The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-04-25

II II Itih"IhiDle WIN WHAT raMully certain
branches of trade suddenly spring up and flourish
until, from small and apparently insignificant
beginnings, the commodities introduced occupy
au important place in the list of those staple
productions which find their chief market in
particular cities, as conradistngushed from
others. What is called the German Cigar trade
is case in point. A few years ago, German
cigars were rarely 10 be found upon the shippers
manifest; but within the last five wears their i'm
portatlon has gradually increased until large
part OF the cargo of every vessel arriving at this
port, from Bremen or Rotterdam, consists of Ger
man cigars. This branch of the Tobacco
business has been built up in Baltimore by
the steady perseverance and energy of Il few
firms the extent of whose importations
may he Judged from the fact that they
amount in the aggregate to one hundred and
fifty millions of German cigars annually
The result Of this successful enterprise has been
TO open up TO jobbers in this city and to country
merchants generally, q market in which they can
make their purchases upon as good, and perhaps
better, terms than in New York. Bat it is not in
imported German cigars alone that the increase of
the tobacco trade has been strongly marked The
manufacture Of cigars from the native and i'm
ported leaf in which several thousand hands find
constant employment, has also become a flourish
ing branch Of the same business. If we add to
these the heavy mportations of Havana cigars
which are annually made into this city and the
extensive assortment of all the favorite brands of
manufactured lump tobacco, we may claim with
justice that Baltimore has become one of the prn-
opal centres if not the chief centre of ALL of the
wholesale tobacco trade in the UNITED STATES.
1t Is certainly desirable that the facilities afforded
ny thiS city. us market for the purchase of arti-
ceS of foreign and domestic manufacture and for
the sale OF the staple products of the in
terror, should be better known TO the mer-
chants of the South and West, and that the
astonishing increase which has taken place during
the past fifteen years in the number and variety of
our mills and factories should be shown 10y refer
fnce to reliable statistical tables But the race of
competition with other commercial cities not
only admits Of no pause, but demands that each
step IN advance should exhibit new vigor and a
more confirmed spirit of selEreliance The mate
RAJ prosperity Of every large city must mainly de-
penn Tor Its pernonence upon its manufacturing
rule, OF which New Yo' and Liverpool are nrob-
ably the most striking instances. But Iivernool
will never rival in wealth the inland manuf,ctu-
ring cities of Manchester or Of Birmingham. and
New y DIRK, with her acknowledged commercial i'm
portance, may vet be overshadowed in solid and
substantial greatness by Philadelphia, whose ra-
pid increase in population during the last quarter
ota century. dacs from the opening of the coal fields
of the interior, and the consequent announcement
which an abundance Of cheap fuel gave TO capital
lists to invest large portion of their means in mills
machine shops, and factories Of various kinds In
respect to coal and iron which are the chief bases of
industrial prosperity Baltimore is quite as ia vor-
ably situated rs Philadelphia and whilst our con-
nections with the South and West are closer and
more direct, our access TO the ocean is not only
easier but in the winter months of the year can
be kept open when the Delaware is Theoretically
sealed to navigation. We do not institute these
comparisons in any invidious sense On the con-
trary, we applaud the spirit which Philadelphia
has evinced in the new field of enterprise in which
she has embarked, and the sagacity with which
she subordinated her commerce to her manufac-
lures when the opportunity presented Itself The
illustration is the more pertinent by reason of its
being drawn from neighboring city which pos
sesses even fewer natural advantages than Balt-
more, and no greater facilities for engaging in
manufactures. The prosperity which has at
tended the Industrial career of Philadepha
if the causes of it were properly studied and
appreciated by US, might teach us a wholesome
lesson. Every new branch Of skilled labor
hat iS nj pIucn1 intn
the fabrication Of tobacco into cigars, the making
of hats caps, shoes, cotton duck ors cam engines
adds one more to the list of manufactured articles
and, as the variety increases, the nduccment be-
comes the greater for country merchants and Job
bers TO prefer this market to any other than is
more remote.