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It seems as if you have shut down questioning me about the value of Southern goods for consumption, and I seriously doubt your absence has been for research. I am not going to try to bait you into another exchange on the matter.

When you asked me the source of the data, I gave you the source, the US Treasury Report. But as I said, you have to do some research. Very few have, and in effect do not know what they do not know. That was the point of questioning of you. So let me give you the benefit of the doubt, assume you are curious, and would like to have some factual information.

I have an original copy here of President Buchanan's Message and Documents to the 36th Congress for 1859-1860.

Let's see if we can find the value of goods consumed in the South for the 1859 time period by using this document as well as some others.

First, what was the value of imports at US ports of entry as documented by the Customs house, less specie and re-exports in 1859?

The Treasury report gives a figure of $317,000,000.

Now, some of math. Kettell in 1860 reported that according to the US Treasury report of 1856, page 101, it is stated that the amount of European imported goods consumed in the US in 1850 was $163,186,000.

According to his data, the distribution of that amount was to the South $43,000,000; to the West $35,000,000; and to the North $85,180,000.

Referring again to the imports of 1859 of $317 million, and if they were distributed in the same proportion, then Southern consumption would be $106,000,000; for Western $63,000,000; and for the North $149,000,000. At the time that he wrote his paper, he did not yet have the 1860 census report.

Kettell then provides data from the 1850 US Census that shows that the sales of domestic manufactures to the South were $146,000,000 for that year.

He then researched the manufacturing data and determined that between 1850 and 1859 that the manufacturing output had doubled, and that also the means of payment (on hand assets) for the South had increased at an even greater ratio.

His extrapolated data then is that the inter-sectional trade of 1859 was Northern manufactures sold to the South $240,000,000; imported goods sold or direct shipped to the South $106,000,000.

Based on this data, for 1859, the total value of goods shipped into the South (imported) was $346,000,000.

Incidentally, the encyclopedia article said that the Southern imports in 1860 were $331,000,000.

So, it would seem that the Encarta data is essentially correct.

To get the information in this form, you needed to research the Treasury report and find the value of imports for a particular year and the amounts shipped into the area, Treasury or Commerce reports. The value of manufacturers for a particular year was available from either the Dept. of Commerce records (Historical Statistics of the United States...which I gave you) or the US Treasury Report available either at the Globe, but easier to find in the Statistical Abstract of the US.

Eliminating Kettel, another way to get the data is to go to the Department of Commerce records for a given year; then look up the value of goods flowing into a given city and also look up the tariffs collected. The total value of import goods by Southern cities can be added to obtain totals for the Southern states. Tariff data will give you the amount of European imports directly shipped into the city.

Either way, you can see the vast amounts of trade coming into the South.

As a point of interest, using the same procedure, it is shown that the value of raw materials and produce shipped North from the South in that year was well over $200,000.