Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1875 — Our import Trade—Interesting Statistics. [ARTICLE]

Our import Trade—Interesting Statistics.

- Washington, April 14. The annual report qf the Bureau of Statistics and Commerce contains some very interesting information: The following summary relates to our Imports, which, in the aggregate, amounted to nearly $600,000,000 for the fiscal year 1874: WHAT V»R FAT FOR PERSONAL DRESS. For hats, bonnets'and hoods, and for trimmings for. these articles, we paid In the last fiscal year $1,574,800, and on the same articles was pitid $528,606 for duties, which will swell their first cost to ovef $2,000,(XX). But that is not all we paid for adorning and protecting i our heads. Feathers and artificial flowers cost us $3,815,098. For human hair and articles manufactured from it. such as wigs, ! curls and ringlets, we paid $1,117,945, and for hair pins, with which to give it pose and effect, $06,480. Adding these item* together we have $6,683,0)8, which represents the original cost of merchandise purchased ivy the people of the United States during the ; twelve months ending June. 30, 1874, for adorning tlie head alone, and in that sum is not included the, value of ribbons, which form a conspicuous part of the bead-gear <sf our fashionable ladies. To cover our hands ' with gloves, mitts and mittens cost us $4,972,068, and for. the privilege of carrying fans we paid $464,430. which does not include the refreshing palm-leaf, of which we imported 70,131 dozens, at an expense of $.8,029. For our handkerchiefs, hemmed and hemstitched, we paid $393,072. and for perfumery, cosmetics and dentifrices $251,182. Our combs cost n« $327,'223. The cost of i umbrellas, parasols and sunshades ran up to $267,975, and $1,513,836 was paid for our pocket knives. Many ladies will be surprised to learn that 165,971 dozen corsets, valued at $1,255,5 >9, had to tie imported to add to their , symmetry and grace. Tlie importation of a few additional dozens would lie equal to one 1 corset for every woman in the State of New York, according to the census of 1870. It required a larger expenditure of money to cover our pedal extremities than to cbver and adorn our heads, $7,347,347 being the amount paid for hosiery, and that does not include the e-Ost of garters. This hosiery is classified as follows: Cotton, $6,408,876; , wool, 218,924 pounds, valued at $768,784; silk, $169,687. Considering the quantities of enamel to be seen on sale in our fancy stores, adorned with labels certifying their roreign origin, we ! get that article very cheap, as $207 was a sum sufficient to pay for all 1 the enamel Imported in 1874. Whether the enamel thus returned as imported was | for purposes of personal adornment or for j use in tlie mechanic arts' the report does not I state. For the ready-made clothing imported We expended $1,990,029. which does Dot, ! offetnirsc,embrace the clothing smuggled in I by tourists returning home. Our apprecial tion for buttons is illustrated by the fact i that we expended for those little articles : $2,281,590. Our cotton laces, trimmings, and | gimps cost $3,463,895; thread laces and ,lii- | sorting?, $33,862; epaulets, luces, tassels, and ! other articles made of gold and silver, $102,444; embroidejjes of cotton, wool, linen, and silk, $3,837,539; velvet, velveteens and braid--1 ings, $1,758,977; furs dressed and undressed,. $3,139,100. For braid, laces, fringes and gal- | loons, made of silk, we expended $2,678,274, I and for silk ribbons we were required to pay ! $6,695,218, of which sum the United States j received for duties the,sum of $2,321,015, being about 60 percent of the importers’ valuation of the ribbons,

THE COST. OF DHHM fiMIW. We paid for dress and piece goods made of silk £16,494,554, which is about equal to the sum paid for importations of wines and spirits; for silk velvets we paid $1,705,583; silk goods and goods mixed with silk, not otherwise specified, £10,491,078; silk and india-rubber goods, £273,737. The total value of our silk importations was $39,496,985, and that, it must be remembered, merely represents Hie cost of the merchandise delivered on our docks with the freight unpaid. In piece-goods made of wool we received 70,581,408 square yards, for which we paid, including duties, $35,372,764, an average cost of fifty cents in gold per square yard. Of piece-goods manufactured of cotton we imported 49,107,047 square yards, worth 6,939,864, to which add £4,457,325 paid for duties and the list is swelled to £11,397,189. The quantity of piece-goods imported manufactured of wool and cotton, joined together, would cover a surface of thirty-nine square miles. For cotton goods not otherwise specified we paid $8,299'984, and for 13,026pound# of wool Balmorals,. £16,483. SHAWLS, DIAMONDS AND JEWELRY. For 682,525 poinds of wool shawls we paid £3,380.978, and 364 silk shawls cost us $14,290, or ahput £4O for each shawl. Webbing, belting, binding, braids and buttons manufactured of wool were valued at $1,668,289, and goods manufactured from flax, jute or hemp foot up $14,405,873. To cover our floors with foreign carpets cost. £6,172,564, while our beds were supplied with foreign blankets for the sum of £9,256. In the way of watches and jewelry we encouraged the foreign manufacturers to the extent of £2,583,875,; imitations of jet, $3J9,041; bogus jewelry, s.Bsff,Bo3, and coral, £36,5116. To adorn ourselves with diamonds, cameos, mosaics aud other precious stones we paid $3,837,539. All the values here given include the amounts paid the United States for customs duties, save, in a few instances in whltli the amount paid for duties is separately stated. Freight and other expenses incidental to sea transportation are not included.

