New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-10-27

Total. SOC
The only portion Of this route not com.
| pleted is about 289 miles, of which only
| eighty one miles require excavation, and POS
miles necessitate locks and dams in the
! river channels.
Should this great water route become a
reality, providing a clear navigation for ten
months in the year, thus connecting the
| river system of the West with a seaport at
Norfolk equal to New York or any other At
lantiG port for foreign export trade, this
work would assume vasUl Y more Importance
as a competitor for Western commerce than
has heretofore been accorded to it.
The Kanawha route between the East
and West has a canal navigation nearly 100
miles less than the Erie canal from Buffalo,
and there are only three degrees difference
in longitude between Buffalo and Norfolk
the latter being on the same longitude of
Syracuse Its line is almost directly west
to the Mississippi. With the river, gulf and
ocean, quadrilateral route is formed, free
of all tolls. The St. Lawrence route trian-
gulates the route through New York, with
only torty-eight to sixty-nine miles of ship
canal, adapted to large ocean ships of 1900
to 1900 tons.
This route is, moreover, nearly 1000 miles
less in distance from Chicago to Liverpool
than by the New York route This route
south Of us, Boston and Montreal on the
east, Baltimore fed and supported by that
immense monopoly, the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad south and Philadelphia bolstered
up by the entire strength of the Pennsylva-
MIA Central railroad, may well cause our
merchants some uneasiness, and it beh0oves
them to adopt the most stringent measures,
not only to induce new trade to come to
this city, but endeav0r to recover that we
have already lost and will ntinue to lose
through nothing else but apathy and mis-
management.
The time has arrived when the transat-
lantiC trade Of the country il sharply com
peted for. Is our city and State prepared
for such a competition, aud moreover,
with the fact that every seaport is arrayeQ
against us! We answer, no. Our canal
policy requires q radical change, and our
railroad companies must be made to under
stand that something more than huge divi-
dends to stockholders il required of them,
and that the life and prosperity Of the great
metropolis largely depend upon their readi-
ness to transport freight as rapidly and at
as low rates as possible. Ii our canals be
enlarged and are ready to accommodate
the business, capital will be deferred from
investment in other enterprises, especially
il the time between Buffalo and New York
is reduced from the present two weeks a
trip to three or four days. Then we will
find that we have every advantage in pos
sessing trade which it will be difficult to
turn from its accustomed channels, and the
rich products Of the West will continue to
come to us in spite Of all opposition.
If route not yet in existence, and one
which would cost S5O,OOO,0OO to call into
being, disturbs New York 90 evidently,
why should she totally ignore the great
Mississippi, already established by the
Great Creator from the foundations of the
earth To move all the surplus grain of
the Mississippi valley down thisroute to the
ocean, thence by steamship to Liverpool,
will not require an outlay of more than
100000, divided as follows: 81 ,000,00 to
be invested in bulk grain barges for the
river between st. Paul and New Orleans
81 100000 to be invested by the government
in improving the channel between this city
aud Cairo, and 81 900, 900 to be invested by
New Orleans and st. Louis in the stock Of
the bulk grain iron propellers, now building
in Liverpool, to ply between that city and
New Orleans. We trust our business men
will not let this subject rest until it is per
fectly worked cut, and the superiority of
the great water route via New Orleans vim.
Dictated above and over all others.