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IMPORTS OF DRY GOODS AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH.

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Total entered at the port......

$326,110

$668,255

$540,877

3,869,056

5,171,304

5,044,941

$4,195,166

$5,839,559 $5,585,818

It will be seen that the amount thrown upon the market for March is a little in advance of the total for the corresponding month of last year, as the stock in warehouse has been drawn down much closer, to supply the deficiency in the receipts. We annex also a comparison for the whole quarter:

IMPORTS OF DRY GOODS AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK FOR THE MONTHS OF JANUARY,
FEBRUARY, AND MARCH.
ENTERED FOR CONSUMPTION.

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The only class of goods which does not show diminished receipts, are the miscellaneous dry goods, which item is yearly increased by the invention of new articles of dress, or fashion, coming under this head.

The export trade, which showed some evidence of decline early in the year, has been very active during the last two months, and the shipments of domestic produce have largely increased from all the principal ports of the Union. The following will show the comparative exports from New York to foreign ports for the month of March, and since the opening of the year :—

EXPORTS TO FOREIGN PORTS FROM NEW YORK FOR MARCH.

1852.. 1851..

1850.

1852.

1851

1850

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EXPORTS FROM NEW YORK TO FOREIGN PORTS FOR THE QUARTER.

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The returns from other ports show in the aggregate a still greater increase in the exports, with the exception of the item of cotton, which has increased in quantity but declined in value.

The revenue has, of course, somewhat declined from the large amount received last year, although the total is in excess of any former year.

RECEIPTS FOR CASH DUTIES AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK.

For March................

1852.
$2,730,369 61
7,617,887 72

1851.
$3,124,811 39
9,295,257 30

1850. $2,028,950 55 6,996,656 48

First quarter..

This shows a falling off from last year for the month of March of $394,441 78; and for the first three months of the current year, a decline of $1,677,369 58. It will be seen that, at New York, the proportion of free goods imported, particularly of Tea and Coffee, has diminished the receipts for duties, in a greater comparative ratio than the aggregate value of the merchandise entered would at first seem to warrant. The receipts for duties at Philadelphia have also declined for the month of March, but for the quarter still show a slight excess, as compared with last year.

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The following will show the exports from New York to foreign ports, of some of the leading articles of produce, from January 1st to April 17th:

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Hops.... ....bales.

Pearls.......

935

Beeswax....

..lbs. 102,734

97,602

1852.
3,211 Naval stores....bbls.
156 Oils-Whale....gals. 381,037
Sperm...

20

89,747

419 113,665

17,995

138,287 166,673

Breadstuffs

Lard.

168,214

17,135

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The export of rye, noticed above, has been chiefly to Germany, where the crop is short, and where many of the people are suffering for lack of food; and, with the exception of 3,000 bushels, has all been cleared within the last month.

Under another head in this number of the Magazine will be found the commercial tables accompanying the last report of the Secretary of the Treasury, now first published in an official form. For the fiscal year, now three-quarters gone, the Commerce of the country will present still more gratifying statements, although for the first five months the imports from foreign ports were unusually large.

The recommendations which were made by the Secretary of the Treasury in regard to changing the standard of value in the currency of the country, have been embodied in a bill, which has passed one branch of Congress, and is now before the other with a good prospect of success. The provisions are, with one exception, in accordance with our previous suggestions; the silver coins representing fractional parts of a dollar are to be reduced in weight about 7 per cent, and not made a legal tender except for a small amount. The exception referred to is a provision authorizing a charge of one-half of 1 per cent for coining all deposits of gold. The insertion of this clause has delayed the passage of the bill, it having called out numerous remonstrances, and there can be no doubt but that the charge, if authorized, would be very unpopular. At the same time, we can see no good reason why it should not be made. There is, strictly speaking, no justice in taxing the nation at large for the expense of turning the gold of the miner into currency. The actual expense of stamping the metal ought to be borne by its owner, and thus the principle upon which the clause was inserted is undoubtedly correct. But the attempt to authorize it, has raised no little clamor, and may be abandoned.

JOURNAL OF BANKING, CURRENCY, AND FINANCE."

THE PROPOSED ALTERATION IN OUR CURRENCY.

The bill introduced by Mr. Hunter, from the Committee of Finance in the Senate, to change the amount of silver in our standard dollar, is one of great importance, and deserves most careful deliberation and discussion before it is adopted. Its object is to prevent the exportation of our silver coin, which for some time past has borne a premium of 2 or 3 per cent; and it effects this object by reducing the weight of the dollar from 412 grains to 384, making a depreciation of nearly 7 per cent. As the weight of the eagle is 258 grains, and the fineness of both the same, the former ratio between gold and silver was nearly 16, and the proposed bill reduces it below 15.

So great a change in the usual medium of trade, in the common standard by which all commercial transactions are measured, in the unit by which our State and general governments have promised to pay millions and hundreds of millions of dollars, demands a thorough investigation and examination. It is not now proposed to undertake this task, but a few remarks and suggestions will be offered, to awaken attention and inquiry in the matter.

