New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-18

in every part Of the city upon vhich BIZ sees
these usually 0minous words Toilet. From
like causes, and the great abundance of
Furnished apartments to let,D that one
finds ready at hand, for reasonable sum,
hotels do not. as q rule, seem to thrive.
The stranger finding, in whatever locality
he may choose to locate, finely furnished
room to be had by tie day for the sum Of
dollar, with first-class eatinS-houses i'm
mediately by, instinctively shuns the hotels.
In q business point of view, the city can
scarce be said to have improved since the
war. Once she was truly the mistress OF
the valley. 1t would seem as though her
glory. in this respect at least, was on the
wane. In Olden times she literally COM
manded the trade. Little, indeed, OF the
products of the lower valley of the Missis-
sippi and its tributaries but here sought
market. Cotton and sugar came forward
in the gross, on consignment, to factors,
through whom, in return, were forwarded
the vast supplies for j section OF country
that was literally nation of itself.
Under the new system Of labor all this
has changed The crop that was formerly
forwarded here on consignment now comes
forward as the property Of the country mer-
chant, whO in turn, has furnished the sup
plies. An immense inland trade has, there
fore, sprung up at the expense OF the mer-
chants Of New Orleans.
OF course all this has had telling effect
ON the general commercial prosperity Of the
city. Nor do the merchants seem to be
making the least sensible effort to recover
that which they have lost Common sense
would dictate the pushing out OF the ave-
nues of trade in every direction, that the
country merchants at least should come to
New Orleans to buy. Unfortunately, how
ever, the merchants here seem to be, in the
main, decidedly one-idea men. With them
Cotton is King" and New Orleans his
court; ey1o-cOttOn must come to New Or
leans for market, and New Orleans must,
as matter of necessity, furnish the sup
plies.
There are some things, however, relative
to this subject, that are evident to the most
casual observer: rst New Orleans has,
to a most serious extent, lost the retail trade
she once enjoyed, in that the families Of the
planters do not spend their winters here as
in Olden times. Second. That she has lost
the control of, and direct trade with, the
planters of the Lower Mississippi and its
tributaries, in that the cotton no longer
comes here as the property of the planter at
all, but as that of the merchants of the in
land towns. Third. That while the cotton
still seeks market here, it is for cash far
more than in exchange for goods. Fourth.
That, while the merchants of New Orleans
are sitting in comparative idleness, sucking
their thumbs and damning the Yankees for
their misfortunes in the past, those OF st.
Louis, Louisville and Cincinnati are fast
sapping their trade in supplies. Travel
where you will in any of the inland towns
adjacent to the river or rail in the valley,
and you meet with drummers in abundance
from each of the three towns have named,
but none from New Orleans St. Louis, too,
which seems awakening from her own leth-
argic sleep of the past, is pushing out lines
Of packets in all the various arms OF the
lower Mississippi, thus invading with impu-
nifty the rich fields OF trade hitherto mOnpO-
lized by New Orleans.
The main trouble with the merchants of
New Orleans is, first, as have stated, that
they are One-idea men, and. second, they
belong to an era of the past. Such thing
energy requisite with the time seems out of
the question.
st. Louis is making strenuous efforts to
divert the grain trade up the upper Missis-
sippi down the river by barges One OF her
first necessities in the undertaking, as it
seems to me, is to import and install IN New
Orleans a class Of merchants that are up to
the times-say, such as are found III Chicago.
Your merchant Of New Orleans is far too
much burdened with cotton on the brain to
ever descend to such small matters a. the
grain trade of the upper Mississippi. Gov
ernor Warmoth is visited with all the ana
themas of the damned for favOring the
issue of State aid to railroads; and. yet,
without doubt, whatever his merits or de-
merits in other respects, or however much
of the fund may be stolen, in so doing he
did one of the best possible things for Loui.
siana and New Orleans. Railroads will, Of
necessity, bring in their train a class of
wide-awake men: men whose vision at least
extends beyond bale of cotton. Such
class, it would seem, is scarcely to be found
among the merchants of New Orleans.