New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-09-26
DOMESTIC COMMERCE.

leans and the principal Transatlantic ports
We endeavored to impress upon our mer
chants, capitalists, real estate owners, and il
fact the whole population-for they are all
more or less, interested in 1.-THE neeessit
Of securing, as far as possible, the CONNER
) cial Independence Of this city and Of sayinl
for our own benefit the commissions ant
charges which we have been unnecessary
paying to other cities for importing for us
when we might just as easily import for our
selves.
We do not propose to return at present Il
the discussion of the subject, except merel.
toesay that it is not with Europe alone that i
: is our interest, and consequently our duty, tt
establish direct commercial relationship tht
same considerations apply to other portions
! Ct tcne world, and particularly those in oul
more immediate neighborhood. As steam i:
fast superseding the wind as propellinG
power, we must look, in the not remote fu
ture, to rapid communication, by the agency
of the former, with the ports of the
West Indies, of Mexico, of the Central Ameri
can Isthmus, and Of South America
But while we are considering these things,
our people should not lose sight of the exten.
sion, also, of our domestic commerce. we
have just entered upon new commercial
/ year, and it becomes us to look around us and
see wherein we can increase the business oi
our city. The way to do it, we think, is plain
1t is by establishing steam lines of communi.
cation with remote points of our own country,
and. by liberal and energetic measures, at
tracting to New Orleans that trade which now
goes elsewhere, but which would find here its
most natural and profitable development. a.s,
Before the war, it will be recollected, we
ffhad regular steamboat communication with
| Nashville. Whysshould we not have it again I?
Can we afford to lose the trade in leaf tobacco
| which that communication brought us, to say
nothing of theother advantages of the con-
neetion? There are three rivers emptying
into the Ohio from the South the Tennessee,
the Cumberland and Green river two Of them
1F5s i5si - os+ ,,o,t;n,,s rF To,y
flowing through the neness tsAoAs " 4el-,
nessee and Kentucky and the third penetrat-
ing one Of the finest corn and tobacco regions
Of the country and yet there is not steam
boat that now sails from New Orleans into
either one Of those rivers. These two States,
Kentucky and Tennessee, have suffered less
from the war than any others in the South,
and their fruitful soil is teeming with agrieul-
tural products. Shall the tobacco of Ken
lucky and Tennessee continue to be shipped
across to New York by rail, as is now the case,
Then New Orleans isits natural market? Shall
heir corn and flour, and hemp, and pork, and L
whisky, and everything that is known here
lnder the general name of ''western produce
'e sent to Cincinnati, and Louisville, and St.
louis, and then bought by our merchants,
eeond-hand, from the merchants of those
tiles, when we might just as easily buy from
he producers themselves, or sell on commits
ion2 Shall the horses and mules of Ken
ucky bs driven to us overland, at great ex-
'ense, when they could easily be brought ns
y steam2 Tn short, shall we do with our
ondestic commence as We have been too long
oiIg with eur foreign, and pay profits to fac
srs and Intermediates, instead Of establish $
lg direct commercial relations Of our own
1t behooves New Orleans to make serious
fort to regain the tobacco trade of the West l..
he foreign demand for our tobacco increases
very year. The cultivation of it is extending
i Tennessee Kentucky and Missouri AS q
urlcotton shipments abroad fall off, as they
aust do in consequenee3of the increased sup
,ly from India, and the fact that the home
bids fair to absorb nearly all
hat it is likely we will make, we must seek
B keep up the value Of our exports with some
ther article. The tobacco, trade Of. the West
hat we once had, we have almost entirely
,st, and we ought at once to seek to regain .
q This will llserye to restore the former values
our exports.
IT will not do to say that if sufficient in
ucements for communication with those
egions existed, the steamboatmen would
oon find it out and inaugurate the trade. 1t
oes not depend upon the steamboatmen, but
pon the merchants. fla planter at Glarks- :
lille, Tennessee, for instance has hundred !,
ogsheads Of tobacco, he would not send it
ere, if there were dozen steamboats, ready
) start, unless he knew some merchant to
hon to consign it. It becomes our mer-
hants, we think, to go among those people
nd make their acquaintance-to represent to
hem the advantages of this market-to solicit
assignments, as they alrerdy do consign-
aents Of cotton from other quarters-and to
stablish those relations Of reciprocal trade
Thieh are beneficial alike to both parties.
There 3afe other portions Of the country to
Fhieh We might extend our commercial con-
tections. We note with pleasure that we
ave already regular steam communication
Fith Montgomery on the Alabama River But
70 have none with Arkansas River, though
Il. Louis, more enterprising than ourselves,
ends a regular packet up that stream, and is
radually getting Arkansas trade which pro
eGly Belongs to New 0tleanss We have not
boat on White River, nor on the Yazoo, nor
ven on Pearl River in Mississippi.
{ let our people recolleet that, in the contest
orcommercial Importance between rival cities,
nergy must be used, and money must be
expended. New York spent millions to build
he Erie canal and Baltimore spent millions
A the construction of her magnificent railway
> the Ohio but each Of those cities has been
epaid forty fold for the amounts invested. |
We cannot expect, commercial activity here
y ymerely waiting for it to come. We must