbal things,” Ac. The importance of the treatise will be apparent to all
who agree with Blair, who truly says, that in learning to arrange words correctly, we
are learning to think correctly.
15. — J e r u s a l e m a n d i t s V i c i n i t y ; A Series of Familiar Lectures on the Sacred Locali­
ties connected with the Week before the Resurrection. By W. H. O denhkimkb,
M. A., Rector of St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia. 12mo., pp. 218. Philadelphia :
E. H. Butler A Co.
Six lectures connected with the week before the resurrection as observed in the
Episcopal and Catholic Churches. The author follows the plan of the Gospels. With­
out following the chronological arrangement of events selected for each day, he con­
veys in a systematic form what he conceives to be appropriate spiritual instruction,
as well as topographical information, connecting his references to “ Storied scenes, and
haunts of sacred lore.” He has visited the places in “ Holy Land” he so'gracefully
describes. The volume is charmingly illustrated with appropriate engravings, and
forms altogether a beautiful gift book for the approaching Christmas, or any other
season of the year. It possesses a perennial value and interest.
16. — T h e P a s t o r ’ s W e d d i n g G i f t . By W m. M. T hater , author of “ Hints for the
Household,” “ Spots in our Hearts of Charity.” 18mo., pp. 108. Boston : John P.
Jewett A Co.
This is a pretty little gift-book, beautifully printed on fine paper, and will do very
well for a present from clergymen to married couples. It contains advice to the mar­
ried, and several poems of some merit on “ Love,” “ Hope,” and “ Broken Ties;” also
the “ Bachelor’s Soliloquy,” Ac.
1*7.— R e g i n a l d L y l e . By Miss P ardoe, author of “ The Life of Marie de Medicis,”
“ Louis the Fourteenth and the Court of France,” “ Confessions of a Pretty Woman,”
Ac. 12mo., pp. 842. New York : Burgess A Day,
The novels of Miss Pardoe have had numerous readers. Her descriptive and narra­
tive powers are of a high order; and those who have read one of her books, will be
very apt to read more.




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— B i o g r a p h y o f t h e R e v . f l o s e a B a l l o u . By his Youngest Son, M aturin M. B a l l o u ,
12mo., pp. 404. Boston: Abel Tompkins.
Mr. Ballou was one of the earliest in Boston to preach the doctrine of Universal
Salvation. We heard him twenty-five or thirty years ago, when we were a mere
boy, and although we have not from that time to his death, we are glad to possess
these memorials of his life and character. The biography, a simple and apparently
faithful narrative of facts, is a beautiful tribute of filial affection—a tribute worthily
paid by the scholarly author to the father who instilled into his mind the love of learn­
ing. The author aims to illustrate “ the harmony of a Christian character, the daily
beauty of whose life accorded with that of his public career; through whose existence
religion ran like a silver thread, linking all its component parts together.” The un­
prejudiced and liberal of every sect may read the book with equal pleasure and profit.

18.

— F a m o u s P e r s o n s a n d P l a c e s . By If. P. W illis . 12mo., pp. 492. New York :
Charles Scribner.
No writer of the present day so gracefully and so graphically portrays persons and
places as the author of these sketches of scenes and society. In the “ whim of the
hour,” its manners, fashions, and those ephemeral trifles, which constitute, in a great
measure, the “ form and pressure ” of all that is noteworthy in this moving, living
world, Mr. Willis excels all his cotemporaries, and, to the “ best of our knowledge and
belief,” all his predecessors. His genius, taste, discrimination, truthfulness, and phi­
losophy, (and he has an abundance of the last, as well as the first-named quality,)
permeate every page and paragraph of his polished pen. Every editorial in the
“ Home Journal” is well worth preserving, and will form in all time, part and parcel
of the literature of the nineteenth century.
19.

