AMOUNT OF AMERICAN EXPORTS OF GRAIN AND PROVISIONS.
Grain and Flour.
| Year ending | Flour. barrels. | Wheat. bushels. | Corn. bushels. | Cornmeal. bushels. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 30, 1848, | 958,744 | 1,531,000 | 5,062,000 | 226,000 |
| Aug. 31, 1849, | 1,114,016 | 4,684,000 | 12,721,000 | 88,000 |
Provisions.
| Beef. barrels. | Butter. lb. | Cheese. lb. | Pork. barrels. | Hams. lb. | Lard. barrels. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1840, | 19,631 | 1,177,639 | 723,217 | 66,281 | 1,643,897 | 7,418,847 |
| 1841, | 56,537 | 3,785,983 | 1,748,471 | 133,290 | 2,796,517 | 10,597,854 |
| 1844, | 106,174 | 3,251,952 | 7,342,145 | 161,629 | 3,886,976 | 25,746,385 |
| 1849, | 133,286 | 3,406,242 | 17,433,632 | 253,486 | 56,060,822 | 37,446,761 |
Now, if the doctrine of the Free-traders is a true one, it will follow that the imports of America must be on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the exports. If that be so, the fact will be evident on the face of their revenue accounts. We turn to these, and find the following results:—
CUSTOMS REVENUE FROM THE IMPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES.
| Dollars. | |
|---|---|
| 1844-5, | 27,528,000 |
| 1845-6, | 26,712,000 |
| 1846-7, | 23,747,000 |
| 1847-8, | 31,757,000 |
| 1848-9, | 28,346,000 |
How, then, and in what shape, were these enormous exportations of grain and provisions paid for? Not certainly in goods, for if that were so, a corresponding increase would be apparent in the revenue accounts. The answer is quite short—in gold, and in that commodity which ought to be regarded as far more valuable than gold—MAN.
It is a fact of no small interest, that the ship-owning corn-merchants have willingly sold grain in Liverpool for less than they could have got for it in the States, in order to insure the return cargo—that which they find so profitable—emigrants. Mr Blain, who was engaged for many years by the Jews of London and Germany in valuing the growing crops of America, gives the following account of this apparently unreasonable process:—"The shipowners of America are making much money by carrying emigrants to the States: they are now extensive corn-merchants, and are buying largely at very low prices, it being better to carry wheat across the Atlantic, and sell it at 2s. per quarter less than it cost, than buy ballast, which is very dear in the American seaports."[31] Steam, too, is now about to be applied in furtherance of this traffic, and we read of magnificent steamers built expressly for the corn and emigrant trade between New York and Liverpool. By the way, with freights at 6d. a barrel of flour, (the rate in September 1849,) equivalent to 1s. per quarter of wheat, what becomes of the once favourite sophism, that the Atlantic afforded a natural protection of at least 10s. to the English farmer? Nor should it be forgotten that the American farmer finds it his plain interest thus to part with his surplus production, procuring in return that of which he stands so much in need—labour; and the vast emigration from the western states to California has rendered European labour more valuable and welcome to him than ever.