Cairo evening times. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1865-1866, 1865-09-14

have their being solely and exclusively from
stopping boats and the passengers thereon y
/ Butt will not comment-the paragraph speaks
for itself.
But the coolest piece of assumption in the
article Of Mr.. Wright is the following:
| The business of the wharf boats is
| derived solely and exclusively from freight
in trapSitu, and for reshipment to upper
| or lower Mississippi and it is not appar.
ent how such business or information i'll con-
nection herewith, furnished or withheld af
fects the trade proper of Cairo.
Then we are to understand from this that nc
part of the goods shipped to or from Cairo
pass over the wharf boats or enter into their
business. Let us see. The statistics of trade
for the six months ending on August 3lst-the
| first. half year of which any record has been
kept-show that over two million three hun
dred and sixty thousand dollars, in goods, have
been received at this port, and that nearly two
million dollars have been exported, nearly all
OF which has had to pass over and pay toll or
tribute to- the wharf boats lying at the levee.
This, be it remembered, is Independent of the
reshipments and transhipments from which Mr.
Wright says the wharf-boats 'solely and ex-
clusively derive their business ''Consist.
ency, thou art iewelr'
But let us look for a moment at a statement
made by Mr. Wright, which involves his ver-
acity. He asserts that the goods shipped to
and from Cairo by the merchants (?) thereof,
have been shipped over and stored upon the
wharf boats "'gratis'' This is tacit ac-
acknowledgement of the following statement :
On the 18th day of juno last committee from
this Association had an interview with the
whart-boat proprietors, and an agreement was
made by the two parties that and after the
lst day OF July ensuing, there should be no
charges for receiving or forwarding freight re-
ceived or shipped by the merchants of Cairo :;
or, in other words, the boats bringing freight
should either deliver the same on the levee or
pay the wharf-boat charges. This agreement
was satisfactory, and we all hoped and be-
lieved that the s. wharf boat question had
been definitely settled How the wharf, boat
men kept their part Of the agreement may be
seen from the following: I have at my COM
mand, several bills of goods shipped by mer-
chants of Cairo upon which tae wharf boat
charges are, in some cases, more than the
freight. also have bills of goods shipped to
our merchants, upon which wharf boat
charges at Cairo are added in the boats
BILL These documents are not myths, but can
be seen on file in my office, and l think they
show conclusivcly that Mr.. Wright is very
wrong in his assertion and that the wharf.
boatmen have acted and are now acting in bad
faith toward our business community.
In conclusion, 1 will say that, so far as MY
observation extends, there is no personal feel
ing on the part of our business men or citi-
zens against the wharf-boat proprietors The
grievance ls. the enormous Iaxttior imposed
upon the business Of the place by the wharf
OF these and other matters pertaining to this
subject, | shall speak in another communca-
ton.
OF the puerile personal attack Mr.. Wright
has seen tit to make upon me, do not propose
to take notice. further than to say that his
language is beneath the notice of man, and
could only emanate from one who is base
enough to style our business men g the keep
ers of a few hundred doggeries, who live,
move and have their beng exclusively from
stopping boats and the passengers thereon.n
Respectfully yours,