20. — F r u i t s a n d F a r i n a c e a t h e P r o p e r F o o d o f M a n ; being an Attempt to Prove
from History, Anatomy, Physiology and Chemistry, that the Original, Natural, and
Best Diet of Man is derived from the Vegetable Kingdom. By J ohn S mith . With
Notes and Illustrations. By It. T. T kall, M. D. Prom the second London edition.
12mo., pp. 314. New York: Fowlers & Wells.
The design of this work is concisely stated in the title quoted above. The views
advocated differ widely from the various writers of the past on dietetics, and are at
variance with the habits and customs of society. It is nevertheless an interesting and
suggestive treatise, evincing considerable research, and pleasurable, to say the least,
arguments. As a compendium of the evidences and reasonings on the whole subject
of diet, it is as full and complete as the number of pages into which it is compressed
will permit.
21. — T h e E v i d e n c e s o f C h r i s t i a n i t y , as exhibited in the Writings of its Apologists
down to Augustine. Hulsean Prize Essay. By W. J. B olton, Professor in <ionville and Caius College, Cambridge. 12mo., pp. 302. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.
The work before us received the Hulsean prize in England in 1852—a prize con­
ferred annually for many years, and originally established by a legacy from the Rev.
John Hulse, of Elsworth, in 1777. The essay is divided into six “ arguments.” These
are drawn from antecedent probability, from antiquity, prophecy, miracles, superior
morality, the reasonableness of the doctrine, and finally from the success of the gos­
pel. The work displays research and learning, and will, no doubt, be acceptable to
those who require other evidence than their own consciousness of the truth and excel­
lence of Christianity.
22. — S i s t e r A g n e s ; or the Captive Nun. A Picture of Convent Life. By a Clergy­
man’s Widow, author of “ The Orphan’s Friend,” “ The Widow’s Friend,” & c . 12mo.
pp. 412. New York: Riker, Thorne <Sc Co.
This tale, by an English lady, contains what purports to be an exposition of Jesuit­
ism and of nunneries unveiled, and is written in the desire of inducing persons to
pause before entering such places, and of adding an impetus to the movement in
England for obtaining an efficient inspection and control of British nunneries.
23. — T e n d e r G r a s s f o r L i t t l e L a m b s . By Rev. C ornelius W inter B olton. New
York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Six stories of a religious character, as will be inferred from the titles, viz.: 1,
Temptation; 2, Redemption; 3, Repentance; 4, Faith; 5, the Song of the Angels ;
6, the Resurrection of the Body.
»




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24. — T h e A n g e l o f t h e H o u s e h o l d . By T. S. A r t h u r . 12mo., pp. 211. Boston: L.
P. Crown & Co.
A simple domestic story, beautifully illustrating the power of kindness upon the
human heart. The angel of the household, in the form of an infant, comes to a home
which was before all strife and ill temper, and with her unconscious influence becomes
a real blessing to its inmates. The love and innocence which the little foundling dif­
fuses around her, and calls out, from the care extended towards her,cau3cs a complete
reformation in this abode of contention. The bad effects of scandal are shown, and how
much injury a single individual may do by indulging in that sin, which is so frequently
the bane of society. Many of the scenes in the story, particularly those interviews of
the village gossip with her neighbors, are finely delineated. It is a story exposing
the prevalent foibles of social and domestic life, and cannot fail in its mission, to do
good. The reader, while enjoying the story, will be impressed with its simplicity and
truthfulness.
25. — O u t l i n e s o f H i s t o r y : Illustrated by numerous Geographical and Historical Notes
and Maps. 8vo., pp. 845. New York: Ivison & Phinney.
The author of this work has given, we should judge, a judiciously arranged general
history, in which he has embodied the results of the best modern writers with very
considerable success. The author has endeavored to bring out conspicuously the more
important nations, grouping around them as lesser lights those of minor greatness.
The work is supplied with copious historical and geographical notes, and in addition
to the general analysis given in the table of contents, a rather minute one of each
chapter or section. The author in speaking of the “ Philosophy of History,” disclaims
any other merit than that of having laboriously gathered and analyzed the results of
the researches of others, and reconstructed them with some degree of unity of plan,
and for a good purpose, into these forms of his own.
26. — T h e
ok

’Em .”

W id e A w a k e

G ift

12mo, pp. 312.

a n d K n o w N o th in g

1855. Edited by “ O.ve
Boston: Phillips, Sampson

T oken f o r

New York: J. C. Derby.

Co.
This volume contains extracts from the speeches of eminent Americans, and papers
on subjects of a national character, together with articles advocating the principles of
the new organization called “ Know Nothings.” There are also scattered through the
book poems and national songs. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution
of the United States, and the words of Webster, Chief Justice Marshall, Bancroft,
Sparks, and Everett appropriately find a place, and we should like also to say that
the Token contained something more of the gallant Harry Clay’s than a text to an
article on “ American Women,” from that able and spirited press, the New York Mir­
ror, which, by the way, has furnished several pieces for this compilation.
&

