This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible.
Google” books
https://books.google.com
Digitized by v^oosle
Digitized by
Digitized by
Digitized by
©
HUNT’S
.MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE,
AND
COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
CONDUCTED DI FBEEiiN HUNT,
*WTOI or TBS LIBBABY OF COMMERCE, BTC.; COBRESrONDIKO MEMBER OF THB AMERICAN AND LONDON STATISTICAL SOCIBT1EE ; MEMBER OF TUB NSW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY J HONORARY MBMBBR OP TBB MERCANTILE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS OF NBW YORK' PHILA- DELPHIA, BOSTON, BALTIMORE, LOUISVILLE, CHARLESTON, AND CINCINNATI, ETC.
VOLUME TWENTY-8EVEN.
FROM JULY TO DECEMBER, INCLUSIVE, 1862.
JO’ero $ork :
PUBLISHED AT 142 FULTON-STREET.
v\1852y/
Digitized by v^oosle
/ &/*■ '3.
/£ jXaya,, <A- ^
(; *' : ' • /- ' ‘ ;
CONTRIBUTORS
tcrr P )3i1»I60
TO THE TWENTY SEVENTH VOLUME OF THE
MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW.
J. P. Brown, Esq., of the Legation of the United States at Constantinople. Rev. E. L. Magoon, of New York.
J. W. Scott, Esq., of Ohio.
Richard Sulley, Esq., of New York.
Robert Hare, M. D., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania.
A. R. Rider, Esq., of the New York Bar.
Enoch Hale, Jr., of New York.
W. J. Tenney, Esq., of New Jersey.
Hon. George Tucker, of Pennsylvania.
E. P. Smith, Esq., of New York.
B. Maillefert and W. Raasloff, Submarine Engineers.
David R. Jaques, Esq., of New York.
A. J. Scott, Esq., Shipmaster, of New York.
Elizur Wright, Esq., of Massachusetts.
William Arthur, A. M., of England.
Deming Jarvis, Esq., Manufacturer, of Massachusetts.
Thomas P. Kettell, Esq., of New York.
Freeman Hunt, Editor and Proprietor of the Merchant s’ Magazine.
Digitized by v^oosle
; INDEX TO VOLUME XXVII.
‘ FROM JULY TO DECEMBER INCLUSIVE, 1852.
A.
American enterprise In Sydney 647
a trade In India 77®
Anchorage duties of Brazil reduced 124
“ dues of Brazil 500
Arithmetical accumulation of money 613
Arkansas, lead mines of 258
Assay office for Australian gold 611
Aasumpeit, action of, for goods sold, Ac 329
Austria, effect of customs duties in 650
Australia, population and Commerce of 637
Australian gold mines 132
Advance In the price of sperm and while oils 723
Act of Ohio touching fraud in trade 239
44 of New York relating to insurance co’s. . 240 * Pennsylvania loan 98
“ establishing a branch mint in California. 352 u of Maryland relating to small bank notes 612
tt of Maine relating to telegraph lines 464
u of U. 8. relating to exports to Moxico . . 496 44 relating to bonds of Planters’ Bank, Miss. 358
Action upon a promissory note 336
44 of covenant, Ac 203
44 to recover merchandise detained .... 79
A creditor’s stratagem to collect a debt 769
Adulteration of coins in Paris 103
“ of pale ale 524
44 of coffee in Paris 265
Advertising, hints to merchants on 649
African Arts and manufactures 253
Agricultural productions of Virginia 228
“ sta'istics of the U. 8 728
Agriculture of the U. 8 226
Alabama, act to regulate salo of cotton in... 124
Ale, adulteration of pale 525
An eye to business 769
11.
Baltimore Board of Trade, report of 626
Bank of England, dividends of 605
“ notes of olden times 603
44 account overdrawn. 590
44 loans, regulations of Louisiana 350
44 notes, four, of on© million sterling. ... 351
44 note, value of a mutilated 350
44 checks— overdrawn account 590
44 accounts, the merchant that kept two. 104
Banka, capital and dividends of Boston 603
44 • capital and dividends of Philadelphia. 98 44 of N. York, capital and dividends of. 92
44 of the 8tate of New York 219
M dividends of Boston 215
“ of South Carolina, condition of 93
u under the general banking law of 111.. 742 Banker, the benevolent. v... 650
Banking, free, law of Indiana 334
u Journal of. . . 87, 215, 344, 473, 601, 737
Bankrupts, payment of debts by 583
Barbadoes, light on south point of 126
Bay of Fundy, bell buoy in 630
Behring’s Straits, whale fishery about 227
Belvidere Knoll
Bill of lading— common carriers 79
“ of lading, action on a
Bills of exchange, damages on 4gg
Biography, commercial.
Blasting of rocks under water 320
Bombay harbor, beacon at entrance of 364
Bonds issued by railroad corporations in Me. 104
“ sale of Indiana railroad 101
Book Trade, notices or. 139, 267, 395,525, 651, 771
Book trade of Franco 051
Bookselling system of London 264
Boqueron Channel port of Callao 364
Boston and Worcester Railroad, statistics of. 251
“ banks, average dividends of 215
“ merchant, J. Tarbell 394
“ progress of bank stocks in ] 488
“ banks, capital and dividends of 603
“ market, 'fluctuations of stocks in ... . 87 44 stock fluctuations in 479
, “ Mercantile Library Association of.... 263 Bottomry— the Ann C. Pratt 197
Brandies, imports into Great Britain of 361
Brazil, our Commerce with
44 anchorage duties of 124
“ anchorage dues of
Breadstuffe, imports into Great Britain of . . . 230
w exported from U. 8 620
British consols and debt 610
“ post-office system of remitting money 743
44 treaties, list of 125
Brokers, board of 355
“ contracts to deliver stocks 333
Business, absorption in 393
44 Freedloy’s treatise on 433
“ and study 399
C.
Cadiz, American trade with 495
Calcutta, revised tariff of 624
Californio, gold mining operations in 445
44 railroads in 252
“ gold, entire product 473
44 gold mining in 382
44 branch of U. 8. Mint in 352
44 items of gold mining in 753
Caloric engine, Ericsson’s 20
Canal, tolls on James River and Kanawha . . 251 44 Statistics 112, 241, 376,506, 631, 754
Digitized by LiOOQle
IV CONTENTS OF
Canals, N. Y., rates of toll on 506
Canada, finances of, in 1852 607
Canadian canals, tolls and tonnage of. 636
Canadas, population of 518
Capital and labor, law of progress in relation
to 51, 178
Capital and labor 174
44 and dividends of N. Y. city banks. . . 737 Carrier, duties of common, in intrusting
goods, fee 196
Census, chances of life as developed by 129
Ceylon, statistics of Commeroe of Ill
Charleston, leading exports of 618
44 chronicles of Commerce of 395
Checks, post-dated 67
Cheese trade of U. S 108
Chill, Commerce and resources of 404
Cincinnati, statistics of trade fit Commerce of 613
u prices of produce, fcc^ at 617
“ steamboat navigation of 635
“ trade and Commeroe in 1852 of. . 556
u business feature of 266
u the butter trade of 724
44 the pork trade of 726
Cinnamon of Commerce..... 265
Clinton, Mass^ its manufactures, fee 639
Clocks, self-winding, or perpetual. 138
Cloves of Commerce, the 649
Coal land, value of an acre 136
u trade of Pennsylvania 133
“ early discovery of 358
“ traffic of railroads 379
u table of freight on Lackawanna 514
** for sea steamers 515
Coffee, and the coffee trade 39
“ statistics of trade in 41
“ production and consumption of 494
Coins, adulteration in Paris of. 104
44 origin of 357
Coinage of the U. 8 65
Collision, abandonment— salvage 463
“ suit for '• 77
“ libel for 589
Collins and Cunard steamers, statistics of 242, 376
Combs, manufacture of 390
Commerce of the Danube 289
u and commercial biography 570
u of ports in the U. S., comparative 230
u of France in 1651 531
u of Ceylon Ill
** of 8weden 109
“ Divine use of 33
“ of ports in the U. S. compared . . 105
“ of the Black Sea 28
“ of the New York canals 112
“ influence of law upon 148
“ tribunals of 732
Commercial law of the Emperor of Hayti ... 501 u Chronicle and Review . . 67, 206,
337, 465, 593, 713 « Statistics. 105, 226, 359, 489, 613, 721
u Regulations 118,233,365,496,622,731
VOLUME XXVII.
Commercial cities and towns of the U. 8. 158,
310, 412, 686
“ treaty betw*n U. S. fit Costa Rica 118
44 education 264
44 cities, mortality of 638
44 directories 862
Common carriers— bill of lading 72
Competition in trade, fee 648
Connecticut, finances of 103
Consols, British, and national debt 610
Consular duties 647
44 system, suggestions on 519
Contract, action for breach of 76
Copper mining of Lake Superior 131
Coral bank in channel off Batavia 505
Cost of legislation in Massachusetts 100
u and expenses of seven railroads of Mass.
for the years 1850 and 1851 756
Costa Rica and U. 8., treaty between 118
Cotton, export from Savannah of 619
41 planters should become cotton spin's. 131
44 decision in relation to value 588
44 act of Alabama regulating sale of.... 124
Credit obtained for goods by fraud 205
Cumberland Coal and Iron Company 389
Curiosities of glass making 645
Currency qf Ireland, laws of the 608
44 Journal of. . . 87, 215, 344, 473, 601, 737
44 the small note 102
44 our metallic 174
Currents of the ocean 630
D.
Damages for injuries received by rail'd cars. 78
Danube, statistics of Commerce of 292
44 Commerce of the 289
Debt and finances of New Orleans 344
44 of Great Britain from 1822 to 1852 604
44 and revenue of Pennsylvania 606
Debts and finances of the States of the Union 659
Demand for money 103
Deposits in sub-treasuries 603
Detention of vessels at Hampton Roads .... 746 Directions for bailing into and out of Harbor
Grace 746
Divine use of Commerce 33
Draft, action relating to acceptance of a .... 463
Dubuque, business in 1851 of 136
Dunning, politeness in 39G
Duties on casks and barrels 234
E.
Eggs, importation into Great Britain ot 105
Electricity applied to capture of the whale . 127
Emigration from the United Kingdom 763
Empire on the Pacific 276
England, iron trade of. 260
44 gold and silver in the bank of 742
44 weighing department of the bank of 744
44 persons employed on railways in. . 760 English courts, points of law decided in ... . 67
Ericsson's caloric engine 20
Export of leather, boots, and shoes from U. 8. 722 Expulsion from cars 510
Digitized by (^ooQle
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXVTI.
V
F.
ftdor, duties of, oyer goods consigned 197
FhlaHtj of inland routes 510
Finance, Journal of. . . . 87, 215, 344, 473, 601, 737
Finances and debt of New Orleans. 344
u of the Roman States 612
44 of Connecticut 103
Fire annihllator, the 454
Fishery question. Dr. Paley on the 650
“ statistics of ood 106
Fisheries, mackerel, of Mass 359
44 of the British prov’e of Nova Scotia 36 1
Florence and Keyport plank road 754
France, Commerce of in 1852 359
<• population of 129
“ 4c Sardinia, comm’al treaty between 122
44 book trade of 651
u mints of 355
44 Commerce of, in 1851 531
Frauds, statute of. 461
Freach rose trade 394
Florida, southern coast of 126
Flour trade of Rochester 362
G*
Galena, exports and Imports of 229
u and Chicago Union Railroad 115
Georgia, a profitable railroad in 116
“ industrial progress of 751
German customs union, revenue of. 97
Glass, manufacture of 383, 511, 639, 749
u American Bohemian ; 133
Gold mine, (Dome's,) in South Carolina — 646
** of increasing supplies of 88
14 production of, from 1492 to 1852 91
“ discovery of, at Queen Charlotte’s Is. . . 134
u mines in Van Dieman’s Land 135
u mines of Australia 132
u mining in California 382
M production of, at Sydney 4c Melbourne. 481
u entire product of California 473
u consumption of, in arts 4c manufactures. 351
ia dust shipped at San Francisco 601
44 assay office for Australian 611
u mining operations in California 445
“ diggings, the Australian 389
** will it depreciate 352
“ received at Panama on English account 101
u entire product of, in 1846 and 1850 473
44 first discovery of, in Australia 388
lt and silver, statistics of 216
a and silver in the Bank of England 742
14 mining in California, items of 753
Goods sold and delivered, action for 329
“ destruction of, by boxing them up. . . 68 Great Britain, shipments of brandy from
Giarente to 730
Great Britain, railroad accidents in 381
Guatemala, treaty of U. 8. with 3G5
Gum, action for loss of cargo of 76
H.
Hamilton, Eaton, and Richmond Railroad . . 117 Harbor Grace, directions for sailing into and
| outof 746
Hard ware merchant, the economical 523
Hayti, new commercial law of 501
Hawaiian Islands and U. 8 121
Hides, imports of, into New York 231
High prices of marketing 266
High Light, South Foreland 746
Holland, Commerce of, in 1852 363
Hooper’s Straits 363
Hungary, population of 130
I.
Illinois, banks of 225
44 railroads in 632
44 banks under general banking law of 742
India, American trade in 770
Indiana, sale of Central Railroad bonds of. . 101
44 railroads in 631
44 free banking law of 224
Indorsers— promissory notes 79, 591
44 identity of 102
Industrial progress of Georgia 751
Influence of Commerce upon law 148
44 of railroads on agriculture 759
Insurance companies, liabilty of 461
44 Interest $7
44 the regulation of life 541
4‘ fire, actiou on a policy of 456
44 decision relating to 585
Interest, the law of computation of 169
Invention for negro clothing 768
Ireland, raising money by pawnbroking In. . 349
44 laws of the currency of 608
44 the trade and revenue of 729
Iron, imports of, into New York 107
44 early manufacture of in Pennsylvania. . 254
44 trade of England 260
44 strength of 255
J.
Journal of Mining and Manufactures. 131
252, 382, 511, 639, 747 Journal of Mercantile Law 67
196, 329, 456, 585, 710
K.
Kentucky, act relating to weights & measures 240 Key West as a depot for California steamers. 761
1,.
Lake ports, the two
Lake Superior, copper mining of 131
44 cost of mining at 132
Lakes, disasters on the northern Ill
Landlord and tenant, action relating to 460
Latitude of astronomical stations 232
Law, Influence of Commerce upon 148
44 for computation of interest 169
44 of prog’s in relation to cap'l &. lab’r 51, 178
Lead mines of Arkansas 258
Leather, Liquid 135
Digitized by v^oosle
VI
CONTENTS OP VOLUME XXVII.
Liability of railway company 67
Liabilities of railroad company 75
w of husbands for debts of wives. . . 80
Life insurance, the regulation of 541
Light vessels as a guide to mariners 125
u at the entrance of Christiana Fiord. . . . 232
m fixed, in the Straits of Sunda 125
« on Cape Willoughby • ^
44 on south point of Barbadoes 126
Light-house, bearings off Bull’s Bay 364
a on Kangaroo Island 630
44 on North Coast of Spain 6
44 on Bull’s Island 364
Locomotive, the first American 116
Locomotives, statistics of. 250
London press, statistics of 136
44 bookselling system 264
44 foreign trade of 363
Longitude, difference of, at Savannah 128
Louisiana and Frankfort Railroad 635
u Bank loans 356
41 ship building in 735
Lowell, taxes of corporations in 607
Lumber, manufacture in North-West of 391
44 trade of Savannah 619
M.
Mackerel fisheries of Massachusetts 359
u 392
Maillcfert’s blasting of rocks under water .... 320
44 method of blasting rocks. 524
Maine law concerning railroads 116
44 act of, reluting to liabilities of husb’s. 80
44 survey of lumber In 236
44 condition of banks of * 487
44 law relating to railroad bonds. 104
a u 44 telegraph lines 464
Manufacture of thermometers at N. Lebanon 643 44 of ladles’ muds in London .... 753
Manufactures of the U. S 226
Manufacturing Industry during the last and
present centuries. 257
44 stocks, prices of New England 350
Marine disasters on the lakes 110
Mariners, light vessels as a guide to 125
Maryland, small note law of 612
44 pilotage law of. 123
Massachusetts, statistics of cod fishery of . . . . 105
44 rich men in 104
44 cost of legislation in 100
44 statistics of railroads of 757
44 44 seven railroads of. 756
Memphis, (Tcnn.,) tariff of trade 625
Merchant, Mohammedan’s idea of a Clirist’n. 266
Merchant’s clerk, the prompt. 392
44 advice, an old 391
Merchants, hints to 649
44 commission 393
Mercantile law cases. . 67, 196, 329, 456, 585, 710
44 marine of the world 620
44 miscellanies 136, 262, 391, 519, 647, 766 44 biography— Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy 694 44 library .' 767
Metallic currency, our.
Method of putting np produce for iparket. .
Michigan Central Railroad.
Millionaires, how to become • • •
Mining company, North-West copper
44 cost of, in Cornwall A Lake Superior
44 and manufactures, Journal of
253, 382, 511, 639,
Mint of U. S., branch In California.
Mints of France
Mississippi, bonds of Planters’ bankot
Missouri, railroads in
Money, raising, by pawnbroking
44 demand for
44 getting
44 the philosophy of
44 arithmetical accumulation of.
Moral view of railroads
Montevideo, vessels touching at.
Montreal, population ol^ in 1852..
174
733
241
436
134
132
132
747
352
355
358
632
349
103
433
650
613
577
505
129
N.
Nautical intelligence.. 125, 232, 363, 504, 629, 744
44 almanac, the American 744
Naval dry-docks of U. S .......... 187, 523, 766
Navigation of U. 8. and U. K. compared. . . . Ill
New York, Import of hides into 231
44 banks of city of 223
44 leading exports of. 360
44 banks of State of 219
44 canals, Commerce of 112
4* imports of iron into. 107
44 historical sketch of. 158,310,412, 686
44 canals, trade, Ac^ of 115
44 progress of population in city . . . 310
44 act of State relating to Ins. Cos.. 240
*• piers and docks in 450
44 progress of plank roads in 508
44 act relating to bills of exchange.. 488
44 capital A dlvid’s of banks of. 92, 737
44 and Virginia, coasting trade of... 138
New Orleans levee and wharfage dues 233
44 duties of wharfingers at 233
44 debt, Ac., of 344
44 value of produce received at. . 621
44 Commerce of, in 1852. 420
44 statistics of trade, Ac., of 489
44 prices of produoe, 1852 492
44 condition of banks of. 482
44 prices of tobacco in 725
44 rec’ts of prod’e by new can’l at 730
New Jersey, decision on usury law of 592
Now Brunswick tariff of duties 622
44 revenue of 605
North America, first mining operations in . . 747
North-West copper mining company. 134
Note, action upon a promissory 336, 464
44 due diligence in demand for drawer of 332 No antagonism between capital nud labor. . . 77b
Nova Scotia, complete census of 374
44 fisheries of 361
44 manufactures, statistics of. 388
Digitized by v^oosle
CONTENTS ON VOLUME XXVII.
YU
O.
Oats, act of Maine regulating sale of 198
Obtaining goods under fklse pretences 590
Ocean steamer*, statistics of. 942, 976
u act of U. S. concerning. 509
Ocean, currents of. 630
« postage 735
Ohio, tax law of 4B3
“ railroads In 631
* act of, to prevent fraud in trade 938
F.
Pacific, oar empire on the 876
Panama, gold received at. 16i
Partnership liability, action relating to 460
Flanges, of ocean steamers 943, 376
Patent for improvement in cars 117
" fees under British act. 517
Pearl fisheries in Panama Bay 650
Pennsylvania, constitutionality of pilotuge
law of 68
« loan bill 98
** railroads in 631
44 railroad, statistics of. 350
“ coal trade of 133
u early manufacture of Iron in. 254
“ debt and revenue of 606
“ north branch loan 357
Philadelphia, capital & divid's of banks in . . 98
Pfcn and docks in the North River 450
Pilotage law of Maryland 193
u constitutionality of Penn 68
Plank roasts in New York and Canada. 508
Polka nuts, a new article of Commerce 521
Population of the globe 638
“ statistics of, of Hungary 130
“ of France 129
* statistics of. . . . 128, 373, 517, 637, 763
44 sources of, in U. 8 517
“ of the Canadas 518
* and territory of the Austrian emp. 764
Port Patrick harbor light 630
Postofflce, U. S., statistic* of 94
Portage, rates of the United States, fee. 499
Precious metals, statistics, fix., of. 216
44 production of, from 1492 to *52 91
w 44 in the world.. 738
Prises for commercial articles 648
Production and consumption of cotton 791
Progress of population in San Francisco 518
“ of the British penny postage system 739 u of British cotton manufactories . . . 753
PmmiMory notes— indorsers 79
“ note indorsed in blank 591
Protection v§. Free Trade 51
Q.
Quebec, lumber trade of llo
B.
