Bagging pieces.. 99,736. Bale Rope .coils.. 34,088 Sugar. ..hhds.. Coffee. Molasses. Nails.. .bbls & bxs.. 6,629.. 29,276. 36,687.. ..bags.. ..kegs.. 57,862.... .1,591,886 344,720 The receipts of 1847 were 72,222 323 081 bales; of 1848, 47,270; of 1849, 46,290; 47,264 of 1850, 60,862. 11,165 6,546 2,704 42,515 BALE-ROPE AND BAGGING.-The re66,306 ceipts of bale-rope during the year 1851, were 34,088 coils; this year 41,674 11,815 leaving a difference in favor of this 11,285 season's operations of 7,586 coils. The 18,809 pieces of bagging for 1851, were 2,746; 46,446 for 1852, 3,650-amount in favor of this 3,650 year, 904 pieces. 1,790 97,148 27,672 42,281 42,121 TOBACCO.-The sales at our ware35,283 houses, for the year just closed, exhibit 31,745 an excess on the operations of the pre96,240 ceding year, of 3,096 hhds. The follow54,935 ing table shows the transactions at the 266,616 Planters' and State Tobacco Warehouses 42,201 for the past seven years, from 1846 to By the above statement it will be ob- 1852, inclusive: served that in nearly all the staples of the country, the receipts of this year are far below those of last. The table is not as full, and, we fear, as accurate as the importance of the subject demands; but with such data as we have, it is presented. Bale-rope and Bagging-Tobacco-Lead-Flour. factory. Choice and 393 Manufacturing. MANUFACTURED TOBACCO. - basins. A few ded to, are, 1st. The number of the years since a strong prejudice existed mining population which the California against western-manufactured tobacco, emigration has carried off, amounting and the progress of the trade was con- to at least one half. 2d. The failures in siderably retarded in consequence; but sinking for ores below the water-level more recently this feeling has given in the small beds of rock. 3d. The way, and each season witnesses a fur- mining population being citizens of forther improvement in this branch of in- eign birth, who take no interest in dustry. This city has now ten estab- mining except for wages. 4th. Want lishments, some of them on a large scale. of sufficient economical machinery to Our manufactured tobacco, of medium drain the wet grounds. 5th. Want of and good qualities, is as good as, if not a sufficient capital, and more general superior to, the Virginia, and some of knowledge of the geology of the lead the fine equal to the best imported. All that is wanting fully to develop the Although such a decrease is exhibited, business is, that our merchants and the price of lead has been steadily addealers generally should encourage the vancing. In 1847, on the levee at Galena, manufacturers by purchasing at home, the rate was $3 60 per 100 lbs., while and thus give our own industry a fair during the year just closed the article chance. Prices have ruled from 5 cents commanded an advance of $4 10. a pound for the lowest grade of country brands, to 10 and 15 for the best. Citymanufactured from 10, for common, to 14 and 18 for medium, and 22 to 25 for fine, at which rates the article is now firm, with a good prospect of remaining The year's operations reach about 8,000 packages, consuming 700 hhds. of the raw material. The increase in the country manufactures this year has been large. SO. The deficit in the receipts at this port as compared with the preceding year, (1851,) is over 99,000 pigs, and the price at which the article ranged during the year was as follows: From the first of January to near the close of March, $4 25, when it fell to $4 20, and at the commencement of April declined to $4 10; about the middle of April it rose to $415, and continued gradually rising until the latter part of May, when it attained to $4 50; from this time until the last of June, it alternately stood at $4 45, and $4 50, and in July fell to $4 30, and $4 35, and thus remained till the middle of August, when it ruled at $4 40; in the early part of September it commenced a permanent rise, and at the close of 778,469 that month stood at $4 50, which posi.628,934 tion it occupied until the middle of No568,300 vember, when it went up to $4 75. 472,608 During the early part of the month of December it ruled firmly at $4 87%; and toward the middle and close, at $5 00, and $5 25, at which price, our report closes with a decided upward. tendency. LEAD-The operations of the season show a falling off in this product. A decline has been perceptible in the yield of the upper mines for the last six years, which is thus stated by a gentleman intimately acquainted with the subject: Pigs of 70 lbs. produced in 1847. 46 681,969 .400,000 The amount of the year just closed is known up to the 25th November, and from that date to the close of December, the yield is estimated. The causes to which this deficit is traceable, as shown by the writer allu FLOUR. The receipts per river for 1851, were 184,446 bbls; this year 131,- 333-difference 53,113. Received by is equal to 15,554 barrels, taking the wagons this year, as reported by five highest figure. The comparative prices houses in the city, (the only houses that for the past two years may be thus received in this way to any extent,) 89,- given: 461 bbls.; last year, as reported in the annual statement, 45,000--difference 44, January. 