to realize, and the same impediment to the returns increases the cost of the necessaries he purchases for consumption. This great cost is a tax upon the surplus produce, enterprise, industry and trade of the country. The commerce of a country that can flourish under such a burden of taxation must evidently be very large. The extent of it is such, indeed, as is not generally apprehended. In fact, in estimating it from the surest data, the results to which our figures carry us almost stagger our own belief. Yet our conclusions cannot be avoided. We have 1,190 steamboats, carrying 249,054 tons. On the supposition that, upon an average, each boat makes 20 trips (40 voyages) a year, the whole are capable of carrying annually 9,962,160 tons. Adding to this the freights of 4,000 flat boats, carrying an average of 75 tons each, making 300,000 tons more, we have an aggregate annual tonnage of 10,252,160. It may be insisted that the boats do not always carry full freights; they evidently carry enough to make their business an active and profitable one, while the amount they discharge at New Orleans alone requires the services of 2,085 vessels, to export from that city the surplus beyond its own consumption. Exports of New Orleans, foreign and coastwise, 1845, $47,361,310 84 Exports of New Orleans, foreign and coastwise, 1846, 57,490,407 08 Increase in 1846, 10,130,096 24 The value of western products received at New Orleans from the interior for the last 5 years, including the present, is as follows: Showing an annual average increase of over 10 per cent. An equal amount, it is supposed, finds its way to the Atlantic cities through Pittsburgh and the lakes and canals of the interior. This is not an unwarranted supposition. The exports of a few of the principal towns on the Lakes in 1846 were as follows: Cleveland, Ohio, . Erie, Pa., Michigan, from all ports, Chicago, for the year 1845, Receipts by Canals and Railroads, at Toledo, O., At Buffalo, 1846, flour, bbls., Exports of Pittsburgh, East, 1847.-The amount of freights shipped from Pittsburgh eastward, from the 15th of March to the 31st of May, of this present year, not including the shipments of the 31st, is registered at 73,936,390 lbs., conveyed in 1,300 canal boats. From the opening of the canal in 1846 to the first of June of that year, the COMMERCE OF THE WEST. 83 amount transported eastward was 40,109,820 lbs., conveyed in 939 boats-showing an excess for the present year, thus far, over a similar period last year, of 33,826,570 lbs. A single item will give point to the exposition of this canal trade. From the 15th of March, 1847, to the 1st of May, there were shipped eastward on the canal 54,042 barrels of flour. The item of pork for the same period of little over six weeks, shows 22,621 barrels, bacon, 4,073,838 lbs.; lard, 3,729,584 lbs.; hemp, 1,223,988 lbs.; tobacco, 975,148 lbs. There are to be added to these sums the shipments from one port to another of the West, for home consumption, of the products of our manufactories, and other results of skill, industry and capital. An intelligent committee at Cincinnati, in 1844, estimated the whole of this interchange of commodities at an aggregate of seventy millions of dollars. Estimating its annual increase at 10 per cent., it is now equal to $93,000,000. Thus we have of the domestic products of the Valley of the Mississippi annually put afloat upon its waters, a total of $262,825,620. The returns, or imports of specie, bullion and goods, from the Atlantic States and foreign countries, by all routes, are estimated as equivalent to the value of our exports of domestic produce. Then we have, as the grand aggregate value of the commerce annually afloat upon the navigable waters of the Valley of the Mississippi, the sum of $432,651,240, being nearly double the amount of the whole foreign commerce of the United States. Imports of the United States for 1845-6, Total, 1845-6, $121,691,797 113,488,516 $235,180,313 From 1822 to 1827 the loss of property on the Ohio and Mississippi, by snags alone, including steam and flat boats, and their cargoes, amounted to $1,362,500.