Bailroed, statistics of Boston and Worcester. 252 '
* system of the West 631 i
* accidents in Great Britain 381
44 car axles, breaking of. 381
44 Mocks, profitable 117
Railroad company for lorn of cheek by pi**
■enger
« cars, dam’s for injuries received in.
“ engineer, a philosophical
44 routes, the two
u Galena and Chicago
“ statistics. ... 112, 241, 376, 506, 631, 44 rates of freight on the Virginia and
Tennessee
tt Eastern, statistics of
“ Boston and Maine, cost and expen-
75
78
115
438
115
754
758
757
u
see of 757
Boston and Lowell, receipts and
expenses of
u Taunton Branch, statistics of -
Railroads, moral view of
“ in the Great Valley
“ their effect upon cities
44 Maine, concerning
“ cost and expenses of seven, In
Massachusetts
« statistics- of Massachusetts
u influence of, on agrlcnlture
758
758 577
44
949
116
756
757
759
Railways, persona employed on, In England. 760
Receipts and expenditures of U. 8 740
Reduction of export duty at Turk’s Island. . 736
Regulation of life Insurance, etc 541
Revenue law, decision on 503
u of New Brunswick 605
“ of United Kingdom In 30 yearn ... 924
Revenues of German Customs Union 97
Rice, exports from Savannah of. 617
Right of way over land belonging to State. . 117 Rochester flour trade 369
Rocks, blasting of, under water without dril- ling 390
8.
Salaries of foreign ministers 351
Sau Francisco, seaman’s wages at. 187
“ statistics of Commerce of.. . . 493
u gold dust shipped from 601
* prices of merchandise in 494
“ progress of population in.... 518
“ shipments of gold dust from. 743
Saturday night, the banker’s 769
Savannah, exports of rice from 617
44 lumber trade., 619
44 longitude at. 198
Sea, Commerce of the Black 98
Seamen, of relief of disabled. 121
Seamen’s wages at Sen Francisco 197
Ship— hypothecation. 67
Shipment of brandy from Charente to Great
Britain 730
Signals for ships ordered by Sweden 738
Sicily Commerce in 649
Silver coin, scarcity In Europe of 609
44 and gold, statistics of 916
Slave trade, statistics of the 931
Smyrna, of entering the bay of. 745
Smuggling in China. 396
Digitized by foozle
viii
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXVII.
Smugglers, expedient* of. 395
South Carolina, condition of banka of. . 93, 619
44 production of indigo in 754
8outh Foreland high light . 746
Southern coast of Florida 196
Spain, American trade with 495
44 smuggling in 137
44 railroads in 3bl
Spanish commercial regulations 365
Statistics of British American vessels 129
44 commercial.. 105, 226, 359, 489, 613, 721 “ of population.... 128, 373, 517, 637, 763
“ of Massachusetts railroads 757
Steamboat navigation of Cincinnati 635
44 statistics . . 112, 241, 376, 506, 631, 754
44 passenger, landing a 138
44 propellers 510
Stettin and Swienemunde. 127
Stock fluctuations in Boston Market 479
44 44 87
8towage bf cargoes, regulations for 502
Storms, questions relating to law of. 191
Straits of Sunda, fixed light in the 125
Suffolk Bank system for checking counterfeit
bills
Sugar, production of, in tbe world 620
44 Imports from British possessions of... 363
44 and the sugar trade 671
8weden, Commerce of 109
44 signals for ships ordered by 732
X.
Talleyrand and the banker 768 j
Tanneries, statistical account of, In U. S . . . . 752
Tare on merchandise, allowance for 371
Tariff of the Peruvian government 372
44 of duties in New Brunswick 622
44 44 at Calcutta. 624
44 of taxes on trade at Memphis. 625
Tax law of Ohio 483
M or doty on foreign coal 767
Texel, beacons, &c., at mouth of. 504
Theory of storms, questions relating to 191
Thermometer manufacture of the Kcndailaj. 643
Timber Trade of Quebec 110
Tobacco, full statistics of. 550
44 and the tobacco trade 546
44 trade, Virginia. 723
Tolls on James River and Kanawha Canal.. . 251
44 on the New York canals, rates of 506
44 trade, and tonnage of canals 115
Trade, romance of 304
44 and revenue of Ireland 729
44 and Commerce of Cincinnati in 1852.. 556 44 “ Mobile, 1851-52.... 702
Treaty between U. S. and Costa Rica 118
44 44 44 (Guatemala 365
44 44 France and Sardinia. 122
Treaties, British commercial 125
Trebizonde, Commerce of 28
Tunnel, the largest in the world 381
U.
United States, past, present, prospective pro*
gress of 637
United States, deaf, dumb, blind, fee., of . . . 128 44 and U. King’m, navigation of. ' 111
44 post-office statistics of 94
44 and the Hawaiian Islands. . . . 121
foreign Commerce of ports in 105 Treasury circulars.. 121,234,
239,371,496,
44 coinage of the
44 treasury notes outstanding. . .
44 & Costa Rica, treaty between.
44 Commerce of ports compared
44 cheese trade of
44 law relating to ocean steamers
44 naval dry docks of
44 treasury statement 603,
44 consular system
44 sources of population of
4* postal law of 1851
44 commercial growth of.
44 expendi’s of, from ’89 to *51. .
44 receipts and expendituresof.
44 production of sheep &. wool in
44 & Cuba, navigation between.
44 population fc representation of
44 agriculture 6c manuf. of the.
44 treasury notes
44 receipts of government of. . . .
44 breadstuff* exported from. . . .
44 agricul turel statistics of
44 6c Prussia, postal treaty betw*n
44 statla’cal nc. of tanneries in the
44 naval dry docks of the
44 under what circumstances a
foreign minister can sue and be sued in the United Kingdom, revenue of, in thirty years 44 her trade in manufactures.
44 statistics of debt of
44 imports of breadstuff* into
44 passengers* act of the
44 emigration from the
Use of Commerce
Usury law of New Jersey, decision on
65
351
118
230
106
509
187
741
519
517
498
393
349
740
297
238
373
226
487
480
690
728
731
759
766
710
224
647
604
230
736
763
33
592
V.
Valley, railroads in the great 44
Van Pieman's Land, gold mines in 135
Vera Cruz, mail from New Orleans to 510
Vessels, lights carried by sea-going 504
Virginia, agricultural productions of 228
44 condition of North-Western Bank of 348 Vulcanized India rubber 134
W.
Weights and mensures in Kentucky 240
Weighing department of the Bank of Eng’d . 744
Western Railroad, statistics of 379
West co't of Jutland, & coasts of Bornholm. 747 Whale, electricity applied to capture of ... . 127 44 fishery in regions about Behring’s St. 227
Wharfingers at New Orleans 233
Whaling voyage, decision relating to 586
Wool and sheep, production of, in U. S 227
Worcester, Mass., property and taxes of ... . 487
Digitized by v^.ooQle
HUNT’S
MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE.
Eitabliihed Jwly, 1830,
BY FREEMAN HUNT, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
VOLUME XXVII. JULY, 1862. NUMBER L
CONTENTS OF NO. I., VOL. XXVII.
ARTICLES.
A**r. faob.
I. ERICSSON’S CALORIC ENGINE. \ 19
U. COMMERCE OP THE RLACK SEA. By J. P. Brown, Esq., of the Legation of the Uni-
ted States at Constantinople SB
m. THE DIVINE USE OP COMMERCE. By Rer. E. L. Mabook, of New York 33
IV. COFFEE: AND THE COFFEE TRADE 99
V. RAILROADS OF THE GREAT VALLEY. By J. W. Scott, Esq., of Ohio. 44
VL PROTECTION vs. FREE TRADE. THE LAW OF PROGRESS IN THE RELATIONS
OF CAPITAL AND LABOR. By Richard Bull my, of New York SI
VIL OP THE COINAGE OF THE UNITED STATE8. By Robrrt Harr, M. D., Professor
of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania. 64
JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.
Points decided in Enalish Courts.— Carriers— Liability of railway companies, &c 67
Destruction of goods by blowing them up.— Constitutionality of Uie pilotage law of Pennsylvania 68
Lom of a baggage check by a passenger does not relieve a railroad company from liability 75
Action for bivach of contract to deliver part of a (Argo of gura 76
Ml for collision 77
Damages f.*r injuries received in railroad cars 78
Action to recover merchandise wronglu'ly detained.— Promissory notes— Indorsers. 79
Common carriers— Bill of lading.— Liabilities of husbands for debts of their wives 80
COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW:
EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRA- TED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS *.
Abundance of capital and general prosperity— Sale of railroad bonds— Effect of the Increased production of the precious metals upon the commercial value of other commodities- Priees of produce In the past have not been dependent upon the supply of coin— Illustrations of this Mateidenl by comparative tables— Explanation of ibe cause of such fluctuations— The true source of national prosperity— Free trade and protection— Profltable employment for the peo*
6le the object of bmh parth-s— Movements in foreign exchange— Shipments of specie— Depoe» a and coinage at the Philadelphia and New Orleans mint* — Imports Into the United Stales — Imports entered at New York for May, and comparative total from January 1st for three years — Stock in warehouse — Imports of dry good* for same periods— Receipts for duties — Exports from New York for May sod from January 1st— Exports of produce- Causes of fluctuations In
shipments— Disbursement of July dividends and interest 81—81
VOL. XXVII — NO. I. 2
Digitized by Google
18
CONTENTS OF NO. I., VOL. XXVIJ.
JOURNAL OF BANKING, CUBBBNCY, AND FINANCE.
PASS*
Fluctuations of stocks In tbs Boston market 87
Of the increased aud increasing supplies of gold 88
Production of the precious metals from 1493 to 1853. 91
Capital and dividends of banks in New York 98
Condition of the banks of South Carolina 93
Statistics of the United States Post Office 94
Oost of transportation and postages collected in United States. 95
Revenues or the German Customs Union in 1851 97
Capital and dividends of banks in Philadelphia.— The Pennsylvania loan bill 98
Cost of legislation in Maseachaaetls in 1851-53 100
Receipts of bullion at Panama, on English account.— Sale of Indiana Central Railway bonds. . . 101
Identity of indorsers.— The small note currency 109
Demand for mono y.— Finances of Connecticut 103
Adulteration of coins in Paris.— Of bonds issued by railroad corporations in Maine 104
Rich men in Massachusetts.— The merchant that kept two bank accounts 104
COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.
Foreign commerce of ports in the U. States compared.— Importation of eggs into Great Britain. 105
Statistics of the bank and cod fishery of Massachusetts 105
Imports of Iron into New York in 1851 107
The cheese tra ie of the United States 108
Commerce of Sweden in 1850 109
Marine disasters of the northern lakes.— Timber trade of Quebec 110
Statistics of commerce of Sweden from 1836 to 1851.. . v Ill
Navigation of the United States and United Kingdom compared Ill
RAILROAD, CANAL, AND STEAMBOAT STATISTICS.
Commerce of the New York canals from 1849 to 1853, 119
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad.— Tolls, trade, and tonnage of the canals. 115
The philosophical railroad ongmeer 115
Maine law concerning railroads.— A profitable railroad In Geo.— The first American locomotive . . 110 Hamilton, Eaton, and Richmond Railroad.— The right of wav over land belonging to the State. 117 Validity of a patent for improvement in cars.— Profitable railroad stocks 117
COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS.
Commercial treaty between the United States and Costa Rica. 118
Reciprocal trade between U. 8. and Hawaiian islands.— Relief of sick and disabled seamen. ... 131 Commercial treaty between France and Sardinia.— Act to regulate the sale of oats in Maine. ... 139
The law of Maryland regulating pilotage 133
Reduction of anchorage duties by Braxil.— Act to regulate the sale of cotton in Alabama. 194
British commercial ana navigation treaties 125
NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.
Of light vessels as a guide to mariners.— Fixed light iu the Strait of Sunda 125
Revolving light on south point of Barbados.— The southern coast of Florida. 136
Electricity applied to the capture of the whale.— Seamen’s wages at San Francisco. . . 127
The Differences of longitude of Savannah 12a
STATISTICS OP POPULATION.
Deaf, dumb, blind, insane, fee* population of the United States. 128
Population of Prance from 10)1 to 185i. — Statistics of British Emigrant vessels 129
Statistics of the population of Hungary. — Circulation of the London press 130
JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.
Copper mining of Lake Superior
Cotton plauters should become ootton spinners
The Australian gold mines
Comparative cost of mining in Cornwall and Lake Superior.
The coal trade of Pennsylvania.
American Bohemian glass
Discovery of gold at Queen Charlotte's islands
The North-west copper Mining Company
Gold mines in Van Dieman’a Land
Liquid leather
The value of an acre of coal land
131
131
132
132
133
133
134
134
135
135
136
MERCANTILE MISCELLANIES.
An old merchant’s advice 138
Smuggling in Spain 137
Landing a steamboat passenger 138 .
A sell* wind log, or perpetual clock 138
Business of Dubuque in 1851 138
Of the coasting trade between New York and Virginia 13g
THE BOOK TRADE.
Motleea of 38 new Books, or new Editions 139-144
Digitized by Google
HUNT’S
MERCHANTS’ MAGAZINE
AND
COMMERCIAL REVIEW,
JULY, 1862.
Art. I. — EBICSSON’S CALORIC ENGINE.
Oke hundred and twenty years before the Christian era, a wheel, driven by a jet of steam, revolved in the Egyptian capital. More than nine- teen centuries succeeded, marking their deep furrows upon the broad free of creation, before this whirling toy ripened into the mighty 8team Engine, now so familiar to our race. During this vast period of time, sixty generations of men were born, and lived, and garnered for eternity. Of all the millions composing these generations, no man had appeared ingenious enough to drive pistons to and fro with that vapor, which had turned the playfal wheel in Alexandria. That which now seems to have been its ob- vious application, nearly two thousand years were consumed in finding out. It required but a cylinder, a piston to move within it, grasping a crank, and with but few and simple contrivances beyond, the steam-engine was com- plete. That power which had created a rotary motion, could produce a reciprocating motion. To establish this neither experiment nor scientific learning was necessary ; and if these had been required, both could have been abundantly supplied. Great geniuses had appeared, and scattered their rich gifts among men, and bad passed away ; failing to accomplish that which Watt finally completed. Human skill had multiplied luxuries, human invention had created innumerable comforts ; but still mankind were as destitute of a Motive Power as when the Israelites journeyed from Egypt. At the end of the eighteenth century this power appeared. At length it assumed a form which enabled it to drag heavy burdens upon land and sea; and then, as the grim monster blew its hot breath from its iron lungs, the globe seemed contracted to half its former size.
In strength it was mightier than any moving thing, and in speed it ri- valed the birds of heaven. It has become the strong carrier and the fleet
Digitized by v^.ooQle
30
Ericsson's Caloric Engine .
rucer. Glowing fires are its food, and its sinews hot vapor. Its unearthly shriek troubles the air, and its rolling tramp shakes the earth. It impels huge ships over wide seas; defying the hurricane and mastering the storm. It digs the ore, blows the furnace, wields the heavy hammer, and turns the spindle. It toils in the workshop; it toils in mid ocean, and it toils as it bounds along upon its iron track, unchecked by its ponderous train. It has traversed mighty waters, walked upon dark and troubled seas, darted through tunneled mountains, and coursed along western wilds.
Its years have been few. The nineteenth century dawned upon its early infancy, and the first half of that century closed upon its gigantic manhood. In this short period of time, it has stamped new and everlasting characters npon the history of mankind. It has accomplished a grand, and we believe its final destiny. We think its end is at hand, its mission nearly over. If it has been a useful slave, it has also been a costly and dangerous one.
To prevent this danger, the most watchful care, the profoundest skill, have proved unavailing. If the slaughter of our race, caused by its burst- ing boilers could be presented to view, humanity would stand appalled. Its oourse has been marked and its onward track strewn with mangled bodies. Of this the press, day by day, tells an awful story.
It is time that this fierce and expensive, though mighty bond-servant, should be replaced by one equally powerful, cheaper, and less dangerous. The age is ripe for this change. The experience of the last few years has determined that steam cannot be profitably used, for commercial purposes, upon the ocean. For a voyage of three thousand miles, a large portion of die freighting capacity of the ship is required for coals alone. These, with the engine and huge boilers, occupy a part at least of that space, which should be filled with merchandise. The expense of the coal consumed is enormous ; but this could be borne if it occupied less room. In proportion as the voyage is extend' d, does steam, as a motive power, become more ex- pensive; until finally, the entire ship would be insufficient to contain the fuel necessary to feed the engine. A steamer of the Collins liue cousumea, we are informed, about one thousand tons of coal for a voyage of three thousand miles. Double this distance, and although the cost of the coal is but doubled, nearly the entire freighting room of the steamer is absorbed by it* and her power to earn freight is gone. Still increase this distance, with no means to supply fuel upon the route, and steam machinery becomes worse than useless. The broad Pacific cannot be traversed by it. Its rich commerce invites the merchant ship, and rewards the navigator, but the steamer must hug its shores, and cannot profitably explore its ample bosom. It is the mission of man to hold the earth and its waters in subjection by machinery. By machinery he is destined to lighten the drudgery which at tho dawn of creation fell upon his race. To accomplish this he has been en- dowed with genius and inventive power; and where the force of a thousand giants would be fruitless, these triumphantly prevail. They gave to the world steam as a motive |>ower. It has proved inadequate to the wants of men, destructive to human life, and more costly than the interests of com- merce can sustain.
A new motive power is demanded, and if the eyesight and the judgment can be relied upon, it has appeared. It is the most sublime development of force ever seen in machinery ! It is exerted by that life-giving, elastic fluid, the atmosphere. It is drawn from that vast magazine through which the lightnings play, and is supplied from that unseen element which
Digitized by Google
21
Eric* tori'* Caloric Engine.
«gh* in the breexe and roars in the hurricane. We are not intimately ac- quainted with machinery, nor are we altogether ignorant of the principles of mechanical science. We know enough of both to form an intelligent judg- ment concerning the wonderful machine to which we allude, and which we have earefully examined. It is not, like most new inventions, presented in a mere model. It does not, like most new inventions, rest in bare expert ment Were these its conditions, the Merchants' Magazine would express no judgment concerning its utility, nor indulge in any speculations as to its supposed value. We should leave this talk to those who are supposed to be better acquainted with the science of mechanics, and with the practical value of untried inventions, than the editor of a commercial journal. We are not here called upon to perform this task.
A celebrated painter has said “ Let my productions be subjected to the judgment of the whole world, but heaven deliver me from that of my own profession.” This may not, in a majority of cases, prove to be a just ap- prehension ; but it is quite certain that there is in every profession a con- servative spirit, which clings to the knowledge of the past, and distrust* that which is new and untried. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of the steam-engine.
We all know that, at this time, the only mode in use for producing a ro- tary motion, from the reciprocating motion of the piston of a steam-engine, is by means of a crank. It is equally well known, that to enable the sta- tionary engine to 44 pass the center,” a ponderous fly-wheel is employed. Now it will hardly be credited, that both these methods were at first condemned by distinguished engineers, as utterly impracticable. In 1777 Mr. Stewart read a paper before the Royal Society in London, describing a method for obtaining a continued circular motion, for turning all kinds of mills, from the reciprocating motion of the steam-engine. This he proposed to effect by meaus of a complicated contrivance, which practice soon proved to be worthless. In the course of his remarks, he incidentally noticed the method of obtaining the circular motion by means of a crank, which, said he, 44 oe- curt naturally in theory , but in practice would be impossible?
This paper was, by the council of the Society, referred to Mr. Smeaton, one of the most distinguished engineers of that age. He not only con- demned the crank, but the fly-wheel also ; and, in consequence of these views, very complicated and expensive means were adopted, to produce the desired rotary motion from the reciprocating motion of the piston, until, at kngth, from necessity, the crank and fly-wheel were adopted, and ever af- terwards used.
We have mentioned these circumstances to show the wisdom of the course Pursued by Captain Ericsson, in not subjecting his invention to public ex- amination, until he could present it in a shape so conclusive, as to satisfy the judgment of practical men ; and to trample down that carping, sneering criticism, with which envy and rivalry sometimes seek to strangle the pro- ductions of inspired genius. This, in our opinion, he has accomplished. We have, with great care, examined this machine ; the principles and con- traction of which were fully explained to us by the distinguished inventor. It is alike remarkable for sublimity of conception and simplicity of detail, like the forces of nature, its operations, although mighty, are gentle. Two machines upon this plan are now in operation at the works of Messrs. Hogg A Delamater — one of five horse, the other of sixty horse power.
