Values.

27,640,030

19,818,041

14,857,578

12,808,807

11,771,596

8,858,471

7,692,385

8,565,187

2,315,358
2,085,972

1,674,303

sums are lost to the Treasury. For the pur$800,532 pose of practicing this method of evasion, 28,917,937 the European manufacturers and wholesale 19,787,542 dealers maintain agents in the United States, 17,802,849 to whom all their shipments are consigned, 15,844,802 thus depriving American merchants of their 15,880,605 trade by closing the market to the regular im18,104,415 porter. The protective intent of the tariff laws 12,606,513 can in this way be defeated, for, when the American manufacturer lowers his prices, his 10,658,278 foreign competitor need only make his ficti8,620,527 tious invoices lower, to retain his advantage. 7,959,759 The American agency or commission-house 7,762,543 accounts to him for the selling price, so that 6,514,999 the consignor sustains no loss by undervalua5,829,876 tion. Many foreign houses refuse to furnish 5,118,508 4,223,161 price-lists to American purchasers, referring 4,042,367 them to their branch establishments in the 8,651,590 United States, while some have specially pre8,403,874 pared price-lists to show to American merchants. In 1883 the Treasury Department 2,897,972 2,186,753 employed experts at various consulates to as2,522,111 certain the wholesale market value of certain 2,496,699 classes of merchandise. Their reports enabled 2,474,088 appraising officers at the ports to scrutinize invoices more carefully, which in many cases led to the collection of increased duties and fines. 1,958.118 Fictitious discounts and unusual commissions, 1,702,345 allowances for pretended defects and imper1,652.528 fections, etc., are among the devices by which 1,336,229 goods are got through the custom-house at 1,228,543 1,218,371 valuations below the market price, shippers 1,182,355 and consignees sharing in the profit. Half the profits from the large trade in silk manufac933,935 tures with Switzerland are said to be derived 912,625 from the evaded duties. The consul at Brad530,281 ford, England, excited the animosity of the 418,711 manufacturers by reporting instances of undervaluation. The consul at St. Gallen, Switzer27,384,837 land, was threatened with appeals to the Swiss Federal authorities or the United States Congress, against his surveillance over the private business affairs of merchants. At Crefeld, in Germany, lists of prices in dollars are presented to American purchasers of velvets, the prices being payable in New York to the agents of the associated manufacturers. The velvet manufacturers of Basle resort to the practice, which is also common elsewhere, of including in an undervalued invoice a quantity of correctly-valued goods, which the appraisers are to examine first, and then in the hurry of business to pass the lot. The invoicing of East India cashmere wool as common wool, as practiced at Liverpool, illustrates another method of evasion. Silks, aniline dyes, wool, velvets, incandescent lamps, chemicals of several kinds, silver filigree-work, ribbons, gloves, plush, seal-skins, worsted yarns, ladies' cloaks, woolen cloths, paper-hangings, varnishes, fine pottery, cotton ties and hoop-iron, and many other articles, are in the category of fraudulently invoiced imports in respect to which the consuls have particular accounts of undervaluation.

1,122,010

1,011,363

535,742

894,765

843,998

$723,180,914

The total value of the merchandise entered for consumption, during the fiscal year 1883, was $700,829,673, of which $493,916,384 was dutiable and $206,913,289 free of duty. The total amount of duty collected was $210,637,293, which was a larger sum than was collected in any previous year, except in 1882 and 1872. The average rate of duty collected was 42.64 per cent. of the values of the dutiable merchandise and 30.05 per cent. of the values of both free and dutiable. The average ad valorem rate of duty collected in 1882 was 42.75 per cent.; in 1881, 43-25; in 1880, 43-56; in 1879, 44.95; in 1878, 42.81; in 1877, 42.95; in 1876, 44-80; in 1875, 40-69; in 1874, 38-61. The total value of merchandise entered for consumption in 1882 was $716,213,948, of which $505,491,967 was dutiable and $210,711,981 free of duty.

