there is apparent in all operations and things in which California labor is an element-the price of labor being necessarily graduated by the amount that it can earn in gold digging, an employment free to all persons. If, then, we knew precisely the money price of day labor in and around the diggings, we might estimate pretty accurately the average quantity of gold that a man can reasonably expect to find daily at the placers-the two being naturally equivalent, or, at least, regulators of each other. The high prices which have been given in California for flour, pork, merchandise, &c., imported thither, depend mainly on a different principle-on the demand beyond the supply, and the consequent competition of purchasers, stimulated, no doubt, and assisted by the abundance of money, or its equivalent gold dust; but not proceeding from the abundance as a necessary effect. Should any articles of merchandise be brought into California in excess of the accustomed wants of the inhabitants, the articles will fall in price to an extent governed by the excess, notwithstanding the abundance of gold.

In California, therefore, the quantity of gold which can be picked up daily, is, at present, a measure of the value of day labor-a condition which seems to conflict with the theory, that the value of gold is regulated by the cost of its production. The discrepancy is occasioned by the exportability of gold, thereby making its value in California dependent, not on the facility of its production there, but on its value in places to which it can be exported. Gold will continue to retain in California its European value, till the quantity received from California shall create in Europe a surplus of gold beyond the accustomed uses therefor. Nay, before gold can depreciate in California or anywhere, an excess of gold must be experienced in every place that Commerce can reach; gold being the most exportable of articles, by reason of its great value in a small bulk and weight; circumstances which assimilate it with the electric fluid, and make its transits easy, and relatively costless; and which have, accordingly, always caused it to be an almost perfect common measure of value between the most remote countries. Our State is the recipient of nearly half the gold that is exported from California, yet gold in New York retains all its accustomed value; unless, indeed, we assume the question in controversy, and say that the premium which is paid for silver is occasioned by a depreciation of gold. All the gold we receive, we can still employ in our accustomed remittances to Great Britain, at its accustomed value here and there, in liquidation of debts contracted before the influx of gold. The surplus which may occur anywhere will be first apparent in the creditor nations of the earth, of which England is the greatest, and to which the exigencies of Commerce cause it to flow; still, in England, the depreciation of gold is as much a controverted question as it is with us.

GOLD COINS POSSESS A VALUE DISTINCT FROM THE PRICE OF BULLION.

But whatever depreciation may occur to gold as bullion, the effect to every person, arising from the depreciation of bullion, is different from the depre ciation of gold as coin. The man whose property consists of debts due to him, of bank stock, fixed annuities, or money in any other shape, is not compelled to receive bullion at any higher price than its market value. Coined gold he is bound to receive at its legal tale, but the coin possesses to the receiver an inherent value, by reason that it can liquidate all existing debts, national and individual; and which debts were contracted before the depreciation of gold. Our Wall-street brokers will occasionally purchase, at par, a stock known to be worthless; but the purchase is made to fulfil a former

contract for the delivery of the stock; hence it is worth par to the purchaser, if he cannot obtain it for less. Our old Continental paper-money became, eventually, worth in silver, only 1 per cent of its nominal value; yet when the bills were first emitted, and were a legal tender in discharge of specie contracted debts, they retained a value nearly equal to silver, so long as such a use existed for them. When the notes would eventually exchange for silver at only 1 per cent of their nominal value, the debts for which they were then a legal tender, had been contracted on a basis graduated by the depreciation of the bills. A bank may to-day become worthless; yet if its notes in circulation exceed not in amount the solvent debts due to the bank, and which can be paid by the bank-notes, the notes will continue to sell at nearly, or quite, their nominal value, being as useful as specie to the bank's debtors. But habit also attaches some fixedness to the character of money. When the revisors of our State laws, some twenty-three years ago, changed a gross hundred weight from 112 pounds avordupois to 100 pounds, and a ton from 2,240 pounds to 2,000 pounds, they diminished the intrinsic value of a ton of hay nearly one-eighth; but people had been so long accustomed to a given price for a ton of hay, that the change in the intrinsic value of the ton has ever since inured to the benefit of the producer. Thus gold coins might depreciate greatly in intrinsic value, before a man would pass a gold eagle for less value, in other articles, than he is accustomed to receive for it. We know that in 1834 our gold coinage was reduced in value some 63 per cent, yet the reduction has, ever since, been undiscoverable, except when the coins are exported, and sold as bullion. The distinction between coin and bullion is not unseen in France, as we learn from a recent paper of M. Dierichx, the Director of the Paris Mint, and communicated to the French Commission, which is deliberating on a cessation in France of the coinage of gold. M. Dierichx speaks of the existing coinage as possessing a value "guaranteed by the stamp of the State." Now if we consider the public debt of Great Britain four thousand millions of dollars, besides the public debt of our own National and State governments, and the immense indebtedness of the inhabitants of both countries, and the debts of corporations, and all which are payable during a long futurity, and can be liquidated by gold coins at their pristine value, we may see that a person whose property consists of money, directly or indirectly, need not fear any sudden change in the value of his property; and probably no man exists who will be able to feel, at the close of life, that the change has impaired his fortune in any sensible degree.

