These prices, at many points, are affected by the depreciated nature of the currency; at Mobile, for instance, the currency is depreciated forty per cent, and prices rule nearly as much higher than at New Orleans, as the difference in the depreciation of the local currencies. Many articles, however, (that of flour in particular, which is from $3 50 at one point, to $9 at another,) display a much greater disparity in price than the cost of transportation added to the difference in the currencies. The severe contraction of the circulating medium in all those districts where the banks have heretofore been suspended and are now in process of resumption, is undoubtedly an immediately operating cause for the quietness of the markets of the interior, assisted by the disinclination of the mer chants of the Atlantic cities to embark in enterprises. The agricultural products of the country are undoubtedly greater than ever before, and the probability is that as soon as the government shall have come to some determination in relation to those laws which affect trade, the exports of our great agricultural staples will, favored by the reduced duties on them in Great Britain, greatly exceed those of any former years. The following is a table of the prices of four leading articles of produce in the New York market at four periods of each of the last ten years : Prices of Cotton, Flour, Beef, Pork, and Wool, for ten successive years in the New 1833 1834 1835 1836 1838 1839 1810 1841 1842 23 00 a 25 00 [Suspension of banks-lowest point in cotton.] 50 a 68 50 a 68 Flour. 6 12 a 6 50 10 a 13 6 12 a 6 37 5 37 a 5 75 5 62 a 5 81 5.50 a 5 75 5 00 a 5 25 4 81 a 5 00 5 19 a 5 37 5.50 a 5 62 5 76 a 5 88 6 62 a 6 75 Beef. 8.50 a 9 00 8 25 a 9 00 9:00 a 10 00 10 15 a 11 00 8.50 a 9 50 8 75 a 9 50 8 75 a 9 50 9 25 a 10 00 6.00 7 59 a 7 75 10 50 a 11 00 13 00 a 13 50 12 50 a 13 00 9 50 a 10 00 11 50 a 12 25 10 50 a 11 25 9.50 a 10 00 12 00 a 13 50 13 00 a 15 00 19 00 a 21 00 50 a 68 50 a 68 Jan'ry, 15 a 194 April, 9 a 13 April, 8.50 before, dur The three first of these articles are by far lower now than at any period ing the ten years. The year 1840 was the great year of the export of flour. A larger amount was then exported than ever before. In the year 1831, the quantity exported reached within 90,000 barrels of that of 1840. The prices above given are those of New York city only. We have, however, constructed the following table from the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, with the price according to the average value there given, which shows as nearly as may be the average prices for the whole year for the whole Union, as follows: Annual Exports of Four Articles of Agricultural Produce from the United States for twelve years, with the export value; from Treasury documents. 318,719 9 94 50,226 9 75 448,161 8 00 23,491 14 00 88,625 11 00 105,870 10 25 82,691 11 33 61,887 11 60 22,550 17 00 24,583 18 00 31,356 17 00 923,151 7 56 16,189 13 00 41,301 18 00 1,897,501 5 37 19,681 13 50 66,281 16 00 81 1837 444,211,537 141 1838. 595,952,297 10 1839...... 413,624,212 13 1840...... 743,941,061 A multiplicity of circumstances have been yearly brought to bear upon the market prices of any particular article of agricultural produce, independently of the natural effects of supply and demand. These have, during the ten years embraced in the table, grown mostly out of the operation of the currencies of Great Britain (the chief market of sale) and also in this country. The three years 1829-30-31 were short-crop years in England. The succeeding six years were average and good crops; and in one year, 1835, the supply of grain in Great Britain was equal to the demand, and none was im. ported. So long a period of favorable harvests engendered a degree of commercial confidence very favorable to the growth of paper credits. Accordingly, speculation in England made rapid progress. From 1832 to 1836, an immense number of joint-stock banks were created, and it has been estimated that the amount of capital invested in machinery in Lancashire nearly doubled in those years. The consequence was, that the demand for and consumption of the raw material largely increased. The banking speculation at the same time extended itself to this country, and, applied to production, caused the increased demand abroad to be more nearly supplied. In those years in the southern states nearly $15,000,000 was borrowed as bank capital, based upon the lands of cotton growers. The effect of this was, as is seen in the table, to increase the exports of cotton nearly 100 per cent. Nevertheless, the impulse given to manufacturing was so great that the prices continued to rise under that increased supply. The overproduction of manufactures became apparent in the latter part of 1838, and has since each year been more painfully evident; and, under a decreased production this year, cotton is lower than for a length of time. In the column of flour exports it is seen that the quantity exported depends very much upon the price in this market. Thus, in the year 1834, which was one of abundance in England, nearly as much flour was exported from this country as in 1839, which was one of a short crop in England, and the year in which the largest imports of foreign wheat into Great Britain were made. That year in this country was one of great banking prosperity: that is to say, the banks were much extended, and flour, although abundant, commanded high paper prices in the first months of the year-a fact evident in the above table of prices in the New York market. The currency for the future in this country promises to approximate to the specie standard very closely; and with the abundant harvests that are everywhere rewarding the industry of the farmers, warrant that prices will be very low. On the other hand, England has reached a point at which her supplies of grain are avowedly insufficient to feed the inhabitants, and Parliament has greatly reduced the average at which grain may be admitted. We may now look back at the general state of the wheat and flour trade of England during the same period as is embraced in the above table of exports from this country. For this purpose we will take the following tables from parliamentary papers, showing the quantity imported in each year into the United Kingdom; also the stock on hand at the close of the years; and also the average quantity admitted for consumption at each rate of duty during that period: Import of Foreign and Colonial Wheat and Flour into Great Britain; stock on hand at the close of the year; and quantity entered at each rate of duty, from 1828 to 1841. This gives the fact that more than one half of the whole imports was admitted at an average duty of 241. per bushel, or at about six cents. The new duties proposed will reduce the minimum at which flour may be admitted, and greatly favor the import. The following is a table of the new corn duties, reduced to rates per bushel, in English and in United States currency: CORN DUTIES OF ENGLAND Per Old and NEW TARIFF. This is a great reduction from former rates, and ensures a steadiness of supply into England, which is a very important item. The above table of imports into England shows that during the six years of good crops, the foreign corn trade of England nearly ceased; and, at the close of 1838, the warehouses were nearly exhausted. An immense and sudden addition was then made to the foreign purchases, against which no increased exports of merchandise from Great Britain had made provision. This produced a revulsion, and nearly reduced the Bank of England to bankruptcy. The facts here shown lead to two conclusions, viz :—that the demand for foreign grain in England will hereafter be large and regular; and, that the supplies in the United States will be abundant and cheap. As to the ability of the United States to supply Great Britain in competition with the countries of Europe, one fact is worth a volume of argument, and that fact is contained in the following table :Statement of Bushels of Wheat entered in England for Consumption; wheat exports from the United States in the same time; and the price of flour per barrel at each period in the United States. Year. 1837 1838 1839 1840 Bushels entered in England. 4,079,536 10,365,695 21,604,840 18,502,120 Exports from U. S. to G. B. Av. Prices of Flour in the U. S. From this it appears that in 1839, when the largest imports into Great Britain took place, the United States supplied but ten per cent; and in 1840 it supplied thirty-five per cent of the whole import. The shipments to the dominions of Great Britain have hitherto formed a large proportion of the exports from the United States. The following table will show the foreign flour trade of the United States for seven years, from 1833 to 1841 : Export of Flour from the United States, for a series of years. |