100 97 those periods with the last, we find that the mean increase of yield is about 3 hectolitres per hectare, or at the rate of 3,16 bushels per acre. The increase of yield per hectare from 1815 to 1858 was 77 hectolitres, or 222 Winchester bushels per acre. This increase of yield may be attributed mainly to an improved system of culture, as the rotation of crops, selection of seed, under draining, and the perfect tilth. Table showing the amount of wheat and flour (or its equivalent in wheat) imported into and exported from France from 1819 to 1858, inclusive. The results of the above table show that during the forty years, from 1819 to 1858, the imports of wheat into France exceeded the exports twenty-two times, and that the reverse occurred eighteen times. The excess of imports amounted to 34,206,712 hectolitres, or 96,801,995 bushels. The principal countries from which France imports her surplus wheats are Russia, Poland, Turkey, the United States, Moldavian Provinces, Spain, Tuscany, and the Two Sicilies. The chief exports are England, Switzerland, Belgium, and the low countrie s Table showing the mean annual prices per kilogramme, in centimes and frac tions, of wheaten bread at Paris from the year 1801 to 1858. 20486 One kilogramme is equal to about 23 pounds avoirdupois, or, more ac‹ urately, OARS pounds. One centime is equal to about one-fifth part of a cent United States currency, or th part of a franc. To reduce francs and centimes to dollars and cents, multiply by 20, and point off decimally. HAVRE. JAMES O. PUTNAM, Consul. JANUARY 8, 1863. I have the honor to enclose herewith a quarterly report of the imports from the United States into the port of Havre for the quarter ending December 31, 1861. The great demand for breadstuffs in France has kept up the usual activity in American commerce at Havre. I have thought the condition of France in relation to the supply of breadstuffs and of cotton would be thought of interest to the department, and I have solicited of a most intelligent and official source information on that subject, and I beg most respectfully to state the following as the result of my inquiries. The deficit of wheat in France for the season is estimated at 18,000,000 hectolitres, or 54,000,000 bushels. There has been imported from other coun tries, as reported in the Moniteur, to December 30, say 8,000,000 hectolitres, or 24.000.000 bushels. Of this from the United States, 2,500,000 hectolitres, or 7.500.000 bushels; from other countries, 5,500,000 hectolitres, or 16,500,000 bushels. Present deficiency, 10,000,000 hectolitres, equal to, say, 30,000,000 bushels. The amount of cotton in Havre, December 31, is 138,731 bales. Ordinary consumption in France, per month, 46,479 bales. For the last five months a short supply of, per month, 33,331 bales. Present price of cotton, for middling, thirty cents per pound; for Sea Island, fifty cents per pound. I will observe that I call a "hectolitre" in estimates equal to three American bushels: it is a fraction less. From this it appears that the deficiency in France in wheat for the year 1861 was, say, 54,000,000 bushels; that the supply from abroad so far is 24,000,000 bushels, of which the United States have furnished nearly one-third; that France still wants 30,000,000 bushels: showing that under ordinary circumstances, and with ordinary rates of freight, the activity in American shipping, as carriers of breadstuffs to France, would continue during the coming year. The heavy tonnage duties (5 francs per ton) and the present rates of insurance, together with the fall of freights from New York, will for a few weeks probably sensibly affect our commerce to this port. But with the opening of a canal navigation, the wants of this empire will, unless extraordinary circumstances arise which shall place American shipping at disadvantage, restore the activity of the last quarter. The winter season has closed access to the ports of northern Europe, so far as the transportation of grain is concerned, and the United States must furnish its full quota of the 30,000,000 bushels yet wanted to supply the grain deficiency of France. The city of Havre is still the great depot of France for cotton. The imports legitimate during the quarter from the United States have been eight bales. The Bermuda brought 1,780; from other countries have arrived about 12,000 bales. Considerable portions of this are from England, and, doubtless, of American origin. The supply in France will last, at the rate of 33,331 bales per month, until about the middle of May next-that is, about 13,000 bales per month short of the supply demanded in ordinary seasons. Mills have all been put upon "short allowances." There has been an unprecedented speculation in cotton here during the entire season, the present price being about thirty cents per pound for "middling," nearly double that for "Sea Island.". Nearly all American vessels return in ballast, preference universally given to bottoms of other nationalities by reason of the supposed war risks. Since the burning of the Harvey Birch by the pirate Nashville that preference has been more marked. The appearance of the Sumter on this side (of whose arrival in Cadiz I am this week informed) operates to increase still more the preference against American ships. There are now about forty-five of our bottoms in port. They are generally of our largest and finest ships. Several of them, prompted by a prudential motive, will lie here for the present, awaiting the settlement of questions which, on this side the water, have occasioned some solicitude among our shipmasters in these waters. Imports of American staples into Havre, France, during the quarter ending December 31, 1861. Cotton.-From New York, 8 bales; from Savannah, by English steamer Bermuda, which ran the blockade, 1,780. Total, 1,788. Breadstuffs. The importations in October were 476,768, in November 745,243, and in December 399,341 hectolitres wheat. Total, 1,621,152 hectolitres, equal to 4,863,456 bushels, estimating three bushels to the hectolitre. In October 51,765, in November 177,461, and in December 93,303 barrels of flour. Total, 322,529 barrels of flour, equal to about 1,612,645 bushels wheat. Total wheat, 6,476,101 bushels; 28,587 bushels maize; 3,900 bushels rye. Potash.-414 barrels during the quarter. Pearlash.-301 barrels during the quarter. Hides.-12,082 during the quarter. Oil.-In November 36,986, and in December 835,000 gallons whale oil. Whalebone.-13,000 pounds during the quarter. Logs and dyes.-5 logs walnut, 105 logs maple, 200 casks chrome, 50 bags cutch, and 59 bales hops, during the quarter. Wines.-224 cases. JANUARY 21, 1862. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, under date of 28th December last, asking suggestions of a practical character as to the expediency of a further modification of the laws relative to the relief and· protection of American seamen abroad, with the view of reducing the expenditures for those purposes. I do not understand from the communication that any change is contemplated in the general policy of affording relief and protection to destitute seamen which has obtained from the commencement of the government, a policy arising not from considerations of humanity alone, but with the view of fostering that great school of our navy found in the merchant service. An efficient marine corps for a commerce like that of the United States can, I think, be maintained only by that hospital care which the diseases and perils incident to the service renders indispensable. If the mariner felt that in sickness, and in cases of shipwreck, and of extreme destitution from causes beyond his control, he could not invoke the protection of the government, I believe there would be much less readiness than now to enter upon the service, and that the character of our common seamen would rapidly degenerate below even its present standard. "Relief and protection abroad" comprehend, first, hospital treatment in port .of sick sailors; second, cheap clothing and board for the destitute; third, their passage to the United States, at the expense of the government, when thrown destitute and disabled upon the consulate. I can form no judgment upon the subject suggested except from facts furnished in the history of this office. Of that I can speak. The year 1861 furnishes, I think, a fair test of the operation of the law as it now exists, so far as this consulate is concerned. The number of American ships arriving at the port of Havre in the year 1861 was 417. They were mostly from ports of the United States, and all under the general care of the government through the consulate. They were manned by an average of eighteen mariners each, giving an aggregate of 7,506 American seamen- -Americans in the political sense which regards all men engaging in service under the flag of the United States as American citizens. Of these 7,506 American seamen, the number sent to the hospital for treatment was 169; of which last number 136 were discharged before the sailing of their respective ships, and the expense charged to ships' account, and by them paid. Thirty were left in the hospital, with three months' extra wages, in accordance with the law. Three were sent into the hospital as distressed seamen. Twelve seamen received supplies of clothing at an aggregate expense of $99 26. Thirteen had board and lodging at the expense of the consulate of $50 22. They were generally sailors who had been in the hospital. The total expense to the government for the care and relief of the above 194 seamen during the year was $1,649 16. The amount paid to the government by the three months' wages for the same period was $1,420 40; showing that the actual expense to the government at the port of Havre for 1861 for the care and pro tection of 7,506 of its seamen, over and above the sum paid by shipmasters, was $228 76. Fourteen distressed and disabled seamen were sent to the United States during the year, under the law in such cases, of which two only were at a charge greater than $10, and those two were sent under special direction of the department, being distressing cases of disease. The three months' extra wages, uniformly exacted in the case of discharged seamen, will, under ordinary circumstances, as I trust will appear by the foregoing statement, very nearly make good the expenses incurred in their behalf at this port, which, next to Liverpool and London, is the largest port of entry in Europe of American vessels. Occasionally a shipwreck will throw an entire crew upon the consulate in extreme destitution; but the expense of their care is unavoidable, unless the policy of the government itself is changed. The rule that "freight is the mother of wages" imposes, under such circumstances, the whole burden upon the consulate. There is occasionally an instance of long protracted illness, in which a heavy expense is necessarily incurred. I see no remedy for this. The public authorities here will not relieve the consulate in such cases; on the contrary, they would withhold entirely the use of the public hospital for our seamen, if the consul should refuse to defray the expenses in these extreme cases. In this connexion, I hope it will not be improper to state the fact that the public hospital at Havre, which is employed by this consulate, as well as by all the other consulates at this port, is one of the most admirably conducted institutions with which I am acquainted. It would be difficult to suggest an improvement in any of its sanitary regulations. My conclusion is this: that so far as this consulate is concerned, it is impossible to diminish the expenses for the relief and protection of our seamen, so The three months' long as the policy of relief and protection is adhered to. extra wages now exacted for discharged sick seamen, and which so nearly meets the whole demand upon the government at this port, is generally regarded onerous by shipmasters. In many instances sailors are shipped as able seamen, who, by diseases previously contracted, are disabled from duty during the entire Voyage. They receive their advance wages, are worse than useless on board, and, on arriving at port, are sent to the hospital. The master feels that he has been the victim of a fraud, and when he is required to pay the three months' extra wages, it is not always easy to satisfy him of the justice of the rule. I will add that, so far as my observation extends, at least half the common seamen who go into the hospital for treatment have diseases contracted through their own vices. This fact creates most of the dissatisfaction with the exaction of the three months' extra wages. I do not see how any legislation which does not touch the general policy can lessen legitimate expenses. I do see that by yielding to the importunities of sailors; by indulging them in hospital life when they are in a condition to go to sea; by funishing them with board and clothing when they come in to the consulate, instead of insisting upon their shipping as seamen at the earliest opportunity, and supplying themselves from their advance wages, they can be increased indefinitely. Of the laws as they now exist, administered with that economy and fidelity which a prudent man would bring to the management of his private affairs, 1 can think of no modification that could diminish the expense of relieving sailors at this port which would not involve an abandonment of the general policy of the government in this connexion. JANUARY 22, 1862. I beg, by way of supplement to my despatch No. 4, respectfully to state what I regard a very great evil which has. sprung up in the shipping ports of the United States, which I believe leads to many abuses from which both the government and the service are sufferers. It is the practice (wholly unchecked |