COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION OF THE UNITED STATES.*

A CORRESPONDENT of the New York "Evening Gazette," at Washington, is furnishing several abstract statements of the treasury report, which will doubtless answer an excellent purpose for immediate reference; but we prefer, as usual, to wait the appearance of the official document, as it is important that such statements in a standard work, which we profess to publish, should compare with the official documents. Besides, it has been our custom to present a full and comprehensive statement of the whole report, occupying about sixteen pages, in a single number of the Merchants' Magazine.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE YEAR ENDING 30TH JUNE, 1845, COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

The proportion of the above imports and exports which were carried in American and Foreign vessels, is as follows:

Foreign goods imported,...... $94,174,673 $102,438,481 $14,260,362 $14,816,083

This summary view of the commerce and navigation of the United States, for 1845, was compiled at Washington, from the manuscript official report of the Secretary of the Treasury, by a correspondent of the New York "Evening Gazette," "Charleston Mercury," and "Constitution," and published in those Journals. The official report has not been printed, and will not probably be for some months to come, unless the present Secretary of the Treasury, or the printers to Congress, are more expeditious than their predecessors. We are induced, however, to hope, from the fact that the document was promptly laid before Congress at its opening, (an unusual circumstance,) that measures have been taken for its more timely publication. We have alluded to the importance of this subject in previous years, and urged the importance of greater expedition in the matter, citing the promptness manifested in England and France, in causing their statistical and commercial documents to be published at an early day after they were completed. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of these statements, although we have every reason to believe that the abstract was made with care, and that they will be found generally correct, when compared with the official document.-[ED. Mer. Mag.]

The number and tonnage of vessels, with their crews, entering and clearing from the United States, is as follows:

The following is a statement of the tonnage owned in the United States, in tons

3,108

2,462

964

COMMERCE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL.

We have compiled from an official statement published in the Pittsburgh Gazette, the movement of trade, east and west, for the years ending November 3, 1844 and 1845. In reviewing the flow of trade upon this great artery of the State of Pennsylvania, it is not, in the opinion of the editors of the Gazette, to be concealed that these tables afford grounds for serious alarm.

Heretofore the main line of Pennsylvania has been regarded as the shortest and cheapest route between the northern seaboard and the valley of the Ohio; especially has this been the case in the eastern part of the state, and Philadelphia has thought herself secure in the possession of its lucrative trade, so long as no parallel rival route offered easier means of transitu between the West and the East. According to the tonnage there is an increase of the trade moving eastward of 13,000,000 lbs. An inspection of the table will show that there has been a falling off in all the leading western staples, with the exception of beef and pork, (the amount of which is insignificant,) feathers, wool, leaf tobacco, whiskey, and ashes.

We quote the comments of the Gazette in reference to the decline of trade on the Pennsylvania Main Line of State Works.

"Respecting the movement westward, the enormous decrease on the item of dry goods, is an argument no one can answer. Even in the items which show an increase, no one can pretend that they keep pace with the annual increase of consumption in the valley of the Ohio. Where then are we to look for an explanation? Nothing could be more easily found. The cause is the diversion made by the Erie Canal, and the Erie Extension and Miami Canals. Is it not a notorious and undeniable fact, that Philadelphia merchants, to preserve their customers, were obliged to pay the freight on their purchases to New York, that they might he forwarded via the routes mentioned? Had the arguments urged upon the Canal Commissioners by the Boards of Trade in this city and Philadel. phia, been listened to, and their advice acted upon, there would have been nothing of all this.

"We might go into particulars, and we could point out districts where thousands of tons of Western produce could have been drawn to this route had a common sense policy been pursued. We could name one where 30,000 bbls. of flour lay for a choice of routes, and finally went south; another where thousands of bbls. of pork, beef, lard, &c., waited for a decision in the charges here, and then followed the flour, &c. It is not necessary. If this year's business on the Canal at Pittsburgh is not evidence enough, we despair of ever having any sufficiently potent to enforce conviction upon the subject. It is sheer folly to suppose from the operations on the new routes from the Lake to the Ohio, the past season, that they cannot do better. The business of 1846 will for ever silence this plea for high tolls upon the Main Line of Pennsylvania. Let the policy of New York be followed. Early in 1845 her talented and sharp-sighted Commissioners published a very low scale of tolls on the Erie Canal, to govern the operations of the coming year. Happily for Pittsburgh, her commercial and manufacturing interests now depend in but a limited degree upon the canal."

MOVEMENT OF TRADE EASTWARD ON THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL, FROM PITTSBURGH, FOR THE YEARS 1844 AND 1845.

MOVEMENT OF TRADE WESTWARD ON THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL, TO PITTSBURGH, FOR THE YEARS ENDING NOVEMBER 30, 1844 and 1845.

The Tables exhibit the movement of the leading articles. We append the aggregates of some minor items:

The items of grain, and produce generally, show how little is received at Pittsburgh from the country lying along the canal. In fact there is very little that enters into consumption contributed by it, except blooms, pig metal, salt, and a few other articles.

The tolls of the Pennsylvania Canal for the fiscal year, 1845, amounted to a total of $98,270 43..

NUMBER OF BOATS CLEARED AND MILES TRAVELED BY PASSENGERS.

The periods at which the Canal opened for a series of years, were as follows:—

COMMERCE OF THE NEW YORK CANALS.

The following table, compiled from the records of the Canal Department, comprises the whole movement, on the canals of the state, on all property arriving at and clearing from tide-water, during the years 1844 and 1845. The annual report of the Canal Commissioners, embracing a full account of the trade and tonnage of the canals of New York, for 1845, will soon be published; when we shall prepare and lay before the readers of this Magazine our usual annual digest of all those statements that render it valuable for preservation for reference with the movements of future years.

STATEMENT OF ALL THE PROPERTY WHICH CAME TO THE HUDSON RIVER ON THE CANALS, IN 1844 AND 1845, WITH THE QUANTITY AND ESTIMATED VALUE OF EACH ARTICLE, IN ALBANY AND TROY.

Agriculture.
1844.

1845.