.......... ........ ...... ............ .... the month of March for a series of years compared. Movement of Specie for the quarter ending 31st March, 1851 STATEMENT OF THE COMMERCE of each State and Territory, from July 1st, 1849, to June 30th, 1850 STATEMENT exhibiting a condensed view of the Tonnage of the several districts of the United States on the 30th of June, 1850........................ STATEMENT, showing the number and class of vessels built and the tonnage thereof in each State and Territory of the United States, for the year ending June 30th, 1850....... PORK PACKING IN 1850, '51.-Number of hogs packed in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and on Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and number of hogs driven South, in 1850, compared with 1849. Remarks on the pork trade COINAGE AND MOVEMENT OF SPECIE.-Amount of Specie imported and exported at New York from 1st January to 15th May, ...... ...... ........ ...... ...... .......... ...... ...... 1851. RECEIPTS OF CALIFORNIA GOLD at the Mints in Philadelphia and New Orleans from its discovery in 1848 to 1st of May, 1851.. COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. AN ACT to limit the liability of ship owners and for other purposes, approved March 3d, 1851 ........ ...... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. ANNUAL WINE FAIR AT ST. LOUIS.-Award of the Kayser Premium for the year 1850 ......... DEPARTMENT OF MANUFACTURES AND PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. MANUFACTURES IN ST. LOUIS.-Lee, Gage & Co's. Saw and Scale 183 186 187 190 191 192 193 193 195 ...... ...... ...... 197 PACIFIC RAILROAD: Its location...... ..... 198 MISSISSIPPI AND ATLANTIC RAILROAD-Decision in favor of the right of the Company to proceed under their Charter LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD-Subscription for stock by the city of Louisville.... DAGUERREOTYPING. By J. H. FITZGIBBON, St. Louis, Mo. The It is natural that recollections of the pecuniary misfortunes and sufferings which attended the commercial revulsion of 1837, should make the people of this country more vigilant in observing every important movement, whether political or financial, which threatens to affect the stability and healthy condition of commerce. large excess of imports over the amount of exports, which was made known by the financial report for the year ending 30th June, 1850; the subsequent increase of importations over corresponding months of the preceding year; the rapid increase in the number of banksand of bank loans in connection with the spirit of internal improvement, which prevails in almost every part of the country, have produced serious apprehension in the minds of many that a revulsion, not less disastrous, perhaps, than that of 1887, is rapidly approaching. We have been attentive observers of all these facts, and notwithstanding they indicate a spirit of speculation and over trading, yet we do not regard a serious revulsion as a necessary consequence. The present state of things has been compared to that which immediately preceded the revulsion of 1837, from which conclusions have been drawn, that a powerful reaction is inevitable; but there are many important facts distinguishing the present condition of the country from that which then existed. The imports of 1836 exceeded the exports by $61,316,995, and for the four years preceding 1837, the excess of imports amounted to $129,744,198. The banking capital, in 1837, amounted to $290,772,092. whilst the amount of precious metals in the vaults of the banks was only $37,955,340, representing a circulation of $149,185,890,-the bank loans were estimated at $525,115,702. The population of the country was then about 15,000,000. Now supposing other things affecting the commerce of the country to be equal, it will be seen, by contrasting these facts with those relating to the same objects in 1850, that there is but slight cause for apprehending a revulsion from any thing that has yet occurred. In 1847 the excess of exports was $12,102,986, and the imports of the precious metals amounted to $24,124,289; in 1848 the excess of imports, including specie, was $966,797; in 1849 the excess of imports was $2,100,619, and in 1850, $26,239,598. Making the entire excess of imports for the four years ending 1851, only $29,306,914, against $129,744,198 for the four years preceding 1837. In 1850 the banking capital in the United States was $227,069,074; specie in the vaults, $48,636,367; circulation, $154,538,636, and bank loans $411,961,948: showing a reduction of $63,772,091 in the banking capital, and of $113,253,754 in the amount of loans, while there is found to be an increase of $10,681,027 specie in the vaults, and only an increase of $5,353,746 in the paper circulation. In the mean time our population has increased about fifty per cent., and our manufactures have probably more than doubled. But there are other facts which may be regarded as calculated to sustain our present prosperity, which did not exist in 1837. The separation of the banks from the government, and the payment of duties in cash, will tend to make the line of bank discounts more steady and prevent the sudden expansions and contractions of issues, which so frequently occurred in former times, and operate as a wholesome check upon excessive importations. Emigration has increased about four fold since 1837; and it is estimated that we receive from that source alone about $10,000,000 in specie annually this may be properly regarded as a clear annual gain to the national wealth. The quantity of precious metals now in the country, must be at least double that of 1837; and although we anticipate a falling off in the production of gold in California, yet there is no reason to suppose that the decline will be so sudden as to produce any material effect on the financial condition of the country. Indeed, we regard the dangers involved in the discovery of gold in California, as passed; and the excitement having subsided, our people, especially in the West, have become better contented, than formerly, with the advantages of a location east of the Rocky mountains. No one expects an increase in the productions of the California mines; and few regard the influx of gold from that quarter as calculated to affect materially the prices of labor or property; and, consequently, we are likely to escape the evils which were at one period apprehended from speculations induced by a redundancy of the precious metals. There