The latter is the most extraordinary piece of machinery we have ever *
Digitized by v^oosle
/
12 ErictmmU Caloric Engine.
teen. It has four cylinders. Two, of seventy- two inches in diameter, stand side by side. Over each of these is placed one much smaller. Within these are pistons, exactly fitting their respective cylinders, and so connected that those within the lower ana upper cylinders move together. Under the bottom of each of the lower cylinders a fire is applied. No other furnaces are employed. Neither boilers nor water are used. The lower is called the working cylinder ; the upper the supply cylinder. As the piston in the supply cylinder moves down, valves placed in its top open, and it becomes filled with cold air. As the piston rises within it, these valves dose, and the air within, unable to escape as it came, passes through another set of valves, into a receiver, from whence it is to pass into the working cylinder, to force up the working piston within it As it leaves the receiver to per- form this duty, it passes through what is called the regenerator, which we shall soon explain, where it becomes heated to about four hundred and fifty degrees, and upon entering the working cylinder, it is further heated by the fire underneath. We have said the working cylinder is much larger in di- ameter than the supply cylinder. Let us, for the sake of illustration merely, suppose it to contain double the area. The cold air which entered the up- per cylinder will, therefore, but half fill the lower one. In the couree of its passage to the latter, however, we have said that it passes through a regen- erator, and let us suppose, that as it enters the working cylinder, it has be- come heated to about four hundred and eighty degrees. At this tempera- ture, atmospheric air expands to double its volume. The same atmospheric air, therefore, which was contained within the supply cylinder, is now capa- ble of filling one of twice its size. With this enlarged capacity, it enters the working cylinder.
We will further suppose the area of the piston within this cylinder to contain a thousand square inches, and the area of the piston in the sup- ply cylinder above, to contain but five hundred. The air presses upon this with a mean force, we will suppose, of about eleven pounds to each square inch ; or in other words, with a weight of 5,500 pounds. Upon the surface of the lower piston, the heated air is, however, pressing upwards with a like force upon each of its one thousand square inches ; or in other words, with a force of 11,000 pounds. Here, then, is a force which, after overcoming the weight above, leaves a surplus of 5,500 pounds, if we make no allow- ance for friction. This surplus furnishes the working power of the engine. It will he readily seen that after one stroke of its pistons is made, it will continue to work with this force, so long as sufficient heat is supplied to ex- pand the air in the working cylinder to the extent stated ; for so long as the area of the lower piston is greater than that of the upper, and a like pressure is upon every square inch of each, so long will the greater piston push forward the smaller, as a two-pound weight upon one end of a bal- ance will he quite sure to bear down one pound placed upon the other. We need hardly say that after the air in the working cylinder has forced up the piston within it, a valve opens, and as it passes out, the pistons, by force of gravity, descend, and cold air again rushes into, and fills the supply cylinder, as we have before described. In this manner the two cylinders are alter- nately supplied and discharged, causing the pistons in each to play up and down, substantially as they do iu the steam-engine.
We trust our readers will be able, from the brief description we have here attempted, to understand at least the general principles upon which this machine operates. Its cylinders draw their supply from the atmosphere.
Digitized by
Eruxeorit Caloric Engine.
M
The cylinders of the steam-engine are supplied by scalding vapor, drawn from hiding boilers. The caloric engine draws into its iron lungs, the same dement which expands those of the most delicate child, and derives its mo- tion and its power from that sustaining source upon which depends the ex- igence of all animate life.
We have endeavored to explain the construction of the caloric engine. Its most striking feature consists in what is called by its inventor, the regen- erator. Before describing this, we will present tbe grand idea upon whioh it is based. First let it be remembered that the power of the steam- engine depends upon the heat employed to produce steam within its boilers. It will be seen that from the very nature of steam the heat required to pro- duce it, amounting to about 1,200°, is entirely lost by condensation the mo- ment it has once exerted its force upon the piston. If, instead of being so lost, all the heat used in creating the steam employed could, at the moment of condensation, be reconveyed to the furnace, there again to aid in produ- cing steam in the boilers, hut a very little fuel would be necessary ; none, in fact, except just enough to supply the heat lost by radiation. The reason is obvious. Let us suppose the steam has passed from the boiler, has en- tered the cylinder, has driven the piston forward, and is about to pass into the condenser, there to change its form, and be again converted into water. This steam, yet in the cylinder, and uncondensed, possesses all the heat it contained before passing out of the boiler. It has driven the piston forward, bat in that effort it has lost no heat. That source of power it still contains.
Let it be supposed that the heat contained in the steam could, at the mo- ment it is converted into water within the condenser, he saved, and by some derice be again used to create steam from water within the boiler, with what exceeding cheapness could the power of the steam-engine he employed. But it is quite impossible thus to re-employ the heat of steam : it cannot thus be saved ; and hence every effort to economize in this manner would he un- miliog.
The proportions we have here advanced were, it appears, more than twenty-five years since familiar to the scientific mind of Captain Ericsson. He was at that early jxsriod deeply impressed with their importance ; and regarding heat as the sole source of motive-power, was anxious to discover some element in which it could be so employed that, after giving motion to machinery, it should be returned to act over and over again for the same purpose. But little reflection was necessary to convince him that steam was not this element. It must consist of some permanent gas, and atmospheric air seemed admirably adapted to the purpose. Accordingly it was employed by him.
In a work entitled 44 A Dictionary of the Arts of Life and Civilisation,” published in London in 1833, the author,' Sir Richard Phillips, mentions an engine which Captain Ericsson then had in operation in that city, as 44 his application of excited or rarefied air to the performance of those powers of machinery, which hitherto have been made to depend on the intervention of boiling water and its steam.” The author further states that he 44 has, with inexpressible delight, seen the first model machine, of five horse-power, at wort With a handful of fuel applied to the very sensible medium of at- mospheric air, and a most ingenious disposition of its differential powera, he beheld a resulting action, in narrow compass, capable of extension to as great forces as ever can be wielded or used by man.”
The author adds : — 44 The principle of this new engine consists in this :
Digitized by v^.ooQle
24
Ericeton's Calorie Engine.
that the heat which is required to give motion to the engine at the com- mencement, is returned by a peculiar process of transfer, and thereby made to act ever and over again, instead of being, as in the steam engine, thrown into a condenser, or into the atmospheric, as so much waste fuel.”
During the last nineteen years, Captain Ericsson has employed much of his time, and expended large amounts of money, in overcoming those prac- tical difficulties which are ever stumbling blocks in the way leading to the successful development of a great principle in new machinery. This he has now achieved. The principle of his invention, as stated by Sir Richard Phillips, is still retained, embodied in that practical and complete form, which render thi9 engine economical, absolutely safe, durable, simple in construc- tion, and in action effective.
Let us now attempt to describe the regenerator, to which we have referred. Without this, the machine we examined would possess, in point of econo- my, no advantage over the best constructed steam-engine. With it, the advantages are incalculable. We have already fully illustrated the leading idea conceived by Captain Ericsson, of employing heat over and over again. To attain this is the object of the regenerator.
For the purpose of understanding this instrument our readers will bear in mind the construction and operation of the machine. We have before stated that atmospheric air is tirst drawn into the supply cylinder, from whence it is forced into a receiver, and that from this it proceeds towards the working cylinder, before reaching which it passes through the regenera- tor. This structure is composed of wire net, somewhat like that used in the manufacture of sieves, placed side by side, until the series attain a thick- ness, say of twelve inches. Through the almost innumerable cells, formed by the intersection of these wires, the air must pass, on its way to the work-i ing cylinder. In passing through these, it is so minutely subdivided that the particles composing it are brought into close contact with the metal which forms the wires. Now let us suppose, what actually takes place, that the side of the regenerator nearest the working cylinder is heated to a high temperature. Through this heated substance the air must pass before en- tering the cylinder, and in effecting this passage, it takes up, as is demon- strated by the thermometer, about 450° of the 480° of heat required, as we before stated, to double its volume. The additional 30° are communi- cated by the fire beneath the cylinder. The air has thus become expanded ; it forces the piston upward ; it has done its work — valves open — and the imprisoned air, heated to 480°, passes from the cylinder, and again enters the regtnerator, through which it roust pass before leaving the machine. We have said that the side of this instrument nearest the woikiug cylinder is hot, and it should be here stated that the other side is kept cool, by the action upon it of the air entering in the opposite direction at each up- stroke of the pistons. Consequently, as the air from the working cylinder passes out, the wires absorb its heat so effectually that, when it leaves the re- generator, it has been robbed of it all, except about 30°. In other words, as the air passes into the working cylinder it gradually receives from the re- generator about 450° of heat ; and as it passes out, this is returned to the wires, and is thus used over and over, the only purpose of the fires beneath the cylinders being to supply the 30° of heat we have mentioned, and that which is lost by radiation and expansion. Extraordinary as this statement may seem, it is nevertheless incontrovertibly proved by the thermometer to be quite true.
Digitized by v^oosle
Ericsson' 8 Caloric Engine.
25
When physical causes, productive of unexpected mechanical results, are Carefully examined, they will always be found adequate to effect what, upon a cursory view might appear marvelous or incredible. Thus, after an ex- amination of the reasons why this compact regenerator so effectually ab- sorbs and transmits heat, its operation will cease to create wonder, although it cannot fail to excite profound admiration. We will state the causes of ite efficiency .
The regenerator, contained in the sixty horse engine we have examined, measures twenty-six inches in higlit and width internally. Each disc of wire composing it contains 676 superficial inches, and the net has ten meshes to the inch. Each sii|>erficial inch, therefore, contains 100 meshes, which, multiplied by 676, give 67,600 meshes in each disc, and as 200 discs are employed, it follows that the regenerator contains 13,520,000 rneshes, and consequently, as there are as many small spaces between the di*cs as there are mesdies, we find that the air within is distributed in about 27,000,000 minute cells. Ilence, it is evident, that nearly every particle of the whole volume of air, in passing through the regenerator, is brought into very close contact with a surface of metal, which heats and cools alternately. The ex- tent of this, surface, when accurately estimated, almost surpasses belief.
The wire contained in each disc is 1,140 feet long, and that contained in the regenerator is consequently 228,000 feet, or 41^ miles in length, the superficial measurement of which is equal to the entire surface of four steam boilers, each forty feet long, and four feet in diameter; and yet the regenerator, presenting this great amount of heating surface, is only about two feet cube — less than of the bulk of these four boilers.
Involved in this wonderful process, of the transfer and retransfer of heat is a discovery, which justly ranks as one of the most remarkable ever made iu physical science. Its author, Captain Ericsson long since Ascertained, and u|>on this is based the subliraest feature of his caloric-engine, that at- mospheric air and other permanent gases, in passing through a distance of only six inches, in the fiftieth part of a second of time, are capable of ac- quiring, or parting with, upward of four hundred degrees of heat. lie has been first to discover this marvelous property of caloric, without which, at- mospheric air could not be effectively employed as a motive-power. The reason is obvious. Until expanded by heat, it can exert no force upon the phton. If much time were required to effect this, the movement of the piston would necessarily be so slow as to render the machine inefficient. Captain Ericsson has demonstrated, however, that heat may be communi- cated to, and expansion effected in, atmospheric air, with almost electric speed ; and that it is, therefore, eminently adapted to give the greatest de- sirable rapidity of motion to all kinds of machine? y.
We here close our imperfect description of a machine destined, as we be- lieve, to work a revolution in the Commerce of the globe. It consumes but t very small proportion of the coal required for the steam-engine. It is en- tirely free from every element of explosion or of danger. Watchfulness is not imperatively required, as in the steam-engine. If left unattended, the worst that can happen is, that after exhausting the beat of its fires, and of its regenerator, it will stop. The one we examined, of sixty horse- power, has been run at full speed during twenty four consecutive hours, cousuming but nine hundred and sixty pounds of coal. After feeding the fires, it con- tinues to run three hours without replenishment, and after withdrawing them from the grates, it operates with full power for the period of one hour, in
Digitized by Google
26
Ericseorie Calorie Engine .
consequence of the astonishing action of its regenerator alone. We believe we have not, in the slightest degree, overrated the immense advantages of this engine, in point of economy and safety. If we have not, the world may well start with exultation. In magnitude of results, no invention can rank with it. The electric telegraph is one of great interest and value, and to him who reflects that the fierce lightning has by that process been tamed, and brought to the very lips of man, there to be freighted with human lan- guage, and sent abroad, to girdle the earth with thought, it becomes sub- lime. Still, it is greatly inferior, in practical importance, to the discovery of a motive-power such as we have attempted to describe. Human specu- lation fails adequately to estimate its influence upon the social and commer- cial relations of men and of nations. Its effects will naturally be first ex- erted upon the ocean. It is here that the value of such a power will be most sensibly felt and appreciated. Here it will soon become the strong arm and right hand of Commerce. It may be affirmed with confidence that, with engines upon this plan, a ship of two thousand tons can be pro- pelled from San Francisco to China and back with less coal than is now re- quired for an ordinary ocean steamer to cross the Atlantic.
The annals of the mechanic arts furnish no instance of an important in- vention having been brought before the public in so complete a form as to warrant its being carried out on a scale of the first magnitude from the out- set. Ericsson’s Caloric Engine will form an exception. A ship is now building for its reception by Messrs. Perrine, Patterson, and Stack, measur- ing twenty-two hundred tons burden, and her engines, which are being constructed by Messrs. Hogg <k Delamater, eomprife four working cylinders, each of 168 inches in diameter. We have visited both the ship-yard and the engine manufactory, and have inspected with more than ordinary inter- est the work on which more than four hundred men are now busily engaged. The ship is quite a remarkable structure, both in point of form aud strength. The engines being placed in the center of the vessel admit of a better form of midship section than in steamships. Of this the builders have availed themselves by giving such a rise to the floor that strength and easy lines for passing through the water are appropriately combined. The lines of the ship at the entrance are singularly fine; and yet, by a very judicious appli- cation of the “ wave line,” as it is technically called, the bow possesses all the fullness requisite for a good sea-boat. The run is alike peculiar for easy lines, combined with stability and requisite bearing. The strength of floor, which is built entirely solid from stem to stern, surpasses anything we have seen in this country, noted as it is for producing the best ships in the world. In order to give additional strength to the ample timbers, the entire frame is banded by a double series of diagonal braces, of flat bars of iron, let into the timbers at intervals of about three feet, each series being riveted together at all the points of intersection. In addition to the ordinary central keelsons, there are six engine keelsons, bolted on the top of the floor timbers, for three-fourths of the length of the ship. On these keelsons the bed plates of the engines are secured by bolts passing through the floor timbers. These bed-plates extend over the entire area occupied by the engines, and present a continuation of iron flooring, not witnessed in any steamship. The security thus attained is further enhanced by dispensing entirely with the numerous holes through the bottom of the vessel, which in steamers are necessary, and have often brought that class of vessels to a sinking condition. The engines being arranged in the center of the vessel, the decks are not cut oft as in
Digitized by Google
Ericsson* s Caloric Engine.
27
stamen ; and as the whole of the machinery is confined within a vertical trunk 76 tat long and 18 feet wide, ample space is left on each side of the ship for state-rooms along its entire length, with unbroken passages, fore and aft, on either side. The freight-deck also presents an unbrDken area fore and aft, diminished only in width in the central part of the vessel. The coal being carried in the bottom, at each side of the engines, the fore and aft Bold are clear for freight. The central arrangement of the engines involves, of necessity, a central crank, and thus the spar-deck presents an uninter- rupted area, on both sides, the ordinary objectionable crank hatches being dispensed with. The slow combustion peculiar to the caloric engine renders the huge smoke funnel unnecessary. A short pipe to carry off the gases produced by the combnstion in the furnaces takes its place in the caloric ship. The absence of steam in every form is sufficiently important in pro- ducing a more pleasant atmosphere than in steamers, but far more remark- able is the tat that the quantity of air which will be drawn out of the ship by the action of the supply cylinders of the engines, will exceed sixty tons in weight every hour ! Captain Ericsson, in calling our attention to this fact, furnished us with a few figures that we feel certain our readers will need, as much as we did, to comprehend how so vast a ventilation is effected. Each supply piston presents an area of 102 superficial feet, with a stroke of six feet. 612 cubic feet of atmospheric air will therefore be drawn into the engine at each stroke ; and when the engine makes fourteen strokes per minute, 8,568 cubic feet. But as there are four supply cylinders, they will, in this space of time, draw in 34,272 cubic feet; and in 60 minutes there will be thus circulated 2,056,320 cubic feet. The weight of atmospheric air is nearly 13^ cubic feet to the pound; and thus it will be seen that 68 tons of air are drawn from the interior of the ship, through the engines, and passed off into the atmosphere, every hour. The effect of such an extraor- dinary system of ventilation, in purifying the atmosphere of the ship, is self-evident.
The simple construction of the caloric engine, and the small quantity of coal to be bandied, will reduce the number of engineers and firemen, in the aggregate, to less than one* fourth the complement required for steamers. This great reduction in the number of men, whose duties are incompatible with strict cleanliness, will still further promote a purer state of atmosphere in caloric ships than in steamers. Again, as no smoke whatever is produced, when anthracite coal is employed, the ma*ts and rigging of the caloric ship will be as as clean as in sailing vessels. We examined the combustion of the sixty horse caloric-engine most critically. No smoke could be detected from it, and we arrived at the conclusion, that with such a slow combustion and easy firing smoke cannot possibly emanate from the anthracite consumed in the furnaces. Europe has scarcely any of this fuel, and in a national point of view, therefore, the introduction of the caloric-engine is important. We congratulate the commercial world that this invention is to be presented upon a scale and in a manner commensurate with its surpassing magnitude. The commercial part of this enterprise is conducted by Mr. John B. Kitching, a merchant of the city of New York, who has, for this purpose, associated with him a few gentlemen of wealth and high standing. It is fortunate that he possesses the practical intelligence which has enabled him to appreciate the advantages to be derived from the introduction of this new motive power. He at once concurred with Captain Ericsson, that its develop- ment in practice should so thoroughly test its utility and value, that no
Digitized by Google
28
Commerce of the Black Sea.
doubt could thereafter be entertained concerning either. So far as human scrutiny and foresight can penetrate, this invention promises to be the richest boon to Commerce and civilization yet attained by the application to machi- nery of those natural forces created by Omnipotence for the benefit of our race. Upon the manner of its first introduction to the world, will, in a great degree depend the time within which it will be made generally avail- able in practice. Mr. Kitching will b9 remembered as the man whose sound judgment and perfect self-reliance have so contributed to present the coloric- engine to the public, that a second trial will not be required to warrant its universal adoption.
Art. II.— COMMERCE OP THE BLACK SEA.
Some years ago the translator of the present article on the subject of the Commerce of the Port of Trebizond, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, during a visit which he had occasion to make there, availed himself of it to procure some details of the trade which passes through that part to Georgia and Persia, as well as with the interior of that portion of Asia Mi- nor of which Trebizond is the principal port of entry. Those details were, soon afterwards, offered for publication to the Merchants' Magazine, in which they appeared.
With the increased intercourse of the people of the United States with the Ottoman Empire, as merchants, or as simple travelers for pleasure or in- struction, it is presumed that any information made public on the subject of the trade of Asiatic and European Turkey will be perused with interest by the commercial public. The absence of a regular Commercial Bureau at Washington, to which such communications might be made, for the purpose of having them laid before the public in the form of annual “Commercial Reports” to Congress, renders this -means of publicity the more valuable ; and with this object in view, the following later details of the trade which formed the subject of the previous notes are now offered for insertion in the Merchants' Magazine.
COMMERCE OF TREBIZOND IN 1851.*
During a period of six years the imports and exports of Trebizond have gone on increasing, and the transit Commerce has also augmented in an equal proportion. In 1846 some 30,000 packages of goods were disem- barked there for Persia and Georgia, valuing about fifty millions of Turkish piastres, of some four cents each, making $2,000,000 of our own currency. In 1851, the merchandise which arrived at Trebizond amounted to 59,003 packages, valuing 182,000,000 of piastres.! The expenses of 30,000 pack- ages, from the period of their departure from Constantinople up to their being put into warehouses in Tabriz in Persia, were, on account of the dear-
* Translated from the “ Journal de Constantinople.”
t The Turkish plnstre fluctuates In value, and la governed by the aale at which bills of exchange on London are sold at Constantinople. At this date, April. 1853, the p<<und sterling la, in spooky (gold and silver.) 117 piastres, and in Gztm«A« (paper currency of the Sultan) 120 piastres. The Spanish dollar values 25 piastres In specie, and 26 and 27 piastres in paper.
Digitized by v^oosle
Trebizond in 1851.
29
ness of transportation, about 15 per cent on the whole amount — say some 7,500,000 } lustres on the value of 60,000,000 piastres. On this basis, which is believed to be exact, the expenses of 59,003 packages, worth 182,000,000 piastres, should amount to 27,000,000 piastres. It has been determined upon by the Turkish Government to construct a good wagon road from Tr- bizond to Erzerrow,* a town of some importance, not far from the Persian frontier, which project, for the present, has been deferred, and the preceding statements of the trade which would pass over it is certainly sufficient to serve as an inducement for its future execution. Besides the preceding, it should also be added that the Commerce in transit to Persia pays to the Tuikish Government a duty of 3 per cent, which makes a sura of 5,500,000 piastres per annum. In a few years, should the trade increase in the ratio of the past six years, this revenue would quite suffice to cover the expenses of the proposed route.