1. Some change ought to be made. The exportation of our silver coin will flood the country with small bills of paper money to which there are many grave objections. 2. The recent premium on silver will, in all probability, be fully sustained. Not that it will remain unchanged from time to time, but that it will rise and fall above and below 24 or 3 per cent, presuming an average depreciation of at least this amount. A sufficient reason for this is the fact that in all the countries of Europe, ten of our silver dollars are worth more than our gold eagle, according to their legal standard value of these two metals. It is not necessary, therefore, to enter into any abstract discussions on the change of relative value in gold and silver bullion brought about by the increased production of gold in Russia, California, and Australia. The question is far more simple. We are large producers of gold; we are thus, by necessity, exporters. If a merchant has a debt to pay in France, which he can discharge, according to the French laws, either by 100 grains of gold or 1,550 grains of silver, and the 100 grains of gold are worth here, at our mint, the same as 1,600 grains of silver, the imperative law of self-interest will induce the merchant to send abroad silver rather than gold. In Holland the ratio is the same as in France. In England and Russia the ratio is still lower. The gain in sending silver to France and Holland is over 3 per cent, and to Russia it is more than 4 per cent. As gold is the only legal tender in England, the inducement to send silver there is not so great, but the market value of bullion in London will always be near the market value on the continent, especially when the course of exchange may lead to the export of coin from the British ports to the other countries of Europe. As long, therefore, as our present laws remain unchanged, a premium of 2, 3, or 4 per cent on silver may be anticipated with great confidence. When the export of coin was only occasional, and when the foreign gold we had imported could often be exported in sovereigns, which were not recoined abroad, this difference in the values of gold and silver did not make itself sensible. But now our exportations being in American gold, its value is estimated abroad as bullion, and thus the difference becomes manifest.

3. Although a change seems desirable, it does not follow that the silver dollar must be depreciated, because an increase in the value of the eagle will produce precisely the same effect. If the grains of gold in an eagle be increased 2 or 3 per cent, the

premium on silver will disappear as suddenly and completely as if the grains of silver in the dollar be diminished to the same extent.

4. This remedy would be less troublesome and expensive than the other; because, in both ways, all that part of the currency that is altered in value must be recoined, and the amount of silver in circulation is probably greater, and made up of twenty times as many pieces as the gold. The cost of recoining a million of dollars in tencent pieces, quarters, and halves, would be far greater than the recoinage of the same sum in eagles, double eagles, halves and quarters.

5. Silver has always, in times past, been our usual medium of circulation; before the Revolution, and since, down to the present day. But few gold pieces are ever seen in circulation; and it is objectionable to alter the usual standard.

6. Our Government has hitherto regarded silver as the standard of value, and at various times, in 1790, 1834, and 1837, altered the gold and never the silver; except the slight change that was made in 1887, in the fineness of silver, from 11 oz. 2 dwts. to the pound to 11 1-9 oz.; and this was done merely for the convenience of the mint in calculating the alloy, the change being only the one-fifth of 1 per cent. The new remedy is, therefore, contrary to precedent.

7. To have two standards, as we have, and first to depreciate the gold and then the silver, looks much like bad faith to our creditors.

Pennsylvania borrowed, between 1830 and 1834, much of the money she now owes. She promised to pay so many dollars—that is, so many grains of silver or of gold. If Congress first depreciates the gold in the dollar, and then the silver, she would thus pay neither of the things she promised.

8. It is, in some respects, better to keep silver as the invariable standard than gold. There is much more of it in the world, and it is less liable to fluctuate.

The mode it is obtained, by working deep and expensive mines, forbids the expectation of any great variation in the amount produced.

The world generally employs silver; everywhere, except in England, it is the usual medium of payments. This is true of Europe, even; in Asia, in China, and India especially, silver is almost the only medium of commercial exchanges.

Gold is farther liable to fluctuate in value much more than silver by its dependence on the price of quicksilver, by the discovery of new mines, and by the exhaustion of existing sources of supply.

9. There can be but little doubt that the present disturbance in the comparative value of gold and silver is more likely caused by a slight depreciation in gold than by an appreciation of silver. Now justice says, keep your contracts inviolate-give back the same value as before; that is, give more of the depreciated metal for the same nominal sum.

10. It was well known and avowed, when the eagle was changed in 1834, that we were rating the value of gold too high. We altered the ratio from 15 to 16. The first was too low; but the last was higher than it was reckoned anywhere else. In France and Holland the ratio was, and is, 15.5; in England and Russia it was still less. Ought we not retrace our steps, and rectify the wrong we then committed? Ought we not bring the eagle up to the proper weight, if we reduced it too low in 1834 ?

We made the change with the design of displacing paper money: we have found the effect to be the driving out of silver. Ought we not now give back the proper weight to the eagle, rather than reduce the weight of the dollar?

11. A depreciation of our silver would make all the imported Mexican and Peruvian dollars articles of merchandise, and they would have to be recoined, and this would increase the labor and expenses of our mint.

12. If we first alter the gold dollar, then the silver, then again the gold, and then

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