Undervaluation of Imports.-American consuls in Europe report many details of a fraudulent practice of undervaluation in the declarations of the export value of dutiable merchandise brought into the United States, whereby large

The practice is suspected to be general

throughout Europe, and is not denied by many merchants, some of them of the highest standing, who consider it legitimate thus to defraud the United States revenue, and treat it as an impertinent inquisition for consuls to obtain lists of prices and ascertain the facts of the cost of production, to be communicated to customs officials. The undervaluations range from 10 to 60 per cent.

The Treasury authorities have no remedy against the consignees, even upon evidence of undervaluation, as either civil or criminal actions must be based upon proofs of complicity in the frauds. In most cases, reappraisement is equally fruitless, and is likely to result adversely to the Government in the absence of evidence of the export values in Europe, which is carefully and systematically concealed from the knowledge of the commercial representatives of the United States.

Commercial Intercourse with Foreign Countries.Of the total export and import trade of 1883, the share of Great Britain was 39.69 per cent.; of France, 10-13 per cent.; of Germany, 7.98 per cent.; of Cuba and the other West India islands, 7.85 per cent.; of British North America, 5.91 per cent.; of Brazil, 3:47 per cent.; of Belgium, 3-29 per cent.; of the Netherlands, 2:01 per cent.; of Mexico, 1·60 per cent.; of Spain, 1.60 per cent.; of China, 1.57 per cent.; of Italy, 144 per cent.; of Russia, 1:40 per cent.; of the East Indies, 140 per cent.; of Japan, 1.19 per cent.; of Australia, Colombia, the Hawaiian Islands, Spanish possessions other than Cuba and Porto Rico, the Argentine Republic, Guiana, and Venezuela, between one half and 1 per cent. each; of Central America,

COUNTRIES.

Imports into
the United

States.

Dollars.

Exports from Exports in
the United
States.

excess of
imports.

Dollars.

Dollars.

Great Britain and Ireland. 188,622,619 425,424,174 286,801,555

Russia...

Spain..
Germany

Mexico
Netherlands.

2,599,995 19,141,751 16,541,756 7,794,845 16,931,287| 9,136.942 57,877,728 66,169,929| 8,792,201 8,177,128 16,567,620 8,410,497

12,253,733 18,919,583 6,665,850

4,021,395 9,795,656 23,161,200 27,778,975 1.093.476 5,485,037

5,774,261
4,617,775

4,891,561

802,856 4,508,876 4,205,990 435,584 2,860,496 2,424.912 1,918,894 8,777,759 1,858,865

Portugal, Hong-Kong, Uruguay, the Dutch East Indies, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Norway, British South Africa, Turkey, Chili, and Peru, between one fifth and one half of 1 per cent.

The foregoing table gives the values of the imports of merchandise from and exports to those countries in the commerce with which, in 1883, there was a balance in favor of the United States.

The following table exhibits the commerce in 1883 with those countries the imports from which exceeded in value the merchandise exported to them from the United States:

Trade of the Principal Customs Districts.-The export and import trade of the port of New York in 1883 amounted to $857,430,637, being 55.43 per cent. of the total value of the foreign commerce of the United States. The exports from that port were of the total value of $361,425,361; the imports of the value of $496,005,276. The foreign commerce of Boston amounted to $134,908,824, or 8.72 per cent. of the total commerce of the country, the exports from there being valued at $62,356,749 and the imports entering that port at $72,552,075. The share of New Orleans in the total commerce was $104,704,076, or 6.77 per cent., of which $95,107,314 were exports and only $9,596,762 imports. The share of San Francisco was $90,661,950, or 5.86 per cent., divided into exports of the value of $44,959,420 and imports of the value of $45,702,530. Philadelphia's commerce amounted to $71,886,300, 4.65 per cent. of the total, $38,147,744 being exports and $33,738,556 imports. Baltimore's share was $69,602,530, or 4.50 per cent., of which $55,003,351 were exports and $14,599,859,881 8,141,714 2,281,888 179 imports. Galveston, Savannah, Charleston, and Norfolk exported $29,629,047, $22,813,347, $22,573,227, and $18,445,548, and

44,740,876 46,580,253 1,839,877
5,171,455 6,868,971 1,697,516
1,881,171 2,824,548 993,377

1,840,020 2,438,069

Azore, Madeira, and Cape

Verd Islands.

