St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-09-01
Au"uSt l., ISL.
EHSip "SS HiiH PORTLAND.

| To liz Filter 81 TIRE Cuhtionam
The bmildlns of the Portland AMI o.
dcn>bnrg railroad, Is based in part upon
the pre- umption that the towns located
upon and within rrasonnllr distance OF
the line of lie road can trade aIyaIi:,-
"eou~ly in Purllairl-upnn tI,r rr,Sump-
| lion that they can tlad" more adyanta-
mron>ly in Portland tEan in Il, ~tun
'Thi-, it is believed they can do upon the
opening Of the road, even without insist
in. upon the shorter di,lauc, and lower
rate Tor freight incident thereto. The
/ fact that northern NrrmpLt traded with
! Portland in antc-railroaI days, though
atfur,lir% prcsump!iun, by no means gives
assurance That >hr could du ii t" aIvan-
/ ta"r now. Railroads have 81 reduced
ircights ~ compared with the old ruug-
and team ratr-. ilat the circumstance OF
Il few mile; more ur less of distance be
''Hi'@ u ''ti i'91 ''ilH'' lltlIt' ~ til' itl(
rr tlan il cheap and ample market To Luy
in. That Portland can h. such a mar
kct I" the merchant from northern New
hampshire ard Vermont, H. shc now j.
10 the country merchant ui Maine, can
he shown beyond c;Nil. The unler>ign-
ed, resident OF Portland, though
knowing himself inc, ml.,icut To state
tie advantages of tLr commercial me
tr"roli- OF Maine NJ their due proportion,
nevertheless Will Indicate Il few of the
more Obvious particulars, of her facilities
Tor trade, with special reference To- -,',cr
al OF the more important branches.
DRY GOODS TRADE
The large J"hbiug houses in ;hi- de
partmcnt of Lu-inc>~, now established in
Portland, with scarcely ,in@lr except
ion trade upon abundant capital. They
buy tor cash. Whatever advantages. nc
corlin@ly, III the way oi discount, "
otherwise, attach To- TIL, sound and inde-
pendent condition, the Portland inbbcr
can command in equal measure with his
rival III Boston or anywhere else. All
the iir-t-ca>S Portland houses Lave n
partner or representative constantly at
the Great ccntcrS, 10 take equal advan-
tagc with the best of any turn in the
market, and t" secure any desirable Va
rlcties Of Goods aS caly, a. the earliest
Portland dry-"ood| Wholesalers have rs
large variety of ,nh p,oL Is End >uh,
IN Nrr E"ghnd rs their most competent
rivals in Boston, the latter lave TO pro,il Idle
for the taste and demands not OF New Eng
land alone but OF tie south and west a.
well. II, accordingly, their stocks are,
in some cases, in the a".rc.ntr heavier
than those ut Portland, ;hry Will not be
found t" have 4 better supply Q! goods
adapted To the New England trade
With the exception Of three or four con-
Germs IN Boston, the hcalic-t Portland
dry Goods merchants ,lo ;,s large bust
ness rs the same class in Boston They
sell aS many Goods. This Is dcmonstra-
ted 10y the internal rrvcmnc returns.
The expenses Of the Portland jubbcr
.lr, al, { I
lng an equal amount OF business in Bos-
ton. Indeed, the account Of the yearly
expenses of Il large and wcll-managcd
house III Boston, now before the writer,
toots up fifty per cent. larger than the
same for Il house in Portland doinm twice
the business. Clcrl, hire, store rent, and
other OUTLAWS are les in Portland than
III Boston. The Boston iuljing house
salesman controls his share of the bust
ness and "i course us 10 compensation,
etc, can name his own terms, an arrange
mcnt that scaaccly obtains at all in Port
land
PROVISIONS AND GROCERIES,
1t is only within lew yeas that this
branch of trade has assumed important
dimensions in Portland. Establishments
were until recently small, business was
limited and no special efforts were made
to increase it. Deficient railroad COM
municatiOns acted as IL powerful oLstruc-
ton 10 enlargement Of operations 1t is
now far otherwise. Tie trade has in
creased four hundred rer cent. within
fifteen years.
What Portland can do in flour, as
compared with Boston, is perhaps clear
ly enough shown by the fact that Boston
has in many seasons received over 200,-
600 barrels by way Of Portland, her re-
ceipts via, Portland, one year being 45G,-
600 barrels The carriage of flour in
Portland is five cents per barrel, in Bos-
ton SIX cents. In Portland one cent per
barrel will put flour in store, in Boston
the charge is six cents. The same cir