_Exports_.

By lake shipment, $34,817,716.32
" Canal, 79,614,042.70
" Railroads, 98,521,262.86
----------------
Total value of exports in 1855, $212,953,021.88

"Aggregate value of imports and exports at Chicago in the year 1855,
$409,613,086.54.[B]

[Footnote B: This is more than half of the value of all the exports and
imports of the Union in the year 1860, King Cotton included.]

"These statistics have been obtained by much labor and perseverance,
with a view to the strictest accuracy. The result has amply justified
the labor; for the published statistics of this commerce, which have
gone forth to the country through the newspaper-press of the city, fall
far short of its actual extent. On discovering this fact, I felt it to
be a matter of duty to obtain the information directly from the only
authentic sources, namely, the custom-house, mercantile, and warehouse
records.

"Such are the claims which, in a civil point of view, are presented in
behalf of the preservation of this harbor.

"There is still another, of not less magnitude, which is exclusively
national. It is the influence it would have on the military defence of
this part of our frontier, and the success of our arms in time of war. A