27. — N e w R e c e i p t s f o r C o o k i n g . By Miss L eslie . Comprising all the New and
Approved Methods. 12mo., pp. 520. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson.
The name of Miss Leslie is a sufficient assurance of the value of this book on cook­
ing. She has published heretofore one or two works on cookery and housewifery,
which have been very successful. The present volume contains over one thousand
new and tried receipts for cookiDg and for the preparation of domestic liquors, perfu­
mery, remedies, laundry and needle work ; also rules for the preparation of meals,
with appropriat e combinations of dishes for each meal, the whole comprising a vast
amount of useful information pertaining to domestic economy.
28. — F i t z - H a r o l d ; or the Temptation. Altered and Enlarged from the German. By
S arah A. M veks . New York: Robert Carter & Brother.
This is a religious story, designed to entertain young readers as well as to instruct
them. It aims to show how sin, clothed in the garb of virtue, assaults and sometimes
overcomes one of good principles and careful training, and illustrates how out Of the
mouths of babes and sucklings truth has been ordained.
29. — T h e

or the Magic Fife. A Story of the Olden Time. By G ustavs
18mo., pp, 155. New
York : Charles Scribner.
A characteristically German magical tale, and one that has amused the children of
Gel many in one form or another for the last half century, and in its English dress
will, no doubt, equally delight the children of America.
Rat

C a tc h er ;

M eritz . Translated from the German by Mrs. R. C. Conant.




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30.— R u r a l L i f e i n E n g l a n d . By W illiam H owitt , author o f Vi s i t s to Remarkable
Places,” etc., etc. In two volumes, 376 and 372. Philadelphia: Parry & M’Millan,
successors to A. Hart.
The descriptions of the life of the aristocracy and the English agricultural popula­
tion, the picturesque and moral features of the country, the sketch of the habits,
amusements, and condition of the people, are happily drawn. A great portion of the
author’s life from boyhood has been amid rural scenes, and he has visited every sec­
tion of the country, and witnessed domestic life in lordly halls and humble cottages.
He has visited the valleys, th?mountains, and the sea-coast, surveying the lankmarks
of the past, and noting living men, manners, and things. Mr. Howitt quotes Willis’
description of English aristocratical life, as one of the most perfect and graphic de­
scriptions ever written.
O u r H o n e y m o o n , and other Comicalities from Punch.
12mo., pp. 571. Hew
York; Stringer & Townsend.
This book contains a selection of some of the choice and sparkling productions that
have appeared in the mirth-provoking “ Punch,” that well-known journal, devoted to
wit and humor, which has enlisted among its contributors the most eminent writers of
England, such as Dickens, Thackeray, Mark Timon, Douglass Jerrold, and poor Tom
Hood. From each of these named authors it has been the aim in this volume to se­
lect such productions as would best convey to the reader an idea of the style and pe­
culiarities of each. The illustrations are by J. W. Orr, a New Yorker, and reflect
considerable credit on American art. It is the intention of the publishers to issue
other similar volumes of choice matter which appears in Punch from time to time.

81.—

32.— T h e H e a r t h - S t o n e : Thoughts upon Home-life in our Cities. By S amuel Osgood,
author of “ Studies on Christian Biography,” “ God with Men, or Footprints of Prov­
idential Leaders,” <fcc. 12mo., pp. 318. New York : D. Appletonds Co.
We have in this volume a series of essays on home-life subjects, in which the au­
thor exhibits the home affections and virtues in a manner at once agreeable and im­
pressive. The several topics here discussed are more or less closely connected with a
year’s life in the household. The author is a popular preacher among the Unitarians,
and many of the ideas embraced in this volume have been expressed in the lyceum
and the pulpit in a different form. Conspicuous and controverted questions, though
not avoided, are treated in a kindly spirit, and above the reach of sect and party.
38.—

The

der

P o etic a l

D tce .

W orks o f

Edited, with a Life, by Rev. A lexan­
Boston: Little, Brown & Co. New Pork: Evans &

M a r k A k e n sid e .

18mo., pp. 452.

Dickerson.
Another of the series of British Poets, and the best library edition that has been
published in this country. The series embraces the entire productions of the most
celebrated authors, and selections from the minor poets. They are printed in a very
superior style and on beautiful paper, and should form part of the library of every
man of taste. No poem of so elevated and abstracted a kind was ever so popular as
the “ Pleasures of the Imagination,” and is still read with admiration by lovers of pure
poetic conception. Dr. Akenside was a zealous votary of Grecian philosophy and
classic literature, and an ardent lover of liberty.
34.— H a p p y H o u r s a t H a z e l N o o k ; or Cottage Stories. By H arriet F arley . 12mo.
pp. 256. Boston: Day ton & Wentworth.
This work contains twelve stories, related by a family circle, and each story com­
mented on by the children of the family. They are written in an entertaining, imagi­
native style, well calculated to find a large class of readers. Some of them are fairy
tales, with good morals, both amusing and instructive. The work is embellished with
fourteen illiustrations by the best artists in America; these make it quite attractive.
The simple yet spirited style of the stories will interest the mature, and delight and
fascinate the youthful mind.
36.— H e r m a n a n d D o r o t h e a . From the German of Goethe. Translated by T homas
C onrad P otter. ISmo., pp. 168. New York: Hiker, Thorne &. Co.

