New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-07-09
'0UR sUGaR TRADE.

leaHs tunes concerning the sugar tIau
which will not be subscribed to by tn
mercantile judgment of this community
Boston is not superior to New Orleans a
the great sugar distributing point of thu
United States for many reasons. She il
not as near to Cuba, Porto Rico, Demera
"a and San Domingo as we are, and thes'
are the markets from which foreign sugar!
are imported into the United States. Sh,
is not as accessible to ST. Louis, Cincin
natl, Louisville, st. Paul, Fort Smith Of
Memphis as we are, because while We
have both rail and water communication
with these points, Boston only has hel
railroads to depend upon. Convenience
being accepted as the measure of right,
therefore New Orleans is not only entitled
to this trade by virtue of her geographical
| position, but she is entitled to it by virtue
of her natural and artificial communica-
tons. If water is a highway, the road
from ST. Louis to the West India Islands
runs directly past New Orleans; and if
the natural route of travels to be selected
as the channel of commercial interchanges,
every pound Of sugar that goes to Cincin-
nato from Demerara ought to pass up the
Mississippi river. Therefore, the admis-
sion of the Times is in the face of every
rule that ought to govern trade.
Another admission in the same connec-
ton is equally liable to be protested
against. Boston does not possess advan-
tages in the way Of freightage which New
Orleans can not hope to acquire. The West
India islands take from the United States
large quantities of Western produce, which
constitute the outward freight, while
the United States takes from them sugar,
which constitutes the inward freight.
The same law which ought to give US the
transportation of sugar from Porto Pico
to st. Louis certainly ought to give us the
transportation of corn from St. Louis to
Porto Rico. This is how Boston main
tains her equilibrium in trade. She sends
the goods both ways which ought to come
and go through our hands And we are
fully entitled to, and will certainly possess
this business some day, for the inertia
which allows its commerce to be absorbed
by activity will not last forever. Even at
our present rate of speed, the barnacles
that have impeded our progress will be
rubbed of in a few years, and then even
the Boston sugar trader will transfer his
capital and enterprise to the accepted
highway, rather than attempt to trade
upon an unnatural and artificial line of
travel.
Not alone as being the port most access
sible to both the seller and the consumer,
but as being the great home market, is
New Orleans entitled to the sugar trade of
Middle, Southern and Western States. As
we sell four-ffths Of the sugar produced
in the United States; as our levee is the
depot from which the West obtains her
supplies, why should Cincinnati be re-
quired to send two agents abroad, one to
Boston to buy muscavados, and the other
to New Orleans to buy light browns? And
as it would be glazing perversion of com
mercial economy for the West to obtain
her Louisiana sugar in Boston, is it not
apparent that she ought to buy her West
India article where she gets her domestic
sugar? And if the Illinois farmer wants
to swap his corn for Demerara sugar, why
not let him swap it in our market, which
is kind Of halfway depot, at which both
can meet?
As to freights, these are in favor Of
Boston at present, simply because Boston
understands and applies energy and
economy to commercial matters and we
do not. The dolce farniente predominates
in New Orleans over the nimble sixpence.
We seek to make the commissions on one
pay what Boston man
collects off of solid dozen shipments.
The principle of gaining big profit off
of very little job prevails with US, while
Boston acts upon the diverse rule of
earning a small profit of a great many
jobs. And the consequence of these con-
trary rules Of action is seen in the result,
which is so deceptious that the Times ac-
cepts it as law of nature, when it is
nothing more than the result of scientific
trading which only shows that even the
plainest principles of business are not I'M
derstood by some of their appointed ex-
ponents, and that we grope in darkness
under the calculations that propose to en-
tighten US.