HUNT'S LIBRARY OF COMMERCE, VOL. I-The Editor and Proprietor of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, is doing an essential service to the commercial world by the pnication of this library, the full value of which, may not, perhaps, at first, be recognized, bat will, in such thoroughly commercial community as this, be appreciated eventually. We want-and the need has en felt much among intelligent mer chants-a book for reference on the history and principles of general commerce; something that may be appealed to by A nericans as an authoritative record n the on in and progress of the vous branches of trade-their peculiar eatures and bearinga; mga ;; &anga ;; &angal, authentic" Corrim ART. CONTENTS OF NO. V., VOL. XVI. ARTICLES. I. THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH IN MASSACHUSETTS, FROM 1790 TO 1840. By JESSE CHICKERING, M. D., author of "A Statistical View of the Population of Massachusetts, from 1765 to 1840 ". PAGE ...... 435 II. ANNUITIES, LIFE INSURANCE, TONTINES, ETC.-No. II. By J. F. Entz, Ac III. COAL AND IRON TRADE OF THE OHIO VALLEY. By Hon. CHARLES WHITTLESEY, of Ohio...... 445 450 IV. UNITED STATES COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS WITH MEXICO: With Reference to the Effects of the Tariff of Duties and Port Regulations imposed on Mexican Ports in the Military Possession of the United States....... 455 V. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY-THE LATE DAVID RICARDO, ESQ., M. P. By J. R. 458 469 VII. COST OF WHEAT-GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES.... VIII. COMMERCE OF FRANCE IN 1844: A General Review of the Commerce of France, with its Colonies and with Foreign Powers, during the year 1844......... 472 476 MERCANTILE LAW CASES. Salvors-Negligence-Diminution of Salvage.... Promissory Note-Action of Assumpsit... COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW, 486 489 EMBRACING A FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES, ETC., ILLUSTRATED WITH TABLES, ETC., AS FOLLOWS: Loan of the United States' Federal Government-An Evidence of Power and Resources of the Nation-Value of the Precious Metals in England-Consumption of Breadstuffs, and Bullion in the Bank of England-Prices of leading Imports in London-British Government Loan-Irish Land System-Imports and Duties at New York for Four Months, 1846, '47-Prices of Exchange at New York and New Orleans-Exports of Breadstuffs to England--Receipts of Produce-United States Mint, etc., etc....... ...... 490-496 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. Tariff of Duties on Imports and Tonnage, and Regulations for Collecting the same in such of the Ports of Mexico as may be now or hereafter in our Military Possession by Conquest, prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury, and accompanying his Report to the President of the United States, dated 30th March, 1847.... 497-504 Passengers in Merchant Vessels-Treasury Circular to Officers of the Customs, in regard to an Act of Congress to Regulate the Carriage of Passengers in Merchant Vessels.... Deficiency, Damage, Leakage, and Breakage-A Treasury Circular............ Port Regulations of the Province of Macao........ 504 ....... 505 505 Rates at which Foreign Money or Currency are fixed by Law of the United States.................. 507 Table of Foreign Weights and Measures Reduced to the Standard of the United States.............. 507 Finances of the Insurance Companies in Massachusetts, in 1846.......... United States Treasury Notes and Stocks-A Treasury Circular................... Passage through the Straits of Magellan.. Wreck near the Five Fathom Channel.. Commerce and Navigation of the United States, for the year ending June 30, 1840. Statement of the Value of Domestic Exports of the United States, in 1846..... Imports from France into Texas, and Imports from Texas into France, in 1844... Exports of Sugar and Molasses from Havana, in 1845, '46......... Manufacture of Railroad Iron in the United States... Iron Mines and Manufacture of Iron in Belgium. By R. C. TAYLOR, Esq., of Pennsylvania... HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE. MAY, 1847. Art. I. THE PROGRESS OF WEALTH IN MASSACHUSETTS, FROM 1790 TO 1840. It is the object of this article to exhibit the progress of wealth in Massachusetts, during the fifty years from 1790 to 1840, as deduced from the six State Valuations, taken at intervals of ten years each. These valuations have the legislative sanction of the General Court, and are the basis of apportionment of all State taxation for the ten years following. They are prepared from the returns furnished by the assessors of the several towns and districts, and are intended to embrace all the taxable property of the Commonwealth. They may be relied upon as sufficiently correct for the purposes of comparison, or of showing the progress of wealth during these fifty years; at least they furnish the nearest approximation we have to the true amount of wealth in the State. Certain items of property are exempted from taxation, and of course are not included in these aggregates of valuation,—such as the property of the United States, of incorporated literary institutions, &c., (Revised Statutes, pp. 75, 76,) so that, at each valuation, the amount, on this account, probably falls short of the real amount by at least 1 or 2 per cent. By the Constitution of Massachusetts, (ch. I. sec. 1,) it is provided that, "while the public charges of government, or any part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates, in the manner that has hitherto been prac tised, in order that such assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a valuation of estates within the Commonwealth, taken anew once in every ten years at least, and as much oftener as the General Court shall order." In the first four valuations, the income value of the property, which is intended to be 6 per cent of the true value, appears in the returns, and is adopted as the basis of State taxation. In the following tables and views, the income value is reduced to the true value, in order to make the comparison at different epochs. TABLE I. Exhibiting the Value of the Rateable or Taxable Property in Massachusetts, according to the State Valuations, at six epochs, by Counties as now constituted. 2,641,460 94 44,024,349 00 4,323,943 10 72,065,718 33 5,876,995 01 $97,949,916 83 9,212,710 28 153,545,171 33 208,856,422 55 299,880,338 31 From the next table it appears that the proportions of the wealth in the several counties were very different at the six epochs. We have given in Table III. the proportions of the population in the several counties, in order that the reader may easily compare the wealth with the population in the several counties at those epochs. TABLE II. Exhibiting the Proportions per cent of the Wealth of Massachusetts in the several The fractions of a cent in these columns, are omitted for want of room. 1 |