L. DEBTS AND FINANCES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION: WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR GENERAL CONDITION AND PROSPERITY.-CHAPTER VI.—THE WEST- ERN STATES-INDIANA. BY THOMAS P. KETTELL, Esq., of New York.......... II. RAILROAD LEGISLATION OF NEW YORK IN 1849. By J. B. VARNUM. Esq., Mem- EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRA- TED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: Rate of Money-Rise in Cotton-Improved Value of Exports-Sales Stocks-Emigrant Remit- tances-Effect on Bills-Rates of Exchange-Movement of Specie-California-Rate of Interest -Employment of Capital-Demand for Means--Activity of Enterprise-Raw Materials-Wool, Produce and Import of-British and United States Consumption, etc....... COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. PAGE Statistics of the British Cotton Trade, and of the Manufacture of Cotton Goods... British exports of Cotton Yarn and Cambrics and Muslins in 1847-8.. 215 215 216 216 British exports of Cotton and Linen, Cords, Velveteens, etc., in 1847-8. 217 218 British exports of Cotton Thread and Counterpanes in 1847-8... 218 219 Bags and Bales of Cotton imported, exported, etc., in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, etc., in each year from 1833 to 1849...... 220 Imports of Cotton Wool into Liverpool, weekly, during the year 1848; also, the number of bales sold to the Dealers, Spinners, and Exporters, weekly prices, etc., in 1848.... 220 Cotton Yarn exported from London, Liverpool, Hull, Goole, Bristol, and New Castle-upon-Tyne in 1847-8, showing the increase and decrease... 221 Cotton Wool exported from London to various Ports in 1847-8.. 992 Average price of Manufactured Goods exported from 1845 to 1848.. 999 Quantity of Cotton spun in England and Scotland in 1848.. 223 Import of Cotton Wool into Great Britain for the last 43 years, Distinguishing the Growth....... Import of Rice into Rotterdam from 1844 to 1848... COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. 223 224 224 An act of the State of New York for the Incorporation of Insurance Companies.. Cashe's, or Ammen's Rock. By CHARLES HENRY DAVIS, Lieutenant Commanding United States Coast Survey 233 234 Prussian Baltic Lights.. JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. Professor Page's new Electro Dynamic Power. By JOHN JAMES GREENOUGH, Esq., of Washington, D. C......... 234 Political Economy of Machinery....... 236 Commercial Importance of the Metalic Sulphurets. By T. H. LEIGHTON, of England. Tariff of the Mint of the United States upon Deposits of Gold and Silver for Refining, etc....... 246 Lending Money at "A Quarter a Day.". ...... 245 247 Interest on Loans of the United States.-Gold Money Incompatible with an Extended Commerce. 248 MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES. Economy the Cause of Success in Business........ Excerpts for Business Men: or Thoughts and Observations on Business from "Acton." HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. AUGUST, 1849. Art. L-DEBTS AND FINANCES OF THE STATES OF THE UNION: WITH REFERENCE TO THEIR GENERAL CONDITION AND PROSPERITY. CHAPTER VI. The Western States-Indiana. INDIANA is one of those remarkable States that in the course of a few years, as it were, developed themselves from the wilderness, not only to take a position, but a controlling one, amidst the independent members of the Federal Union. The Northwestern Territory, ceded by Virginia to the Federal Government, for the benefit of the whole Union, was promptly colonized by hardy settlers from the original thirteen States, as soon as a glorious peace had confirmed the absolute independence and internal tranquillity of the people of the Union. That territory, incapable of black slavery, as well naturally, as by operation of popular sentiment, has been, according to the tenor of the deed of cession from Virginia, divided into five sovereign States, of which the area, dates of admission into the Union, and population, are as follows: The This table exhibits the order of their admission into the Union. States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, are bounded on the south and east by the River Ohio, emptying into the Mississippi, which forms the western boundary of Illinois and Wisconsin; on the north, the three States are bounded by the great lakes, into which, as it were, the peninsula of Michigan projects, having on its eastern border, Lake Huron, and on its western, Lake Michigan, which separates it from Wisconsin. The whole territory is watered by several rivers, of which the Scioto, in Ohio, the Wabash, of Indiana, and the Illinois, in the State of that name, are the principal; and many smaller streams drain the fertile fields in each State. The soil is of unsurpassed fertility, and abounding in minerals. Although nature had richly endowed this whole territory with means of water communication, it was manifest that artificial avenues were necessary to its rapid settlement; and for this object of paramount importance, Congress, in 1806, passed a law to construct a National Road from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Ohio. This was opposed by many, on the ground that the Federal Constitution conferred no power on Congress to spend the public money for works of improvement. Certain it is, that if Congress possesses such a power in an unlimited degree, in connection with the right to borrow money for such purposes, it is the most dangerous prerogative which can exist in our country. After debate, the matter was compromised by a provision in the law, requiring the assent of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, through parts of which States the road must pass, for its construction. This was merely an evasion; for if Congress did not possess the power, the assent of these States would not confer it; and if it did possess the power, the assent was unnecessary. The opinion on this matter now seems to have settled down to the belief, that when a public work is not exclusively in one State, it acquires a national character, which places it under the control of Congress. This was the case with the National Road. It may well be supposed that the expenditure, by Congress. of a considerable sum of money in a new State, was far too desirable to the people and landholders of that State, to suffer the matter to slumber, and some forty different acts have prolonged the road from Cumberland, through Pennsylvania, part of Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and across Illinois, running from Wheeling nearly parallel to the River Ohio, to Alton, on the Mississippi River. The amounts appropriated by Congress have been, from the commencement of the road in 1806 to 1838, east of the Ohio River, $1,901,041; in Ohio, $2,081,008; in Indiana, $1,135,000; in Illinois, $746,000, making a total of $5,863,049. The expenditures in the State of Indiana commenced in 1829, and were continued annually to 1838. Of the whole sum expended by Congress, a portion was to be re-imbursed by Indiana, from the per centage of public lands sold within the States, allowed to each on its admission into the Union. It has been the custom, on the admission of a new State into the Union, for Congress to make to it a grant from the public lands, for schools, a seminary, a seat of government, and to allow to it 5 per cent of the proceeds of lands sold within its border, after paying expenses, for the construction of roads and canals. Of this sum of 5 per cent, 3 per cent is paid over to the State, to be expended under its direction, and the remaining 2 per cent is expended under the direction of Congress. In Indiana, the 5 per cent has amounted, up to the close of 1848, to $959,246 25. Of this, $575,547 75 has been paid over to the State, and the remaining $383,698 50, forms part of the $1,131,000 expended by Congress on the National Road. In addition to the original grants of lands for schools, seminaries, and seats of government, Congress has, from time to time, made grants of land in aid of the internal improvements undertaken by the several States. There are also reservations of lands for salaries, for Indians, for corporations, military bounties, &c. In the State of Indiana, the several quantities of these lands are as follows:-- The following table shows the quantities of land sold annually in Indiana, with the population of the State at various times, according to the State and Federal census: In addition to this, 1,179,259 acres actually situated in Indiana, were sold in the Chillicothe, Ohio land district, and are returned in Ohio sales. The population for 1845 and 1849 is estimated on the official return of taxable polls. These, in 1849, were 36 per cent more than in 1840; hence the population is taken at the same ratio of increase. The settlement of Indiana progressed from general causes differently at different times. Before the construction of the Erie Canal, of New York, in 1827, the produce of those States could command no market, and for twenty years, the annual sales of lands did not materially vary. Simultaneously with the outlet for produce from Three quarters. |