* The losses on the same from 1827 to 1832 were reduced to $381,000, in consequence of the beneficial service of several boats employed by the Federal Government in removing snags. In the year 1830, in consequence of the successful operation of the snag boats, not a single steamboat was lost by snags. From 1833 to 1838 inclusive, the Secretary of the Treasury reported forty steamboats snagged on the Mississippi and its tributaries—a number evidently much below the truth, and valued at $640,000. In 1839, the total loss of boats reported was forty-of which twentyone were snagged, and seven struck upon rocks and other obstructions. Value of twenty-eight snagged, &c., 8448,000. In 1840, the total number snagged was 21-value $336,000. In 1841, whole number reported sunk forty-nine-snagged twentynine-value $464,000. In 1842 the whole number reported lost was sixty-eight. The number snagged is not ascertained. In the space of about one month succeeding the 11th of September of that year, the losses on the Mississippi, between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, a distance Within the of only 180 miles, were $234,000, principally by snags. * Abridged Report in Baltimore American. next succeeding seventeen months there were seventy-two steamboats lost, valued at $1,200,000, besides their valuable cargoes. In 1846 the whole number sunk or destroyed was thirty-six, with an aggregate tonnage of 7,507. Of this number twenty-four were sunk by snags, sunken logs, or rocks, and valued at $697,500. To this sum is to be added $36,487 as the estimated expense of repairing sixty-six steamboats, partially injured in that year, and of fourteen flat and keel boats lost or injured; the value of eight of them snagged. Taking into the account the damage to cargoes saved, the expense of the labor of saving property endangered, the value of the time of persons thrown out of employment, the losses by delays to the shippers and consignees, the aggregate loss was one million of dollars for 1846. The Report estimates the annual loss by destruction of boats, caused by removable obstructions in the rivers, at two millions of dollars annually. Of this amount Government loses its full share, as it has at risk on these waters not less than $5,000,000 annually. "This," it adds, "is annihilated--so much destroyed of the wealth of the country, amounting every ten years to a sum equal to the purchase money paid by the Government for all Louisiana. It is undoubtedly true, that there are lying within the space of the 200 miles between the mouths of the Ohio and the Missouri rivers, the wrecks of over ninety steamboats." Taking the losses of life attending the disasters of the St. Louis boats, in 1811-2, as a basis, the number of lives annually destroyed in consequence of obstructions, may be estimated at 166. Oftentimes go down among them characters distingushed for industry and virtue, carrying with them their families and fortunes, in money sufficient, if so applied, to remove every snag from the channel. The sums of money expended for improvements on the western rivers, from 1824 to 1840, was $2,528,000. The sum appropriated for light-houses, beacons, piers and harbors on the sea-coast, during the same time, was $12,901,123. The city of St. Louis alone owns 23,800 tons of steamboat tonnage, worth $1,547,000. During 1846 there arrived at that port, exclusive of 801 flat-boats, steamboats with a tonnage of 467,824 tons. The total annual commerce of St. Louis, imports and exports included, although yet in its infancy, is estimated at over $75,000,000, equaling nearly one-third of the whole foreign commerce of the United States. The following extract from the Appendix of the Report is worthy of special attention : The cost of running a steamboat on the western rivere is six times greater than the cost incurred upon the Lakes. For proof of this : The capital invested in the vessels of the Upper Lakes is estimated at $6,000,000, and the cost of running them (exclusive of insurance and interest on the capital) is stated to be about $1,750,000, or about onethird of their value. The capital invested in the steamboats of the Valley of the Mississippi is $16,188,561, and the cost of running them (exclusive of insurance and interest) is estimated at $32,752,000 or more than double their value. Having hurriedly glanced at the field of labor which we have marked out for ourself, in the further conduct of the Review, and AMERICAN COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE, AND MANUFACTURES. 85 presented some of the leading statistics of western trade and progress, it will be necessary, in order to prevent a too great extension, that our present paper be brought to a close. We regret that so meagre are the sources of information it is almost impossible to give the latest data, or that full and complete and minute information which is desirable. However, the meeting of the Convention at Chicago, and the Report of the Committee appointed by it, and referred to in other pages of this work, will, there can be little question, remedy all deficiencies; and the statistics of the West be henceforward more easily obtained. It will be seen that we have been obliged to rely, in many in stances, upon the returns of the census of 1840, taken by government, it being almost impossible to obtain later information of the character there embraced. This census, as we before observed, can give novery adequate notion of the present condition of the West, the progress of seven years having worked, in many quarters, such extraordinary changes. Nevertheless, a general notion may be formed, and an approximate estimate made, which must suffice in the absence of more precise data. We commend the volumes of Dr. Monette, with which the present article opens, to the American people, as the first effort to furnish a complete history of their great western domain and territories, most signally successful, and the only work, at this time, which can in any degree satisfy the desire of information which is everywhere felt.