Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-11-12
TRADE BETWEEN BRAZIL AND RICHMOND.
We find in the Journal of Commerce the artic

/ ' S''A W Si''' i''i'' 'N''S WV
of the whole amount of exports from the United
States TO Brazil Our exports consisted chiefly
Of flour. machinery, (of which our friend Rahm
supplied S25, 900 wort!,) wagons, carriages
agricultural implements. furniture, manuiac
/ turcd tobacco and cotton. nails iron and other
articles Of Richmond manufacture; and al>c
Our exports from Brazil, as shown by the
entries at our Custom House. amounted i'll thc
same time to $3Gj.777G in all for coffee But
this does not cover the value Of imports upon
Richmond account, which, rs We learn from Il
house largely engaged in this trade is about
equal to our exports; hut being entered at
other ports, and the cargocs sold in other mar
kcts, form, no part of the above amount, nor is
the amount included in any Of the statistical Ia
bles which we have recently published.
Bringing coffee in return, direct to Richmond,
is no longer an experiment. Our importers
have had no difficulty in finding buyers at re-
muncratiyc price for entire cargocs at public
dllCllDll III ~ SutH SlltS
from other cities have been present and made
purchases. We have no doubt the enterprise
to which Richmond is indebted for the initia-
tion of this trade, will be perScveringly applied,
and that Richmond will gradually grow into
the leading coffee market, if not Of the country,
certainly of the South.
We now employ regular line of packets,
besides many transient vessels in our Rio trade:
and If the citizens of Richmond, joined by Nor
folk and Petersburg, will make n prompt effort,
regular steam packets, the first from the United
States will ere long ply regularly between the
waters Of Virginia and Brazil.
Of our trade with Brazil. We shall have
something further to say at some other time:
From the y. Y. Journal Of Commerce
TIE TARIFF AND BRAZILIAN TRADE
The Tribune in its comments upon Gov
Wise, recent speech, deliveredat an agricultural
gathering. reminds us Of the patent medicine
vcndcr who advertised and proclaimed TO the
world that his nostrum would cure every all
mcnt in the catalogue Of human ills. \ pro-
tcctivc tariff is the panncea for monetary crisis.
for slavery &c Gov. Wise. who. when L. s.
Minister Plenipotentiary 10 Brazil, collected
more important facts in reference to the re-
sources Of that country than any other Amcri-
can dpomatiSt, before or since his time, has
been urging steamship line from Norfolk to
Rio dc JancirO. With conmcndablc zeal he
insists upon the people of Virginia doing some.
thing for themselves and not depending forever
upon some other portion Of the country. The
1rtbuns makes this speech peg upon which
To hang a paragraph in favor of protection
The conclusion of tho whole matter is, accord
ing To that journal. that we have no steamship
communication with Brazil. because we have
no protective tariff When we look at the facts
of the ease we confess that we cannot see the
force of the Tribune's reasoning. An inspec-
ton Of Brazilian financial reports now before
us reveals the important fact. that Brazil I'M
ports from the United States and other lands.
articles Of character which. 50 far us our
country is concerned. need no protection.
Brazil is one of the greatest consumers Of
common cottOnS in the world and the United
States, tariff or no tariff have no competitor in
this respect The firmncSs of the texture. as
well as the goodness Of the raw material. place
the common cotton cloths of New England in
eSteIlcIlCc anu NucdpllcSS III SUCH pbHll'l
that they protect themselves wherever they are
known and tried. In the Brazil financial re.
port of lS5j. We find that there were imported
into the empire that year, cotton manufactures
to the amount Of no less than $l4, lG5, soo.-
Now it is little surprising that Of these cotton
goods (thc vast ma loritv coarse iabricS.) not
more than two ldrcd thousand dollars worth
were brought f IN the United States. This is
too small proportion ont of more than four
teen million of dollars Woolcn goods and
flour stand next on the list. and neither Of
these articles reaches three million of dollars !;
vet of flour we furnish nearly the whole which
Brazil consumes. The Brazilians know our
flour, and pains have been taken both by Bal
timorc and Richmond dealers to keep mp that
knowledge Next we find hardware and wines.
With Or without a protective tariff we could
furnish the empire Of ID. Pedro H. with nearly
all the hardware needed; for the greater por
ton required is of n coarse quality. Some Of
our agricultural implements are exactly adapted
to Brazil and yet such has been the energy or
forcthousht of our cousins across the water,
that they have actually sent here for these
articles. have exported them to Rio in British
bottoms, and have sold them in English houses.
IL our own manufacturers and merchants were
on the alert fora market for their manufactures,
they would quadriipe their sales in short
time in Brazil.
We might cite other articles. rs goldfish,
coal. beef and pork, butter and cheese, &c,
which figure almost as high as silks and linens
and crockcry ware. but this catalogue is already
more than sufficient to prove our assertion, that
as general thing we might without any pro-
tective tariff supply Brazil with two-thrds the
manufactures which she requires.
We are surprised in looking over the reports
of Brazilian trade to find that in our exports to
that country We arc behind every other princi-
pal nation. while in our imports we are now
each year becoming more and more the debtor
of Brazil. Last year we sold her five millions
dollars worth of our products, while she sold
lis tuenty-onc millions worth Of her staple arti-
clcs of commerce Why is this We will
not reply "beca,iSc we have no protective
tariff" The true reasons are TO be found in
the peculiarties Of the Brazians, and in the
leading traits of the English. AS to the latter,
the principal Editor of the Tribune in his lee
turc ON Europe" gave the cue to the secret
of British success John Bull, said the lectur-
err has eminently in his nature "plodding and
punctlialitv" Steamships and regular mails
are great promoters vi lIaue' anu 'iicN' CIV"
ing ont of podding and punctuaity, have
made tho modern commercial world depend
more than ever upon the ports Of London and
Liverpool.
As to the pcculiartics Of the Brazlians. it
is a we'll known fact that they, like their Por-
tugucse ancestors are people of stcreotyped
habits. They arc slow to change. They trade
where they have been accustomed to. unless in
duced to do otherwise-they Use the same imPc-
ments ofhrlshandry and carpentry their Roman
ancestors employed They become habituatcd to
a certain kind of goods and certain manner Of
putting them up" and no other will do,
though it might he superior. We know of a
hardware merchant in Philadelphia who annu-
ally receives an order from Rio De Janelro Tor
so many barrels Of tacks in papers, and black
ing in tin boxes. All must bc put up in just
such style, or the articles are not acceptable.