New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-02-26
sYT4E LHyEE Il ABROAD.

upper limits OF tnG corporation, and WnCnsWu come
up for consideration this evening before the Board
Assistant Aldermen.
From all We have been able to gather, from the
best sources within our reach it strikes us the meas
ure is frau ghtwth general advantage to the city tt
the financial interests of the corporationfor the pr
vlege proposed to be sold is very valuable one ant
wall command a corresponding price-and is destined
II carried through, to exercise a favorable intlu
ence IN facilitating the operations Of trade and
melce--in cheapening and expedting the transit Of
MERCHANDISE and produce from one extremity of tile
city to the other, and in enabling business men to
reach either terminus of the ctys front in conye-
! niently brief space Of time, s
One disadvantage, and material one at that, IN
der which the commerce of New Orleans labol is to
be found in the large space over which lt is Trans
acted We have alevee front of siN or seven miles III
| length; and the innumerabe articles when cover
our wllarves during the business season have to be
drayet, very often from the upper to the lower limit
Of the corporaton 1t may be said this is an extreme
proposition and does not apply to the great mass OF
produce and merchandise. Admit that such is the
case, which it is not in leading sense, and tile argu-
ment in favor of leyee railway not damaged in
ally important particular The great fact still exists
that the cost of drayage is enolmous that more of
the Union, calculating business and population; that
the expenses attendant are larger; that the difficulty
of removing goods from the wllaryes is frequently
insurnounable enailing large losses upon shippers,
consgnees or merchants and that the burthen is too
onerors for our already overburthened commerce to
/ stand, These truths which are known and felt by
every merchant in town, by every trader and con-
sgnee, and by every shipper and steamboat captain
Of tile West constitute in themselves rrefutable argu
ments sustaining the proposed leyee railway measure
But there are other arguments which be cduced
in support Of the railroad project which are much
more important than the foregoing. We will refer to
one or two of them and their disastrous incidents.
All of our readers recollect the terrible times
the levee about two months ago. Day after day it
rained and all cold and mud and water, until it
became almost impossible to reach the wharyes This
put it out of the power of the draymen to take the
produce off the levee fast it was landed and
it accumuated, until for miles nothing could be seen
but vast masses of miscellaneous merchandise piled
up in all sorts of ways, exposed to the injurious nu
ences of the worst of weather. Cotton bales were
piled, upon the other, until they resembled minia
ture mountains Hogsheads of sugar and barrels of
molasses, by the thousand had to take their chances
as there not enough tarpauns to be had to
them. Casks Of bacon were headed up, one on the
other, two orthree tiers high. Thousands of barrels
of four and twentes Of thousands of sacks of corn
wheat, oats, BRAN ETC., remained for days, almost
weeks without the smallest protection. Bales and
boxes Of the most valuable merchandise similarly
exposed and damaged, as well as innumeIable other
descriptions of goods and produce we have not time
to enumerate We have no means of ascertainng the
precise losses caused by this untoward state of affairs
but We know they must have been enormous. The
owners, shippers, etc, must have suffered seriously
4 Then, again, this condition Of things operated de-
imentay in other respects. The merchants, not be-
ing able to get their goods from the leSee, were m
able to fill their ORDERS and partial stoppage of bu-
sness ens1ed. Although the levee was groanng IN
der the weight of the richest produce on earth, and
although the demand for it was active, prices good
and money plenty our merchants were like so many
Tantaluses-they could look upon what ought to be
yielding noble harvest, but could neither touch
taste it. In the meantime the dIaymen were demand
ing and receiving enormous wages, which, however,
they earned as work done under such circumstances
could not well have been paid for at too high rate
Had the proposed railroad been in operation these
losses, inconvenience, detentons and stoppages
would not have occurred. There would have been no
glut of produce the levee difficulty in KEEPING
it clear from day to day. in accordance with the laws
of the port trouble in transporting cotton, sugar.
wheat, pork, bacon etc. to the ships, which trouble
caused many Of them to wait two or three weeks for
cargoes; steamboats, would not have been detained
one two, five and ten days, to get opportunity to
discharge their frcights there would have been no
difficulty in meeting the necessities of inward and out
ward bound commerce; and, in fine, the embarrass
ments and annoyances to which we have hastily adj
verted would have all been obviated if the proposed
levee railway had been in existence.
For these reasons, and many others which we could
and would bring to bear if we deemed it necessary,
we cordially favor the railway project, and trust it
will receive the sanction of the Assistant Aldermen
after they have bestowed careful and thorough consid
Grafton upon it.
But we trust nothing will be done hastily. In cases
like these q the more haste the worse speed" The
future must be consulted as well as the present and
the municipal legislator who fails to consult both will
be sadly unmindful of his trust. Before giving q
privilege which may run through more than third
of century, the coming wants, rights and nccess
ties of the now great Crescent City should be thor
oughly scanned and weighed. The question should
be determined with reference to the magnificent
time coming when New Orleans will reign the undis
puted Queen of the realm of commerce: when we
shall be connected with the North and East by means
Of railroads. when, on the western slope of the Mis-
sissppi; shall be connected with st. Louis and all
important portions of the great growing and mighty
West; when our iron steeds, starting from Algiers,
shall continue their tireess gait until their nostrils
are famed by the genial breezes which sweep over
the calm Pacific when we shall be within a few DAYS
journey of the land of gold and its unmatched re-
sources of other kinds when the trade of the Orient
shall pour full tide into willing lap: and when
the isles of the sea and Central and Southern America
shall look to us and acknowledge supremacy, as
did the world, Tyre Sidon and Venice, in the days
that are past and gone forever.
In view of considerations like the foregoing, the pri
vilege should be granted What will answer very we'll
what will be great bcneft-to New Orleans i'll 1856
or 1850, might be the reverse in l870-'S0-9O. These
suggestions we respectfully submit to those in a-
thority.
Monument to Henry Clay.
The Clay Monumental Association Of New Or
leans as will be by notice in another place,
| invite their tellOW-ctizens a assemble in reucral