This is one of the delicious poems of the great German bard Goethe, translated into
Englbh prose, the original verse being hexameter, which is almost unmanageable in
our tongue. Of course then, we have only the beautiful creation of genius divested of
its poetical clothing, but it is beautiful still. The mechanical execution of this book is
creditable.




784

T h e B o o k T rade.

36. — I l l u s t r a t i o n s o f G e n i u s , in some of its Relations to Culture and Society. By
H enry G iles , author of “ Lectures and Essays.” 18mo., pp. 362. Boston : Ticknor & Fields.
The friends and admirers of the Rev. Henry Giles in various parts of the country,
■who have thronged to hear him in lecture-rooms, and have hung fascinated upon his
eloquent tongue, will peruse this volume with delight. Mr. Giles is a bold, original
thinker, and writes in an elegant, earnest style. Possessed of a fine imagination and
much scholarship, with a large and liberal knowledge of human nature, a devotee at
the shrines of goodness, beauty, truth, and genius, these essays on realities and ideali­
ties have a peculiar charm. The volume embraces papers on Cervantes, Don Quixotte,
The Scarlet Letter, Fiction, Public Opinion, The Philanthropic Sentiment, Music, The
Cost of a Cultivated Man, Conversation, Wordsworth, Robert Burns, Thomas de
Quincy. We may at times differ with the author in sentiment, but cannot but be
pleased with his enthusiasm, and appreciate the vigor and beauty of his style. There
is much of the poetic in Mr. Giles.
37. — T h e T u r k i s h E m p i r e ; Its History, Statistical, and Religious Condition; also, its
Manners, Customs, etc. By A lfred de B esse, Member of the Embassay at Con­
stantinople. Translated, Revised, and Enlarged, (from the fourth German edition,)
with Memoirs of the Reigning Sultan, Omer Pacha, the Turkish Cabinet, etc. By
E dward J oy M orris , late United State Charge d’Affairs at Naples. 12mo., pp. 216.
Philadelphia: Lindsay ifc Blackiston.
The translation of this work has given in a concise., farm the matters indicated in
the title. In order to render the original work more complete, he has embodied por­
tions of celebrated French writings on Turkey and Constantinople, and some original
matter, which his own travels suggested, and made him acquainted with. Mr. Morris
has performed satisfactorily the labor for which lie is so competent.
88. — G a n E d e n , o r P i c t u r e s o f C u b a . 12moi, pp-jteoj Boston : John P. Jewett &
Co.
A glowing, lively description of fair Cuba. Its enchanting natural beauties are
vividly described in a style as luxuriant at times as tropical foliage. The character
and manners of the people, the peculiarities and deformities of things, the brief liter­
ary history of the Eden of the Gulf, and the-epiestion o f its acquisition to the United
States, are touched on. The author has not attempted a history or gazetteer, but has
sketched the sights and reproduced the thoughts which he had while there, with such
perspicuity as to convey to the mind a most vivid and distinct idea of that “ Garden
of Delight;” He has truly produced “ pictures,” and choice ones too.
89. — 'J h e C a p t a i n s o f t h e R o m a n R e p u b l i c a s C o m p a r e d w i t h t h e G r e a t M o d e r n S t r a t ­
e g i s t s ; their Campaigns, Character and Conduct, from the Punic Wars to the Death
of Caesar. By H enry W illiam H erbert . New York: Charles Scribner.
The author of this work has already published “ The Captains of the Old World,” a
work which was well received by the public. This volume furnishes the memoirs
and a critical analysis qf the great military leaders of another age. Many readers
will be surprised at Mr. Herbert’s opinion that before Publius Cornelius Scipio there
was no Roman deserving of the title of Great Captain. That the success of many of
the Roman generals was due to the valor and peculiar organization of the people
rather than to the peculiar merits of their leaders, is probably the fact. These biog­
raphies indicate much research, and are the production of an erudite, critical student
of history. This volume, we are informed, will be followed by others of a similar
character.
40.— T h e A m e r i c a n C o t t a g e B u i l d e r . A Series of Designs, Plans, and Specifications,
from $200 to $20,000, for Homes for the People. By J ohn B ullock, Architect,
Civil Engineer, and Editor of the “ History and Rudiments of the Art of Building.”
8vo, pp. 326. New York : Stringer & Townsend.
The third of a series of publications on architectural subjects, containing designs of
dwellings, from the lowly cot to the costly palace, with estimates as to cost, and with
plans of different styles and suited to various localities—the village, the suburbs of
the city, and the prairie. The author is a man of good taste, and the book, although
of a practical character, has some general remarks on the position and difficulties of
the artist in chapters cn “ The Artist’s Calling.” The engravings are well executed
and the typographical appearance is very fine.