598,049

251,586

865,173,846 682,457,799 317,283,953

Total....

Tons. 1,269,681

2,888,854

82,414

95,088

4,285,487

The tonnage of sailing and steam vessels built in the United States in 1883 and the three years preceding was as follows:

1851..

1892.

1888..

The value of the imports of merchandise at interior points of the United States without appraisement at ports of first arrival was, during the last fiscal year, $16,594,934, as against $13,360,066 during the previous year. The total value of the direct exports from Chicago to foreign countries amounted to $33,750,000 during the year 1882. In 1883 the exports of 1880.. Chicago are reported as $3,723,548 and the imports as $649,090. The exports from Minneapolis, St. Louis, and other interior points which are shipped direct to foreign countries are not officially reported. From Huron, Mich., and the district of Minnesota, exports were shipped of the value of $10,948,590 and $7,169,185, the imports entered at those districts being $2,906,247 and $1,085,213; while at Oswego, N. Y., and Vermont district imports were received of the values of $8,341,324 and $6,194,886, the amounts of their exports being respectively $1,465,170 and $1,809,521. The proportional shares in the aggregate commerce of the United States in 1883 borne by those customs districts which transacted less than 1 per cent. and more than of 1 per cent. of the total were as follow: Huron, 0.90 per cent.; Oswego, 0.63; Minnesota, Minn., 0.53; Vermont, Vt., 0.51; Buffalo Creek, N. Y., 0-37; Portland, Me., 0.33; Champlain, N. Y., 0.33; Wilmington, N. C., 0-32; Detroit, Mich., 0.31; Chicago, Ill., 0.28; Willamette, Ore., 0-26; Richmond, Va., 0-22; Niagara, N. Y., 0-21; Mobile, Ala., 0.21; Miami, Ohio, 0-20; Oregon, Ore., 0.19; Oswegatchie, N. Y., 019; Corpus Christi, Tex., 0:18; Brazos de Santiago, Tex., 0.14; Pensacola, Fla., 0·14; Puget Sound, Wash., 0.12; Brunswick, Ga., 0.10; Yorktown, Va., 0·10.

Shipping and Navigation. The aggregate tonnage of the American merchant marine in 1883 and the three years preceding, compared with the tonnage at quinquennial periods since 1850, was as follows:

There were built in 1883 33 ships, against 31 in 1882, 29 in 1881, 87 in 1879, 71 in 1877, 114 in 1875, and 28 in 1873; 2 brigs, against 2 in 1882, 3 in 1881, and 10 in 1879; 567 schooners, against 473 in 1882, 317 in 1881, 256 in 1879, 337 in 1877, 502 in 1875, and 611 in 1873; and 227 sloops, canal-boats, and barges, against 363 in 1882, 314 in 1881, 494 in 1879, 352 in 1877, 340 in 1875, and 1,221 in 1873. The number of steam-vessels constructed in 1983 was 439, 502 in 1882, 444 in 1881, 335 in 1879, 265 in 1877, 323 in 1875, and 402 in 1873. Of the total tonnage of vessels built in 1883 there were built on the seaboard 210,349 tons, against 188,083 in 1882; on the New England coast alone, 110,226 tons, against 93,965 in 1882; on the Mississippi river, 26,443 tons, against 35,817; and on the Great Lakes, 28,638 tons, against 58,369. The tonnage of iron vessels built in 1883 was 39,646, of which 2,033 tons were sailing-vessels; in 1882 40,140 tons, nearly all steam-vessels; in 1881, 28,356 tons; in 1880, 25,582 tons; in 1879, 22,008 tons; in 1878, 28,960 tons; in 1877, 5,927 tons; in 1876, 21,346 tons; in 1875, 21,632 tons; in 1874, 33,097 tons; in 1873, 26,548 tons; in 1872, 12,766 tons; in 1871, 15,479 tons; in 1870, 8,281 tons; in 1868, 4,584 tons; in 1868, 2,801 tons.

The tonnage of American and foreign vessels entered at American seaports each year, from 1864 to 1883 inclusive, was as follows: