owing to general contraction and economy. The extreme western country has made great progress in wool-growing. Oregon produced 5,000,000 pounds in 1877, against 3,000,000 pounds in 1876. The Territory wools, those of Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Montana, show a marked improvement each year both in quantity and quality; they possess a long staple, and are without burr. The Colorado product has been so increased that the carpet-makers rely entirely on that State for the softer kinds, instead of on Spanish, Mediterranean, and East Indian sorts; Colorado produces combing and filling wools at 35c. per pound, scoured. The Southern wools, Virginia South Down, Georgia, Lake, etc., are also improving in quality and increasing in quantity. It is well adapted from the length of its staple for medium grades of cloth, and commanded 55c. per scoured pound in 1877. The Texas wool increases in quantity, but shows a sad lack of improvement in blood, and is only adapted for the poorest work, owing not only to its underbred quality but to the pernicious practice of shearing twice a year which obtains in that State. The price for washed Ohio fleeces at the beginning of 1877 was 45c. for fine wool. In the summer the price rose to 50c., but weakened later, and at the close of the year there were large stocks of XX Ohio in dealers' hands and no buyers at 44 to 45c. per pound. The price for American XX at the beginning of January, 1878, in New York, was 38 to 45c.; in February, 37 to 45c.; in March, 35 to 43c.; in April, 34 to 42c.; in May, the same; in June, 32 to 38c.; in July, 30 to 37c.; in August, 30 to 38c.; in September, 33 to 38c.; in October, the same; in November, 30 to 36c. bars alone is still large, and will long remain Year ending De cember 31. 1867.. 1869.. 506,714 1869.. 26623 4,615 1870.. 593,586 1870... 818,538 6,070 620,000 1871.. 518.03 1871.. 595,821 1872.. 400,546 1878.. 4,069 1874... 166,790 2,305 1875... 729,413 1875.. 47.183 5,273 879,629 1877... 764,709 1878... 12 1876... 1877... 2,657 Simultaneously with the displacement of for eign rails by American in the home market, the old iron rail has been rapidly supplanted by steel rails converted by the Bessemer process. The rate at which this change has taken place can be seen in the following statement, giving the relative quantities of iron and Bes semer steel rails, which each year made up total annual product stated above: In the iron industry, the means of production is6s.. have been enlarged within a few years to a greater extent relatively than in any other branch. The extraordinary demand during the rapid extension of the railroad network of the United States gave the principal impetus to the movement. The high price of iron which prevailed made it profitable to work furnaces and forges whose location and facilities would be exceedingly disadvantageous in times of ordinary demand. Since the demand for railroad iron considerably declined, the prices, owing to the excessive increase in the exceedingly expensive works necessary for iron production, and to the large accumulation of stocks to be disposed of, declined in a far greater ratio; so that no branch has been in a worse financial position for a year or two back than the iron trade. The rapid growth of the iron and steel industries has been much more beneficial to the nation, however, than the large losses of capital 1867. sunk in useless works by over-sanguine undertakers has proved detrimental. The iron industry is now, and will remain, the largest in the country, not counting agriculture. The American consumption is entirely emancipated from its former dependence on the English producers. The American demand for railroad the Steel rails, net tons. 459,558 499,489 2,550 7.923 583,986 9,650 586,000 84,000 1872. 787.483 88,250 1875.. 1878. 905,980 94,070 761,062 129,013 584,469 144,944 1876.. 501,649 290,868 1877.. 467,168 412.461 882,540 480.169 In 1877, for the first time, the production of steel rails exceeded that of iron rails. The decrease in the production of the latter was 134,628 tons, while there was an increase of 19,708 tons in the production of Bessemer steel Erails. The total production of rails in 1877 was 114,920 tons, or 13 per cent. less than in 1876. The manufacture of rails was carried on in nineteen States and one Territory, Wyoming, in 1877, Pennsylvania furnishing 45 per cent. of the total product. In 1878 a plant was established in a new State, Colorado. ber of completed furnaces, against 236 in December, 1876, or less than one third of the number then existing; there was thus an increase during the year of 34 in the number of active furnaces. The consumption of pig iron was very much greater than in 1876, and the production also considerably greater; the estimated consumption was 2,418,216 tons, against 2,172,503 tons in 1876; the stock remaining in makers' hands