461. The comparative statement of the March. two years may be thus made: April.. 1852. 1851. .75 a 80% 70 a 80 70 a $0 85 .62 a 0 85 .75 a 082 September. October. November. December .... 1851. .$3 87 a 4 50. 3 50 a 4 50 3 50 a 4 50. December.. 85 a 100 CORN. In 1850 and 1851, the receipts of corn were liberal, and exceeded to a considerable amount those of previous years, with the exception of 1847. This year, the deficit shows a large falling off. The following table, embracing the 3 75 a 3 87% years mentioned, is given : 1852. .$3 75 a 4 00 3 65 a 3 75 ... 3 75 a 4 00 3 60 a 4 37 3 25 a 3 35 St. Louis brands have always stood high in distant markets, and they yet maintain their superiority; but the high prices at which grain has ruled this season, and the low rates of flour, have had a tendency to relax the rule of our millers, and induce them to work up less wheat than is their practice. 1847 1850 ..1,016,308 bushels. 639,639 66 Several reasons have been advanced to account for this falling off, and among them may be noticed the conversion of a large portion of grain into pork, the drought of the growing season, and the difhculty of reaching this market. we think, along with these reasons, no considerable quantities have found their way to the lake. It is stated, that from a point on the Illinois river, grain can WHEAT. The decline in receipts at be shipped to Chicago as cheaply and this port have been steady since 1849. expeditiously as to this point, and that In 1850, they amounted to 1,808,817 from Chicago to New-York the transporbushels; in 1851, to 1,665,347, and this tation does not exceed the charges from year, to 1,591,886. In 1847 and 1848, New-Orleans to New-York. If this be the receipts were 2,432,377 and 2,194,- true, Chicago has the advantage of the 789 bushels. Our mills were arranged amount of freight between St. Louis and for such receipts as these last exhibit, New-Orleans-no inconsiderable item and are capable of turning out over 3,000 of expenditure in the transportation of barrels per day. No doubt a large por- an article of the kind. Our object is to tion of the deficit here exhibited, in the speak of the commercial character of recept of grain, has been diverted from this city as the statistics require us, and this point through other channels of in doing so it is necessary to say, that trade, and country mills, as the statistics other points are successfully contending would lead us believe, are enlarging and for an important portion of our receipts, extending their business. Whatever the and as the result seems to show, most cause may be, the effect is apparent, successfully. We give the rates of the that, as a grain market, St. Louis is be- two past years: coming yearly less and less important. The amount in the hands of millers at January this time, does not exceed 65,000 to 70.- February. 000 bushels, which, allowing 4 bushels March.. April.. to the barrel of flour, superfine and extra, May.. Wheat-Corn-Oats-Whisky-Beef-Pork-Molasses, &c. 395 .....41 a 43 As far as can be ascertained there is but little corn on the market at this time. were OATS. The receipts of 1851 794,431 bushels against 697,432 for the previous year; this year the receipts dwindle to 338,502 sacks or 677,000 bushels. The stock on hand is trifling. WHISKY-AS compared with the receipts of 1851, this year shows a falling off of 1,545 bbls. The imports of the two seasons, as stated, are 47,991, and 46,446. With regard to the amount manufactured in the city, we are unable to give a reliable statement. It is represented by distillers as short of last year's operations, and we should suppose, from the light receipts of corn, that such is the The above statement of the amount of receipts differs with some other tables. Taking the data of last year in our possession, the result cannot be otherwise stated. The great deficit in corn would seem to lead to the same conclusion. PROVISIONS.-The price of provisions ruled high for a greater part of the year. At the opening of the pork season, hogs brought $4 30 and $4 35 net, upon which an advance was effected, before the close, to $475 and $4 85. At these rates our operators did not enter the business as deeply as they had done the preceding season. The ascertained amount of pork cut in the country was 1,398,846 hogs, against 1.662,187 the year before; showing a deficit of 263,341 head, of which deficit this point bore, for its share, 43,000. On the 1st of January, mess pork commanded $12 50, and at the close of the month $13 was obtained. It rose gradually through the month of February, and on the 1st of March quotations were reported as high as $14; at the beginning of April it reached $15 50, and at the close of that month $16 50, at which it remained, with occasional slight variations, until the middle of June, when it attained $18; early in July it brought $19, and about the middle of August reached its maximum of $20, which was maintained until the stock in this city, and subject to the city orders, was almost entirely exhausted. In October a depression in the South was felt here, but few, if