New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-07-28
ST. LOUIS AND CINCINNATI.
Finh1 fnr the Red River Trnde.

uOSS over q UOueJ IL may NC uOLu4uS AiOIS
than right that New Orleans should Just al
matter of curiosity, to say the least of it
step in to see about it. Is it possible that
we of the Queen city are not aware thai
these two cities are actually engaged in a
rivalry almost coming to blows over trade
ours geographically and sentimentallyi
That we 90 off to watering places every
summer and take our after dinner maps,
while the bread of our household is being
cOaxed awayl 1t seems So Drop by drop
the Red river trade is moving off and just
about the time we wakeup to the fact the
stream will be dry, the board will be cleared
and even the crumbs swept off and we be
left to suck our fingers. Here is what the
St. Louis people through the Republican of
that city says:
In order to balance the advantage St.
Louis enjoys of being several hundred miles
nearer to the mouth of Red river than Gin
cinnati is, lot of cheap and rickety old
boats were put into the trade, but the ex-
pertinent was a signal failure.
Isn't that splendid Z "Several hundred
miles nearer" Shreveport New Orleans is
no more thought of than Liverpool. Now
it may be asked if it is necessary for Gin
cinnati to hump herself because ST. Louis
is several hundred miles nearer to Shreve-
port. Why is it we keep our finger out OF
this pie when we are thousand miles
nearer than either. That railroad commit
tee will never sir Ike lick. We're no nearer
a straight or triangular road to Shreveport
than a year ago. The latest thing Is
meeting in Cincinnati to devise ways and
means to establish a better line of steamers
up Red River. At this meeting, commented
on in St. Louis by sneers and acrimonious
hints, several letters were read. One of
them stated that the Bisteneau Navigation
Company offered to take freight from Gin
cinnati, at LOggy Bayou, and complete it's
delivery at Lake Bisteneau for One-third
the Shreveport rate. Another letter from
C. G. Thurmond, of Shreveport, expressed
the great desire of the Red river people to
open up trade between that region and this
city. The letter stated that Shreveport
would this year ship 10000 bales of cot
ton"
Who corresponds with New Orleans
These are our people, be it known, who
are seeking a better market than ours, be-
cause our freights and insurance risks
make it Improbable. And still we stick to
the same old rates. 1t is our policy to pay
them to send it if necessary rather that lose
it. But we won't. Any talk about it will
go where the iron barge project has gone
glimmering. A wide-a.w wake merchant
club here might arrest this current, and
turn its tributary to New Orleans. If not,
we may as we'll all move to st. Louis, and
turn our town into a pilot station. They
will dislodge the old line, form a new one,
and away goes 10000 bales of cotton to-
Cincinnati and st. Louis, depriving New
Orleans of the profit, the handling, press
ing, and shipping of that much material.
Several leading merchants have gone up to
St. Louis already, and one of them saying,
that owing to the old fogy element here,
which discouraged everything like enter
prise, there must be thirty or forty first
class funerals before we would be able to
throw away our crutches, and stand on a
4GN0l Will OtuCA ClttoS' LIS u6du was
level.
The meeting was held by the joint COM
mittee of the Cincinnati Chamber of Com
merce, Board of Trade and citizens, and
they all resolved that the merchants and
manufacturers of Cincinnati should take
such action as will secure share of the
Red River trade > and they will do it ac-
cording to what they have done before. And
this trade is absolutely taken away from US
under our very noses, and it looks to a man
up tree that we do not realize the steps
being taken. Where's the Chamber of
Commerce The efforts of Cincinnati had
been futile to get the trade, and it was at
tributed to "Uhe worthless character of the
boats used" st. Louis taking it all. Indeed,
the dash Of their merchants is felt in Texas
to such an extent that they are sending
their cotton to ST. Louis instead cf New
Orleans, where it is shorter by 800 miles to
our port. Can it be possible we will let the
trade of Texas and Red river gO7 We be-
lieve the trade will depart unless we take
those steps we ponder about 80 much. In-
deed, some people say it has gone already
beyond recovery.
At the meeting in Cincinnati, Captain w.
NJ. Bateman, of the Shreveport South
lee8tern, chronicled in st. Louis as ga daily
containing no small amount of
advertisements of St. Louis business
houses" spoke piece in which he said at
the wind up:
Now would if going to build boats, sug-
gest a line Of side-wheel boats, not less
than two hundred and ten OF two hundred
md twenty feet long, to draw not over -
feet water something on the plan of the
Silver Bow that belonged to the Carter
line. A boat of this character would more
nearly meet the requirements than stern
wheel boat. There is a prejudice against
steTn-wheel boats in Red river, aud some OF
you muat be aware thu It the underwriters in
New Orleans for years charged a halt
per cent premium more on stern
wheel than on side-wheel boats, |
and even now people prefer to
travel or ship on sidewheeI boats, as it is
certain they can make the turns and the |
bends Of the river with mOUe ease and |
safety / have had experience on them
both Again, would suggest that a small |
boat of light draught, not to carry more
than 600 or 800 bales of cotton, be kept at !
at all times to meet this line |
and run as a jefferson and Shreveport |
packet, to bring orders from Jefferson and |
to carry up the freight. This would save
fully three days time and expenses to the |
ine boats, and l think the Outside business |
would nearly pay the expenses of this boat, |
and thus it would be self-sustaining, and |
give the lower boats a better chance of |
making regular trips.
1t is to the interest of the Red river |
to come here. They want ma
,biuprv stoves f1rniture and severvthiuV