was 642,351 tons on the 1st of January, 1878, against 686,798 the year before. The imports of pig iron in 1877 amounted to 66,871 tons, and the exports to 7,687 tons. The increase in the consumption of iron in 1877 is explained by the decline in prices which continued in that year, and reached a level below which, it was thought, they could not further descend. The Philadelphia price of anthracite pig iron went down steadily from $20.75 per gross ton in January to $18 in November and December, the average for the year being $18.92; that of best iron rails from $38 to $33, average $35.25; the price of refined bar iron fell from $48.72 in January to $44.80 in April, and remained steady at that figure for the rest of the year. The decrease in the imports of iron and steel products in the six years from 1873 to 1878 amounted to $50,250,819; the total imports in the former year having been $59,308,452, those of the latter $9,057,633. During this period the imports of railroad bars, which amounted to $19,750,000 in 1873, had ceased altogether; that of pig iron had declined from $13,847,281 to $1,250,057; that of bar, rod, sheet, and hoop iron from $7,477,556, to $1,630,707; that of raw steel from $4,155,234 to $1,220,037; that of steel manufactures from $10,492,779 to $4,035,512.. Between the same dates there was an increase in the iron and steelexports, amounting to $1,943,198, or nearly 22 per cent.; the exports of 1878 amounted to $12,084,048. The price of iron had declined about one half in this period; the average export price of pig iron per cwt. was $2.49 in 1873, $2.14 in 1874, $1.55 in 1875, $1.31 in 1876, $1.24 in 1877, and $1.21 in 1878. The change in the national balance in this class of commodities was from $49,000,000 net im=ports in 1873 to $3,000,000 net exports in 1878, or over $52,000,000. The exports of all iron and steel products during the calendar year 1877 amounted to $16,659,675, an increase of about $5,000,000 over the exports of the preceding, half of which increase was made up of 1874.. firearms alone. The total product of pig iron in the calendar year 1877 was 2,314,585 tons, against 2,093,236 tons in 1876, 2,266,581 in 1875, 2,689,413 in 1874, 2,868,278 in 1873, and 2,854,558 in 1872; there has therefore been a decrease in the production of raw iron of about 540,000 tons, or not quite 19 per cent., since 1872. The total production of rails during the same period decreased over 235,000 tons; while that of every other class of products shows a considerable increase. The number of furnaces in working order in the United States at the close of the year 1877 was 716, against 712 at the close of 1876. The number of furnaces in blast at the end of December, 1877, was 270, about three eighths of the total num KINDS OF STEEL. Crucible cast steel.. The total production of rolled iron, with that of iron rails and other varieties of rolled iron given separately, is shown in the table below: 1864.. 1865.. 1866. 1867. 1868. 1869 1870. 1871. 1,447.483 1,847,922 The production of iron rails was about the same as that thirteen years before, while that of all other iron products taken together had more than doubled. The decrease in the total iron since 1872, the year of greatest production, the same period was 573,000 tons, so that there was 371,000 tons; but that of iron rails during has been an increase of 202,000 tons, or nearly 213 per cent., in other iron products. The production of cut nails and spikes was 4,828,918 kegs in 1877, against 4,065,322 kegs in 1872. The production of the different classes of steel and the total steel product for the past six calendar years were as follows: This great increase in the production of steel has been attended by an increase in the exports of steel and its manufactures, exclusive of firearms, between the fiscal years 1873 and 1878, of $181,613, or since the fiscal year 1872 of $489,472, and a decrease in the imports of steel and steel manufactures of $9,392,464 since 1873, of which amount $6,457,267 was the decrease in the imports of finished steel manufactures. There has occurred a great decline in the prices of steel products during this term of years. in foreign trade. The largest quantity went to France, 2,500,000 tons, Germany taking over 1,500,000 of the rest, Russia 1,000,000, Sweden and Norway nearly as much, Italy also nearly a million. Toward the end of the year 1876 speculative operations drove up the price of petroleum to a high figure; 30c. a gallon was paid for large lots on December, and $4.221 per barrel for crude oil at the wells. In the beginning of 1877, with a stock of 3,000,000 barrels at the wells and large quantities of fine oil ice-bound on the route, and no opportunity to ship abroad, there was a remarkable fall in prices, 17c. being the usual price in February. When the spring opened, and for the rest of the year, the prices ran lower still, 