the wages of 1860-61, of sixty-two per cent. for males, and sixty per cent. for females.

The effect of the great increase and disturbance of prices thus noted has been as follows:

1st. A decrease of production and consumption, and a partial suspension of national development-a result fully in accordance with a well-recognized law of political economy respecting prices.

This assertion finds a most striking confirmation in the following exhibit of the results of industrial production in the State of Massachusetts, as obtained by comparing the results of the state census of the years ending May 31, 1855 and 1865, respectively-the articles of cotton goods, calico, woollens, paper, rolled and slit iron and nails, clothing, leather, boots and shoes, fisheries (mackerel and cod,) being selected as fairly representing the entire manufacturing industry of the State.

From this comparison, it appears that there was a smaller number of hands employed in these industries, in 1865, than at a period ten years earlier, (1855;) the nominal decrease being about eleven per cent. That a part of this decrease should be referred to a more extensive use of labor-saving machinery is altogether probable; but it would also, we think, have been reasonable to expect that such a decrease would have been entirely compensated for by an increase of consumption.

It would also appear that the gold value of the industrial products specified was, for the year 1865, nearly three and one-half (3) per cent. less than the gold value of the year 1855-one hundred dollars, in gold, during the State fiscal year 1854-'55, being the equivalent (as determined by careful computation) of two hundred and seven (207) dollars in currency in 1864-'65.

Referring, now, to the above enumerated industries specifically, we have the following results:

Cotton manufactures-other than calico.

Decrease in the number of hands employed 31 per cent.; decrease in the quantity of raw cotton used 56 per cent.

The proportionate number of yards of cotton cloth manufactured in 1864-'65, to one hundred yards manufactured in 1854-'55, was fifty-three yards, showing a diminution in the quantity of product of forty-seven per cent.

The average value of cotton goods per yard (exclusive of calico) appears to have been in 1855-'55 75 cents per yard; in 1864-'65 27 cents, currency, per yard; or, adopting the average gold value of currency for the year 13,4% cent, gold, per yard, showing an increase in the cost per yard, in gold, of seventyfive per cent.

Other selected manufactures.-An examination of the returns, relative to the other industries specified, shows, that, as regards the number of hands employed, there was an increase in the industries of woollens, paper, rolled and slit iron and nails, clothing, leather and fisheries, and a decrease in the manufactures of calico, and boots and shoes, as well as in the cotton goods before specified.

As regards the aggregate value of the products of the same industries, there was an increase (gold estimate) in the calico, woollens, paper, and fisheries, and a decrease in rolled and slit iron and nails, clothing, leather, and boots and shoes. With the exception of woollens, however, the increase in the value of the articles specified was in a far less ratio than the increase which is shown by the United States census to have occurred between 1850 and and 1860.

Assuming that the capital employed in these institutions was all invested prior to any increase in the value of gold, as compared with currency (that is, prior to January, 1862)—the ratio to the increase of capital from 1854-'55 to 1864-'65 would appear to be but about one-fifth of the ratio of increase of the

real and personal value of property in the entire country, indicated by the United States census as having obtained from 1850 to 1860. As the above assumption, relative to the average date of investment, however, is more favorable than the facts warrant, the relative rate of increase was probably really less than that indicated.

For further details in regard to these industrial returns, reference is made to the Appendix marked E, accompanying this report.

Again, assuming the accuracy of the published returns of the manufacturing products of the city of Pittsburg* for the year 1865-'66 (to wit, $64.280,069, currency,) as compared with those for the corresponding period of 1859-'60 (to wit, $42,805,500 gold,) and reducing the returns of the later year to the gold basis of the earlier the average premium on gold for the year being assumed at fifty per cent.-we have results very nearly equivalent to those obtained from the comparison of the census returns of Massachusetts-namely, no material increase in the aggregate value of products.

It should also be borne in mind, in this connection, that a cessation of progress in the United States, in view of the rapid developments of former years, cannot be regarded as other than retrogression.

Such, however, is the inherent flexibility and vitality of American industry, and the resources of the country, that the experience of other countries affords but few criteria by which results in our own can be estimated. This is strikingly illustrated in the case of one particular article-lumber-which, before the expiration of the reciprocity treaty in March, 1866, was imported into the United States from Canada free of duty. By the repeal of this treaty, Canadian lumber became subjected to an impost of twenty per cent.; the effect of which, added to prices already unprecedentedly high, would, according to all accepted politico-economic theories, have been largely to diminish both foreign importations and domestic consumption. On the contrary, the statistics of the past season show that the demand for, and the importation of, Canadian pine lumber into the United States has greatly increased, while the prices, notwithstanding an increased production, have been fully maintained or advanced.

