Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-02-20

Again comes up the inquiry, where does
Davenport come in? We will give the
facts:
Sornetimesdu,ingt the month Of December
las,, this same Mr.. Egbert Dodge called at
the Office Of the DEMo ocRAr and stated his
business. He informed us that he had sen,
out under the aasdices Of the Union Mers
chants Exchange, OF st. Louis. for the pur-
pose Of compiling statistics of tho shipping
business, and inquired il We could afford
him any assistance on the part Of Daven>
port. lie remarked that he had found great
difficulty in getting hold Of the proper data
upon which to base his report. lie had
been over to Rock Island but had not been
able to do much here
We gave him access to our books Of re>
ceipts and shipments for the year 1865,
over which he footed aud figured for nearly
two hours. and expressed himself astonish.
cd at the immense trade which they indi.
Gated. We remember his remarking to .
itIcuO NuV WeS WIN uiW-A AeVCh AStouu
man, We believe-that the Davenport fig.
urss set Rock Island far in the shade. AZ
ter thanking US foe courtssies and compile
,nentiug our enterprise in keeping up these
highly important statistics in the absence
cfiany board Of trade, and saying VIC should
see bis report after awhile and that it would
bc good thing FOR publication. be retired
We hare seen his report. We found it
in St. Louis. We give the gist Of it above
II is ooOd thing for publication, so we
pua.ish il. But where does Davenport
come it. Right where Rock Island is
rriated. Rub out "Rock Island" and put
in davenport" and you have the facts pas.
tially-al,hoagh our shipment Of potatoes
and oniors were actually moro than ten
times as large as above expressed. How
Mr.. Dodge made this muddle he best knows
Talk about Rock Island shipping onions
Never shipped bushel since Black Hawk
was born, Scott county, Iowa, having mo>
nopoizcd that business almost exclusively.
She raised over two millions Of bushels in
1865, and can do it again.
We claimed above that Davenport ships
moro grain than any other point on the
river above st. Louis. We can prove it,
The figures show that Dubuque shipped Of
wheat l,26o,S65 bushels. We admit il,
Dubuque has = Board Of Trade, and the
figures arr kept up from day to iay-as
sensible business men should do. These
figures include not only the whest that
comes to Dubuque BY wagon, but oil that
comes in over the two lines Of raileoad vest
OF that place. That is easy enough to in.
clude such receipts.
The figures show that Rock Island, which
is nisprins for Davenport, shipped 7e7,-
176 bushels Of wheat. These figures, mind
you, only refer to the wheat brought to Da-
venport by scayon-and they ars undsrsta-
ted u that. Now add to these about $780,,
900 bushels that come in on the cass from
the west, as Dubuque does, and We have .
snug little total, in wheat, Of about three
and = quarter millions Of bushels shipped
from Davenport in 1866. But neither Ds-
venport nor Dubuque has any right to
figure in this way, for Rock Island, Colona,
Geneseo. Tiskilwa, and all the stations along
the route from here to New York, might
calm oil the wheat that passed through on
cars - shipmsnts, and so enter it upon
their annual reports. So with the river
trade. II, because the bosts touch st Rock
Island after leaving Davenport, on their
down trips, Rock Island il to bs credited
with our shipments, then might Muscatine,
Keoksk, CassvilIe, Alton, and all the rest
claim to be credited with shipments upon
the same scale.
We regret not having time and space to
T. sift, in detail, Mr.. Dodge's report. We
think We could make il ''look sick" His
intention wss 10 favor ST. Louis in his r.
port, no doubt +; and he did. 10 ssme extent,
but only in very feeble degree. But ~
have nothing 10 say abont II only - in do
fence Of our own dty. Why b. thought
proper to ignore her interests. and wipe her
out entirely, is qusstios we leave for him
to answer. We have no quarrel With Rock
Island, for our interests and hers ere closs>
ly allied; but, at the same time, ws do not
care to advertise her At Dsvsnport's expense.
Mr.. Dodge may have thousht Otherwise
at least be 90 acted.
We would. in all kindness, advise the
merchants Of st. Louis that when next they
send man out on . similar ersand, to sm>
ploy one whs bstt~ undssstasds he gses-
rsphy Of the Uppss Nississippi-st least
one who hes no desire b lssvs ~ naset ex-
tensive grain shippinR poinl ID I'll the Up>