New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-15
WHY OUR TRADE DEPARTS.

are not sound. 1t would be comfortabl
conclusion if we could agree with our con
temporary, because it is to our interest t.
cultivate and claim every dollar of trad
that belongs to New Orleans; but sount
sense informs US that there is a certain
line of goods consumed in Shreveport
which she ought to buy in st. Louis, ant
we are not prepared to demand of he
that this trade must come to our market
The Western produce that goes to North
ern Louisiana ought to go direct. The
cotton that the West consumes ought to
proceed direct from the landing on Rec
river, or wherever else it is bought, by
the most direct route to its ultimate des
tination. This is the law of sound trade
and it is one which we respect out of re.
gard for the interests of our neighbors.
This brings us to another branch OF
the subject which is worthy of attention.
AS Shreveport is under every obligation
to buy from first hands, so is New Or
leans. Do we attend to our own interest
in this matter? Have we not attempted
to live by coercing trade rather than by
deserving it? Has not New Orleans
made the mistake of attempting to thrive
upon system after the system was dead
AS for instance, before the war she main
tanned large inland trade by selling on
time to the planters, taking the chances
of being paid out of the crops? And did
not this system originate and uphold our
trade in corn, salt meats, liquors, shoes,
and plantation goods generally? As the
planters are exploded, has not the system
exploded, and have not our commission
merchants refused to hear the explosion?
That is they have contented themselves
with following beaten path in selling at
second hand, when the changed condi-
ton of their customers made it incumbent
on them to originate the practice of being
the first instead of the second vendors.
That is, still further, they should have
looked about them to discover what goods
their customers wanted from foreign ports,
and they should have made it a speciality
to offer this manner of merchandise in
New Orleans in the original package
direct from the manufacturer, at prices
lower or as low as the same goods are of
fered in other markets. Since the for
tunes of war had swept away the trade
which was ours by compulsion, it was our
duty as capable merchants to retrieve our
fortunes by engaging in that legitimate
business which belonged to us by the
laws of trade,
Let us illustrate by taking the articles
of foreign goods that are consumed in
large quantities in the West and South.
We ship cotton, slaves and tobacco to
Havre and Antwerp. These ports ship
wines, silks, wooden goods, cutlery, etc.,
to the United States. By this interchange
freights should have been quite as cheap
between these foreign ports and New Or
leans as they are between New York and
Europe. Our rents are as moderate as
they are in Boston or New York. We |
sell to the West and South their annual |
supplies Of sugar, molasses and rice be-
duction. Since the West and South are |
forced to come to us for their nee |
essaries, why have we not made it profit
able for them to purchase their European
outfit in our market? Is the answer de-
manded? Because we have contented |
ourselves with buying our supplies in
New York at second hand, and the Texas
merchant refuses to pay us commission
on our purchases when he can 60 to New
York and save the gains which were de-
manded in New Orleans Is this plain
1t is the same principle that Shreveport
adopts when she departs ont of our midst
and saves commissions by buying her gro
ceries in the West from first hands.
The truth is, New Orleans has sought
to live on kind of conscript trade, and
Is this has failed her by the desertion of
The conscripts, she is grumbling when she
ought to be inventing new resources The
Western grocery business does not belong
% her except in the matter of exporting
his kind of merchandise to the ports on
he gulf and in the caribbean Sea- In
fortunately, she has lost the latter while
attempting to control the former. But
he foreign trade does belong to her, not
lone by virtue of her position as the
nearest and most accessible way home,
'ut by virtue of the more imposing fact
hat she is the only port in the world that
'ffers an exchange of freights, receiving
he cotton and sending forward the ne
essary stores. She does this with the in
erior and the exterior. The river steamer
ught to come with cotton and 60 back
With goods, and the foreign ship should
ONE with goods and 60 back with cot
on. In place of this our own merchants
uy their merchandise in New York and
hey sell much of their cotton in the same
ort. With such perversion of the laws
f trade is it singular that Shreveport is
living us the go-by?