was an excess of imports over the exports each successive year from 1830 up to 1837, amounting, in six years, to $155,477,062, and from 1833 to the date of the revulsion, an enormous amount of individual indebtedness was created, in almost every part of the country, growing out of speculations in lands, town and city lots, negroes and other property, presenting a state of general embarrassment, to which the present scarcity bears no comparison. Banks were created, not for the purpose of affording facilities to the ordinary and legitimate operations of commerce, but for purposes of speculation, until entire communities became so completely involved, that in many instances their productive resources were totally inadequate to the payment of their obligations; -bankruptcy was the natural and inevitable result. During that period, too, the duties on imports were undergoing a gradual reduction annually; every year increasing the advantages of the foreign manufacturers over our own feeble establishments, until they were almost entirely crushed. In the madness for trade and speculation, agriculture was neglected until we found it necessary to import bread from that country, to which we have always so anxiously looked for a market for our own surplus. A careful comparison of the history of the six years immediately preceding the revulsion of 1837 with that of the last six years will, we think, satisfy any intelligent mind that there is at present no serious cause of alarm. For, if with the comparatively limited resources then possessed by the country, it sustained its credit through a period of six years of excessive importations, until the aggregate balances reached $155,000,000, need we apprehend any serious inconvenience from our present condition? But while we regard the present financial condition of the country as being sound and eminently prosperous, we perceive symptoms indicating a spirit of speculation which, if not watched and guarded against, threatens to produce a state of embarrassment calculated to check our progress, at least for a season. The great number of new banks which have been recently established in the eastern States, is, in our opinion, the worst symptom of the times. We see it stated, on what we deem good authority, that the increase of banking capital this year, in New York alone, will amount to $10,000,000; and it is probable that in all the States the increase during the same period may amount to $25,000,000. We are not aware of any new developments in the resources of the eastern States that demand so large an augmentation of their banking facilities, and conclude that many of these institutions have been created, in part, for the purpose of sustaining, for a time, a state of local indebtedness, which has already become burthensome; and, in part, for purposes of speculation. It remains to be seen how far the principles involved in the free banking system will operate as a check to the evils incident to excessive banking. We regard banks, when established for the purpose of relieving a community from indebtedness, as the most certain means that could be devised of augmenting the evil; but their creation is still more to be deprecated when established with a view to speculation in unproductive property. Another symptom to be deprecated is exhibited in the traffic, almost everywhere going on, in unimproved & unproductive real estate. Debts incurred on account of real estate with a view to its immediate improvement, may be regarded as legitimate; but when purchases ere made solely on speculation, debts are created without a corresponding increase, and, indeed, without any increase whatever in the wealth of the country; and it may happen that a community may become profoundly involved in debt and a large proportion of its members ruined, without adding anything whatever to the quantity or productiveness of its property. Among the causes which conspired to produce the revulsion of 1837, there was none, perhaps, more mischievous than speculation in unproductive real estate. A community, comparatively free from local indebtedness, cannot be greatly affected by commercial revulsions. The profits of land and labor may be reduced for a time; but the people, if free from debt, are generally left in the full enjoyment of all the substantial comforts and conveniencies to which they have been accustomed, and, at most, experience but a temporary check to their prosperity. But it is far otherwise when the local indebtedness is large. In that case, so soon as the price of property and the profits of labor begin to depreciate, the community become panic stricken; creditors become importunate; confidence is destroyed; and credit being no longer available, the necessity of realizing reduces the prices of property far below its ordinary standard, and thus a reaction, taking place at a remote point, gains force as it progresses, until like a tornado it sweeps over the land, prostrating in its course all except such as may have possessed sufficient fortitude to resist the temptations and influences of the times. The policy of prosecuting the various schemes of public improvement, which have been projected within the last two or three years, is intimately connected with the subject under consideration; for, although they are legitimate objects of investment, yet, if it be true that the country is in imminent danger of bankruptcy, as some have supposed, prudence would dictate the abandonment or suspension of these projects until the storm shall have passed and the country restored to a state of prosperity. It is doubtless true that works of public improvement cannot be carried on extensively in any country, at any time, without affecting commerce and, in some degree, every department of industry; nor can the introduction of labor saving machinery or other improvement in the arts take place, without producing a change which operates injuriously, for a time, to some departments of industry. But such considerations cannot be allowed to obstruct the progress of the age in the arts of civilization. It is our true policy to press forward to the extent of our capacity; and the main point to be observed is, that we shall not undertake more than can be conveniently accomplished in the time proposed. Railroads and other artificial facilities of transportation and traveling, have become objects of necessity; and the inhabitants of any country who would postpone the commencement of such works, until a season when no danger |