The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-05-07
NEW ORLEANS AND THE esAM TRADE.


privileges and facilities to the elevator COM
pany, by the two boards of aldermen, was
equally just and judicious. TIE members of
the council need never fear that they would
not be sustained by public opinion in extend
ing the spirit of this proceeding into gene
raj policy which answers to the commercial
wants and looks to the commercial progress
of the city. The only serious infacility for
merly existing in connection with the ship
ment of Western grain via New Orleans, was.
the slow, expensive and wasteful method by
which the transfer of cargoes was effected. II
was an anomaly as ominous as it was strange,
an anachronism as melancholy as it was gro
tesque The handling of grain in sacks, and
sack by sack, was an interesting sight no
doubt to the artist and the antiquarian, recall
ing, as it did, primitive custom in vivid
form but no enlightened commercialist, so
licitous of the prosperity of New Orleans,
could have beheld it with complacency or pa
thence. A city cannot be at once ancient and
picturesque, and modern and prosperous.
New Orleans simply pursues her destiny in
the latter character when she concludes to
displace the piece of antiquity in question
with modern improvement in the shape of
the grain elevator system.
What is lost by the absence of elevators is
only moderately stated by Prof Warehouse,
of st. Louis, in carefully prepared paper,
where he says /: ''Wheat sacks now cost from
seventy TO eighty cents apiece; or, if hired,
two and a half cents per bushel for each ship
ment. The waste of grain by carriage in sacks,
the extra labor, the transfer to the shore, the
damage, the cost of tarpaulins, and the in
jury to sacks, amount to sixteen cents per
bushel." This according to the same writer,
is one-fourth more than the freight on grain
from Cairo to New Orleans or on grain from
New Orleans to New York; and three-ffths
as much as these two freights put together.
The same writer, after setting forth the
disadvantages of transporting grain by the
Northern lakes or by eastern railways, refers
in these words to hackneyed and fallacious
objection to the Southern route
IL is sometimes alleged that the heat in the Gulf
of Mexico is too great for the safe transport of
grain by the Southern route. Corn is much more
liable 10 be damaged by atmospheric Influences
than wheat; and -four made from spring wheat
is far more susceptible of mi 1ry from humidity
than the grain from which it is manufactured.
Yet the present trade Of New Orleans in corn and
spring wheat -four is immense. Besides the
movement Of Western cereals is made in the
cooler months. Almost all our shipments Of grain
made from September to June so that, even
if the midsummer heat of the gulf was an objec-
ton to the Southern route, the difficulty would
be obvated by the season of transportation. The
fact, too, that large quantities of Western -four
are now exported without injury to the trans
.~,al &c
be ignored. Wheat is carried unframed from San
Francisco around Cape Horn to New York. The
vast amounts of grain which are brought to Eu-
rope from the Danubian provinces through the
high temperature of the Mediterranean, reach
their destination in q sound condition. The asser
ton, then, that cereals would be seriously injured
by warmth and moisture In their passage through
the gulf, is an allegation unwarranted by facts
A fear so foreign TO commercial experience may
be dismissed as a baseless apprehension.
The CRESCENT has replied to the same
objection with substantially the same argu-
ments, which it is worth while, however, to
repeat in different and confrmatory FORMS
1t will also repay attention to consult the
essay of Prof Warehouse, already quoted,
with reference to the magnitude of the trade
which the Mississippi river and its tributaries
promise to pour down to New Orleans, if
their navigation be fostered and improved, as
Western interests demand, by an equal legis-
lation. We read that
The Mississippi and its afluents draining an
area of more than 100000 square miles, aud
affOrding a water.carriage of more than Is 900
miles, form a system of river navigation une-
qualed in the civilized world. The entire coast
line of the United States is less than Is 900 miles
long; but the river line of the Mississippi and its
tributaries, including both banks, Is more than
0rnfla ba rad bfah rAu ANoN
these waters is immense. Its magnitude startles
the imagination. In 1860 the total foreign COM
MERGE of the United States was $3.50 OO0, 900. In
ls65 the trade of nine cities on the Mississippi and
Ohio rivers amounted TO $747 900 000 The annual
commerce of the Mississippi valley is now esti-
mated at $1,000 OOOO 900.
The bulk of this trade consists of grain, az
may be judged by the statistics and estimates
thus given in the same paper The following
table shows the grain crop of the eight North
western States during the last three decades
Years. Bushels
1870. l65 69S 500
lstO.. $40 $50 300
ls60. Observation-Disclosures. $50 sol 800 |
The Agricultural Bureau, basing its calcu-
lations on past results, makes the following
approximate estimate of the cereal product
of the Northwest for the next four decades:
Years. Bushels.
1870. Observation-Disclosures. ......... 1852 200 900 |
1880. ,2l9 $40, 900 |
1890. Observation-Disclosures. ........ | 95l 1872 900 |
1900. ........... g. l2l $40 900 |
After this, the subjoined remarks of Prof |
Warehouse may seem fervid and enthusiastic |
indeed, but hardly as transcending the limits
of potentially and expatiating in the realms
of fancy:
The laws Of trade ultimately enforce obedience. |
The imperial Mississippi, which traverses the cen.
trail valley Of this continent, and independent of |
its tributaries, washes he borders Of To States,
will yet assert its commercial sovereignty. The |
God Of nature has invested this majestic stream /
with rights OF conveyance which no railroad |
powers Of attorney can transfer. The title of the |
MissssiI pi river to the commerce Of this valley is
atiested with the divine signature. The produc-
tons of the West will be borne to the tide-water
lhrnnoh nkanral. aL..h III. a..L..a.. IL