OTHER ARTICLES. -l A few other articles may be mentioned which will prove of interest. While not articles of dress or ornament, most of theny are nearly allied Njo %eh articles. Some of them for our attfusement, a few are articles of utility, and several are medicines and drugs, Beginning with small articles, we find"that to'import, quill toothpicks we have to pay $18,630, and for musical instruments $1,123,814. The 31,291 packs of playing-cards imported were invoiced at $5,733, and for the privilege of shuffling and dealing them we had to pay the United States $7,359 duties, thus requiring an ante of $13,122 before we “cut” our cards of foreign manufacture. The first cost of our import ed dall-babies was $555,409, that of our Christmas toys $616,057, while our Bologna sausage only cost $167,673, and our sauerkraut only $8,875. For empty skins, into which we stuffed our own Bologna before consuming it, wc had to pay $92,799. Wc broke 7,519,803 dozen of for-eign-laid eggs, for which we had to pay $717,860. For fireworks we expended $4,149, and for 155,25& boxes of Chinese fire-crackers we paid the heathen manufacturers $125,783, and to the United States the sum of $155,396 in duties, thus making the original cost of annually celebrating our natal day in that class of pyrotechnics focrt up $281,179. For every pack of tire-crackers exploded by Young America the Government of the United States exacts cents. For bladders we paid $10,500; Skeletons and other preparations of anatomy, 53.545: and for sinews and nerves. $5,820.' Of metallic pens, we received 504.394 gross, $166,971, and wood leadpencils. 61,450 gross, for which we paid $167,812. There was imported 2,729,483 pounds of Castile soap, at an expense of $234,194, and 200,167 pounds of perfumed toilet-soap at a cost of $166,658. For green fruits from the tropics and for nuts we paid $4,300,350, and for olive and salad oil 6 $448,314. For 1.122,632 pounds of iudigo we paid $967,954, and for 4,644 ounces of "musk and civet $33,145. For the benefit of apothecaries we sent abroad for the following quantities and values of physic: Arsenic, 1,636,335 pounds, costingus $167,698; camphor, 789, 757 pounds, value $150,576; jalap, 116,053 pounds, worth $19,476; ipecac, 26.303 pounds, worth siy,sld; nux-vomica, 297,213p0und5, worth $7,652; vaccine virus. $399,399. Our foreign cheese cost us $639,468; starch, $38,191; jellies, $17,724. For leather and articles manufactured therefrom, not including gloves, mitts and mittens, we paid $8,688,705.,. * the real cost of formgw importations. The articles enumerated in this synopsis will serve to show the character and extent of our annual expenditures for luxuries of foreign growth and manufacture. Liquor and tobacco should be included in order to give completeness to; the statement. For imported wines and spirits we paid $16,552,-

IV, and for tobacco and manufactures of tobacco $14,521,819. The figure* given In this statement represent only the valuation S laced on the goods by the importers with »e amount of customs duties added. When It is stated that our imports for the last year reached $600,000,000 the figures are simply a factor by which we determine the extent of that class of our commerce and by which we may make comparisons with former years. The figures ao not represent the value paid by the consumer for that class of | merchandise. If we add $160,522,285 (that being the amount collected by the Government for customs duties) to $595,861,248 (that being the value of the mer- | ehandisc imported), we have, as the first cat to the tradesmen of oor importations, the <um of $756,383,532. To cover the cost of freight, insurance and expense incidental to transportation, Including profits of import- ’ ers and merchants, at least 25 per cent, of the cost of the merchandise is added before l it reaches the consumer. Add 25 per cent, to the original cost, and If will be seen that l the American people paid for foreign mer--1 ehandisc of ev.ery description during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874; tlie sum of $945,485,047, a sum nearly equal to one-half of the entire national debt. Computing our 1 imports for 1873 by the same, system of cal- ! dilation, we paid that year for foreign mer- ! ehandisc $1,099,453,473.