The writer next adds, in behalf of the Commerce of Franco with Trebi- zond, “In the general table of the trade of Trebizond, which we publish, we are pained to observe a point whi« h struck us in 1846, that France takes no part in this trade, whilst some forty years ago the Commerce of France predominated in the Levant.”
“The st>*aml»oats which now go to Trebizond belong wholly to the Turk- ish, Engli>h, and Austrian marines.” After some expressions of confidence that the present President of the “Republic of France ” will take proper measures to restore the lost trade of Marseilles, lie continues: “The goods imported into Trebizond under the flags of different nations for the con- sumption of the interior of the country and those destined for Persia, amount to 243,342,000 piastres, or $9,793,680, and the exports to 1 10,471,000 pias- tres, or $4,4 18, 840 — making a difference between them cf some 132,871,000 piastres, or $5,314,840, which is explained in the following table.
The most important portion of this trade belongs to the Turkish marine, next to this to the Austrian, and next to the British. The first imports in- to Trebizond 132,730,000 piastres, or $5,309,200 ; the second 72,704,000 piastres, $2,908,160; and the third 35,406,000 piastres, or $1,416,240. The other nations engaged in the trade may be classed as follows : Greece, the two Danubian Provinces of Turkey, one Moldavia and Wallachia, the seven Ionian Islands, and Russia.
In a general recapitulation of the same, we find 99 sailing vessels, and 73 steamers, together having 1 1 1,352 tons.
The arrivals in 1851 were as follows: —
Ottoman sailing vessels, 71 ; steamers, 30; in all, 101 ; of 63,580 tons, and 13,380 horse power, aud importing goods of the value of 132,730,000 piastres, or $5,809,200.
Austrian summer*, of 7, *00 horse-power, and 23,300 tons, and importing 72,703,000 piastres, or $2,908,160 of merchandise.
British sailing vessels, 6 ; steamers, 17 ; in all, 23 ; of 4,994 horse-power, and 16,742 tons, with 35,406,000 piastres, or $1,410,240 of merchandise.
Greek vessels, 9 ; of 1,698 tons, and 1,855,000 piastres, or $54,200 of merchandise.
Danubian vessels, 7 ; of 1,004 tons, and 550,000 piastres, or $21,000 of mer- chandise.
Ionian vessels, 3 ; of 396 tons, and 257,000 piastres, or $10,800 of merchandise.
Russian vessels, 2 ; of 382 tons, and with 340,000 piastres, or $13,600.
French vessels, 1 ; of 350 tons, in ballast.
* The failure of this determination, is attributed at Constantinople to the influence of Russia, which is, very naturally, desirous of having the transit trade oT Persia pass through Georgia. Tfaw projected road was bogun at the instance of the British Embassy at Constantinople.
Digitized by v^oosle
30
Commerce of the Black Sea,
Making totally 90 sailing vessels and 73 steamers, or in all 172 vessels of every nation ; which imported into the single port of Trebizond goods for internal consumption and transit to Georgia and Persia to the amount of 243,342,000 piastres, or $9,733,680.
The departures for Trebizond in 1851 were —
Ottoman sailing vessels, 51 ; steamers, 80 ; in all, 81 ; of 18,880 horse-power, and exporting merchandise to the value of 26,686,000 piastres, and specie 20,691,000 pi- astres, or $1,896,080.
Austrian steamers, of 7,800 horse-power, and 23,880 tons, with merchandise of the value of 14,801,000 piastres, and specie 18,424,000 piastres, or $1,109,280.
British vessels 6 ; steamers, 17 ; in all, 22 ; of 4,994 horse- power, and 16,300 tons, and merchandise to the value of 11,732,000 piastres, in specie, 12,017,000 piastres, or $949,960.
It must be remembered that the specie destined for Constantinople, (for all of this Commerce is between Trebizond and Constantinople,) indicated, refers entirely to the merchandise in transit to and from Georgia and Persia ; whilst the following is a statement of the local Commerce, and that for the consumption of the interior of the country of which Trebizond is the first, in 1851 : —
Ottoman steamers, 8,751,000 piastres, or $150,040 in specie.
Austrian steamers, 2,804,000 piastres, or $152,160 in specie.
British steamers, 8,106,000 piastres, or $124,240 in specie.
Greek vessels, 9 ; 1,698 tons ; 116,000 piastres, or $4,640 in goods.
Danubian vessels, 7 ; 1,004 tons ; 110,000 piastres, or $4,400 in goods.
Ionian vessels, 8 ; 896 tons ; in ballast.
Russian vessels, 2 ; 882 tons ; in ballast.
French vessels, 1 ; 852 tons ; a cargo of copper worth 1,726,000 piastres, or $69,500.
Making, in total, 110,471,000 piastres, or $4,417,840, in 78 Bailing vessels and 78 steamers ; or total number, 151.
It must be also here added that the great difference which exists between the amount of imports and exports is caused by the circumstance that, for a good portion of the goods which go into Persia, the returns are made to Europe — that is to say, by Tiflis, where they are converted into bills of ex- change on St Petersburg or on London. The reader will remember that Georgia now forms a province of Russia.
During the year 1851 the different steamers carried from Trebizond 1 7,300 passengers to Constantinople, and this part of their business is a source of no inconsiderable gain to them. Seven large steam frigates form this line ; two are steam frigates belonging to the Sultan of Turkey, each 450 horse- power ; two belong to the Ottoman Steam Navigation Company, of 250 and 350 horse-power ; two Austrian steamers, of the “ Lloyd Austrian,” of 260 and 350 horse-power ; and one English steamer of 300 horse power.
There arrived at Trebizond, from Constantinople, England, and Trieste, (in smaller quantities from the latter place,) 59,003 packages of diverse mer- chandise in transit) for Persia, valuing 182,000,000 piastres, or $7,280,000.
Trebizond received from Persia for Constantinople 14,756 packages of goods of coarse kinds, of which 3,201 were bales of silk, valuing 25,000,000 piastres, or $1,000,000 ; the remainder consisted in gall nuts, tumbekis, Persian tobacco, for the narguila, (a water-pipe,) saffron, wax, almonds, leech- es, pipe sticks, shawls of different kinds, carpets, Ac., &c.
Trebizond imported grains —
Digitized by Google
Trebizond in 1851.
31
Indian corn from the Danube. kiloe (bushels) 890
Wheat from the Danube and Odessa 122,000
Barley 29,200
Oats 8,200
Salt may be imported there to about 68,000 kilos, of 80 okes each (82 lbs.)
Among the imports belonging to the local trade of Trebizond, or for tran- sit to Persia and Georgia, all carried on horses’ or mules’ backs, were, in 1851, 6,424 cases of sugar in loaves, (English and Dutch,) and 630 large barrels of sugar, also English and Dutch, of which three-fourths were in loaves, and one- fourth in powder.
There were, in 1851, 6,729 packages of Tumbekis of Persia, and 57,976 packages of merchandise for this country.
The preceding gives an idea of the extent and importance of the trade open of the principal ports of the Black Sea, and yet contains but few of the details needed of the nature of the same. The notes, heretofore furn- ished to the Merchant s' Magazine, may be considered as a correct exposi- tion of the different articles of import and export, of which the trade is composed.
The steamers, herein mentioned, all trade at Sinope and Samsoon on their way to and from Trebizond, and besides the great number of passengers which they take in or discharge there, the merchandise required at these places forms no inconsiderable portion of their gains.
Samsoon and Sinope receive goods for the consumption of the interior of Asia Minor, and the former may be regarded as the port of Mosul and the chief places in Mesopotamia, even as far as Bagdad.
An immense quantity of English cotton goods pass through them for the interior. These are generally purchased at Constantinople by native mer- chants, in small quantities, and shipped by them to the Black Sea.
The Commerce of Great Britain in the Black Sea was, in 1830, quite in- significant, and there were some apprehensions entertained here at the time of the negotiation of the present treaty of the United States with Turkey, that American Commerce would greatly rival English interests.
It was supposed that, besides the introduction of American commodities into Southern Russia and the ports of the Black Sea, American vessels would take an active part in the carrying trade of that sea.
In a few years after the negotiation of the treaty, several American ves- sels went annually to Odessa, but this soon ceased. The return cargoes of these vessels were mostly hides, and there were even instances of rye being shipped at that period from Odessa to the United States. This has, of course, long ceased to be the case, and the trade with Odessa is now very inconsiderable. Only one vessel under the dag of the United States has, as yet, entered the Danube.
This occurred in 1843, and the captain was welcomed with many evi- dences of good feeling for his country, by the authorities of Wallachia and Moldavia.
Twenty years ago, the British trade with Trebizond, Persia, and Georgia, was almost nothing. Its present prosperity is due to the agency of the British consul at Erzeroom, Mr. Brant. This gentleman, an old merchant in the Levant, settled, as vice-consul, at Trebizond, and commenced there the introduction of English goods. In view of extending his operations to Per- sia and Georgia, he recommended to his government his appointment at Erzeroom, and the establishing of vice-consuls at Samsoon, Trebizond, B&t-
Digitized by v^oosle
32
Commerce of the Black Sea .
toom, and at Kaiseriych, in the interior, which being done, the fruits of their most valuable reports on the nature, extent of the produce, and de- mands of this country, are seen in the very extensive and valuable trade which now exists.
It may be added here that Mr. Brant, and each of his vice-consuls, are themselves engaged in Commerce.
In view of the increased relations of the United States with Turkey, and its probable future intercourse with Persia, it appears that the government at home could not evince a greater interest in the Commerce of our citizens than by establishing a commercial-consular agent at Trebizond. It can scarcely be expected that any commercial house in New York or Bostony patriotic as our men bants have always shown themselves to be, should <end an agent to that place, pro bono publico , as such an agent would certainly be ; and this se« ms to be especially the duty of a government, which de- rives its chief support from the Commerce of the nation. Such a public agent, if a commercial man, (and none other should receive the appoint- ment.) would be able to explore the field thus open to the manufacturing and the mechanical industry of the people of the United States; and it would not be, it is hoped, an indiscretion to add the suggestion that he be allowed by Congress a salary of $1,000 or $1,500 a year, until the advan- tages, or the inutility, of the agency could be ascertained. The coffee, su- gar, and ium of America supplies the greater part of the vast provinces of Turkey in Europe and Asia; tie cotton manufactories of New England are becoming the honest rivals of those of Old England; and it is not unrea- sonable to hope that they may agjvn soon resume their place in the country where their name has been fraudulently or by stratagem assumed by English manufacture! 8, who forge the American stamps on their own cotton goods, so as to profit by the reputation which they had made for themselves
In connection with the foregoing, occasion is here taken to mention the injustice shown to the common wools (and there are none others) of Turkey by tbe tariff now existing in the United States. “Free Trade” certainly, as a maximum, does uot consist in commercial rules by which agiiculture is to be benefited versus Commerce, and vice versa. The farmer does not “plow the earth ” to tbe disadvantage of the sailor, who “plows the main n for a livelihood, and the interference of a government in behalf of either is an injurious partiality. Left to their own resources, ati honest rivalry should regulate tluse two forms of public industry. Nor, indeed, it would seem, should manufactures be injured by the partiality felt for agriculture. This theory the writer would extend to all countries and to all climates.
Turkey produces an immense quantity of common coarse wool, which seldom costs more than eight cents per pound. No better quality of wool is raised in any part of Turkey, except the wool, or hair, of the wliite goats of Angora. It can, therefore, never become a rival to the wools raised in the United States, (if, indeed, so ungenerous an apprehension is entertained,) and should nut be considered as such; and yet, in this light, Turkey wools are taxed by the present tariff, with but little advantage to the American
f rower, and greatly to the disadvantage of the manufacturer, while the tench, English, and German cloths are introduced at a rate of duty unequal to the prohibition put upon the raw material.
In England, “things are managed better;” the manufacturer has no ob- stacles thrown in his way of making cloths to compete with those imported, if this, indeed, is practicable, and for the supply of foreign markets. And
Digitized by v^oosle
33
The Divine Uee of Commerce.
with the cheap water-power to propel the looms of thrifty New England, what nation in the world is better qualified for the economical manufacture of cloth, if permitted by the tariff? With a duty of 1 per cent on all com- mon wools, they are freely introduced into England, where they are manu- factured into cloths for the people of the United States, cheaper than they can now make them for themselves, notwithstanding the facilities given them so bounteously by nature. This, under a better and more liberal tariff, would be different, and not only could the manufacturer soon make cloths for the people of the United States as cheap as they now can purchase them from the English importer, but export them to Turkey and elsewhere in re- turn for the raw material ; and this, too, without any wrong done to the American wool grown at home.
As by the liberal nature of the “Free Trade” system of the Ottoman government, all American goods and merchandise are admitted into Turkey on an ad valorem duty of 5 per cent, the excessive duty on the raw staple of the trade with the United States is considered an injustice and waut of reciprocity. The native merchants of Constantinople have made an appeal to the Sultan’s government, requesting it to use its influence with the gov- ernment of the United Suites, to make a change in its tariff in their favor, and the subject may be soon laid before Congress, with what result yet rests to be learned. j. p. b.
Constantinople, April, 1652.
JUv. ?
4/f
Art. III.-TDE DIVINE USE OF COMMERCE.
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends Rough-hew them how we will.”
In the rise and fall of nations we behold the comprehensive and perpetu- al tendency of Divine purpose and power. His guiding cloud, somber or dfulgeut, is appointed to teach individuals and communities when to ad- vance and when to pause. The most superficial survey of history is suffi- cient to teach us that Providence exercises an unceasing superintendence over human affairs, and that the consequences of both public acts and pri- vate intentions are subjected to permanent laws, the immediate sequences of which may not be clearly seen, but the ultimate result of which can never be wrong.
Two grand principles were recognized and proclaimed by the better minds of pagan antiquity, namely, the immortal might of man’s aspirations, and his eternal progressiveness under the beneficent care of Providence.
Touching the first, Sophocles, in Antigone, expressed as follows the deep sense native to every emulative soul: — “Many things are wonderful, and nothing more wonderful than man : he can pass beyond the foaming sea, scudding through the waves as they roll around him ; he wears away the wearied and inexhaustible earth, the highest of the goddesses, by means of the plow, which yearly turns it up by the strength of horses ; and he catches also the tribe of any birds, casting lines around them, and all kinds of fierce beasts, and the race dwelling under the sea, with meshy well-woven nets ; and by his artifice he entraps the wild beasts traversing the deserts,
vol. xxvn. — ho. i. 3
Digitized by v^oosle
84
The Divine Use of Commerce .
And leads the shaggy-maned horse by the yoke round his neck, and the untamed bull of the mountains; and he learns oratory and perception quick as the wind, and civil polity, and is able to extricate himself from every difficulty, to escape being exposed to the air and keen driving showers of the barren and homeless hills ; he comes upon nothing of the future with- out being able to extricate himself : from death alone he can effect no escape.”
Again, it is clear that a belief in an especial protection from on high has ever been deemed indispensible to ennoble human motives, and furnish adequate support in time of danger. Cicero says the immortal gods pro- vide not only for the general necessities of men, but also for those of each man in particular, extending their protection not only to whole continents and cities, but also to each of their inhabitants ; so that such men as Cu- rius, Fabricius, Metellus, Cato, Scipio, and Laelius, never rose to their great merit without divine aid. Hence it was, he continues, that all the poets, and especially Homer, have assigned certain divinities to their heroes, in order to accompany them, and assist them in all their adventures, as in the case of Ulysses, Diomedes, Agamemnon, and Achilles. And that disposi- tion to regard men as the instruments of a supernatural power to fulfil di- vine decrees, is well represented in the dying words of Patroclus to Hector : “Rejoice now, Hector, for Jove has given you victory.” The ancients did not think that it derogated from the glory of a hero to ascribe his triumphs to an over-ruling power. Sylla imputed all his success to fortune; thinking, says Plutarch, that such an opinion added an air of greatness and even of divinity to his actions. Zenopbon records the argument of Socrates in combating Aristoderaus, who held an opinion like modern sceptics, that the Deity was above condescending to take any interest in the concerns of men. Sophocles, in a magnificent passage of the Electra, paints the impotent prosperity of the wicked. And with what force and majesty does the genius of Demosthenes proclaim like truth to his desponding countrymen ! “ Truly, O Athenians, I should regard Philip as a most formidable and overwhelming advesary, if I believed him acting justly; but it is not possi- ble, 0 Athenians, that a power should be permanent which is marked with injustice, and perjury, and falsehood.
Diodorus affirmed that piety towards heaven is essential to the magnani- mity of a nation ; and Plato said, with equal justice, that the spirit of reverence is a better inheritance than gold. Plotimus taught that God should be praised in the things we understand, and admired in those which we understand not ; while Socrates, catching some rays of still brighter in- spiration from afar, felt that “ a mortal nature could never rise to such greatness as to despise the force of animals of superior power, to pass over the sea, to build cities, to found states, to observe the heavens, to behold the circles of the stars, and the courses of the sun and the moon, their times of rising and setting, their eclipses, and return of the equinoxes, and the sol- stices, and the pleiades, the winter and summer, the winds and the showers, and the destructive path of the lightning, and to immortalize the events of the world by monuments, unless there were indeed a divine spirit in the soul from which it possessed such knowledge ; that, therefore, man passes not to death but to immortality ; and that instead of experiencing a loss, he will become capable of pure enjoyment, independent of a mortal |>ody, unalloyed and void of every uneasiness ; and when once delivered from this prison, he will arrive where all things are without labor, without
Digitized by Google
The Divine Use of Commerce .
groans, without oW age, where there is constant peace and calm, a state of contemplation and loving wisdom, in which one was not to address a mul- titude, but truth itself, which flows round on all tides.”
Thus we see that the nations of old were conscious of immortality, and of an overruling Providence. But we have a more sure word of testimony unto which we will do well to take heed, until the day dawn and the day- star arise. We are the creatures of a moment, but the heirs of eternity. Neither ourselves, our acts, nor our God are accidents. No race or nation, art or science, discovery or invention, but is divinely subordinated, in its right time and place to the accomplishment of its particular mission. There Is much meaning in Baxter’s axiom : 14 Man proposeth, but God disposeth.” Let us apply this thought to human pursuits in general, and to Commerce in particular.
Why did not Jehovah plant the Jewish institutes on the steppes of Asia, and unfold the diviner splendors of Christianity in the central soli- tudes of America! The omnipotent and omniscient God is the last to waste his strength or misemploy his wisdom in acts which are incompatible with the highest good of the greatest number of his creatures. The order of his government, and the disbursement of his resources, are especially de- signed to teach us the grace of common sense, so that, while we devoutly implore heavenly assistance, we may discreetly husband Its earthly use.
The celestial guide which rose on the view of the wise men in the east, led them westward towards the sea, and has ever since been the pole-star of human progress. Civilization has always moved u o’er the western main,” while Commerce has been its chief instrument aad perpetual channel. The grandest throne of power is water, not land. The banner nation of the world, whose ascendency is most pervading and complete, is the one in whose hand lies the scepter of the seas. AH civilized people have ever lived where great rivers formed free avenues to thought, and the grandeur of oceans was at once the field and nutriment of national power. There is no wealth, material, mental, or moral, that is not identified with exchange. Without diversity, there can be no development ; and out of the widest difference, the highest and most harmonious unity is a natural result. This Is made legitimate by the law of God, instances of which appear at every advance of human progress.
All the active races of antiquity occupied the shores of the Mediterranean. Its maritime climate, blending oceanic softness with continental rigor, teemed with the densest and most diversified population. Cities studded its coasts ; fleets plowed its billows ; mental and commercial wealth coursed along its mirror of all grandeur for ages, when as yet the pagan Olympus reflected in its depths, and the goddess of beauty emerging therefrom, were the only faith and hope those vast multitudes enjoyed. But a new era dawned with a splendor that eclipsed mythologic fables and Jewish traditions. At the
eastern extremity of this central sea, at an equal distance from the three con- tinents, and in the exact center of the known world, God raised the sub- limest curtain of his purpose, and unfolded the glory of redemption. The promised land was first selected as the sanctuary of religious truth during the reign of polytheism, and as the theater for the preliminary wonders of salvation, in order to prepare its way from afar among men, and subordinate to its service the most intellectual and active influences of which history preserves a memorial, and mankind has enjoyed the fruits.
God and the whole destinies of nations are sometimes most manifestly on
Digitized by Google
The Divine Use of Commerce
*«
board a single ship, struggling with adverse elements far out on the deep. Take a well-known illustration. About thirty years after the ascension of Christ, a vessel from the east came into the harbor of Syracuse, and, after a delay of three days, proceeded towards the great western port of her desti- nation. Suppose there had been at that time an enterprising commercial journal published at Puteoli. Suppose a news- boat were kept on the look- out, and a telegraph from Rhegium, the southern city of the peninsula, transmitted every arrival to the editor’s chair. Word comes, is put on the exchange bulletin and published to the common eye : “ Ship Castor and Pollux, from Alexandria, Captain Zebulon, is coming up, with a cargo of wheat consigned to Barter, Gain, and Co., of this city, and lot of prisoners under Colonel Julius, bound to the imperial dungeons of Rome.” Probably there might have been a little talk abbut the wheat in the Mark Lane of that day, but who reflected on the real import of that simple and common-place dis- patch ? Who had the profound sagacity to see concentrated in that single, transient craft, the wealth of Africa, genius of Asia, and power of Europe I In that hold lay the sifted treasure of the primitive university and granary of nations ; every seed of which, to the end of the earth, is predestined to spring with a potency and productiveness that will shake like Lebanon. That citizen of Tarsus, the central city of the central continent, with fetters now corroding his flesh and eating like aspics to his soul, has absorbed into his magnificent nature the solidity of the north and the splendor of the south ; a sea of glass mingled with fire ; all treasures that genius can create or industry acquire ; with the superaddition of that infinite superiority which grace alone confers ; and all this aggregate of mental and spiritual endow- ment he bears in bonds to the throne of the Cesars, that thence he may rend the chains of the world. Each separate link wet with his tears or tinged with his blood, like the iron that pierced his Lord, scattered in frag- ments by the outburst of latent divinity, shall give hope to the despairing everywhere, the highest freedom to both faculty and limb. European power has its fitting representative in the centurion, first cowering in the storm and finding safety in the wisdom and forbearance of the piety it persecutes, and then, perchance, exulting in the arbitrary might of martial force, by which another victim is added to the lust of dominion and the pride of kings.
Christianity came to Rome at the auspicious hour, when all antecedent powers had been wrought into effective instrumentalities for the widest and most rapid diffusion of the gospel. With pickax and spade, her legions had been toiling for centuries to construct spacious roads, by means of which apostles might compass the ends of the earth. Whatever may be the selfish aim of man, his skill and power are predestined perpetually to construct improved supports to the weary wings of the heavenly dove, as she speeds /rom shore to shore with the tidings of love and peace. She was first pulled in at the window of the ark, because that craft admitted no other rest ; but the ships Solomon laid under contribution to religious purposes were differently rigged, and the celestial emblem voyaged at mast-head. Ia modern times, Providence evermore simplifies natural elements, and recom- bines their potencies in almost supernatural energy, so as to send the sanc- tuary of all ennobling influence, “ tramp, tramp, along the earth, splash, splash, across the sea and that dove, quickened and fortified by the contact, files, as the lightning darts, from clime to clime.
Look at the seat of this society, its surrounding facilities, sublime duties, and cheering results. Old Johnny, the Britisher, had a pretty respectable
Digitized by v^oosle
The Divine Uee of Commerce.
37
ion, called “Jonathan America.” At what time, and for what “manifest destiny ” was this youngster born ? A few facts connected with our own history will yet further illustrate the divine use of Commerce.
The tide of civilization bad flowed from the Euphrates to the Thames, ac- cumulating all diverse elements as it swept from clime to clime, from sea to ocean, a mighty amalgam, to be recompounded on a yet remoter and grander field, for a su Winner use. On the 13th of May, 1607, an English colony was planted at Jamestown, Virginia. These were aristocratic Cava- liers, sent out under the auspices of a decorated knight. Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1620, a colony of democratic Roundheads, lead by a parson, also departed for the new world, and in the north, like their predecessors of the south, found a domain well fitted for their use. Neither as the special paradise of dignified laziness, nor as the asylum of privileged bigotry, had God made this continent In 1609, Hendrick Hudson, an Anglo-Dutchman, in the service of the East India Company of Holland, sailed from the Texel for the discovery of the noith-west passage to India, and landed on the North River Flats, a long way above Manhattan Island. This grand blunder won from the Statea general a patent for the exclusive trade of the Hudson, and in 1621 this metropolis of New-Netherlands was built About the time Hans Hendrick accomplished his commission so well, the London Company di- rected their chief to explore some stream running from the north-west, for the purpose of finding a passage to the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly, Ad- miral John Smith the first sailed up the Chickabominy as far as he could in flat-boats, and rau into a nest of Indians, who did themselves the pleasure to kill and scalp the whole expedition, save the immortal John, and would have served him ditto, but for the tender mercies of Her Royal Highness, Mademoiselle de Pocahontas. Never mind ; sublime purposes are struggling into fulfillment A succession of colonies are planted, national independence is declared, and both civil and religious freedom are won. Now we behold the ultimate design of Providence more clearly unfolding. The chivalrous •oath and puritanic north have sprung into the matured development of hereditary character and local prepossession. From the first, and alwajrs, they are antagonistic in spirit and pursuit Bring an ultra Northener, with his one idea, and an ultra Southerner, with his one idea, suddenly together, with no mitigating conservatism between, and they instantly explode, to the great damage of contemptible littleness on both sides. But the Dutchman has vie inertia enough in his make to moderate anything ; and Infinite Wis- dom put him at the outset in exactly the ri^ht situation to the primitive elements and proepect;ve relations of all this mighty land and conglomerated population. The Hollanders were the pioneers and masters of Commerce on every ocean ; and the emporium of trade they founded on our shore, God designed to become the center of all commercial enterprises amongst mankind.
The third President of the United States, perhaps least solicitous in be- half of maritime prosperity, did most to promote it. Mainly by his influ- ence, Louisiana was purchased, and thus we came in possession of the Mis- sissippi, with its myriad tributaries. Simultaneously with this, an anomalous rraft moves out amidst distrust and jeers from the foot of Courtlandt-street, to find its strange way against wind and tide, impelled by a momentum hitherto impracticable or unknown. Why the steamboat at this time, and m this place ? Young and feeble as is our trade, we own more inland navi- gation than all the world besides, and divinely directed genius has given ua
Digitized by v^.ooQle
38
The Divine Use of Commerce ,
at the right moment the mighty instrument of aggrandizement we moet of all need. These rivers of God, rendered fruitful by Fulton’s creation, shall accumulate our greatest wealth, and guaranty our firmest liberties. The little North and the little South may prate in vain ; for when their impotent impertinence demands, “Shall we rend this national compact!” a power in- finitely grander and more conservative than they, the great West, towers like a Colossus amidst pigmies, and exclaims in thunder, “ No ! you shall not divide the Union !” Every puff of the tiniest engiue that winds its way to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, answers to the merry cry of seamen weighing anchor on board the hugest craft at New Orleans or New York, “No you shall not break a single strand of the triple cable of patriotism, religion, and Commerce, destined to bind all America in one grand brother- hood !”
The exact middle of the nineteenth century arrives, and finds two start- ling and significant events transpiring at the same moment. The first is a thrilling cry from the far-off Pacific, resounding everywhere, “ Gold, gold !” Why then, and in that particular region ! Because the old antagonists, Feudalism and Freedom, are in the arena, hot for the fight, and portentous clouds darken the scene. Most opportunely, that which for six thousand years has been kept hid, is suddenly revealed. The combatants are charmed into peace, or disertated by spectators. The Anglo Sco tchico- Irish ico-French- ico, Dutchico-Americans, who will go to the mouth of the cannon, or the mouth of hell, any time, for a dollar, rush after the glittering prize, and in self-defense plant free institutions on the Pacific, as on the Atlantic coast Thus will they make the mightiest mountain terrace of our continent the well-proportioned pedestal to Liberty’s central altar for all mankind.
The other fact to which we alluded was, that, just preceding this new outbreak of emigration, one who for many years has been identified with Fulton’s invention and sphere, laid the keel of the first successful steamship ever registered in this port. She was not dispatched for Havre, or Bremen, or Liverpool, but for New Orleans. Why ? Because the “ Crescent City ” was predestined to form the first link in the most stupendous chain of Com- merce under heaven. Where is the mind capacious enough, and armed with prophetical audacity enough, to conceive and announce tne magnitude of Western trade in America, as it shall swell and waff towards its first home and latest seat of predominant power, New York ?
But the past is a warning as well as incentive. The republic of Venice built itself upon maritime prosperity, grew rich, forgot God, and perished. Italy refused to use the priceless treasure of heavenly truth as its Author re- quires, and her wharves, like her altars, are rottenness only. The Spanish Peninsula imitated the fatal example, and her national power sank like lead in the deep with the shattered Armada. The supreme sway of the seas passed into the hands of England the very year her sons first settled in America. Since then, filial emulation has fully shared that glorious supre- macy ; and now the w*,rd of God and the welfare of nations is intrusted entirely to the devoyt fidelity of those speaking our mother- tongue, and swaying almost the entire tonnage of the world. Let us fear lest Tyre shall be at once our type and history. If we are loyal to our Maker, our growth can never outrun our stability; but if we are recreant to our highest duty, prosperity will surely become our speedy ruin.
Digitized by v^.ooQle
Coffee, and the Coffee Trade .
39
Art. If. — COFFEE, AND THE COFFEE TIADE.*
The Coffee- Tree or Coffea Arabica is an evergreen shrub, with oblong pulpy berries, which are first of a bright red, but afterwards become pur- ple. It is stated by Niebuhr to have been brought from Abyssinia, to Ye- men by the Arabs, from a country similar to their own plains and moun- tains. By that people it has for ages been cultivated in the hilly range of Jabal, in a healthy temperate climate, watered by frequent rains, and abound- ing in wells and water-tanks. A combination of circumstances seems to hvor the cultivation of coffee in Arabia, which can hardly be attained else- where. Frequent rains, and a pure and cloudless sky causing an almost un- interrupted flood of light, communicate an excessive stimulus to all the func- tions of vegetation, and are causes of the perfect elaboration of those deli- eats principles on which the aroma of the coffee is dependent.
The seed consists of much horny albumen and a peculiar principle or al- kaloid, termed cafeine , which is identical with the active principle of tea, theine, as well as with paraguaine , the alkaloid of the Paraguay Tea. The teed is used in a raw state in medicine ; but when roasted, it forms the well-known coffee of Commerce. The coffee-plant begins to produce fruit when two or twaand-a-half years old ; but the quality of the seeds from young stems is not so good as that from stems four or five years old. The size and color of the bean (as the inner part of the seed is called) vary con- siderably, those from the West Indies being larger than those from the East.
Much more depends upon the manner of roasting and making the coffee than upon the quality of the bean. The superiority of French coffee, in the preparation of which little or no Mocha coffee is used, proves this position. The taste of raw coffee is somewhat sweetish ; but the application of beat in the process of roasting produces important changes. The bean increases to nearly twice the original size, while it loses about a third of its weight: a powerful and agreeable odor is evolved, and a large quantity of empyreu- matic oil, which appears in small drops on the surface, is formed along with a bitter principle, probably by an alteration in the cafeine and of the sac- charine matter. The roasting should take place in a close revolving iron cyl- inder, over a clear but moderate fire, and should not be carried too far : when the beans have acquired a light chestnut color, the roasting should be dis- continued. The beans are then to be cooled quickly by being tossed up into the air, and the grinding, or rather rough pounding, should be performed in * covered mortar or mill. The drink should be prepared from it as soon as possible, by infusion, which is preferable, unless some apparatus be employed by which a kind of decoction is made in a close vehsel. About balf an ounce of coffee-powder should be used for every eight ounces (half a pint) of water. In Britain the roasting is generally carried too far ; and the sub- sequent partsof the process, instead of being performed immediately, are often postponed for days or even weeks, by which the aroma is dissipated ; when made, the liquid is generally deficient in strength and clearness. The employment of white of egg or fish-skin to clarify is decidedly objectionable : dearness is thus purchased, but at the expense of the strength.
* For articles on thb subject eea Merchants* Magaiine for July and August, 1850, (sol. xxtiK, pages 5® sod 171,) also the number for December, 1851, (toLxxt., page 090, fee.) For statistics of Imports sad sports ms * Coffee,” In index of each volume.
Digitized by v^.ooQle
40
Coffee , and the Coffee Trade.
It was an endeavor to establish an impr oved mode of roasting coffee that led to the death of Mr. Dakin, of London in 1848. His plan consisted in placing the coffee in a cylinder lined with silver, and in inclosing this cylin- der within a cellular steam oven, or cylinder, patented by other parties. The heat attained within the oven was very great, and the metal of the oven was not sound enough to resist its action ; an explosion ensued, with a fatal result. The silver or silvered cylinder was an intended means of retaining the fine qualities of the coffee, without acquiring any defective qualities during the roasting.
The addition of milk (which should always be hot) and of sugar high ten the nourishing qualities of coffee, and in the morning render it a more sub- stantial article for breakfast. When taken after dinner to promote digestion, it should be without milk, and, where the palate can be reconciled to it, without sugar.
The coffee- trade has been wholly created since the beginning of the eigh- teenth century. Nearly all the coffee which now comes to Europe is the produce of trees propagated from a single plant, which, having been raised from seed procured from Mocha in Arabia, by Van Hoorn, governor of Batavia, was sent by him to the Botanical Garden at Amsterdam, and the progeny of which was, in the year 1718, twenty years after its reception from Java, sent to Surinam.
The coffee imported into England in 1849, amounted to the following quantities : —
British 40,884,630 pounds.
Foreign *2,986,876 44
63,820,606 pounds.
Of this quantity nearly 37,000,000 lbs., were brought from Ceylon alone.*
The rapid increase of of the quantity of coffee produced in the Brazils is expressed in the following table, compiled by the Brazilian Consul General
PRODUCTION or corns IN THE BRAZIL8.
Bags. Arrobas. Pounds.
1820 95,700 478,500 16,312,000
1825 182,710 912,550 29.201,600
1880 891,785 1,958,925 62,685,600
1835 627.165 8,135 825 100,846,400
1840 1,068,805 5,819,005 170,208.800
1850- 51 1,897,231 9,486,155 803,656,960
1851- 62 estimate 1,700,060 8,600,000 272,000,000
It would seem, from this table, that the production of coffee in Brazil doubled every five year? up to 1840, since when it has increased 80 per cent. The increase since 1835 has been 200 million pounds, and of that increase, the United States have taken one-half.
The following table shows the quantity annually imported into the United States from the four leading countries of production, and also the whole quantity imported into the Union during the past 18 years : —
* Knight1! Cyclopedia.
Digitized by v^.ooQle
Coffee, and the Coffee Trade .
41
IMPOST OF POUXDS OF OOFFTS INTO THE UNITED STATES.
|
im.... |
Brazil. |
Cuba. |
St. Domingo. |
Java. |
Total. |
|
26,671.868 |
19,686,457 |
15,141,779 |
6,807,186 |
80.153,866 |
|
|
1836 |
86,774,876 |
29,373,675 |
19,276,290 |
4,728,890 |
103,199,677 |
|
1886 |
46,840,219 |
17,860,736 |
11,772,064 |
8,850,658 |
103,'’ 90,607 |
|
18S7 |
83,906,236 |
29,503,558 |
9,252,636 |
1,779,819 |
88,140.403 |
|
1888 ... |
27,411,986 |
88.061,651 |
11,375,850 |
2,423,277 |
88,130,720 |
|
1839 |
48,694,294 |
26,181,489 |
9,726,496 |
6,628,348 |
106,696.992 |
|
1840 |
47,412,766 |
25,331,868 |
9,153,524 |
4,343,264 |
94.996 096 |
|
1841.... |
69,675,722 |
17,198,573 |
12,647,791 |
6,794.702 |
114,948.783 |
|
1842. . . . |
61,248,942 |
14,321,458 |
11,530,102 |
9,781,418 |
112,764.635 |
|
1848 |
49,516,666 |
16,611,287 |
10,811,288 |
1,638.807 |
92 296,660 |
|
1844.... |
95.291,484 |
18,628.875 |
20,781.461 |
8,740,841 |
168.332.111 |
|
1846.... |
78,558,616 |
1,157,794 |
13,090,359 |
8,926,716 |
108.133.869 |
|
1846.... |
97,353,697 |
2,326,497 |
12,734,758 |
2,819,411 |
182,812,784 |
|
1847.... |
94.916,629 |
6,673,479 |
19.086,277 |
17,819,346 |
156.716.575 |
|
1848 |
110,927,284 |
2,258,710 |
16,990,976 |
8,037,377 |
150,569,138 |
|
1849.... |
122,581,183 |
4,000,986 |
13,384,474 |
4,208,078 |
165,384.700 |
|
I860.... |
90,819,511 |
8,740,808 |
19,440,985 |
6,146,964 |
144.986896 |
|
1861.... |
107,578,257 |
8,099,084 |
13,205,766 |
2,423,968 |
162,463,617 |
Nearly the whole increase in the import of Brazil coffee Was, it appears, at New Orleans, to supply the Western trade. The import of cuffee from Brazil in 1844 wa9 extraordinary, amounting to nearly half the whole pro- duct of that country. Coffee, up to 1832, paid a duty of 5 per cent; since that year it has been free. The effect of this change is seen in the follow- ing table : —
IMPOSTS OF COFFHE INTO THE UNITED STATES, WITH THE EXPORTS AND QUANTITY RETAINED FOE CONSUMPTION, ALSO THE DUTY AND AVERAGE PRICE.
Duty Ayr. cost
|
Import |
Export. |
Consumption. |
per lb. |
per lb. Cents. |
||
|
1821 |
Pounds. |
Pounds. |
Pounds. |
Cents. |
||
|
21,273.659 |
9,887,596 |
1 1,886,068"] |
20 |
|||
|
1822 |
... 25.082,390 |
7,267,119 |
18,515,271 | |
20 |
||
|
1828 |
... 87,337,732 |
20,900,687 |
16,437,045 |
' |
9 |
20 |
|
182* |
... 80,224,296 |
19,427,227 |
19,707,024 I |
20 |
||
|
1825 |
45.890,620 |
24,512,668 |
20,678,0621 |
17 |
||
|
182# |
... 87.819,107 |
11,684,718 |
81,784,784 | |
11 |
||
|
1827 |
... 50,061,986 |
21,697,789 |
28,350,197 |
D |
11 |
|
|
1828 |
65,194,697 |
16,037,964 |
89,166,733 |
9 |
||
|
1829 |
61,133,538 |
18,088,843 |
88,049,695 |
6 |
9 |
|
|
1880 |
61,488,248 |
13,124,561 |
88.368,687 |
2 |
||
|
1881 |
... 81,747,886 |
6.056,629 |
76.70*, 767 |
8 |
||
|
1832 |
... 91,722,829 |
66,251,158 |
40,471,171 |
* |
1 |
10 |
|
1883 ... |
... 99.955,020 |
24,899,114 |
75,057,9061 |
10 |
||
|
1834 |
... 80,150,865 |
86,806861 |
44,846,505 |
10 |
||
|
1835 |
103,199,777 |
11,446,775 |
91,762.802 |
10 |
||
|
1836 |
93.790,507 |
16,148,207 12.096.332 |
77.647.300 |
10 |
||
|
1887 |
... 88,140.403 |
76 044,071 |
10 |
|||
|
1838 |
... 88,139,720 |
6,267,087 |
82,872,688 |
9 |
||
|
1839 |
... 106,696,992 |
6 824,476 |
99,872,633 |
9 |
||
|
18*0 |
94,996,095 |
8,098,834 |
86,207,761 |
9 |
||
|
1841 |
... 144,987,787 |
6,784,636 |
109,200,247 |
9 |
||
|
184* |
... 112,764,635 |
6,381,068 |
107.383.667 |
► |
free. |
8 |
|
1843 |
... 82,295,660 |
6,378.994 |
85.916.666 |
|||
|
18*4 |
... 158.332,111 |
8.620,291 |
149,711,820 |
6 |
||
|
1845 |
... 108,183,869 |
13,501.972 |
94,631,897 |
6 |
||
|
18*6 |
132,812,734 |
8,275.542 |
124,537,192 |
6f |
||
|
18*7 |
166,716,675 |
6,888,588 |
160,382.992 |
5* |
||
|
18*8 |
... 160,669.138 |
6,998,088 |
143,561.050 |
5# |
||
|
18*9 |
... 166,884,700 |
14,880,429 |
150,964,271 |
H |
||
|
1850 |
144.986,895 |
16.287,499 |
129,699,396 |
8 |
||
|
1851 |
162,468,617 |
8,618,126 |
148,920,491 , |
8 |
Digitized by v^oosle
42
Coffee, and the Coffee Trade .
The population of the United States in 1840 was, in round numbers, 17 millions. The average consumption for the three years 1839-40-41 waa 98£ millions of pounds, which gave a consumption of 5} pojnds per head. The average for the three years including the census year 1850, was 143 millions of pounds, and the population was 23 millions, which gave a con- sumption of 6J pounds per head. In 1830 the consumption was only 3 pounds per head ; but the price had ruled nearly double what it did in the three years preceding 1850. In 1821 the consumption per head to the inhabitants of the United States was 1 pound 4 ounces. In 1830 the pro- portion had increased to 3 pounds per head, the foreign price having fallen 50 per cent. After the 31st December, 1830, coffee paid 2 cents, and in 1831, 1 cent; after which it was free. The importation in the year 1831 doubled in consequence of the reduced duty, and the consumption per head for the four years ending with 1842 averaged 0 pounds per head, having quadrupled to each inhabitant since 1821. A large proportion of the in- creased consumption, as seen above, is derived from the Brazils ; the effect of the production of which country has been to the price of coffee, what the products of the Southern States have been to that of cotton. From 1820 to 1840, the Brazilian product increased 1,100 per cent, or
155.000. 000 pounds. Ip the same time the consumption in the United States increased 137,000,000 pounds; leaving an increase of 18,000,000 pounds of Rio Coffee, besides the enhanced products of all countries, to sup- ply the increased consumption of England and Europe. The result has been the great diminution in price evinced in the above table. The cost per pound to the consumer was in 1 8dl further reduced by the removal of the duty; that is, the coffee which cost 9 cents in 1830, cost the consumer 10 cents duty and charges. The same coffee now costs 7 cents — a reduction of 9 cents, which has given the spur to the consumption. In England, for- eign coffee paid 16 cents per pound duty, and colonial coffee 8 cents, until 1845, when colonial was reduced to 3d. and foreign to 7d. The consequence i9, that while the United States, with a population of 17,000,000, consumed in 1844, 149,711,820 pounds of coffee, Great Britain, with a population of
27.000. 009, consumed 31,934,000 pounds only, or less than one-fourth the consumption of the United States. In 1851 the figures remained nearly the same, viz: — 148,920,000 pounds in the United States, aud 32,564,000 pounds for Great Britain. Now the effect of this increased consumption of Brazil coffee on the American trade is as follows : —
1834. 184!. 1851.
Import of coffee from Brazil lbs. 26,671,808 49,515,666 107,678.267
M “ “ ...value. 12,819,028 $3,892,960 $8,881,105
Export of United States produce to Brazil. . . 1,686,097 2,409,419 3,128,966
This increased export does not appear to suffice for the compensation of the large increase in the value of coffee purchased, and it is time that some movement were made to check English influence in that quarter and in- duce Brazil to place her best coffee customer at least on as favorable foot- ing as others.
Considerable ingenuity has been displayed in devising apparatus for pre- paring coffee for the table. The ordinary coffee pot is the plainest and sim- plest of all ; there is no contrivance for filtering the coffee. In Dresden and other parts of Germany, a thick piece of flannel, or some other woven material, is laid in a funnel, the ground coffee is placed on the flannel, and the boiling water Alters through the coffee, the flannel, and the funnel, to a
Digitized by Google
Coffee, and the Coffee Trade. 43
vessel below — carrying with it the flavor of the coffee without the grounds or sediment.
Platow’s Automaton Coffee-Pot has for its object to make coffee in less time and in a better manner than by the ordinary method. The machine consists of two parts. There is at the top a glass vase which screws off and on by means of wooden handles, and is tarnished with a long narrow straight tube, resembling the pipe of a common funnel, and reaching nearly to the bottom of a metallic urn placed beneath the vase. Boiling water is poured into the vase in quantity sufficient for the coffee to be made ; and this is allowed to descend into the urn. The ground coffee is then placed within the vase, on a small perforated silver plate. A lamp containing spirit or naphtha is placed beneath the urn, and in a short time the peculiar action of the apparatus develops itself. The steam formed ou the surface of the water in the urn forces, by its elasticity, the water up the tube into the glass vase ; where it acts upon the coffee in the usual way for extracting the qual- ities of the berry. When the coffee is so far prepared and is required to be Jtnedy the lamp is removed, the formation of steam ceases, a partial vacuum is formed in the urn, and the external atmosphere, pressing on the open vase, presses or strains the coffee, first through the grounds and then through the perforated silver plate, so that it trickles into the urn in the state of a pure bright decoction. It is thus seen that the liquid makes two descents and one ascent between the vase and the urn, during the process. In a cheaper form of the apparatus, a common fire or lamp is used instead of a spirit lamp.
A coffee-pot of rather complicated structure was patented by Mr. An- drews of Wolverhampton in 1842. This coffee-pot had no less an adjunct than a small forcing-pump, placed near the handle. The boiling water was poured in the forcing-pump, while the ground coffee was put in a perfor- ated vessel in the middle of the coffee-pot, and the hot water being forced by the pump, was made to saturate the ground coffee in a way which (we presume) was supposed to produce a result adequate to the costliness of tbe apparatus.
Waller’s Coffee-Pot, patented in 184*7, differs in many particulars from all tbe others. A horizontal partition, perforated near the center with fine bolei, divides the vessel into two equal chambers ; an open pipe leads nearly from the top of the upper chamber to near the bottom of the lower cham- ber, and another pipe leads from the perforations some way down the lower eharober, with a tap or cock which can be worked by a handle protruding through the side of the coffee-pot. The requisite quantity of water, either hot or ©old, is poured into the upper chamber, and allowed to flow through the perforations and small pipe into the lower chamber ; the ground coffee is placed on the perforated plate, the spout is closed with a cork or plug, and the vessel is plaoed on the fire. As the water becomes heated, the steam generated has no outlet upwards or sideways, and it therefore presses on the water, and forces it up the long pipe, whence it falls into the upper chamber upon the ground coffee. When all the water is thus forced up, the coffee- pot is removed from the fire, the vacuum in the lower chamber is condensed, the plug is removed from the spout, the top of the short pipe is opened, and the water trickles through the ground coffee and through the perforations into the lower vessel imbibing all the soluble and aromatic properties of the coffee as it descends.*
* KoighCi Cyolopedis.
Digitized by Google
44
Railroads in the Gheat Valley.
Art. RAILROADS IN THE GREAT TAILET.
The steam borne has commenced his career on the Western plains. For many years he has preferred to follow the small valleys, and wind among the hills of the Atlantic slope, Yentaring first through the Mohawk Gap, and proceeding with cautious movement to the eastern shore of Lake Erie. At long intervals he has also lent his aid to the planter in crossing the pine desert which borders the Southern States.
The broad plain embraced by the mountain ranges of the continent and the Gulf of Mexico is now, from one extremity to the other, invoking hia presence. Hitherto, his exploits have been accomplished where natural ob- stacles were most numerous. Hereafter, the chief field of his operations will be in the wide plain of the North American continent, where he may fly along the track from city to city, from lake to lake, and from lake to gulf, without turning to the right or to the left. What a field for his exploits l In extent, numbering square miles by the million ; its present population counting more, by two millions, than all the old States ea3t of the moan* tains, and, within the life-time of persons now living, to number two hun- dred millions. According to a calculation, made with care, it appears that the people living on this plain, within our national limits, in 1850 numbered 12,541,139, counting only those north-westward of the principal range of the Apalachian Mountains. Within the next twenty years this number will swell to twenty-six millions. The Canadas and New Brunswick, within the plain, contain about two millions of people, and within the twenty years will have some four millions. Here will then be thirty millions living on a rich soil, in a variety of climates, embracing an abundant supply of mineral and vegetable riches, to be exchanged with each other and with neighboring communities. During the last twenty years railroads have increased in the United States from 170 miles in 1832, to nearly 12,000 miles in 1852. Their extent, at the end of the twenty years to come, cannot safely be pre- dicted. That it will exceed fifty thousand miles is quite probable. It may be well to consider what routes occupied, partly occupied, and yet undeter- mined, promise greatest utility to stockholders and the public. To this con- sideration should be brought a good knowledge of the topography of the country, with some familiarity with the course of trade, and the capabilities of the various sections to furnish traffic to railroad lines.
There are some routes so strongly marked that one needs only a tolerable knowledge of the geography of the country to point to them on the map with almost unerring certainty. One of these is that which connects Buffalo and Albany. It occupies the only gate-way through the Apalachian moun- tains, except the comparatively unimportant one by Lake Champlain. In- deed, the valleys of the Mohawk and Lake Champlain furnish a passage-way between the two sides of our Atlantic system of mountains, that no other routes can safely attempt a rivalry, except at a great distance. By railroads from Oswego and Buffalo to Albany and Troy, the railroad traffic of four millions of people on the Atlantic slope will be exchanged for that of some six millions north-west of the mountains. All the other roads, connecting and to connect the West and East, necessarily encounter numerous compar- atively high grades and many curves, making their distance practically greater between New York and the heart of the West, than the level route through, central New York. The routes over the mountains to Philadel-
Digitized by foozle
Railroads in the Great Valley .
45
phis, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Wilmington, Charleston, and Sa- vannah, may divide among them the business of some four or five millions living in the western valley. Those leading to Philadelphia and Baltimore will naturally draw most of this business, because they are large cities ; and •till more, perhaps, because they are on the road to New York and the Eastern States. These routes, already occupied, are mentioned in this con* nection because they necessarily give direction to the railroads making, and to be made, in the West, with a view to Eastern traffic.
It seems as certain as anything in the future can be that the States north of the Ohio River, together with those west of the Mississippi, north of the latitude of the mouth of the Ohio, will, ultimately, if not immediately, di- rect their railroad lines, made with a view to Eastern business, so as to form the easiest connection with the New York roads . This will give to most of the great lines of this portion of the West a general direction from south- west to north-east. To this there will be an important extension of all that portion which is north of the latitude of the southerly bend of Lake Michi- gan. The railroads of the peninsula of Michigan, for many years to come, will naturally be directed from all quarters towards Detroit, as a market, a
Sof transhipment, and as a passage-way through Canada ; and towards do, as the gate-way to the country south of Lake Erie and to Cincin- nati. Westward of Lake Michigan, the railroads will be directed chiefly towards Chicago, in order to pass the lake for a winter business in the East.
Of the routes commenced but not finished, the one most likely to rival in importance that through the Mohawk gap, is that which will occupy, as nearly as practicable, the line of latitude which touches the south shore of Lake Michigan, from the Mississippi to Toledo, and which passes thence east- ward along the south shore of Lake Erie to Buffalo. This necessarily takes an east and west course between the heads of the lakes, and it follows the shore of Lake Erie, because that is the most direct course towards Buffalo, and because the great gathering points of Commerce are on that shore. As a trunk-road for the convergence of business from other roads, and from lakes and canals, it has no rival and can have no equal in the United States. Near the south bend of lake Michigan it must gather in for a passage east- ward all the winter traffic and much of the summer travel and trade of the vast country west of that lake, aided by converging railroads, plank-roads, and the Illinois Canal. On its way from Chicago to Toledo it will receive from the South several tributary roads, bearing produce for shipment down the lakes. One of these is in progress of construction, and two others are being orepared for lettiog. At Toledo it will receive from the North the business of the Southern Michigan Road and a railroad from Detroit, here- after to be made. At the same point it will connect with six hundred and ninety miles of canal and a railroad to St. Louis.
This, at some future day, will itself become one of the great trunk-lines of the country. From the South will come in, at Toledo, a railroad form- ing the shortest practicable road between Cincinnati and the navigable wa- ters of Lake Erie. This is progressing northward of Dayton, and may be expected to reach Toledo in two or three years. Proceeding eastward, two railroads, now in operation, come in at Sandusky City — one from Cincinnati, and the other from Zanesville. At Cleveland it is joined by two railroads, branching off to Cincinnati and Pittsburg. Other roads are being made from the forest city, into which, also, flows the Commerce of six hundred miles of artificial navigation. At Erie it is to be met by the Sunbury Rail-
Digitized by v^.ooQle
Railroad* in the Great Valley.
it
road, opening a way to Philadelphia and Baltimore. It also connects here with a canal to Pittsburg. At Dunkirk it receives the New York and Erie Railroad ; and, finally, at Buffalo it becomes one with the great Mohawk Valley trunk-line.
Taking the whole of this line, from Rock Island, on the Mississippi, to the city of New York, its peer cannot be found in the United States, nor, as it seems to me, in the world.
Another trunk-line of some three hundred miles extent, having an east and west course, will connect Cincinnati and St Louis. This is under- stood to be under contract at nine millions of dollars. Two others, one from Memphis, the other from Vicksburg, will connect the South-Western States with the South-Eastern at Charleston and Savannah. The above- mentioned are all the trunk-lines likely to be made, nearly following lines of latitude.
The other great trunk-lines of the West will have a general course south- westerly and north-easterly. Many and cogent reasons favor this opinion. Such is the general course of the great rivers east of the Mississippi. The mountain and hill ranges are, of course, in the same direction. The com- mercial and manufacturing States and cities are north-east of the chief com- mercial and manufacturing cities of the great valley. The British Prov- inces and the United Kingdom, with whom is the main portion of the for- eign Commerce of the West, are situated north-easterly of its center of business and population. Whether this foreign Commerce chooses for its channel the St. Lawrence River or the Erie Canal and central New York railroads, the railroads from Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Cairo, and St Louis must reach it in a north-easterly direction.
The English and Irish Channels, through which passes the greater part of our Commerce with Europe, are in the same latitude as the main entrance into the Atlantic, from the Gulf of St Lawrence. The course of water transport, from the west end of Lake Erie to the Gulf of St Lawrence, is nearly in the same line as the railroads, which would connect with this wa- ter channel the center of the Mississippi basin, at St. Louis and Cairo.
The distance in a straight line from Cairo to Toledo is. miles 488
“ Chicago 835
M “ “ St. Louis to Toledo. 408
« * tt " Chicago 258
It has been stated, as a controlling reason why these railroads should be directed to the south shore of Lake Erie, that they would there enter the best railroad route to New York and the New England States. In summer another motive is added. When navigation is open on the lakes and the Erie Canal, the traffic is floated at so cheap a rate, and in such safety, that, for anything but passengers and light freight of great value, railroads pass- ing in the same direction, or towards the same destination, cannot compete with success. Even for passengers, the proud steamers of the lakes will hold, with their rival carriers of the land, a divided empire. This is espe- cially true where the route by water is not materially longer than by land. That the lake route is preferred to that by the great rivers, in intercourse with the eastern world, and is growing in favor among the travelers of the western valley, is shown by the more rapid extension of lake than of river Commerce. According to a late report of the Secretary of the Treasury made to the Senate, in obedience to its call, the steam tonnage on the up- per lakes has more than quadrupled in eight years, while, on the Mississippi,
Digitized by v^.ooQle
Railroads in the Great Valley.
4 1
it bad only doubled in nine years. The sailing tonnage on the lakes in- creased in a nearly equal ratio with that of steam. As the steam tonnage of the lakes exceeded that of the Ohio or Mississippi basin, and as the ton- nage of sailing vessels is scarcely less than two-thirds that of steam, it seems certain that the aggregate tonnage of the lakes must now nearly, if not quite, equal that of the western rivers.
We hare said that lake navigation was safer than river. According to the document just referred to, the number of persons lost on the lakes du- ring the year ending July 1st, 1851, was sixty-seven, (67,) and on the riv- ers, during the same time, six hundred and twenty-eight, (628.) This com- parison does not tell the whole story ; for while the lake air is proverbially pure and health- giving, no small portion of the river navigation subjects the traveler to fever-engendering malaria. As a water route, therefore, the lakes should be preferred for travel and freighting. This preference, thus shown to be well founded, should be duly appreciated when long and ex- pensive lines of railroad are to be constructed.
The great interior commercial centers, in the river portion of the valley, are Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. Perhaps Cairo may be- come one. Pittsburg holds its communication with the lake region through Cleveland and Erie. Cincinnati has its present railroad connecting with the lakes at Cleveland and Sandusky. To the former the distance is 259 miles, to the latter 219 miles. An air line to Cleveland would measure 220 miles, to Sandusky 184 miles, and to Toledo 180 miles. A near approximation to an air line would be more feasible to Sandusky and Toledo than to Cleve- land, as it would involve less additional cost over the cheapest practicable route. An air line to Detroit, through Toledo, would be 135 miles in length.
For passengers between Cincinnati, Erie, and Buffalo, the Cleveland Road will be preferred. For railroad freights the shorter and cheaper lines to Toledo and Sandusky, in summer, will have the preference. The heavy freights, between Cincinnati and Lake Erie, will, of course, pass by canal, to and from Toledo. The cost of a railroad between these ports will be lea, by some 25 per cent, than the Sandusky Road, owing to its having been a pioneer road, paying more for iron, <fc c^ has cost. It may, also, be constructed for a less amount per mile, by some 20 per cent, than that which connects Cincinnati with Cleveland.
And here it will be appropriate to direct our attention to another of the maio trunk-lines of the valley, passing through Cincinnati. Perhaps, in the far future, it may be as important as that which skirts the south shore of the great lake. Commencing at Detroit and terminating at New Orleans and Mobile, it would pass through the cities of Cincinnati, Lexington, and Nashville, and the important commercial towns, Toledo, Dayton, and Flor- ence, besides numerous places of less note. By a short branch from the Mobile line, it would reach Pensacola ; and, by roads already made, it would meet the south shore trunk-road at Cleveland and Sandusky — by the former, passing through the flourishing city of Columbus. By this road the principal gulf cities and lake cities would be brought into close com- munion of interest and feeling. In a straight line, the distance between Detroit and New Orleans is 940 miles. A feasible route could probably be found not exceeding one thousand miles. By river, from New Orleans to Cincinnati it is 1,556 miles, and thence, by the shortest traveled route, to Detroit, over 300 miles — together 1,860 miles. This road, if judiciously
Digitized by v^oosle
48
Railroad* in the Cheat Valley,
located and managed, would, beyond a doubt, be profitable to its owners. Its way business, if it lmd no other, would insure that result.
Louisville and New Orleans will, probably, find the best railroad connec- tion with the lake roads by way of Madison, Lawrenceburg, and Dayton. The Cincinnati roads, thence to Lake Erie, will be their roads.
The Central Railroad of Illinois, in connection with its continuation from Cairo to New Orleans and Mobile, and which we will call the Cairo line, is by some deemed the most important trunk-line between the gulf and the lakes. Compared with that which is to pass through Cincinnati, Nashville, &c., it seems to fall quite in the rear. Neither the towns, the natural re- sources, the populou>ness of the region it traverses, nor its railroad connec- tions, are equal to those of the Cincinnati line. It has, besides, the disad- vantage of reaching Lake Michigan at a point from which, in the transaction of its eastern business, a navigation of more than 700 miles must be per- formed in order to meet the advanced position on Lake Erie which the Cin- cinnati line first reaches. This will be a cheap navigation, but it will cost something, and in spring and fall will call for a heavy rate of insurance. The Cincinnati line will have the advantage, too, in its connection with the railroads leading from Nashville to Charleston and Savannah. The time seems distant, if it shall ever arrive, when any other route between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico will take precedence of that through Cincinnati. The Cairo line, commencing at New Orleans and passing through Jackson, would have the advantage of the railroad business of the river towns, Vicks- burg, Memphis, &c., and, by taking a course from Cairo through Indianap- olis to Toledo, reach Lake Erie by a line only 100 miles longer than that to Chicago.
Another trunk line, destined to a high rank, is that which is to connect St. Louis, the city of the Mississippi, with Lake Erie, at Toledo. Its length by an air line would be 408 miles, and by the most profitable route need not exceed 430 miles. It would pass over the lowest summit level between the upper lakes and the river valley, with the exception of that near Chi- cago. The summit at Fort Wayne is less than two hundred feet above the lakn, and, practically, the whole route may be considered horizontal. It passes along the richest river valleys that can be united in one line between the great lakes and rivers; and its course is right for the most direct inter- course between the northern Atlantic States, Canada, and Europe, and the center of the great valley. For heavy freight, it could not compete success- fully with the route from St. Louis, by way of Illinois River and Canal. The distance by the two routes to Lake Erie would compare as follows : — From St Louis to Lake Erie by railroad miles 430 via Toledo.
44 “ u by rivers, canals, and lakes 1,067 via Chicago.
“ * “ by railroad and lakes 970 via Chicago.
For passengers and freight of high value in proportion to weight, the di- rect route would be preferred in summer, and would monopolize the busi- ness in winter. At St Louis and Toledo, the extent of navigation it would connect would be great, and the railroads it would meet extensive. This is | to be one of thousands, the way business of which is sure to pay a fair divi- j dend from the start, and the termini of which are, by nature and art, the i greatest gathering points of Commerce, by water and by land, which can anywhere be found.
Another very important trunk-road, between St. Louis and Cleveland, passing through Vandalia, Terre Haute, Indianapolis, Sydney, Marion, and l
Digitized by Google
Railroads in the Great Valley.
4$
Shelby, is in the same general direction, and it cannot fail to transact a large through passenger business and a wav traffic that would of itself give it a liberal support. Eastern freights on that portion of this road west of Belle- fountain, destined for water transport, will find their cheapest route by way of Toledo and Sandusky.
