AMERICAN TOBACCO IN EUROPE. Tobacco stands next to cotton, in quantity and value, of our agricultural exports to foreign countries, and with the exception of the leading staple, the heaviest article in the whole list of domestic exports of the United States, and were it not for the enormous duties and restrictions imposed by the leading gov ernments of Europe, the amount would be largely increased. The official value of tobacco exported for the year ending June 30, 1855, amounted to $14.727,468. Efforts have been made from time to time since 1829, to effect a change in these restrictions more favorable to the tobacco interests of this country, but without success, on the part of our government. In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th of April, 1856, the Secretary of State. communicated to that body the subjoined statement respecting the tariff of duties, restrictions, prohibitions, and customhouse regulations, applicable to American tobacco, in the principal commercial countries of Europe, prepared by EDMUND FLAGG, Esq., Superintendent of the Statistical Office of the State Department at Washington. The tobacco interests of the United States having been treated of in detail in connection with those of other staples in the report on the commercial relations of the United States with all foreign nations, (now in course of printing,) Mr. Flagg submits at this time a brief and condensed statement, which shows at a glance the condition of the tobacco monopoly in several European States. The following is the official report as presented to Congress : STATEMENT RESPECTING THE TARIFF DUTIES, RESTRICTIONS, PROHIBITIONS, AND CUSTOM-HOUSE REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO AMERICAN TOBACCO IN THE PRINCIPAL COMMERCIAL COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. BREMEN. (Tariff duties two-thirds of 1 per cent.) Import duty is levied at the rate given in the invoice value, with the addition of freight and insurance charges. All foreign vessels, American excepted, must be entered at this port by a licensed ship broker-the exception in favor of American vessels having been conceded by the Bremen Senate in 1852. GREAT BRITAIN. (72 cents per lb. and 5 per cent additional.) Tobacco, snuff, and cigars are prohibited to be imported into Great Britain, unless in vessels of not less than 120 tons burden, and into ports approved by the Commissioners of Customs. These ports are London, Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Lancaster, Cowes, Falmouth, Whitehaven, Plymouth, Newcastle, Southampton, Preston, and Swansea, in England; Aberdeen, Leith, and Greenock, in Scotland; and Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Limerick, Londonderry, Newry, Sligo, Waterford, Wexford, and Drogheda, in Ireland. Duties alike from all countries and in all bottoms. BELGIUM. ($1 86 per 221 lbs.) In the direct trade between the United States and Belgium, the vessels of both nations are equalized by treaty. In the indirect or triangular trade, there are discriminations, though frequently suspended by Belgium. SARDINIA. (Government monopoly.) The annual revenue cannot be calculated, as the Italian States are grouped in official returns of commerce. AUSTRIA. (Government monopoly.) When imported by permission of the government, the duty is $4 85 per 110 lbs., besides 97 cents per lb. for a license to import. SWEDEN. (5 5-6 cents per lb.) The duty is over 100 per cent, and importations from the United States are diminishing annually. NORWAY. (4 cents per lb.) Owing to a difference in the weights and measures in use in Norway, the duty is about 33.3 per cent less than in Sweden. PORTUGAL. (Government monopoly.) The raw article for the factories of the government is derived chiefly from Brazil, about 500,000 lbs. per annum being received from the United States. FRANCE. (Government monopoly.) By the terms of the treaty of June 24, 1822, American produce, if imported direct to France in United States bottoms, is admitted on the payment of the same duties as apply to similar importations from countries out of Europe, in French vessels. The origin of the merchandise must, however, be duly authenticated and certified by the collector of the port of exportation and by the French consul. American tobacco is purchased by the Commissioners of the Regie for the government factories, and is admitted either in French or American vessels free of duty. In foreign vessels, the duty is $1 86 per 100 kilogrammes (221 lbs.) The monopoly was established in 1810 by imperial decree. HOLLAND. (28 cents per 221 lbs.) If imported direct from the United States, admitted on the same terms, whether in American or national vessels. SPAIN. (Government monopoly.) Admitted at the port of Malaga in American vessels at a duty of 20 cents, and in Spanish at a duty of 15 cents per lb. The privilege of the tobacco monopoly in Spain is rented to individuals, and yields a revenne of about $4,000,000 per annum. STATEMENT EXHIBITING THE QUANTITIES OF AMERICAN TOBACCO EXPORTED FROM THE UNITED STATES