13c. to 15c. being the usual range of quotations for standard white oil in barrels from May to Decem ber. The average price for the year 1877 was 15.92c., against 19.12c. in 1876, 12.99c. in 1875, and 13·09c. in 1874; that of crude oil in bulk was 9.12c. per gallon, against 10'50c. in 1876, 6.59c. in 1875, and 9.12c. in 1874. The low prices of freight and of oil excited an unprecedented foreign demand. The orders for export commenced early in the spring and continued until the end of the year; the total shipments were 8,731,173 bbls. against 6,384,310 bbls. in 1876, and 5,810,295 bbls. in 1875. The largest increase was in the exports to the far East and the Levant; the shipments in cases, in which form the oil for the Oriental trade is put up, increased over 100 per cent. for the year. The production of Bessemer steel has been developed faster than other branches of this great industry, owing to the preference which is given to Bessemer steel rails for railway tracks. In 1867 there were only 2,550 tons of Bessemer rails made in the Uunited States. In 1875 the product had increased to 290,863 tons and in 1877 to 432,169 tons of rails. The quantity of pig and spiegeleisen converted into Bessemer steel in 1877 was 562,227 tons, against 539,474 tons in 1876, and 395,956 tons in 1875; the consumption of spiegeleisen alone was 48,229 tons in 1877, 45,980 tons in 1876, and 33,245 tons in 1875. The quantity of Bessemer steel ingots produced in 1877 was 560,587 net tons; in 1876, 525,996 tons; in 1875, 375,517 tons; in 1874, 191,933 tons. The Bessemer industry was first established in the United States in 1867, and during its eleven years' existence up to the end of 1877 the total product of steel rails amounted to 1,595,197 tons. Besides the consumption of Bessemer ingots for rolling rails, there is a quantity, which is already considerable, used as a substitute for The exports of petroleum from all ports wrought iron and for other varieties of steel; from the 1st of January till the beginning of this use of Bessemer steel is rapidly increasing. December, 1878, were 302,823,588 gallons, The number of converters in operation within against about 329,500,000 gallons during the the year 1877 was 22; there are altogether ten same months in 1877, and 219,500,000 in 1876. companies engaged in the production of Besse- Of this, 199,000,000 gallons were sent from iner steel in the United States. There was a New York, against 234,000,000 in 1877 and marked decline in the prices of Bessemer rails 125,000,000 in 1876; nearly 64,000,000 galduring the year 1878, the price sinking from lons from Philadelphia, against 42,000,000 in $49 per gross ton at the works, which was the 1876 and 59,000,000 in 1876; and 31,000,000 rate for the first four months, to $40.50 in No- gallons from Baltimore, against 42,500,000 the vember and December, the average rate for year before and 33,750,000 in 1875. the year being $45.58. In 1878, although the prices remained low, an improved business was reported by most of the makers. At the monthly auction sales of coal in 1878 the prices brought were as follows per ton: The tobacco crop of the United States in 1876 averaged very poorly in quality; yet the large requirements of the European govern ment monopolies in 1877, and a considerable speculative demand for export to Germany on the prospect of the establishment of a monop oly or a high tariff in that empire, drew off the larger part of the surplus, so that the market for the year closed quite firm. The year's business in 1877 was feeble and depressed on account of the low quality of the stock and the general mercantile timidity. The prospects of an unusually fine crop in 1877, which was estimated at 70,000 hogsheads in Virginia and 60,000 in Maryland and Ohiothe best crop since 1866-increased the caution of the buyers. The operations of the European régies were thus a great relief to the market. The exports of leaf tobacco in 1877 from New York were, in hogsheads, 92,798, against 100,685 in 1876, 54,831 in 1875, 74,026 in 1874, and 94,865 in 1873. The receipts at the seaports from the crop of 1877 were estimated at 155,000 hogsheads. The crop turned out leafy and sound, but with less heavy leaf than was expected. The exports of seed-leaf tobacco in 1877 were 33,950 cases, against 51,426 in 1876, 35,015 in 1875, and 81,301 in 1874. The jobbing trade in seed-leaf tobacco at New York has been much injured by the growth of the large cigar factories, which purchase supplies on the spot where they are grown, and by the extension of the traveling system. The trade was arrested by the strike of the cigarmakers in 1877, but the smallness of the stock of old crops prevented the decline of prices. The old stock remaining on hand January 1, 1878, was for the whole country about 56,000 cases, and the new crop of 1877 was about 130,000 cases of fair average quality. The