Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-05-31
OUR WESTERN COMMERCE.
ST. Louis Makes War on Hsmphis.
Cause OF the IHvasIOn-.Whe and How the
Contest will End.

The merchants of st. Louis have pub
lished a circular signed by about one
hundred and ffty of the best houses of
the city, in which they assert their pur-
pose 10 offer such inducements to the
people of Arkansas that the trade OF that
state will be certainly monopolized by
st. Louis.
HOW ST. LOUIS GOES ABOUT THE TASK.
They propose to place light draught
boats on the Arkansas and White, ply
ing between the towns on these rivers
and st. Louis. This movement of st.
Louis merchants has origin in the fact
that the steamers Wicks and Church
have so reduced freight charges from st.
LOnis 10 Memphis, that small steamers,
fitted for the navigation of smaller
rivers, cannot compete with these steam
bsrges. Freigb,s are transferred from
st. Louis to Memphis at charges so low
that smaller vessels cannot enter the
field of competition at rates now defined,
and it is cheaper to forward frelghts to
this city by the Wicks and Church, and
transfer such freights to boats built for
the Arkansas, White and st. Francis
rivers. The question arises, whether St..
Louis is wise IN this expenditure of $780,
600 TO be used in the construction of boats
fitted for the rivers of Arkansas.
THE POLICY OF ST. LOUIS.
Is 1t not the true policy of st. Louis to
build other large freight boats, and thus
monopOlize the trade of Memphis, the ma
tural point for the distribution of supplies
throughout Arkansas2 Such boats cannot
always reach Louisville and Cincinnati,
and st. Louis, by reducing freight
charges on the Mississippi to a minimum
will secure, through Memphis, not only
the trade of Arkansas but of the whole
interior of the States east of the Missis-
sippi, tributary 10 Memphis. st. Louis,
by means of steam barges, can make
Memphis wholly tributary to that city.
On the contrary, in this effort to monopO-
lie the Arkansas trade of Memphis, it
would surmount obstacles almostinsuper-
able.
WHAT MEMPHIS MUST DO.
If st. Louis reduce freight charges on
the rivers of Arkansas, Memphis must
resort to the same policy. st. Louis and
Memphis will HEIs cooperate in enrich
ing the farmers and merchants of Arkan-
sas, and st. Louis gains no more than
could be effected by a monopoly of the
trade of Memphis, and fails to secure the
greater trade of Memphis drawn from the
eastern side of the Mississippi. Should
not acommittee of the Memphis Cham
Der of Commerce confer with one APP
pointed in st. Louis to adjust these differ
ences between the two cities about to
enter upon a contest which will prove
very costly to both.
AND H MISSISSIPPI 1--WE
TRADE.
Very certainly freight charges from
Memphis to points below on the Missis-
sippi must be reduced. 1t costs as much
or more to ans a barrel of flour from
Memphis to Friar's Point than from st.
Louis to Friar's Point. We need another
NJ. j. Wicks or c.. B. Church to deliver
cheap Memphis freights at Helena, NapO-
leon, Friar's Point and Vicksburg, and
lines of small boats on the rivers of Ar
kansas to expel this feet of boats coming
down from st. Louis. Last week a ship
ment of whetstOnes was made from Little
Rock forone dollar and fifteen cts. through
Memphis TO New York. The charge from
Little Rock TO Memphis was sixty cents;
from Memphis to New York, fity-hve
cents. Arkansas and White river steam
ers must reduce their charges, or st. Louis
may accomplish its purposes. Until the
Wicks and Church reduced freight
charges, Friar's Point drew its supplies
from st. Louis, and now the charges be-
tween this city and river towns south of
us again force planters along the Missis-
sippi into the St. Louis market. 1t be-
comes a necessity, which our merchants
cannot avert, to devise means which may
counteract the plans of st. Louis, which,
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to the richest trade of this city.
MOTIVES OF ST. LOUIS.
st. Louis is impelled to the course
adopted by the fact That Kansas City and
Memphis p to construct a road
across Western Missouri and Eastern Ar
kansas, which will draw to the Mississippi
river at this point all heavy freights that
seek the seaboard. The cost of railway
transportation from Western Missouri
through st. Louis to the Atlantic coast is
insufferable. Deeming this scheme of
Memphis detrimental to st. Louis, mer-
chants of that city would counterfeit sure
results of its contamination by mOnopo-
hzing the whole trade of Arkansas. The
dAy Is not distant when cheap steamboat
lines from this point to New Orleans,
freighted by railroads crossing Arkansas,
will prove more detrimental to st. Louis
than the absorption by Rdemphis of all
the trade of Western Missouri. If st. !
Louis achieve its purpose to-day, there
are natural agencies and laws of
trade which must be ever operative
and finally triumphant, and each city
will WELD only that degree of influence
in the South and West to which it is emit
tied because of its geographical position.
All mere artificial agencies and re-
sources of trade may be equalized. st.
Louis is richer than Memphis to-day, and
its wealth may overcome natural advan-
tages incident to the position of this city.
We may thus be denied temporarily adj
vantages that should arise from prOXimi-
ty to Arkansas. But st. Louis cannot
forever expend wealth in generous sub
sides to Arkansas steamers, and when
ever the process is suspended, natural
laws resume operative force and control
the course of trade.
A uANnsoMR Grandma Dress for 81 at