Several of the trunk-lines herein mentioned will be continued west of the Mississippi. At least 'two important lines will be occupied from St. Louis — one in a north-westerly direction to Jefferson City and Independence, and the other south-westerly into Arkansas. From Hannibal and Davenport, on the Upper Mississippi, roads westward to the Missouri River are in contem- plation. The former will connect with a line through Springfield, in Illinois, to Lafayette, Iowa, and the latter with the Rock Island Road to Chicago.
A trunk-line of great importance will be that which, as a continuation of the roads which gather from the West and South-West at the head of Lake Erie, takes its course north of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and so on down the St. Iawrence to Quebec, and thence to Halifax. The various links of which it is composed will probably be constructed within the next five years. Thia will be a rival line to those by New York and Boston for the travel between Europe and the great valley.
The foregoing seem to be the leading routes along which the most pro- fitable railroads of the great plain will be operated. They will be the main fines on which, within twenty years, the thirty millions of the plain will carry on their traffic with each other, with some fifteen millions on the At- lantic border, and the land portion of their Commerce with foreign nations. At how small a cost per mile they may be built and operated, compared with the railroads of Great Britain and the Eastern States, is worthy of special note. The average cost in Great Britain has been about $170,000 per mile. Mr. Derby, last year, made the average cost of all the railroads m the United States a fraction less than $30,000 per mile. According to a tabular statement of this Magazine, (vol. xxv., p. 121,) the cost in Rhode Is- land was upwards of $52,000 per mile; in Massachusetts, $45,433 ; in Penn- sylvania, $40,578; in Mwyland, $36,250; in New York, $36,861 ; in Ver* mont, $35,367; in Connecticut, $31,757 ; in New Hampshire, $30,618; in Maine, $26,338; in South Carolina, $24,807; and in New Jersey, $24,490. In all the other States the cost has been less than $20,000 per mile.
Some of these have not been thoroughly built, and are, therefore, no cri- terion of the cost of roads of the best construction. Improvements in su- perstructure, and reduced price of rails, enable companies at the present time to build at less than heretofore. The railroads now in operation in the West have cost from $14,000 to $20,000 per mile. One of the best, the Cleveland and Columbus, cost $18,244. It could now be made as well for about $15,000.
A railroad eastward of Fort Wayne, la., upwards of 130 miles long, is understood to have been let to responsible contractors, to be made and fin- ished for the running of the engine, including equipage, engine-houses, and stations, at $12,000 the mile. Several of the trunk-roads before mentioned, with iron at present prices, could be built in the best manner for $15,000 the mile. That from St. Louis to Toledo could be made deviating but slightly from a straight line, and with a profile as nearly horizontal as could be desired. It could probably be prepared for business for six millions. If any one thinks stock in this road would not be better than in a quartz mi- ning company of California, we are not of his opinion.
VOL. xxvu. — no. l 4
Digitized by v^oosle
BaUroads in the Great Valley.
M
The ability of western railroads to pay their ownere a large profit has been folly proved. It is but a short time since the first railroad west of Pennsylvania, laid with a T rail, was brought into use. The Madison and Indianapolis, though not one of the great routes, paid during its last fiscal year 10 per cent dividend, after setting aside $100,000 surplus for perma- nent improvement of the road. It is well known that the Central and Southern Michigan Roads have paid well, although the* former cost too much, and the latter has but reoeutJy had its chief portion laid with a T rail. Neither has had the advantage of any eastern or western connection with other roads.
The Cleveland and Columbus Railroad has much exceeded the expecta- tions of its sanguine friends in the amount of business it has commanded, and the profits it has been able to divide. The same remarks are applicable, in a degree, to the Little Miami and Mad River Roads. No well constructed and well managed western road has foiled to yield a large income. Such being the result, in the infancy of the country, and without a connection with the eastern system of railroads, what may we not reasonably expect when the population shall be trebled, their economical resources quadrupled, and connections formed with other lines east, west, north, and south ; aU which may be relied on to come to pass within twenty years.
The trunk-roads of the plain will possess an advantage over those in a country of hills and ridges, in the feasibility of making branch roads in any direction which the local wants of villages may require: They will, also, be much aided by plank-roads which, in the wooded country, are being made from nearly every considerable village, and from the more important prairy towns.
The great plain is provided by nature, in her rivers and lakes, with navi- gable waters, in length of shores to be counted by tens of thousands of pules. Within twenty years more than ten thousand miles of railroad, and double that extent of plank-roads, will connect its various parts. From mountain to mountain, and from lake to gulf^ in a web that will embrace the whole surface, telegraph wires will exchange thoughts, giving to the en- tire population of 30,000,000 a community of ideas and interests which must soon mold them into a decided homogeneousness of character.
By means of the St Lawrence waters, improved for the passage of large qea-going vessels to the upper lakes, a direct ocean Commerce will be estab- lished ; and, by the Mississippi, ocean steamers will visit Cincinnati, Louis- prille, Cairo, and St. Louis. Twenty years soon pass away — but their effects on the beautiful plain, magical, as from the rapidity with which they are evolved, they may seem, will last forever. Before its last lustrum shall be entered upon, the delusion, so hugged in the Atlantic cities, that with them is to remain the empire of Commerce for this continent, will, to eyes that ere open, be clearly visible.
, How rapid is the transition ! It seems but yesterday, when, to be car- pied 60 miles through the long day and night, seemed a great advance on the earlier means of western travel. A few short years will enable men living on the great lakes and the Mexican Gulf to meet each other by the light of the same day, on the morning of which they leave their respective homes. Four-fifths of the dwellers of the plain, when the lines of railroad vow commenced shall be completed, with their tributaries of rail and plank- rvads, will be able to meet each other in some central place, with the travel of one day; and half of them may have ample time for coming together "from rise of mom to set of sun.” The people of the Rocky Mountains
Digitized by Google
Protection vs. Free Trade, ,
61
may exchange salutations with their neighbors of the Alleghanies on the second day of their journey towards each other. Who can doubt that rail- roads and telegraphs will make us on6 country in heart as in government ; and that the great plain, already preponderating in population, will fix within her bosom, during the present century, the great seats of Commerce and power of the nation. J. w. s.
Art. TI. — PROTECTION yi. FREE TRADE.
THE LAW OF PROGRESS IN THE RELATIONS 07 CAPITAL AND LABOR.
F&kbman Hunt, EsqM Editor Merchant Magazine : —
Sir : — In the article of Professor Smith in the Merchants' Magazine for January, 1852, he appears somewhat discontented that the discussion be- tween him and myself has not been carried on under a correct title. He has, however, no one to thank but himself for this circumstance ; for it arose out of his Quixotic attempt, at all hazards, to defend Mr. Carey’s theory of political economy, even if he broke in unceremoniously upon the discussion of another subject, in which Mr. Carey’s views were only incidentally men- tioned. For my part, I have no objection to any title which he may please to give it, or to any issue which he may wish to make. He will be aware before this reaches him, that I have instinctively followed the course which he has pointed out, though it is that which he has not very concisely fol- lowed himself. Having got thus far, I am rather at a loss to proceed, for the Professor appears something like as a man in the bush, who, being without a compass, has lost his way, and therefore goes round and round, until he comes again to the spot from whence he started. I am also fearful that I may fall into the same track, for, having given up all idea that the Pro- fessor would make any further remarks upon my last, I transmitted to you, several weeks since, a rejoinder, of which I have not a correct copy, and therefore such a circumstance is very probable.
But to the subject. The first and second pages appear to be quite irrel- evant to the point at issue, and can only have been written to lead the mind of the reader from the real question. We are not at issue upon the in- creasing facilities of the production of manufactures, nor upon the decreasing price of such articles : these are two points upon which we perfectly agree. On the third page I find the following : “ R. S., and those who think with him, will not admit the supposition, that the total product is not increased, by at least a sufficient per centage to pay the increased proportion going to labor, without impairing the remainder belonging to profit. To establish this would be to prove that, in the progress of society, labor is devouring capital.” Now this does not appear to me very intelligible at first sight, and I am not certain that I understand it, or even that the Professor himself is aware of its purport. Now, if we will not admit, “ that the total product is not increased,” Ac., we must hold to the contrary, but this would have precisely the opposite effect, to that which the Professor states. The remu- neration of labor being increased, while the profit on capital remained the same, labor would obtain all the advantage, without devouring the capital, But this would be equally fatal to the Carey theory, because the rate of profit is known to decrease in all countries, and therefore no accumulations
Digitized by v^oosle
*2
Protection vs . Free Trade .
could take place, except from the savings of labor ; and no increased portion could accrue to the capitalist as taught by Mr. Carey. Neither Ricardo nor McCulloch saw clearly the operation *of the principle of rent, or they could not have supposed that profits could have been kept intact merely by keep- ing the rate of wages down. For if we were to concede the Carey theory, that the most productive soils are last cultivated, the increased production arising from that circumstance could avail nothing against the extra expense of carrying the products two or three thousand miles, and of replacing the fertility of the soil, constantly abstracted by the increase of population ; and therefore from these two circumstances a constantly increasing amount of labor is required, to bring the same relative amount of necessaries to the point of consumption. When the lowest kind of labor has been brought to that point of remuneration at which nature refuses to increase the number of that class, by its own propagation, the encroachment of rent continues, by the increase and competition of the other classes of society, until the rate of profit reaches that point at which further accumulation becomes impossible ; and if population still continues to increase, capital must be consumed. We may be satisfied of this, by observing the continued decrease of the rate of profit in England, as well as the continued and increasing amount of emigration. While upon this point I must be excused for referring again to the Professor’s article of November, in reference to Mr. Porter’s statistics.
He says : w In order to give their proper weight to the facts collected by Mr. Porter, we ought to take into account the population of the British islands at the periods to which they relate. Thus, between 1812 and 1848 the population increased about 50 per cent : according to the theoiy of Maltbus and R. 8., the number of persons having incomes between £150 and £500 ought to have increased in a lower ratio, but, in point, of fact, it has increased threefold. There ought to have been less than 46.000 of them, while there were 91,101, or twice as many as the law of the English economists allows.”
Now I am not aware, that the English economists have laid down any law by which the relative increase of population and income should be reg- ulated, but I think the more we study these statistics the more we shall fi® satisfied that they thoroughly accord with the Malthusian and Ricardo doc- trine. It is true that an idea had got abroad that, relative to population, England was decreasing in wealth, no doubt from the writings of the “Anti-ComrLaw League,” and the serious decrease in the revenue; and still this may be the fact, Mr. Porter’s statistics notwithstanding. Mr. Porter has, however, proved, that the income of a very small portion of the population has increased, but the increase of that income is “ very nearly threefold greater than the increase during the same period, of that portion of the population of the United Kingdom subject to the income tax.”
The statement is, that there are 91,101 individuals — of course including clergymen, lawyers, merchants, tradesmen, confidential clerks, agents, en- gineers, professional men of all descriptions, public servants, landowners and fundholders, and skilled mechanics, whose incomes are between fifteen dollars a week and fifty — while the whole of the upper and middle classes include only 109,000 persons — something 'over one three-hundredth part of the whole population. After all, this is no proof that the wealth of Eng- land has materially increased ; there are the 299 individuals to each one of the hundred thousand, whose wealth or income, according to Lord John
Digitized by foozle
The Law of Progreee in the Relatione of Capital and Labor . 58
Russell and the “ Commissioners of Inquiry” have been diminished, which would allow a pretty good margin for accumulation, without any absolute in- crease of capital. At any rate it is a startling fact disclosed by these statis- tics, that all the appendages of wealth and luxury are enjoyed — everything beyond the mere necessaries of life, by one three-hundredth part of the pop- ulation of Great Britain. We cannot forget in the meantime, that the number of landowners has decreased, from two hundred and forty to thirty thousand, and that the late Sir Robert Peel was obliged to lay a tax on property and income to maintain the revenue. Verily the Professor’s “law of progress” works slowly in England, and probably he will admit that cir- cumstances alter cases, that the law works in an inverse ratio — the many grow poor while the few growrich. But I must return to the third page of the January article, from which I take the following: “If the theory of R. S. is correct — if capital has been gaining power at the expense of labor, aod that in virtue of a permanent law, which must continue to operate in the future as in the past — then it is clear, that a duplication of real wages must have been and must ever be accompanied by more than a duplication of profits. If it were not, profits would recede relatively to wages, and our case would be made out. If it were, then the increase of wages and and the still greater increase of profits must be attended by a diminution of the share of products going to rent, which is equally fatal to the Malthusian hypothesis. The conclusion is to be avoided only by supposing the increase of production sufficiently large to cover a duplication and more than a dupli- cation of rent, after satisfying the double demand of labor and the more than double demand of capital. All this, too, be it remembered, with a re- duction in the cost of commodities to the consumer of more than fifty per cent.”
The whole of this paragraph is a mass of mere sophistry, a tissue of mis- representation and false reasoning. In the first place no one has said, “ that capital lias been gaining power at the expense of labor, in virtue of a per- manent law, which must continue to operate in the future as in the past.” The law laid down by Ricardo and others with respect to wages, may be stated as follows: the wages of common labor must always recede to the amount required to command the absolute necessaries of life; and when the price of necessaries permanently rises the money rate of wages must also rise, to cover the extra cost, or the laborers must dimiuish in number, until an equilibrium is produced, either by an increase of the rate of wages or a decrease in the price of necessaries. When labor is mixed with capital, as it is in the c-ise of skilled labor, notwithstanding this circumstance it most to a considerable extent follow the same law ; especially where the amount of capital required to learn the trade or profession is small. There- fore all the simpler operations of manufacturing industry may be classed in this category. The Professor speaks in the latter part of the sentence I have referred to, as though any one besides himself had supposed, or hinted, that a duplication of real wages had at any time taken place since the fall of Adam. It may be admitted, that in most cases of the invention or im- provement of machinery, the workmen have to some extent shared in the extra amount of profit produced by those inventions ; but when the monop- oly of the invention ceases, wages always come down to the common level. And as improvements in machinery are more effective for the production of manufactures than for food and raw material, the manufacturing capitalist has had the opportunity, not only of reducing his workmen to the lowest
Digitized by
54
Protection vs. Free Trade .
necessary rate of wages, but the reduction in the amount of labor required, by improvements in machinery, for the production of a given amount of manufactures, has allowed him at various times to obtain an increased rate of profit, at the same time that he reduced the price of his goods ; and this was no doubt the case of Lowell. But when the competition of the foreign manufacturer became more intense, through the repeal of the British “corn law,” and the discovery of Californian gold, the capitalist doubled the amount of machinery to each hand, and thereby nearly doubled the amount of production, while wages remained nominally the same, although, as I have since heard, they were absolutely increased, if reckoned in money ; but not relatively to production. The corporations of Lowell, as I under- stand, have been in the habit of finding the hands board, and as the prices of food and other necessaries increased, the price of board was also increased, at the expense of the corporations ; this may serve to show the operation of the principle of rent, upon the profits of capital and labor. But the time arrived, when for the interest of the capitalist it became necessary that the rate of wages should be absolutely reduced, and as this was already too low for the convenience of the operatives, many of them chose to migrate in search of other employment, and the mills either became silent or worked with little or no profit at all. Thus if wages have not been lowered in money rate, we may say with Carlyle, “Thanks to the inexhaustible West” Before taking my final leave of the very ingenious paragraph which I have quoted, I would remind the Professor, that “the reduction in the cost of commodities to the consumer of more than fifty per cent,” relates only to those commodities of which manufacturing wages form the greatest part of the cost of production — the prices of food and raw material tending con- stantly to increase. With regard to my views “ in reference to rent enter- ing into the price of commodities,” I think Professor Smith might have gleaned that from my previous articles ; but, not wishing to be misunder- stood, I will take the opportunity to say, that in my opinion, there can be no doubt, that all the equal and necessary expenses of production must eventually enter into the price of every commodity, but as rent is evoked by the excess of demand over supply, although it be a component part of the
Erice, it is not an element of cost, and it would be paid whether the supply e increased or not, acting as a premium upon land capital : and therefore what may be correctly termed rent does not enhance the price of any com- modity.
I must now pass over a certain quotation from Malthus, which appears to have been a very necessary prop to the learned Professor’s argument, for he has quoted it three or four times, and also the page from McCulloch, to come tbe more readily at the Professor’s summing up of that page. It is as fol- lows : “ It teaches that wages rise because labor becomes more inefficient — that more is given because less is received — that capital pays a larger divi- dend to labor, because the fund from which it has to pay is diminished. Now, it is true, that the exposition from McCulloch, of the operation of wages and cultivation, is not quite so guardedly expressed as to prevent a disingenuous construction, but Professor Smith must be aware that it will not bear such a construction as he has put upon it. Let us quote : “ A rise in wages is seldom or never exactly coincident with a rise in the price of necessaries, but they can never be very far separated. The price of the necessaries of life is, in fact, the cost of producing labor. The laborer can- not work if he is not supplied with the means of subsistence.” Thus, in-
Digitized by Google
The Law of Progress in the Relatione of Capital and Labor. 55
•lead of wages having a tendency to rise, according to this they have a tendency to flail, and in the nature of things they cannot rise, beyond a bare subsistence. Neither is it exactly correct to say, that “ labor becomes more inefficient,” but, rather, that the land upon which it is necessarily employed, is leas fertile, or at a greater distance from market; and therefore it requires a greater amount of labor for the production of a given amount of food. It would therefore be more correct to say, that as capital becomes more in- efficient, the price of the necessaries of life has a tendency to rise, and there- fore real wages diminish, but as it is necessary that the laborer should exist, the money rate must be increased to make good the deficiency. That would have been much nearer the truth ; but let us see how American labor is paid.
The Professor says: “Our system, on the contrary, teaches that labor is more highly paid, both as to proportion and as to absolute amount, when it contributes and where it contributes, and because it contributes most to swell the gross quantity of the products out of which, or from the value of which, wages must be derived, when, and where, and because, it is roost produc- tive.” This description of the mode of remunerating labor in this country appears to me equally loose with that of McCulloch, and in feet not very materially different, but with the characteristic ingenuity of Professor Smith, it could no doubt be made to mean anything, to suit circumstances. The Lowell operatives, however, were not paid according to production, but ao* cording to the necessary rate of subsistence, in the same manner as the Eng- lish laborer. When the price of food raised, the increased cost was paid out of the profits of capital instead of wages. The Professor continues: * It (labor) is not allowed to monopolize all the gain resulting from its supe- rior efficiency, though it obtains the larger share. Part is retained by the capital through the increased aid of which it was enabled to effect enlarged and improved results ; part goes to the consumer by the fall of price.”
The perfect ideality of the Professor’s theory of the remuneration of labor is enough to make one laugh, if the subject were not of too serious a nature for jesting; he really appears to be as innocent of the operations of this out- of-door world as Casper Hauser could possibly be after his twenty years’ con- finement. If he will be pleased to ask the next working man which he meets m the city of Rochester, whether his wages will provide his family with as many necessaries now as they would ten years ago, he will then understand how much the laborer is benefited by his larger share of the profits, and how much the consumer is benefited by the superior efficiency of labor. But to proceed. The Professor thinks, 44 that it may be objected to the ar- gument founded upon the diminished proportion which the declared or real value of exports from Great Britain bears to their official value, or quantity, that it is limited to manufactured commodities, and that the advance in real wages resulting in the diminution in their cost, may be counteracted by the rise in the price of agricultural products.” That is very true, it may be ob- jected to on that account ; but the Professor thinks, that the statistics which he cited in the November number, of the agricultural production of France, and the statement of Mr. Malthus, before referred to, of the average propor- tion which rent bears to the value of the produce in England is a sufficient answer to that objection. This appears to be a little in the mode of begging the question.
Suppose one were to say to an English workman : 44 Why, you need not complain, that manufacturing wages have been lowering for the last thirty
Digitized by Google
Protection v$. Free Trade .
66
years ; your condition must be mending ; it has been proved by some statis- tical calculations, that the production of food in France has been quadrupledv relatively to the increase of population, within the last one hundred and fifty years ; therefore the working classes of England must be in a thriving condition; besides, the celebrated Mr. Malthus made a statement some forty years ago, to the effect, that the wages of labor must increase in pro- portion to rent, therefore you ought not to complain, for he ought to know.” In such a case would not the workman think the party mad who volunteer- ed this consolation? Would he not ask, what had the statistics of France to do with the condition of English workmen? or the statement of Mr. Malthus with the present time ? But the Professor tells us in the former part of his article, “ that he knows the condition of the laboring classes in England is bad enough, and that of those in France still worse,” and yet now, he would persuade us, contrary to the testimony he has given us, and in opposition to his own assertion, that their condition has been constantly improving.
