TABLE NO. 7. A Statement of the Declared Value of Exports of Miscellaneous Articles of Domestic Manufactures from the United Alkali of all sorts. Kingdom in Each Year, from 1831 to 1859, inclusive. [Compiled from Sessional Papers of the British Parliament by Erastus Bigelow.-The Tariff Question, page 101.] 1,019,995 I, 149, 120 Year. Slops and Ammuni tion. Clothing. 1831 $1,862,815 $2,813,670 $808,865 1832 1,893,645 1,374,785 1833 2,037,245 1,613,860 1834 2,186,820 1,565, 185 1835 2,487,835 2,037,865 1836 3,046,690 2,056,430 1,354,575 1837 2,678,495 1,445,710 1,365,610 1838 2,931,305 1,668,635 1,586,790 1839 3,592,385 1,973,605 1,921,620 $595,545 $998,795 $2,304,740 $2,149,005 $2,078,650 $1,232,920 1852 1,996, 180 Total foreign trade. False basis of free trade estimates. this market had been kept to themselves. Considering the wealth and population of the country, it must have been important. There being no authentic sources of information upon the total production and inland trade, no estimates will be made. The subjoined Table No. 8, presents a general view of the external trade of the United Kingdom from 1793 to 1859, covering the period of protection up to 1846, and of free trade, or partial free trade, as it is called by some, from 1846 to 1860. The mode of entering articles at the Custom House during this period, together with fluctuations in prices. of commodities, must be taken into consideration in estimating the growth of trade when making comparisons with other periods, or in making comparisons between those years when the industries were under protection, and the years that followed the removal of duties. There were two methods of estimating the value of articles upon which the duties were collected, and imports and exports computed. One method of entry was by the official valuation, under which the value of each article was fixed by law. The first four columns on the left-hand side of the table show the imports and exports at their official valuation. The imports were not entered at any other valuation until 1854. The other method of entry was, by what was known as the declared valuation, that is, the value stated in the declaration or bill of lading accompanying the goods for import or export, being the value placed on the articles by the exporter or importer. The fifth column shows the declared or real value of the exports of domestic produce during this time. The next two columns exhibit the excess of one valuation over the other. The official valuation not having been changed during the period, represents a fair index of the general growth of the industries based upon uniform and stable prices. It is in part equivalent to measuring the growth of trade by quantities. The next two columns representing the balance of trade show that during all this time the balance of trade, according to official valuation, was greatly in favor of the English people. Without having the real value of imports during this time, trustworthy comparison with later periods cannot be made. The literature of free traders is filled with comparisons which are very misleading and deceptive. Mr. David A. Wells, an eminent free trade authority, in his article on free trade, in the "Encyclopædia of Political Science," Vol. II, page 298, in attempting to prove that protection had an injurious effect on English commerce, said, "Under the most stringent system of protection ever known in Great Britain, the growth of British exports, commencing with 1805, was as follows: 1805, $190,000,000; 1825, $194,000,000; net increase in twenty years, $4,000,000, or at a rate of $200,000 per annum." It is surprising that so eminent an author as Mr. Wells should fall into such an error as is disclosed by the figures which he presents. While on their face they are substantially correct the conditions TABLE NO. 8. Statement of the Total Imports and Exports of the United Kingdom from 1793 to 1859 (Exclusive of Bullion and Specie), 1832 216,187,085 322,910, 185 55,183,795 378,093,980 180, 230, 135 142,680,050 upon which they are based justify no such conclusion as he attempts to draw from them. The superficial examination which Mr. Wells must have made led him into the error, which is committed so often by all those economic writers who fail to examine the facts and conditions which determine the real force of economic propositions. If Mr. Wells had examined the fluctuations in prices of commodities during the period in question he undoubtedly would have withheld his statement. tions of The discrepancy between the figures given by Mr. Wells, and those contained in the table referred to, does not materially affect the question. It has already been pointed out that, following the breaking out of Fluctua the Napoleonic wars in 1793, through the suspension of specie payments, prices. the issuing of paper money and other causes, prices at once advanced to an almost unheard of point, and then at its termination about 1819, upon the resumption of specie payment, a most sudden fall in prices took place, which continued until about 1841. The value of British exports was also affected by the introduction of machinery and improved methods, which greatly reduced their cost of production. The sudden fluctuations in values during the time referred to by Mr. Wells, is very clearly illustrated by the following diagram :1 1782-90, 1791-1800, 1801-10, 1811-20, 1821-30, 1831-40, 1841-50, 1851-60, 1861-70, 1871-80, 1881-84. A. Agriculture. B. Manufactures. C. General Level. The reader will note that Mr. Wells in selecting 1805 as the basis of his comparison, picked out a year when the prices of manufactures had reached their highest point. They had advanced about forty per cent over twelve years before. He then says that the exports in 1825 were worth only $194,000,000, a net increase in twenty years of $4,000,000, or of only $200,000 a year, a very small increase indeed and a very poor showing for protection; but when we take into consideration the fact that prices by this time (1825) had fallen forty per cent, and were down to the level of 1793, an entirely different phase of the situation is presented. 1 Mulhall's History of Prices, p. 131. |