We have purposely confined the above view to our country and Great Britain, excluding France and all the other nations of Europe, Asia, and America, that possess a gold coinage, and whose operations will, by the prin ciples above referred to, aid in guaranteeing permanency to the value of gold. Such countries may possibly adopt hereafter a coinage wholly of silver, but we know England and our country will not, for reasons already explained; and for the further reason, as relates to our country, that, possessing the sources of gold, we can no more expect her to discourage the use of gold, than we can expect China to discourage the consumption of tea.

But we may be told that gold coins cannot retain a value much above gold bullion, by reason that a spurious coinage of gold cannot be prevented, should the price of bullion fall much below the value of coin. The spurious coins will be made out of the same standard gold as the genuine, and of

equal weight; and be incapable of detection. The objection is probably correct, and it will doubtless prevent a cessation of coinage by any government who retains gold as a legal currency. Still we believe that the uses and principles which we have enumerated, will uphold all the gold that can be coined; and consequently keep the price of gold bullion from any depreciation, except the most gradual and insensible. Yet, should gold be found in California, or in the Ural and Atlai Mountains, or anywhere, in quantities enough to supply the known uses therefor, and be procurable at less cost than gold has heretofore been procured, its value will be ultimately lowered in proportion to the diminution in its cost. Many persons believe that a depreciation has been long in progress. It may now be somewhat accelerated in its course; but it will still creep on, like old age, noiselessly and imperceptibly; and we shall become conscious of the change, if change it shall, only by comparing together long separated periods.

Art. II-COMMERCE OF FRANCE IN 1849.*

A GENERAL REVIEW OF THE COMMERCE OF FRANCE WITH ITS COLONIES AND WITH FOREIGN powers, DURING THE YEAR 1849.

The French System of Valuations.

We have received, from our attentive correspondent and friend at Paris, M. D. L. Rodet, of the Paris Chamber of Commerce, the annual report of the French Department of Customs, for 1849, a folio of 500 pages. This official document, published annually by the French Government, we regularly receive, and, as our readers are aware, make a point of translating, for the pages of the Merchants' Magazine, the summary of its contents contained in the Resume Analytique, prefixed to the elaborate and detailed tables of which the work is made up. The classification adopted in these tables, and the technical terms made use of, have been more than once before explained in our pages. It will, therefore, be necessary only to remark that the distinction of General Commerce and Special Commerce refers to the origin, or destination of merchandise, exported or imported. GENERAL COMMERCE includes, as regards imports, every article brought from abroad, by land or by water, from a foreign port or from a colony, without reference to its primary origin, or ultimate destination, whether domestic consumption, warehousing, reëxport or transit. SPECIAL COMMERCE, as respects imports, is confined to articles imported and consumed by the importing nation. General Commerce, applied to exports, embraces all articles sent abroad, whatever their origin, French or foreign. Special Commerce, as regards exports, is confined to articles produced in France, or articles nationalized by paying duties, and afterwards exported.

Articles are classified according to their nature, or analogy, into the four general divisions of animal, vegetable, mineral, and manufactured; and al

* Tableau General du Commerce de la France, avec ses Colonies et les Puissances Etrangeres pendant l'annee 1849. Paris. Imprimerie Nationale, Octobre, 1850.

so as regards imports into the classes of materials for manufacture, articles of consumption in the natural state, and articles of consumption manufactured; and, as regards exports into articles in the natural state, and mɛnufactured articles.*

In the tables, the value of goods is stated in two different ways—the official values, and the actual values are given. The former represent the average fixed by ordinance of 27th March, 1827, after an inquiry made in 1826. They are necessarily permanent, being designed as the unit of comparison, uniform and invariable, for goods of every class. The actual values, on the other hand, vary, of course, with the market, and with the prosperity or adversity of trade and industry. They are established by a permanent commission of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, aided by the Chambers of Commerce, and are designed to fix the average value of every kind or class of merchandise during the year, whose results are given in the annual report.

