much fraud will be attempted. These attempts, the Secretary shows, are numerous; but it is unfortunate that he does not show what proportion the attempted frauds bear to the whole number of invoices entered. In advising home valuation and specific duties, he only recommends a change in the mode of frauds; and as he shows that large numbers of those now attempted are detected through the experience of the officers, it would seem to be impolitic by changing the mode and increasing the premium to make detection more difficult. We have before had occasion to remark upon the fact, taking the commercial world as a whole, the seat of manufactures has occupied a wrong locality—that is to say, it has, in relation to facility of production, occupied a position disadvantageously situated when purely economical principles are taken into the account. This has, indeed, not always been the case, for statesmen in most countries have regarded a certain line of politics as the chief end to be pursued, and have uniformly made economical and commercial questions secondary thereto. For the most ready productions of manufactured goods it is necessary that all the materials of which they are composed should be found, together with the motive power, in neighborhoods capable of producing the best and cheapest food for the support of the operatives, and that all these circumstances should exist and be easy accessible. It has, however, hitherto never been the case, that all these means have been combined in any one locality. England has possessed the most of them, and in the earlier years of her progress, sufficient to supply her demands; her geographical position is such, surrounded by the ocean, that no wind can blow from any quarter of the compass without favoring her commerce; from which point soever the breeze proceeds it is fair for the arrival of some of her ships, and for the departure of others. This facility of communication, before the age of steam, gave her immense advantage, as it made her ports the depot for the raw produce of all countries, and the source whence, after being wrought up by English industry, goods were derived by all nations. With such advantages the business of England could not but increase, until the demands of her operatives for food and raw materials exceeded the capacity of her own soil to supply. The cost of these things to consumers would then naturally be enhanced by the cost of transportation, and duties on the additional quantities imported; and this enhanced cost occurred at a moment when the competition of foreigners reduced the price of the fabrics. The mere fact of a larger transportation of raw produce was regarded as a good in a political view, inasmuch as that by employing more shipping, it fostered that navy on which England so much relied for her prosperity; but if that cost carried her beyond the point at which foreigners could compete, it defeated its own object. The government, therefore, removed duties on raw produce, on food, and, finally, abolished the navigation laws in order that all those things might be supplied in England at cheaper rates. The virtual effect of these measures was to extend the breadth of English soil, because they placed at the command of her people the products of vast tracts of land. Gradually, however, the countries which produced the most of those raw products came to work them up into goods, and by this competition to reduce the price of fabrics; and the English returns show that while the quantities of food and raw material imported have immensely increased, the value of the goods made from them had not increased, In the year 1842 the policy of admitting food and raw materials began to be adopted. We have compiled a table of the progress of the country since. In order to show the details of which the table is composed, we annex the following, showing the actual quantities of food and leading materials imported for consumption in 1836, and for the last four years. QUANTITIES of food and RAW MATERIALS IMPORTED INTO GREAT BRITAIN. If now we take the cwts. and lbs. together, in lbs., for each year, we have results as follows: This increase of food and raw materials imported for the use of English operatives is almost incredible. The dye stuffs, of which the weight for 1849 was 185,248,650 lbs., is not included. If we estimate the cost of transportation at the simple freight now current it will give a high figure. Freights are now very low; a bushel of grain is carried from New York to England for 10 cents; and 3 lbs. of cotton for one cent. If we take those two figures as the average for all the freights, it will be far within the mark. The cost will then stand as If now we compare these freights with the declared value of textile fabrics exported, we have results as follows: As compared with 1844 the amount of freights had increased $9,700,000, while the value of the goods has risen but $3,000,000. Thus, without taking into account the price of the article, the freight account is $6,700,000, or 31 per cent against the English manufacturer; and that difference, as seen in the table, is constantly increasing. The effect of the famine year, 1847, was to enhance the import of food aud diminish that of raw materials, since when both items are more than ever. It is now very apparent from the general principles evolved in those tables, that England cannot continue to increase her demands for food and materials brought from a distance and compete with those countries which have all those things within themselves, and with which the freight account is nothing. What a strange absurdity it is to see silk going from China and France, cotton from the Southern States, wool from Australia, coffee and sugar from Brazils, wheat from New York, Michigan, Odessa, and Poland, hemp and flax from St. Petersburgh, pork and beef from Ohio and Illinois, all concentrating in Lancashire, to be returned in the shape of goods to the localities whence they came. Such a state of things never could have been brought about but for the geographical position of England