quantity of domestic seed leaf manufactured into cigars in the year ending June 30, 1877, was 33,702,834 lbs., or 88,692 cases, against 68,789 cases in 1876, 71,785 in 1875, 89,140 in 1874, and 80,659 in 1873. The quantity of for MONTH. eign tobacco worked up into cigars in 1877 was about 7 million pounds, against about 7, 73, 94, and 10 million pounds in 1876, '75, 74, and '73 respectively. The number of cigars and cheroots stamped for the internal revenue in 1877 was 1,800,009 mille, of which 44,100 mille were of foreign make, against 48,410 mille in 1876, 57,345 in 1875, 65,060 in 1874, and 75,018 in 1873; and 1,755,909 mille were of domestic manufacture, against 1,780,397 in 1876, 1,869,317 in 1875, 1,792,789 in 1874, and 1,699,732 in 1873. It is thus seen that the consumption of cigars has decreased since 1875, owing partly to the deficiency of the crops and partly to the impaired consumptive capacity of the people. The business in manufactured tobacco has been large and profitable for the Eastern factories during the last couple of years. The quantity of manufactured tobacco on which the internal revenue tax was paid during the year ending June 30, 1877, was 112,722,054 lbs., the number of cigars and cheroots 1,799,412 mille. The prices in the New York market in the year 1878 at or near the beginning of the months designated was for the following varieties, per pound, as follows: Kentucky lugs, heavy. Manufactured bright work. October. November.. in There was an active speculative movement sugar in the early part of 1877, on account of its exceptionally strong statistical position, the stocks carried over in all countries being 130,000 tons less than those of the previous year, and the crop in cane and beet sugar of 1876-'77 falling short of that of the season before about 300,000. Acting on the strength of these facts, the American sugarmen imported very largely, not taking into account sufficiently the influence of high prices to diminish consumption in the depressed state of industry. The prices ranged excessively high in May, June, and July, drawing into the American market quantities of the Oriental product, which had never been seen there before, and even cargoes of West Indian sugar reshipped from England. At the same time consumption rapidly declined, until toward the close of the year there was a breakdown in prices, and the heavy stocks were nearly worked off at the year's end with great loss. The importations, notwithstanding the short vield in all countries, exceeded those of 1876 by 54,364 tons, and the stock held over till 1878 was 25,362 tons, being one third greater than the stock remaining on hand at the open VOL. XVIII.-9 A ing of the year. The total imports of foreign raw cane sugar in the United States during the calendar year 1877, not including the importations from the Pacific islands and Asia, were 646,499 tons, against 592,153 tons in 1876, being an increase of 54,346 tons, or 9.17 per cent., and against 662,672 tons in 1875. The consumption of foreign unrefined sugar, deducting reexports of raw and manufactured, was, in 1873, 592,725 tons; in 1874, 661,809 tons; in 1875, 621,852 tons; in 1876, 581,369 tons; in 1877, 577,194 tons, being a decline of 4,175 tons, or 71 per mille. The total consumption of cane sugar, foreign and domestic, increased from 269,466 tons in 1850 to 415,281 tons in 1860, and to 530,692 tons in 1870, 633,314 tons in 1871, 637,373 tons in 1872, 652,025 tons in 1873, 710,369 tons in 1874, 685,353 tons in 1875, 658,369 tons in 1876, 666,194 tons in 1877. There were 29,556 tons received at San Francisco in 1877, the largest importations coming from Hawaii and Manila, and smaller quantities from Batavia, China, and Calcutta. The consumption of sugar of all kinds in the United States was 745,250 tons in the calendar year 1877, against 745,269 tons in 1876, being a decrease of 19 tons; this was composed of 35,500 tons made from molasses, 12,000 tons of maple sugar, and 2,000 tons of native beet-root and sorghum sugar, besides the importations above mentioned on both seaboards. The proportion of the import trade coming to the port of New York was over 72 per cent. of the whole in 1876, but only 69.15 per cent. in 1877; the trade of Baltimore, on the other hand, was 64.59 per cent. greater in 1877 than in 1876, and of Boston 43.64 per cent., while the receipts at Portland and the other New England ports, at Philadelphia, and New Orleans, show a falling off. The fluctuations in price were great during 1877, the general course being a decline from January till March, an increase till the highest range in June, and then a steady and great falling off till the end of the year. The mean price of brown Havana, for example, was in January, 93c.; February, 9gc.; March, 9fc.; April, 9c.; May, 10c.; June, 10c.; July, 9gc.; August, 8c.; September, 8c.; October, 83c.; November, 7c.; December, 