The report for 1849 appears less punctually than usual, having been delayed by the labors of this commission to establish values, which were not completed until the end of September.

The inquiries of the commission were extended to a much greater number of articles this year than in preceding years, so that the actual average value, as now ascertained, embraces every article of import or export.

The utmost pains also have been taken by the commission to make their valuation as exact as possible. This commission, of which the Minister of Commerce and of Agriculture is President, is divided into five sections. The first section, in which are representatives of the Department of Custom as well as of Commerce, Agriculture, and Manufactures, assists the Minister in directing, digesting, and arranging the results of the labors of the other four sections. These four sections are composed of persons not belonging to government, who are selected for their intelligence and practical experience; and they are subdivided into as many special committees as there are kinds and classes of merchandise to be rated. Each committee, in the first instance, and then each section, fixes the rates, by the aid of facts or statistics within the personal knowledge of each member, or derived from the documents obtained from the Chamber of Commerce, committees of manufacturers, agricultural meetings, juries of experts, or any other source equally entitled to confidence. In determining the average rates, regard was had not only to the various kinds or species of an article included under one head or in one group, but also, on the one hand, to the proportion each kind bore to the aggregate import or export, and, on the other hand, to the different rates of valuation, according to the different countries the article was brought from or sent to.

The documents accompanying the report show that the commission of 1849 have labored most arduously to attain the most accurate averages. For instance, among imports, all articles of iron or steel are included in the tariff, under the general head of implements (outils.) We have now the proportion of each instrument or tool imported to the total of that class, and also the proportion of each country supplying it. In cotton, also, by dint of a complete analysis of the daily reports of sales at the ports, the average rate for each kind from each place of export was first obtained, and this result, combined with the quality of each kind sold, gave, as exactly as

* For a translation, at length, of these preliminary explanations, see Merchanis' Magazine, March, 1850, vol. 22, pages 259-261.

possible, the average of prices obtained. The same course was pursued with coffees, and the colonial products in general.

The valuation of exports was made in the same way. Thus, under the head of brandy-wine, (eau-de-vie de vin,) or pure alcohol, the report includes brandies proper, and the spirits generally known in commerce as trois-six, but, as the alcoholic essence and the value of these articles vary sensibly, it was necessary, while having regard to the places from which they were obtained, and to which they were sent, and to the different qualities, or proofs, to ascertain the proportion of the trois-six on the one hand, and the brandy of each vintage, on the other, to the total of exports; and these minute calculations, combined with the average market prices in 1849, afforded a uniform rate of valuation.

Textile fabrics include, under one general head, articles of very various qualities and prices: cloths, cassimeres, carpets, merinoes, light or mixed stuffs. Each species, and each of the numerous subdivisions of each species, enter into the aggregate average price, in the proportion of the quantity exported.

Thus, to show the extreme care with which some sections pursued their investigations, the members of the section to which was assigned the duty of fixing the average value of muslins, actually analysed the aggregate of the various species and quantities of articles coming under this head of textile fabrics into 783 fractions, corresponding with the various kinds, such as light muslins, organdis, tarlatanes, Scotch lawns, printed, embroidered, bleached muslins, &c.

These details, although slight, are sufficient to exhibit the difficulties the commission had to surmount, and also to account for the delay which has attended their labors in 1850. But these labors will lead to permanent results: they will materially facilitate the investigations of 1851.

This subject is of peculiar interest to American readers at the present time, because precisely this point of the mode or system of valuation seems to be that upon which the tariff controversy with us now mainly hinges. It is not merely high duties or low duties which determine the degree of protection, but the principle on which these duties are levied, whether by the value or specifically, and, if by the value, the manner in which the value is obtained. But whether a specific or ad valorem system is adopted, it is evident that a careful and exact mode of valuation is indispensable to a fair and efficient administration of it. There is, doubtless, too much carelessness in the American Custom-House department on this point. It is but the other day that the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the mode of valuation which has hitherto been pursued was wrong in an essential particular; and this decision will, it is said, affect the revenue to the amount of more than a million. If an ad valorem system is adopted, the actual values, as the French report very properly styles them, should be ascertined with the same minuteness of investigation as it appears from that report has been bestowed upon them in France. If the Specific System is adopted, it is equally necessary that the official or average values (to borrow the French term again) should be fairly and correctly fixed.

The General Commerce of France with colonies and foreign powers, in 1849, amounted, including imports and exports, to 2,565,000,000 francs, official value.*

• For explanation of this term, official value, see above.