Explanation of the Diagram. (1)

The heavy line being taken as zero point, or equality of exports and imports, the—— line shows the excess of exports or imports of mer chandise, by its variations above or below that line, exports being reckoned downwards, and imports upwards. The line——marks the excess of imports or exports of specie in the same manner. The dotted line............ denotes the amount of bank or other paper per capita. The light dotted line between the year 1848 and the end shows the production of gold in California.

The line of prices at the top of the diagram is made by adding the lower annual averages given in the Finance Report of 1863 down to that year. From 1864–1873 the line is formed by adding the January quotations from the table given in the Finance Report for 1873. Over eighty articles are included in each, but they are not the same articles. Therefore the scale is rewritten to bring the starting point in 1864 even with the ending point in 1863, and the two parts should only be compared for relative fluctuations. In the last-mentioned table a hundred-weight of iron and of hemp was taken, instead of a ton of each, as given, and railroad bars were struck out because not given in 1864. Evidently the relation between the prices of 1863 and 1864 does not appear at all.