The lesson of this showing is, that the enterprise and sagacity of the American people have managed to find a profitable employment for a vast amount of lumber, not withstanding its continued abnormal and extravagant prices; but at the same time we are also compelled to make the statement, which to any observer needs no proof, that, in consequence of the high prices of lumber, there has been a very great diminution in the construction of houses, factories, and ships-thus directly entailing an increase of rents, manufactured products and freights; and indirectly swelling the volume of prices of all labor and commodities. Another result arising from the great enhancement of prices, above referred to, of all labor and materials is, that the products of American industry are ex

*The following table shows the reported business of the city of Pittsburg, in detail, at the respective periods mentioned:

posed to a most unfair competition in their own and foreign markets with the similar offerings of other countries, produced from untaxed raw materials, with the further great advantage of cheaper capital and lower wages for labor. In fact, in nearly every department of American industry the possession of the home market is seriously interfered with, while our ability to compete with foreign nations in foreign markets is restricted to the sale of a very few articles in which the American producer is largely favored by natural or accidental advantages, as in the case of petroleum, cotton, sewing machines, &c.

The following table, furnished by the Bureau of Statistics, shows the decrease in the exportation of various articles during the fiscal year 1866, as compared with the corresponding years 1860, 1861, 1863, 1864, and 1865:

The foreign commerce of the United States is being, as it were, swept from the ocean; and it is reported to the commissioner, by experienced shipowners of New York, that no voyage with an American vessel can be planned at the present time, from the United States to any foreign port, with a reasonable expectation of profit.

A reference to the official returns shows the amount of American registered tonnage, engaged in foreign trade, in 1865-'66, to have been but one million and a half tons, 1,492,924,) as compared with two and a half millions of tons (2,546,237) in 1859-'60; which, allowing for the difference between the old and new measurements, indicates a decrease in five years of over fifty per cent. In 1853 the tonnage of the United States was about fifteen per cent. in excess of that of Great Britain, while at the present time it is estimated at thirty-three per cent. less.

An examination of the official returns of the coastwise and inland commerce, allowance being made for the difference of measurement, also shows a decrease in this branch of about twelve per cent. It should, however, be stated, that a part of this reduction is probably due to the substitution of steamers for sailing vessels.

Out of one hundred and ninety-one American vessels engaged in the Brazilian or South American trade, in 1861-'62, but thirty are reported as remaining;

Ex. Doc. 2-2

while the number of foreign vessels engaged in the same trade has, during the same time, increased nearly threefold. The immediate cause of this change was undoubtedly the ravages and frequent presence upon this part of the ocean of the Alabama and other confederate privateers, but the destruction of property due to this cause would ere this have been repaired had the ordinary conditions of trade existed and the cost of constructing vessels continued unenhanced. Instead, however, of building ships, as formerly, for all nations, this particular branch of business has, to a great extent, been transferred from the Atlantic coast of the United States to the British provinces ;* and on the whole Atlantic coast there has not been probably as many ships constructed during the past season as in the two British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The class of ships which cost, at the present time, in the city of New York, about one hundred dollars per ton (currency) to build and equip ready for sea, do not cost much over forty dollarst (gold) per ton to build and equip in the British provinces.

It is further reported to the commissioner that during the month of November there was but a single vessel in the course of construction in the shipyards of the city of New York, and but one or two in the city of Boston.

For a more detailed statement respecting the recent decrease of American commerce, reference is made to a report on this subject made to the Secretary

The following official tables show the extent of the increase of shipbuilding in some of the British provinces during the years named:

Increase.
Per cent.

Shipping owned in Nova Scotia..
Shipping owned in New Brunswick.

Shipping built in New Brunswick in 1864
Shipping built in New Brunswick in 1865
Shipping built in Nova Scotia in 1864

Shipping built in Quebec and exported in the year ending June 30, 1865..
Shipping built in Quebec and exported in the year ending June 30, 1866.