giving her control of the ocean. The progress of internal improvements, making land carriage equally facile with that by water, has developed regions like the Valley of the Mississippi, where all those articles which the marine of England seeks in every section of the world exist together, of the best qualities, and in limitless abundance. Land and its produce, raw material and motive power, lie in juxta position; and good can be turned out in such a manner that England's freight account alone will be a prodigious profit. We will recur to this subject, and would advise our readers to bear these facts in mind in connection with the present anomalous state of the markets. The aggregate quantity of flour, wheat, corn and barley, left at tide-water, from the commencement of navigation to the 7th of December, inclusive, during the years 1849 and 1850, is as follows: COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF COTTON AND COTTON MANUFACTURES. The last annual report of Mr. Corwin, the Secretary of the Treasury, furnishes some interesting statistics of cotton and the cotton manufacture, from which it appears that during the past year the United States exports of raw cotton amounted to $71,984,616, while of domestic cotton manufactures we exported only to the extent of $4,734,424. During the same period the importations of cotton manufactures entered for consumption have amounted, at the foreign valuation, to $19,685,938. The exports of cotton from the United States exceed in importance those of any raw material exported from any other country. The following table, from the Secretary's report, shows the value of raw cotton and cotton manufactures exported from the United States in each of the five years from 1846 to 1850, inclusive, and also the value of the same exported to Great Britain and France, the two countries which take the largest quantity of our raw cotton. 71,984,616 4,734,424 48,884,453 50 14,395,449 539 1850.... Total.. $296,563,066 $53,013,762 $201,803,592 $19,041 $56,471,795 $3,229 The value of cotton manufactures exported from the United States in 1848 amounted to $5,718,205, and from Great Britain during the same year to $109,777,008. The United States received from Great Britain, per British vessels, in that year, (1848) $8,291,036. Our records for the fiscal year terminating on the 30th of June, 1848, show an importation of cotton manufactures from Great Britain amounting to $14,477,978, which conclusively shows how largely Great Britain is indebted to the United States for her commercial prosperity. Mr. Corwin says in his report: "The exports of raw cotton to several countries from Great Britain, exceed those from the United States to the same countries, and that the value of such exports of American raw cotton from Great Britain to the continent of Europe, exceeds the entire exports of American cotton manufactures to the whole world. "Our entire exports of breadstuffs and provisions to all parts of the world during the past year, will scarcely amount to the value of the cotton goods imported and the duties thereon." EXPORTS OF RICE AND TOBACCO FROM THE UNITED STATES. STATISTICS OF HOGS AND BEEF CATTLE IN OHIO. The Cincinnati Price Current of August 21, 1850, contained a statement of the number of hogs and beef cattle in Ohio, for the years 1848-49-50, as returned for 81 taxation by the assessors. Basing their opinion upon the facts at that time presented, the editors of the Price Current predicted that the deficiency in the State would be about 236,000 head, and it will be seen by the returns below, which embrace the whole State with the exception of Athens, Butler, Fulton, Henry, Mahoming, Mercer, Miami, Morrow, Ottawa, Stark, Tuscarora, and Vanwert Counties-that their estimate was very nearly correct, the deficiency in 76 counties being nearly 244,275 head as compared with 1849. The rapid increase in the number of beef cattle, as indicated by the footings up below, will attract attention. Beef cattle. Hogs. 1849. 1848. 396,110 388,361 Adams .. 8,529 8,434 7,812 23,605 29,752 23,085 Ashtabula.. Athens.. 36,141 35,202 30,714 5,922 7,309 7,660 19,285 11,343 10,231 12,911 16,692 15,546 6,746 11,973 11,980 11,719 Carroll. 10,499 10,115 9,033 14,584 15,589 16,924 Champlain. 12,232 12,756 11,842 23,220 27,093 21,844 Clermont 10,761 10,687 10,535 30,382 Columbia 15,637 14,970 13,606 18.025 21,234 22,111 Crawford 13,936 13,488 10,982 20,262 Erie 9,355 8,939 8,079 6,935 8,033 8,912 Gallia. 11,031 7,675 17,960 13,648 Geauga 24,153 21,767 18,516 5,247 Guernsey. 15,020 26,386 30,771 27,186 Hardin 5,043 4,175 14,022 9,050 9,982 11,033 Huron.. 18,635 17,373 15,036 15,763 16,540 17,678 Jackson 7,460 9,687 8,449 10,954 19,607 13,834 Lake.. 12,006 11,140 9,959 3,746 4,842 5,702 Lawrence. 6,187 5,757 5,315 10,391 14,641 9,840 Licking.. 20,713 28,123 33,891 35.473 Logan. 10,201 10,114 9,196 19,399 Lorain. 22,000 20,879 17,253 11,193 12,725 14,391 Lucas... 4,723 10,083 9,360 4,348 8,588 9,902 Madison 21,993 20,600 22,392 19,634 23,587 25,007 Medina. 20,423 18,292 15,262 12,345 13,188 14,419 Monroe. 11,037 10,160 9,372 22,221 27,607 20,495 Montgomery 14,150 13,996 13,863 33,386 34,243 40,099 Muskingum 20,924 19,676 17,913 33,087 37,645 35,835 Paulding. 980 914 841 2,119 1,974 1,931 Perry. 10,653 20,299 20,572 21,579 Pickaway 26,227 23,899 24,416 43,453 54,388 54,589 Putnam 4,208 4,246 8,809 8,648 8,174 7,691 Ross 23,624 24,129 22,705 56,205 66,483 Sandusky. 62,279 9,387 9,454 8,313 13,014 14,017 1,351 Scioto.. 12,129 6,585 6,653 6,742 17,245 13,150 Shelby 7,536 7,541 Trumbull 15,241 16,223 36,134 35,968 31,088 10,028 12,550 13,983 Union... 8,004 17,716 19,245 Vinton 20,853 6,789 8,529 Warren.. Wayne. 40,912 19,653 19,935 17,894 Williams 27,195 27,375 28,149 6,602 5,284 4,509 Wood..... 5,304 6,290 6,009 6,421 6,584 6,520 7,807 8,845 Allen 8,442 6,758 12,741 12,556 Defiance. 10,481 4,003 3,621 3,183 5,771 5,244 Fayette 5,902 16,233 14,815 15,444 25.685 34,125 Hancock 35,314 8,893 9,493 8,486 16,524 17,532 18,951 Total...... 1,031,169 912,620 875,810 1,486,191 1,730,466 1,728,794 |