The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1868-04-16
TRADE WITH BALTIMORE.

road communication with the great
grain and provision markets of'the
West, so long as the South has no
manufactures of her own, so long as
Charleston has no direct steam CON-
munication with Europe, and SO long
as protective tariffs prevent the In
PRODUCTION of European manufactures,
Just so long must Charleston mer-
chants procure their supply of mar
ketable commodities from one or
more of the great centres of trade at
the North. If sympathy or graft
tude could control trade, there would
be no doubt as to which of these great
Northern markets would be selected
by Charleston merchants. Before,
during and since the great war, from
which all chronology in this country
is reckoned, Baltimore has been
Southern in sentiment, character,
sympathy and action, and we only
speak of it as one of the great North
e1m markets, because it is far North
of Charleston, and as business cen
tire resembles, and properly belongs
to the same class with, those of other
cities, New York, Philadelphia and
Boston. So much for sympathy, but
I'VE are still more firmly bound to Bal
9 timore by gratitude, for in the days
of our distress, both during. the war
when our soldiers pined in Northern
:, hospitals and prisons, and since the
war, when gaunt famine and direful
distress have been present through
out the length and breadth of our
once prosperous State, it has been
Baltimore that has stretched out the
hand of relief. But sympathy and
' gratitude do not control trade. Com
merce, alas! is but a mercenary jade,
who dispenses her favours where the
most money can be obtained. The
question of which is the best market,
of course all business men will de-
eide. for themselves, the opinion of
the press to the contrary notwith-
standing, but feeling strongly the
bonds of sympathy and gratitude
above. alluded to, we shall take the
liberty in this article of suggesting
TO the merchants of Charleston some
of the advantages of the Baltimore
market. As the trade between this
port and Baltimore already supports
6rst-rate line of steamers, we pre-
sumo that some of our merchants have
discovered these advantages for them
selves, but these should bcmore wide
" appreciated, and the line of steam
ers should be able to have a vessel
leaving each city every day.
r5fIn selecting market there are
/, several things for the merchants to
consider. Among others he must
!, take into consideration the character
of the community in which he will So
journ and its capacity for making his
q stay pleasant and agreable,-the
time and expense of going and re-
:; turning-the character of the com
< modities produced in the market and
its facilities fer obtaining what it
does not produce,
lst. The character of the commu-
nifty and its capacity for giving pleas
ure.. These things may be thrown
out of consideration when there is a
difference between markets in more
important respects, but if the expense
and the time consumed in going and
returning, and the cost of board,
and the prices of a bill of goods be
the same for the cities of A and B.
and merchant knows that in A, he
will be opposed to the men with whom
he is thrown in contact in politics,
sentiment and religion, while he
agrees with the people of B in all
these things, if he fears swindling,
robbery or assassination in A, and feels
sure of honest dealing, and safety of
person or property is B, he is of
course sure to transact business in B
Secondly, that sthes sime consumed in
going and returning and transacting
business at a market and the expense
Of trayelling and board, form no in
considerable item in the relative ad-
vantages of markets, admits of no
dispute. So too with the character
of goods manufactured in a place,
and the facilities of procuring those
not there manufactured. The mer-
chant will necessarily prefer the mar
ket which combines the best produc-
tions ofits own with the best facili-
ties ofprocuring those of other places.
Baltimore combines all these advan-
tages to a greater extent than any
other Northern market. AS regards
the pleasure of a stay in Baltimore,
the assurance that Charleston mer-
chant can better enjoy himself there
Lboo a1carhora coorca1v naodc fha