The following extract of a letter from an intelligent shipowner of St. John's, N. B., a merchant of more than forty years' experience, is conclusive upon this point:

"A spruce ship to class five years, iron fastened, hull and spars complete, with iron knees, can be had at about twenty-six dollars per ton, carpenter's measure, (about one-tenth more than registered tonnage.) A copper-fastened ship, to class A 1 for seven years, would cost about thirty dollars (gold) per ton. To obtain this class she is required to have hackmatack top, as this wood is far preferable to spruce. A seven years' ship of one thousand tons can be built, rigged, and all ready for sea, with cabins finished, boats, one suit of sails, standing rigging and all stays of wire rope, running rigging of manilla, and delivered in your market, at forty-eight dollars to fifty dollars per ton, (gold,) at a profit."

One of the most intelligent and reliable shipbuilders of Bath, Maine, (where peculiar facilities exist for building ships at low rates,) furnishes the prices for which a ship of one thousand tons, to class A 1 for seven years, can be built in that port:

Hull iron fastened, with spars, fifty-eight dollars per ton; copper fastened, sixty-three dollars per ton; hull copper fastened, with spars, sails, rigging, boats, &c., complete and ready for sea, eighty-three dollars per ton, currency.

The following table shows the comparative cost (in gold) of building a first-class ship of one thousand tons in St. John's, N. B., and in the cheapest shipbuilding port in the United States, (gold at forty per cent. premium:)

of the Treasury by the director of the Bureau of Statistics, in the Appendix marked F.

What is thus asserted of ships during the past year, has been, and is even now, also true of the business of printing and binding books. American publishers have been able to send their MSS. to England, have their works printed and bound there, and returned, paying an impost duty of twenty-five per cent. in gold, cheaper than they could buy paper and have the same work done in the United States by American mechanics; and so well recognized, indeed, has become this practice, that the American Publishers' Circular now classes its weekly list of American publications into those printed and published in the United States, and those published here, but manufactured abroad.

Previous to 1860, about one-half of the product of the copper mines of Lake Superior was exported to France and Germany; now the proprietors of these mines represent that their whole investments are threatened with destruction, through failure to secure even the home market.

The commissioner would also call attention to the fact that during the past year, flour from France and starch from Great Britain (two products in respect to which it might be supposed that the United States would always maintain a pre-eminence in production) have been imported into the ports of Boston and New York, with a view of being sold at a profit.

Again of the machinery designed for the numerous manufactories now in process of construction, especially those for the manufacture of cotton and for the refining of sugar, a very large proportion (fully one-half in quantity and value) will be of foreign construction; the price being about one-third less than that for which the same can be contracted for in the United States.* American axes, shovels, picks, ploughs, and other agricultural implements, as well as cutnails, in virtue of superior workmanship, improved machinery, or established reputation, still hold their own in foreign markets; but in regard to many other articles of hardware,† in respect to which the American manufacturer could, in 1860, defy all competition, the former export demand is now not only almost entirely lost, but the possession of the home market is seriously threatened. A single one of many statements presented to the commissioner may be reported in this connection:

The contract price for the wrought-iron flasks manufactured and delivered in the city of New York during the past year for the New Almaden Quicksilver Company, of California, was one dollar and seventy cents in gold; while the price for the same artícle, since contracted for in England, deliverable in San Francisco, freight, insurance, and all commissions, included, is one dollar and eight cents in gold. It may also be noted, that the workmen employed in the manufacture of these articles in New York were brought from the same establishment now making the flasks in Great Britain. Similar reference might also be made to the manufacture of umbrellas, braids of silk and worsted, every description of worsted goods, cotton hosiery, and many other articles.

As an offset to the adverse influences of this condition of affairs, the acknowledged traits of the American character-perseverance, enterprise, and fertility of resources-seem never to have manifested themselves more strongly and signally than at present. Manufacturing establishments are kept in motion at the

*The commissioner estimates the value of the machinery for American manufacturing establishments, now in the course of construction in Europe, at about three millions of dollars.

† An illustration of the extent to which the manufacturers of hardware are threatened with a loss of the home market is found in the statement that the importations from England for the first month of the present fiscal year were, of hardware, £51,770 against £32,452; and of cutlery, £23,162 against £16,159, in July, 1864, and £10,959 in July, 1863; while the increase in the importation of steel is nearly two hundred per cent., having been £23,000 in 1865, and £66,000 in 1866.