7c. The average prices for the year were 41c. per cwt. higher than in 1876, and 92c. higher than in 1875, for Cuba Muscovado, 43c. higher than in 1876 for Porto Rico, 42c. for Havana browns, 30c. for Manila, and 33c. for Brazil. The Louisiana cane crop was larger in 1876'77 than it had been in any year since the Southern war. The average prices of New Orleans molasses ruled lower in 1877 than in the preceding year by 4.96c. Of molasses for household use the Louisiana product is the most esteemed, and the large crop of 1877 compensated for the short foreign supply. But the refineries can not use the native sorts on account of their high price; so the cessation of the refining industry explains the small consumption of 39,965,906 gallons in 1877, the smallest in twelve years. The molasses crop of Louisiana and the other Southern States in 1876-'77, the main part of which was consumed in 1877, was altogether about 12,900,000 gallons. The total consumption of molasses in the United States in 1877 was not quite 40,000,000 gallons, being about 9,000,000 gallons less than in 1876. The consumption of foreign molasses was 27,065,906 gallons, that of the previous year 9,393,598 gallons greater. The molasses refining industry labored under great difficulties in 1877. The whole product for the year from molasses received at the Atlantic ports was about 35,500 tons, against 43,600 tons the previous year. The deficient crop in the West Indies diminished greatly the supply of molasses, and the refiners stopped their works at an early part of the season. The sugar refineries have suffered from various depressing causes. Carrying light stocks, they received no benefit from the rise of prices in the early part of 1877. The reduction of the rate of drawbacks allowed by the Government on importations to be improved and reexported discouraged the export, and at the close of the year 1877 the manufacture had been reduced nearly one half. A proposed change in the tariff on raw sugars, the abolition of the color standard by which the grades have hitherto been distinguished, and the imposition of a uniform specific duty on all raw sorts, have caused much uneasiness among the refiners. The change has been advocated on the grounds of the greater simplicity of such a duty, the inadequacy of the color standard in distinguishing qualities, the encouragement of the importation of finer qualities of raw sugar, and the preven tion of losses to the revenue from the supposed frequent fraudulent artificial coloration of sugars. Its opponents fear that it will so encourage the introduction of the high grades and of half-refined sugars as to greatly injure if not nearly destroy the American refining industry, in which a vast capital is embarked, and in which many thousands of laborers, skilled and unskilled, receive employment, and whose appliances and machinery have been perfected for refining and clarifying the dark grades, producing from them a good article. The receipts of coffee at all Atlantic ports in 1877 were 341,214,438 lbs.; stock on hand, January 1, 1877, 4,022,852 ĺbs. Of the total supply, 31,529,620 lbs. remained over January 1, 1878. The consumption of the year was therefore 304,430,145 lbs., against 302,530,219 lbs. in 1876, 307,601,088 lbs. in 1875, 282,688.622 lbs. in 1874, and 269,138,160 lbs. in 1873. The importations in that year were larger than in any previous year except 1875, and the deliveries for consumption were only exceeded by the years 1875 and 1871, although the prices ranged higher than in the previous year. The receipts at San Francisco during the year were 16,179,220 lbs., and the consumption of the Pacific States 11,203,265 lbs. The remarkable increase in the consumption of coffee in the United States, at a period when a reduction in all luxuries is observable, is in contrast to the consumption of coffee in Europe, which declined in 1877 from 321,250 to 287,685 tons, while the total consumption of the United States increased from 139,685 tons in 1876 to 140,907 tons, 0.87 per cent. more. The Brazil coffees were more largely used than in former years, the imports from Hayti, Porto Rico, Java, Sumatra, Europe, and Ceylon declining. The average gold price for the Rio berry for the year 1877, at New York, was 19.72c. per lb., against 17.97c. in 1876, and 19.1c. in 1875. New York's share in the cof fee trade is increasing; 64:38 per cent. of the imports came to that port in 1877, 61 per cent. in 1876, and 59 per cent. in 1875. The extent of the fluctuations in price was 33c. per lb. for Brazil and Maracaibo, and 23c. for Java and San Domingo. The year 1877 was not a prosperous one for the trade. The tea trade in the United States has been undergoing a considerable revolution of late, and the principal importing houses, once firmly seated in New York, have seen their trade di verted into other channels. Closer communi |