any, operations were affected by it. The decline was but for a short period; for almost upon the advent of the present season the article rose again in the South to near its former position, and our market opened with the new crop at $16 50. Through the summer and fall, hams and lard kept pace with barreled meats, and maintained their rates until the close of the season; but shoulders and sides, after attaining to 8% and of the fall, and went down to 534 and 10%, declined about the commencement 72. The transactions of the year, with the exception of those in baconed shoulders and sides, show favorably to operators. The reason for the permanent decline in the products named, must be found in the large quantities thrown in from different points on the markets below, and the comparatively small demand which existed. There was no real cause for the high rates at which shoulders and sides were held, and the advance upon them may be attributed altogether to a speculative feeling among western operators, and by which many of these operators sustained heavy losses. A greater proportion of meats had been baconed than usual, induced by the belief that it would prove more profitable -a belief predicated upon the prices which ruled at the close of the previous season. The use of hams is general; their range of quality, from common to fancy sugar-cured, is within the reach of nearly all classes; the poor prefer them, in their plainest state, to shoulders or sides, and the wealthy care but little for the enhancement in the prices superinduced by superiority of curing and preserving; and hence, as we have said, their consumption is general, and every year this consumption appears to be on the increase. The manufacture of lard oil is rapidly extending. This article is now used on machinery of every description, and its consumption by the railways alone is immense. With these demands, hams and lard maintained their stand; but sides and shoulders, used only by a class or two, were unable to recover from their depression. At the close of the season, holders had worked off nearly the whole of their stock, and at the the beginning of operations about the middle of November, there was but little on the market. This little left received an advantage from the high rates which new products commanded -and old shoulders, at the close, realized 6 @ 61, sides 8 @ 8%. BEEF AND CATTLE.-For the packing of beef this market has never been very remarkable, operators preferring to send the article off on hoof rather than in barrels. The whole season, perhaps, will not show beyond 3,000 barrels. The receipts at this point are generally forwarded, and the article is but rarely resorted to in the way of speculation. In lieu of this, however, we claim St. Louis as one of the greatest points for the shipment of cattle in the west. It is difficult to state with any great accuracy the number of head which have been shipped south the past year. From the best information to be obtained, we put the amount down at 300 per week, making over 15,000. It is the shipping demand which precludes, in a great measure, the packing of the article. This demand keeps the price too high for a successful competition with the packing operations at other points. The emigration across the plains employed a large number of our best cattle, and of course restricted trade to a considerable extent. The year closes with the market high, $5 50 for choice qualities, and with but comparatively few in the region from which our yards are supplied. The only sales of barreled beef reported at this point have been prime at $9 25. SUGAR. The receipts this year have been 35,276 hhds., and 27,672 barrels and boxes, against 29,276 hhds., 20,854 barrels, and 15.833 boxes last. The year closes with a larger amount on hand than usual, the sudden close of navigation having prevented expected sales. Prices rule low at this time, barely covering cost and charges, and in some instances hardly doing that. The city consumption has increased materially, and the country demand is also enlarging. This will account for the heavy receipts somewhat; but the full crop this year must be taken, in this view, into consideration. We quote common to prime, as the closing rates of the season, at from 3 to 5c. The following is a statement of sugars received at Belcher's refinery in 1852, and refined during the year:— Received. boxes.... .17,521. hhds. 9,740. .bbis. .bags. .4,773 SALT-Receipts of Kanawha, 42,281 barrels, against 30,591 last year. The reduction of this article to 25c. opened a much larger market, and we presume the enhanced sales are to be attributed in a good degree to this cause. Of salt in sacks, embracing L. B., T. I. and G. A., our receipts foot up 266,622 sacks, against 252,855 sacks last year. This is a large increase. The prices, by reason of this increase, have fallen, and the year closes with Turk's island at 65c., and ground alum at $1 05 @ $1 10. The receipts of sacks this year is less 2,400 than that of 1850. LUMBER. The following table of the monthly receipts of lumber, within the limits of the corporation. has been furnished by Mr. FERGUSON, lumber-master of the city. |