* Art. III.-PROGRESS OF AMERICAN COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES, No. 1. INFLUENCES OF THE CREDIT SYSTEM-EXPLOSIONS OF 1833-7 SALES OF PUBLIC LANDS-COTTON CROPS-CONSUMPTION OF COTTON-PRICES OF FLOUR FOR TWENTY-FIVE YEARS-COTTON MAN UFACTURES-FOREIGN COTTONS-TRADE IN BREADSTUFFS--BANKING SYSTEM AND BANKS OF THE UNITED STATES-BANKS IN THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI-IMPORTATIONS OF SPECIE-COINAGE OF THE UNITED STATES-EXCHANGES-EUROPEAN CROPSEXPORTS OF GREAT BRITAIN-REVENUE OF THE UNITED STATES WAREHOUSING SYSTEM-MEXICAN WAR. THE position of the country commercially is, at this moment, one of soundness, and promises a season of greater and more lasting prosperity than perhaps any which the commercial world has heretofore witnessed. This arises from the fact that the industrial products of the country, taken as a whole, are more abundant than ever before, and a combination of circumstances has conspired to furnish a profitable market for them. The producers are less in debt The reader for other interesting materials upon the Valley of the Mississippi, will refer to the past numbers of the Review, particularly the number for May, 4847, entitled "The Mississippi, its Sources, Mouth and Valley " See also Com. Rev. Vol. I. p. 51; II. p. 145; I. p. 251; II. p. 177; III. pp. 115, 235, 352, 430, 221 than formerly, and, therefore, the greater portion of the proceeds of the sales forms a positive addition to the capital, not only of the whole country, but of its several localities. The South-west and West, in particular, are being benefited by the progress of affairs, which contrasts strongly with that of the few years which led to the explosion of 1836-7, and subsequently of 1839. In those years, credit was the great agent of the apparent prosperity; and the greater was this appearance, the nearer was the approach of ruin. The settlement of the lands in the Valley of the Mississippi, in the years 1833-7, progressed very rapidly as well in the farm regions of Illinois and Missouri, as in the cotton sections of the more southerly States. The occupation of the rich lands became a mania, and young planters from the Atlantic States, migrating to the banks of the Mississippi, with blacks from their paternal estates, were supported in their enterprises by bank facilities, and the mania for banking was fed by the speculative spirit which sent eastern and northern capital to these regions for employment. From 1833 to 1837, 880,321,000 was invested in bank capitals for the States of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida, and Alabama; of this $32,321,000 were State loans, and the remainder private means. All this, with its interest and profits to the planters, was to be earned out of future crops. While the capital was going, there the prosperity was great; as soon as it ceased to go, difficulties commenced: and when interest was to be paid, revulsions began, and the outcry for banking capital, as a remedy for pressure, was immense. By different means these difficulties have subsided. The land then entered for cultivation has yielded its rich produce in excess of indebtedness, and exchanges are in favor of the South-west and West. That is to say, the amount of sales is greater than that of their purchases. In order to trace the effect of land occupation upon the present and future crops of cotton, we may from the Land office Reports take a table of the sales of public lands annually in new cotton States, with the annual product of those States, and of the whole crop : ACRES OF UNITED STATES LAND SOLD IN THE NEW COTTON STATES. CROP OF THOSE STATES, AND TOTAL UNITED STATES CROP. Alabama. Mississippi. Louisi'a. Arkansas Florida. Crop other 1833. 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838. 1839. 1840. 56,784 1841.. 50,705 bales. acres. bales. U.S. crop bales. 1,070,428 1,205,394 238,077 1,160,389 523,171 1,683,560 2,378,875 This table, in connection with what we have said in relation to bank capital, evolves a fact of vast importance to the planting interest. In the three years 1835 to 1838, over $60,000,000 of capital was applied to the production of cotton mostly, bringing into culture over 12,000,000 acres of most prolific land, stimulating a great production, |