New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-11-03
Chamber of Commerce.
ADDRBss OF w. M. BUKwELL.
TIL f GRAIN TRADE.


various Northern and Western cities, there
to discover the probabilities of the turning
of the grain trade to this city and to point
out to the several Boards of Trade of the
various cities the excellences of the gull
route and the facilities we are willing to
give TO the trade il, or rather when, we get
it. In the discharge of this mission Mr. Bur.
well has spoken before the trade boards of
st. Louis and Chicago, has conversed
with the leading men of both those COM
mercial centers, has examined their method
of doing business, and its adaptability to
our city, has given to the people of those
towns information as to the trade facilities
of New Orleans, her climate, her a.mos.
phere, in its effect upon both grain and hu.
man health the amount of enterprise her
people exhibit-in short everything that
would interest men who for the first time
have heard of a strange country wherein
they may shortly make q venture. He has
collected, too, a vast amount of information,
both statistical and otherwise, and now
comes back to the city which sent him to
report the result Of his mission.
The regular business of the chamber be-
ing concluded, Mr.. Burwell was called upon
for his report, which was substantially as
follows:
He recounted briefly the message with
which he had been charged to the great
Western cities, st. Louis and Chicago to
which he had been sent, which was the ex-
preston to them Of the desire of New Or
leans to be linked yet closer with them in
those bonds which only are enduring-the
bonds of trade-the demonstration to them
of the profit which will accrue to themselves
by the use of the gulf route, for both exporta-
tion and importation, and the proving to
them that we are in earnest in our desire for
their trade by the exhibition to them of the
reduced rates of charges recently adopted
by the merchants of New Orleans. He sail
he had been cordially received wherever he
delivered his message, had found the people
anxious to hear him, willing to give all in.
formation, and glad to learn everything he
could tell them about what we expect and
wish. He had, wherever he had gone, but
especially in Chicago-which city, and her
wonderful rise and progress, Mr.. Burwell
highly eulogized-tried to demonstrate to
the people two great points, which proved,
as he proved them, conclusively that the
grain trade must come here. But still he
said, although to him these arguments
seemed so conclusive, he put them very
modestly to the great capitalists and men
of business with whom he had come in
contact, merely stating facts, leaving them
selves to make the deductions. Those two
points are briefly these:
Firstly way of New Orleans and the
gulf, and by no other route, can Chicago
get her grain to the market from November
70 ApTlls OullHS tldb bll1G Vic Ghuhib anu
lakes are closed by the ice, and the rail
roads, taking advantage of the blockade as
soon as the frost commences, put their
freights up. This is done in such proper
ton that the freight on barrel of -four,
which, in summer, is transported for sixty.
| FIVE cents, in winter comes to 81 30. Besides
this increased costtof freight, the railroads
are not adequate at any price to carry all ,
or 1.-THE, of the grain of Chicago. Mr..
Burwel showed that the expectation of
corn in the winter months did not aver
age over third of million of bushels
per month, while in the summer months
II rose to four millions of bushels. Now the
wheat crop comes in in August, and there
fore portion Of it may be shipped East be-
fore the fifteenth November, when the freeze
comes. But corn is not harvested till Oc-
tober, and therefore but a small portion of
it can be sent East before the freeze, the
balance, except that insignificant part which
can be sent by rail, remaining idle all winter
in the bins of Chicago. Storage must be
paid on this grain, interest must be lost on
the money which it represents, insurance
must be paid, and above all the owners
must sit still and tWirl their thumbs, while
prices may go up and go down and their
grain not within reach Of market, and not
likely to get to one for three or four months.
Chicago can not afford this loss Of time and
money, the idleness of labor and of capital.
Ble WdUL5 BOlue lIull6uIdb6 DublCJ W LuG IGu
million bushels of grain, which in Nevem-
Der are placed in her bins, there to remain
till April, utterly useless and dead weight.
And this outlet we offer. II, when the lakes
and rivers of the far North freeze, the mer.
chants OF the Northern metropolis, instead
of boarding their grain till spring, making
meanwhile small bits of shipments by rail,
should at once change the course of their
grain, send it by the shortest rail route to
the great Mississippi, or some of its tribu-
taries, thence by barge to New Orleans, and
thence by steam or sail in bulk to the mar
kets of the East and Europe, they would
employ their capital, they would yet control
the market, they would transform theiI
| four months business lethargy into foul
months of activity as great, If not greater
than that of the balance of the year, Mr.
Burwell also told how he demonstrated to
| those men their advantages in obtaining
| their tropical and European groceries direct
through New Orleans, over the present
route, which is via New York. He showed
| in the one item of a hogshead Of sugar
which pays twenty-three dollars freight
from Havana to Chicago, via New York,
which can be transported, and is transport
| ed, for eleven dollars via New Orleans. Or
| this point Mr. BurWell dWelt at length, ant
clearly demonstrated 1T.
The second item which Mr.. Burwell had dis
| cussed with the men of Chicago was th'
| refutatiOn of the idea that grain could no
| be transported through the Gulf streau
without serious and permanent injury. Thi
was very prevalent belief two years ag
among men of all classes, but later invest
cations and inquiries had demonstrated it
| fallacY, aud now the speaker had tn
opinion of the best and most practical West
ern men, such as Mr.. Douglass, Presiden
OF the Illinois Central Railroad, and MI
Highly, recently of Milwaukee, now OF GU
city, proprietor OF the $200, 600 elevator i
Jefferson City, that this route is fully a
safe as any other. So that objection ma
be considered disposed OF.
Mr.. Burwell next showed that althoug
st. Louis and Chicago may contend fC
Northern and Eastern trade, yet their Soutl
ern expectations must both come throug
New Orleans.
Mr.. Burwen then took up the obstacles
the way of the grain trade. They are in th
first place natural, the bar at the mouth {
the river--the bars above and the rapids
To remove these is the work of the Centr
Government The next are trade barrier
OF these the speaker enumerated, hrst; III
enormous wharfage dues now demanded q
along the river from here to st. Louis, WhlC
actually amount in the aggregate to oy'
$500 for one round trip. Second: The hie
rates of insurance. thing to be remedie
in time, Third: The cumbrous mann
of conducting business in our custoI
house. Fourth: High freights. bs
of cotton can now be carried from he
to New York by rail for the same price, bs
ring slight additional insurance, as 1t C
! be transported coastwise. Fifth: The la
: of proper reciprocity treaties with t
] countries south Of us. Sixth: The lack
government encouragement, such as is nj
, given to New York by mail pay and dire
subvention OF money, and which we ha
an equal right to demand. To oyereol
these obstacles is what our own best int