INTO THE COUNTRIES DESIGNATED; TOGETHER WITH THE AMOUNT OF DUTIES PAID THEREON DURING THE COMMERCIAL YEAR 1855: The total receipts from customs duties in France for one year (1848,) according to official returns, was 146,000,000 francs, of which 86,000,000 were derived from tobacco, nearly all grown in the United States. The Austrian empire contains 36,514,397 inhabitants. The annual yield (average) of tobacco in Austria is estimated at 79,000,000 lbs. The only places where the plant is permitted to be grown are Hungary, Galicia, the Tyrol, and Venice. In Hungary it is the leading staple, the annual crop reaching as high as 68,000,000 lbs. Of this, one-third is sold to the Austrian Regie (or government monopoly,) one-third to foreign countries, and the remaining one-third is consumed at home. The average annual importation from the United States is from twoand-a-half to three million pounds. The Regie clears a profit of ten cents on each pound of raw tobacco, and the annual revenue to the government is $7,500,000. In the States composing the Zollverein, the annual crop of tobacco is estimated at 55,000,000 lbs.. The revenue derived from American tobacco is about $1,800,000 per annum. BELGIUM produces annually about 1,300,000 lbs. of tobacco, and imports from 9,000,000 to 11,000,000 lbs. • Average annual revenue from [government] monopoly, $16,000. + Average annual revenue from monopoly, $4.000,000. No data from which to ascertain amount of revenue derived from monopoly. Besides an annual profit to the Regie of about $7,500,000. No data from which to ascertain the share of monopoly revenue which this quantity bears; the whole amount is about $2,250,000 annually. HOLLAND produces from 4,000,0000 to 5,000,000 lbs., and imports annually from 30,000,000 to 35.000,000 lbs. The tobacco factories in this country are stated to give employment to 1,000,000 operatives. BREMEN imports annually from 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 lbs. of tobacco, most of which is manufactured in that city, and re-exported to foreign markets. HAMBURG imports only from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 lbs. annually, most of which, after being manufactured, is re-exported. The annual tobacco crop of Russia is about 25,000,000 lbs. The annual consumption of tobacco in Spain is about 9,000,000 lbs., one-third of which is imported for the government factories from the United States. In Portugal, the culture of tobacco is prohibited by law. The quantity of American unmanufactured tobacco annually imported into the principal commercial countries of Europe may be thus stated : The aggregate quantity of tobacco annually raised in these countries (exclusive of their colonies) is about 210,000,000 lbs. The aggregate quantity of tobacco raised in the United States in 1850 was 199,752,515 lbs. The average annual quantity of American tobacco imported into Great Britain during a period of three years, (1851-3.) was 24,543,334 lbs., on which there was levied an average annual duty of $18,554,760. The average annual quantity imported into France during the same period was 14,690,000 lbs. ; into Holland, 18.660.000 lbs., on which the average annual amount of duty was $24,915; into Belgium, 4,824,000 lbs., on which the average annual amount of duty was $40,600; and into the Hanse Towns, 38,637,667 lbs., on which was paid an average annual duty of $12,643 91. ROOT CROPS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND UNited states. It appears by official statements that turnips and other root crops are cultivated to a much greater extent in Great Britain than in the United States. Of the extent to which the various root crops are cultivated, and of the proportion between these and the various grain crops, any one may inform himself accurately by a comparison of the following statistics, which we select from the returns made to Parliament for the year 1854. Of 37,324,915 acres in the several counties of England and Wales, 12,441,776 acres were under tillage, and 15,212,203 under grass. Of the 12,441,776 acres under tillage, there were in— According to the United States census of 1850, there were of improved lands, 113,032,614 acres; of which there were in As no other root crops are reported in the United States census, except pota toes, it seems a fair inference from this fact, not that there are none else cultivated, but that the number of acres under turnips and other roots was so small as not to be worth reporting, or that no place was provided in the schedules used by the enumerators, on account of the small extent of land generally supposed to be devoted to these crops. JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES. STOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. We give below an abstract of returns of Joint-Stock Companies formed in Massachusetts, under the acts of that State of 1851 and 1855, as prepared from official returns by FRANCIS DE WITT, Secretary of the Commonwealth : Name altered from Bowler, Tileston & Co's. Paper-mache Manufacturing Company. |