According to the statistics quoted by Professor Smith, the prices of manu- factures exported from Great Britain within the last thirty years, have been reduced nearly sixty per cent; and according to the Edinburgh Review, also quoted by the Professor, we find that the price of wheat in the same time has fallen something less than forty. But we must remember that the whole of this reduction in the price oi manufactures, has fallen entirely upon wages and profits, as the raw material of which they are fabricated, has in the meantime maintained its price, if it has not increased ; therefore the cost of labor, from some cause or other, must be considerably less than this would represent. But we ought to make some allowance for the peculiar position in which prices have been placed by the repeal of the “ corn law,” and the throwing open of the trade in provisions to the whole world. Even under present circumstances manufacturing productions have fallen relatively twenty per cent ; but what might have been the case under other commercial policy we can only guess.
The Professor next quotes statistics to show the large comparative de- crease of the agricultural population of England, for the purpose of assuming a decrease in the cost of agricultural production, but I think it unnecessary to say anything upon this point, except that I think it would be strange if the improvements in agricultural implements had not the effect of keeping the number of hands nearly stationary, in a stationary business. I would now call particular attention to the Professor’s quotation from the Edinburgh Review, (on page 36,) in which is shown the relative progress of population, and the production of agricultural produce, for thirty years previous to 1841. From these statistics it appears that the population has increased about seven per cent more than the production of wheat, in thirty years, under the strict- est system of protection to agriculture, and at a time when two-fifths, or up- wards of twenty millions of acres of waste lands remained untilled. It ap- pears also, from these statistics, that the price of wheat has fallen from an average of 88s. to 56s. 9d. in the same period. The Professor says: “It would be easy to bring any quantity of testimony upon the point under consideration.” I can only say, that I have no objection to as much as he chooses, nor to rest the case upon what he has already produced. He ap- pears to think I have stated the rise in rent something too high. I have no objection, however, to Mr. Porter’s statement, as he appears to like it best. According to Mr. Porter, rent has increased throughout the United King-
Digitized by Google
The Law of Progress in the Relations of Capital and Labor . 5*1
dom 150 per cent, while the production of wheat has increased little more thao 25 per cent — the price having decreased in the same period 40 per cent. Rent would, therefore, according to Mr. Porter’s statement, at this time buy four times the wheat in England as it would thirty years ago ; making an increase of income to the landowner of 300 per cent, -while the former has increased the crop only 25. The proportion which rent would bear to the crop would be represented as follows : crop 125, rent 2 50. Thus, if rent, as according to Malthus, (the statement quoted four times by the Professor,) bore the proportion of two-fifths, or 40 per cent, of the crop, it would now stand as 90 to 125 — the proportion of rent to the crop having been augmented from two-fifths to more than three-and-ahalf fifths; proving that Malthus was either originally mistaken as to the proportion and opera- tion of rent, or that circumstances have materially altered these proportions and operations since his time; and that Mr. Carey’s theory of the superior increase of food to population, with a decreasing proportion to rent, is an utter fallacy. And yet the Professor sums up this matter in the following modest strain: “If we suppose the same rate of progress to have existed in the ten years preceding 1801 as since, the increase of population between 1790 and 1841 will amount to 73 per cent. The rent has advanced, ac- cording to Porter, 150 per cent, or twice as fast, and inasmuch as the prod- uce has augmented according to Malthus, twice as much as rent, it has in- creased four times as rapidly as the consumers.” Thus, after giving us “ unexceptionable testimony” from the Edinburgh Review, and the assu- rance of the “exceeding great increase of agricultural production” from Mr. Porter, the Professor makes no calculation as to the relative increase of produce and population from the statistics he had quoted, but makes a supposition as to the increase of population, and then adds together the increase of rent and the statement of Malthus, to prove that agricultural produce had quadrupled, when the statistics show that it had increased only 25 per cent.
The Professor pursued the same mode of begging the question with the French statistics in the former part of his article, when the price of wheat showed, according to the law of supply and demand, that the increase of crop was not equal to that of population. The Professor proceeds to say, “he thinks it has been made apparent, that capital in land follows the same laws as that of moveable property.” Now, I think quite the contrary. I think it has been proved, that the value of land in England, as measured in rent, has increased 500 per cent more than the produce ; and this is a premium obtained out of the profit of circulating capital ; and all without expense to the landowner. The Professor’s ideas of capital appear to be somewhat confused, but no doubt that may arise in some measure, from the absurdity of the theory which he advocates. Many persons suppose that all wealth is capital. Large amounts of wealth may be accumulated, sold, and t used, but capital must at all times be limited by the power of producing absol ite necessaries. It is this circumstance which causes the difference in the operation of price, between manufactured articles and raw produce. Money, whether of paper or of gold, beyond a certain necesssary amount, is not capital ; and as it is not consumed, beyond the necessary wear, it depre- dates faster than any other commodity.
The protectionists are complaining of the falling off of the exports of breadstuffs, <fcc. ; but they should remember that the cheapest article must be exported. This has not been caused by any lack of demand in England,
Digitized by v^oosle
58
Protection ve. Free Trade .
but because we had more money than grain. But to return to our subject. The Professor continues, in rather a pedantic and supercilious tone, to show his own and the superiority of the Carey school, over that of Ricardo and Mai thus, in the following manner : “The difficulty with the Ricardo and Malthus school of economists is, that instead of observing the facts, and endeavoring to deduce a theory from them, they have invented an hypothe- sis to which they are determined that facts shall be made to conform. It is the old error of the middle age scholastics, from which it has been supposed that Bacon had redeemed the human intellect. Its followers are so given over to strong delusion, that they answer the characteristic description of Shakspeare, of which we have during the last year had so many brilliant examples,
“ ‘And like a scurvy politician seem to see The thing that is not’ ”
I shall not attempt to vie with the Professor in quoting Shakspeare, for, not being in possession of Mr. Clark’s Concordance, I might not quote cor- rectly; I shall therefore give that up; but I must take leave to say, that I think he has made a material mistake in the first line of our quotation, as to who are the parties implicated in the “strong delusion,” which I must leave to others to correct With regard to “ the old error of the middle age, from which it has been supposed that Bacon had redeemed the human intellect," I can only say, that unless that commodity called human intellect had been stowed away somewhere in a large reservoir, so that it might have been doled out to those who were deficient, I can see no ground for the supposed redemption: for I know certain people in the community whose intellect is so small that they cannot perceive the truth, even if they strike their heads against it But I must now return to the Professor, at whom I hope no one will suspect I have been hinting, although he appears to proceed with- out rule or compass, for he quotes again some passages from the June article, which he had quoted and commented upon in a former number, which l must be allowed to notice. He says : “ R. 8. asks, if food tends to increase more rapidly than population, how is it that capital has accumu- lated unequally in the hands of a few, and that number rapidly decreasing in all countries?” and then proceeds as follows: “We have shown by unim- peachable authorities of this very sect, that the number is not decreasing but increasing.” Thus it is conceded, that “ capital has accumulated une- qually in the hands of a few ” — so few in England, that out of a population of about thirty millions, one hundred and nine thousand comprise the whole of the middle and aristocratic classes, when, less than half a century ago, the land alone was divided among two hundred and forty thousand proprietors — showing most conclusively, that although the number of taxable individuals may have increased within certain limits, since 1812, including large as well as small incomes, down to £150 a year, that this number of taxable in- dividuals has increased by the absorption of the capital of the other one hundred and fifty thousand — proving, as far as England is concerned, the other part of the allegation, that “ the number of capitalists is rapidly de- creasing.” From the same paragraph from which we quoted before, we have another quotation from the June number to the following effect: “If food tends to increase more rapidly than population,” asks R. S., “what gives capital a continually increasing power over the wages of labor ?”
The Professor then says : “ It has been shown that labor is more and more emancipating itself with the progress of population and capital.” To
Digitized by v^oosle
The Law of Progress in the Relations of Capital and Labor. 59
this I mast decidedly object. The French statistics produoed in the former part of the article, were obviously mere calculations, without taking into account the whole of the facts in the case, as shown before ; and the Eng- lish statistics contradict the conclusion. The Professor sap, (on page 35,) “The number of agricultural laborers in Great Britain has been constantly decreasing in the proportion which it bore to the whole population and the crop. Thus, Mr. Porter informs us, (Progress of the Nation, vol. i., p. 148,) that the total number of families in Great Britain has increased, between 1811 and 1831, from 2, 544, “15 to 3,414,175, or at the rate of 34 per cent; the number of families employed in agriculture has increased only from 896,998 to 961,134, or at the rate of 7{ per cent. It was shown by the census of 1841, that the number of persons employed in agricultural labor was less absolutely and of course still less proportionally than in 1831. We are not yet furnished with the information upon this point obtained by the census of 1851, but there can be no doubt, that the same decrease in the proportion of agricultural laborers has continued down to the present pe- riod ” Now, this information exactly accords with our previous deductions, and contradicts those of the Professor.
The large farmers and large landowners in England have constantly been swallowing up the small ones, and forcing this part of the agricultural pop- ulation into the cities, to increase the middle or the working classes, as the case may be ; and although the number of persons having incomes of fifteen dollara a week and upwards to fifty, may have increased in a larger ratio than population, this has been produced, as I have before intimated, by the accretion of smaller capitals, ana therefore sustains my previous statement, that the number of capitalists is rapidly decreasing. While the number of taxable individuals has increased, in relation to population, at the rate of 150 per cent, the increase of the wealth of that class has been “very nearly threefold greater,” than the increase of the class itself. And, in relation to population, the landowners have decreased within the same period 750 per cent; therefore each of the 150 of the taxable individuals must have ab- sorbed the capital of five of the missing landowners. Notwithstanding the rapid relative decrease of the English agricultural population, (350 per cent m twenty years,) we are informed, both by the statistics from the Edinburgh Review, and the quotations from Mr. Porter, of the “ exceeding great in- crease of agricultural production in the same period ; showing that the land has not been going out of cultivation, but that the labor has been driven off, and replaced by a larger proportionate amount of capital, in the shape of improved machinery ; and therefore the wages of labor must have been re- duced to the minimum of subsistence, and their numbers thinned, either by the operation of nature’s immutable law, or forced into the large towns, to compete for subsistence with the manufacturing populations. Thus, while (according to Professor Smith) “ the labor cost of agricultural products has been diminished,” capital has increased unequally in the hands of a few , and increased its power over labor, while rent also has increased. Thus the Professor has assisted me to demonstrate those facts, of which I was previ- ously aware, and for which I owe him my most cordial thanks.
From the last quotation he proceeds as follows : “ It certainly was a plausible figment of the imagination, that men in the first instance appro- priate the most fertile soils, and only take the inferior grades into cultiva- tion, as they are driven to it by necessity ; for forty years the assertion that they did so, stood uncontradicted.” Now I beg leave to say, with all due
Digitized by v^.ooQle
Protection vs. Free Trade .
ae
deference to Professor Smith and the Carey school in genera], that in my humble opinion, it is not, at this moment, of the slightest imaginable conse- quence, whether the assertion were or were not a figment of the imagina- tion, for the principle of rent derived from it, could operate only so long as society remained in the agricultural state. As soon as Commerce and man- ufactures began to collect people into large masses that principle of rent was modified, and could only operate to the smallest possible extent, and another principle of rent, kindred in its operation, supervened, which had, and continues to have, the same effect as the original. And although this principle was not perceived by Malthus, Ricardo, or McCulloch, many of the general axioms, and the final conclusions of those writers, remain intact, and that is the reason why it may be said, that I belong to the same school. But, notwitstanding, this “ figment of the imagination ” must be placed to the account of the Professor's favorite author upon political economy, Adam Smith, as I have before demonstrated, though he did not carry it out to its legitimate results. He also perceived and enunciated that part of the ulti- mate principle of rent which operates by the collection of large masses of people in cities, requiring food and raw materials of every description to be carried from a greater distance, and therefore requiring an extra amount of labor for the same relative supply of necessaries to a given point ; leaving out that part of the principle operating by the necessary abstraction of fer- tility by the increase of population — the loss of manure in various ways, and the consequent extra amount of labor required to obtain materials to keep up the fertility of the poorer and more distant soils.
The Professor thinks that the admission in the June article “that mankind will at all times cultivate the most available soils, those that will produce the largest returns for the labor and capital ready at the time to be invested,” oversets the Malthusian theory — assisted also by the following assertion : “ And that it is not until labor is cheapened by competition, that society can be forced into the expenses of clearing and draining, which, in some instances, cost more than the land was originally worth.” Now, I must say, that I do not perceive any material difference between either of these propositions and the general principles of the Malthusian and the Ricardo theory. It cannot be supposed that an individual possessing com- mon sense, or the common instincts of nature, would go two miles from his dwelling to cultivate a piece of land, when he might cultivate other land of equal quality at one half the distance, or that he would go to the expense of clearing and draining, while there was other land to cultivate that would pay the common rate of profit It is evident, therefore, that if an individual go two miles instead of one, to cultivate a piece of land, it would be be- cause it was “ the most available,” or, in other words, its relative fertility must be such as to overpay the extra cost of labor required ; and in regard to clearing and draining it is also evident, that as soon as labor and capital are sufficiently cheap and plentiful to allow of the cultivation of such land, bringing the common rate of profit, or the next best rate to the common rate, it will be cultivated. It is obvious, therefore, that so long as self- interest is the universal motive of mankind, the rate of profit could not in- crease ; simply because every individual would take the most available or the best land first There is no other way of accounting correctly for the decrease of the rate of profit upon capital.
Money and the precious metals might be increased indefinitely, but this would not decrease the rate of profit upon capital. The precious metals
Digitized by i^.ooQle
The Law of Progress in the Relations of Capital and Labor . 61
have the least pretension to be called capital, of any existing commodity: Under these circumstances their relative value would be lowered, but the principal and interest would maintain the same relation to each other as before, and the rate of profit would still bo indicated by a decrease in the rate of interest From these premises we are therefore bound to say, that if “ food increased faster than population,” the rate of profit must also in- crease, which neither Mr. Carey nor Professor Smith will assert Whether 44 Malthus and Ricardo, if alive, would emphatically hare declined such testi- mony ” as that which I have just quoted from a former article, I am not able to say, but this I may be allowed to say, that I never guarantied (by implication or otherwise) anything beyond their general and ultimate con- clusions. I therefore cannot be held accountable for their errors and mis- takes. But I cannot admit that their theory of cultivation was an error, though, as I have before stated, it is now of no con^quence whether it were so or not; one thing is certain, that there are more than twenty millions of acres of land in England untilled, which the 44 corn law ” failed to force into cultivation ; as also the present low rate of profit ; and yet England import- ed in 1850, seventy-two millions of bushels of grain.
Professor Smith has also quoted Professor Johnson to show that, in his opinion, the loss of manure, by the sewerage of each town of a thousand in- habitants, is equal to the fertility required for the production of a thousand
Suarters of wheat, which I should presume does not assist the Professor’s leory of production. Although quoted from a free-trade article in the North British Review, I must beg leave to differ, both from the reviewer and Professor Johnson, for although these calculations are very ingenious, and well calculated to attract the unthinking, little or no dependence can be placed upon them. It is pretty well understood, that this is the only loss of manure permitted in England, and there can be no doubt that this loss is overrated, as party writers are apt to overrate small matters. For sixty years England has been an importer of raw produce to a considerable extent, and more especially within the last thirty, she has imported vast quantities of grain, beef, pork, lard, butter, cheese, eggs, coflee, tea, sugar, spices, cotton, hemp, flax, tallow, hides, &c., besides manures. Thus it is not too much to say, that she imports one-third of her consumption, and, according* to the writer in the North British Review, “the importation of food bears a higher proportion to the home produce, than the annual addi- tion to the population.” And yet, with all the refuse matter remaining from this large and increasing quantity of food and raw material grown upon other soils, the average fertility of land in England has not reached more than twenty-eight bushels— an amount far from equal to the produc- tion of the virgin soils of America. It is not pretended by any of the writers quoted by the Professor, that any of the land in England is going out of cultivation, or becoming less valuable, which it ought to do, under the operation of such large importations, if Mr. Carey’s theory were true. On the contrary, we find, according to the necessary sequence of the Malthusian and Ricardo theory, that the importations of grain are constantly increasing 44 in a higher proportion to the home produce than the annual addition to the population .” Thus the production of food in England is relatively de- creasing, under all these favorable circumstances, and while she has twenty millions of acres of uncultivated land. But if, as according to Professor Johnson, the loss of manure by sewerage be great, there is still one thing to console us, the labor and capital which it would require to collect it, is not
Digitized by v^oosle
02
Protection vs. Free Trade .
also lost This again brings to mind the fallacy of the theory of the supe- rior relative increase of food; labor made fertility, although it may tend to keep up the rate of profit, can never increase it ; because, first, the extra labor must be paid for out of the extra crop ; and, secondly, what is saved is previously abstracted from other soils. Thus, if the mass of human beings did not abstract one atom of fertility from the earth, nor were there one atom wasted, we could not reach beyond the original fertility, and the rate of profit would even then diminish, from the cost of the extra labor required in cultivation.
I should have preferred to have closed this article at this point, which is already too long, but there is another important point, which I must beg to be excused for noticing, with regard to the continued depreciation of capital. The Professor acknowledges the error he fell into in a former article, but afterward endeavors to confuse and mystify the subject. His original prop- osition stands thus : “ Mr. Carey shows that capital in land obeys the same law as capital invested in machinery ; among other things, like other com- modities, it will never bring as much as it cost to produce,” because the progress of capital and improvement enables man to reproduce the same thing with less expenditure of labor.” And he thus acknowledges its gen- eral incorrectness : “ The proposition which I stated of course did not relate to an immediate sale. It is doubtless true , as a general rule, that any piece of machinery, upon its completion, will bring its cost . Every improved machine for which a patent can be procured, will, during the duration of the patent, produce more than the cost and the ordinary rate of profit . But every improvement is such in virtue of the fact that it cheapens something else. The moment it comes into use, the commodity, whatever it may be, the process of obtaining which it facilitates, is offered in the market at re- duced cost But all existing commodities of the same kind must also fall to the same price. They will bring only what it now costs to produce them.”
Now, I think it would be difficult to imagine a more complete repudia- tion of any proposition than the Professor has been forced into, in the pres- ent instance. He has acknowledged that “ every improved machine will, during the term of the patent, produce more than the cost and the ordinary rate of profit .” And, in fact, tnat all commodities “ will bring what it now c osts to produce them” and of course a profit besides, or, instead of improve- ments continuing to increase, machinery must cease to exist, and society, in- stead of becoming more numerous and wealthy, must decrease in number. I merely mention these circumstances to show the Professor how persons are 44 betrayed by the necessities of a false system into flagrant inconsistencies” In speaking of improved methods, the Professor 6ays : “ The moment it comes into use the commodity is offered at reduced cost” By which I presume he meant to say, 44 at reduced price.” But I humbly conceive that this depends upon circumstances, and is not true as a general rule. It is not for the interest of individuals who invent improved methods to reduce the price of their machinery below that of the old ; for although in some in- stances it may cost less, they generally expect and always obtain, if it be really an improvement, a greater price, and consequently an increased profit. Neither is it for the interest of the manufacturer who uses improved machi- nery immediately to reduce the price of his commodity. They each have an interest opposed to this ; both would naturally wish to be paid for extra capital expended, before the price is reduced ; and therefore this is not
Digitized by v^oosle
The Law of Progress in the Relatione of Capital and Labor . 66
done unless the state of the market enforces it It is not the interest of the public which the inventor or manufacturer wishes to serve, but his own. And as improvements cannot become general at once, the old machinery is generally worn out in due time, having paid its cost and profit long before that period, which enables the manufacturer to replace it with new. If this were not the case, who would be found to invest capital in machinery I The Professor endeavors further to illustrate his views upon this subject by borrowing an idea from M. Bastiat, who says he can now purchase a Bible for fifty cents, or half a day’s labor, which formerly cost the labor of three hundred days to produce a worse copy. We must remember, however, that fifty cents is what it now costs to produce it.
The idea, also, expressed in the following quotation, if I rightly under- stand it, is also erroneous : “ Every step in improvement gives labor an addi- tional command over some one of the constituents of capital, and conse- quently raises the rate, between the value of existing labor and the sum total of capital.” If it is intended to say, as I presume it is, that these im- provements in labor increase its relative value to that of capital, I must object to the assertion as lysing contrary to fact. The Professor has himself given us an incident by which we may prove the matter, pro or con. It is stated that we can now purchase a Bible for the price of half a day’s labor, which at one time would take the price of three hundred days’ labor to pur- chase. Now, let us suppose the value of the raw material necessary for the production of the Book to have remained stationary at one-eighth of a day’s labor. At one time it would take 2,400 times as much raw material to purchase the Book as was required for its production ; whereas at present it would require only four times as much. Has labor gained u additional command” over capital, or has capital gained additional command over labor in this instance ? It matters not whether raw material has increased in price, or whether labor has decreased ; or whether each have moved in the direc- tion indicated ; it