The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-08

commend it, will be hopelessly lost
Our Commerce with the West and
the Line or the St. Lawrence.
The heavy falling off in the shipment of
grain from the port Of New York suggests con-
siderations of great moment to the welfare of
our city. Owing to causes which are not
difficult to trace our trade with the great
West, in at least two important products, has
for some years shown a tendency to decline
which cannot fail to exercise damaging influ-
ence on our commercial future. Only few
| years ago almost the entire trade of our West
en States in grain and lumber was carried on
through the port of New York, but within late
years these products have sought other outlets
| Our Canadian neighbors have been the gamers
by the changed direction of commerce, and
at this moment they enjoy something
like monopoly of the grain and
| lumber export from our Western States. The
primary cause Of their successful rivalry is the
! advantage Of water carriage, which they enjoy
through the st. Lawrence. This magnificent
river enables them to carry our products to the
Atlantic ports at a much lower rate than is
now charged by our railway companies, whose
high tariffs have the effect of turning away the
most important branches of our export trade
for the benefit of foreigners. Apart from the
injury inflicted on the community by turning
trade into new channels, the railway monopo-
lies are inflicting considerable loss on them
selves, for by O more liberal and far-sighted
tbov
trade that is now enriching the Canadians.
| The experiments made in England, Belgium
| and Switzerland place it beyond doubt that the
lower the tariffs adopted on railway lines the
greater the average profit resulting, because the
increased use made of the lines for transport
more than makes up for the deficiency caused
by lowering the rate of charge. If any proof
were wanting of the inadvisability of MAIN
tanning high rates for the transport of mer-
chandise it would be furnished by the present
state Of our grain trade. 1t is certainly not
creditable to great commercial metropolis
like New York to allow itself to be outstripped
by insignificant Canadian ports without at
least making o serious effort to retain our
carrying trade in it's natural channels. There
ought to be sufficient intelligence among our
merchants to enable them to recognize the
danger of allowing our export trade to fall
into the hands Of foreign people, and to sug-
| gest remedy. Indeed, the remedy is SO clear
that it requires no special knowledge to dis
cover it. Exports naturally flow out through
the easiest and cheapest channels, and our
merchants at Chicago, Toledo and Milwaukee
find it cheaper to send thAir grain and lumber
down the st. Lawrence to Montreal than by
rail to New York, and they avail themselves Of
the cheaper route. This is very natural, and
| no doubt New York merchants would do the
same thing because they manage their bust
ness for their private gain and not for the
benefit Of the community But the business
men of New York have an interest in preserv-
ing the commercial supremacy of their city,
and they ought to take such steps as would
make it the storehouse Of the West. This can
only be accomplished by securing the trans
port of produce at the lowest rates to the port
Of shipment
The present policy of the railway companies
| inficts incalculable damage to the interest of
our trade, and calls loudly for reform; for
there is no concealing or evading the fact that
the high tariff which they levy on merchandise
passing over their lines is the primary cause OF
our losing the Western trade. The attempt to
remedy this evil by means of the Erie Canal
| we fear must be set down as failure, and we
must look in some other direction for relief.
| If the railway monopolies would listen to argu-
ment we might hope to convince them of
the injury their short-sighted policy is infict-
ing on themselves and on the community; but
corporations, as o rule, are not very clear
sighted, and are ever ready to sacrifice possible
advantage to immediate gain. This narrow
ness of thought is especially marked in the
case of our American railways, and we fear
that it will be necessary for the people to make
we can hope for any amelioration of the abuses
that are stranglng our commerce
If the existing lines were unequal to meeting
the demand for transport it would be desirable
to build others, so that the communication
between the Western States and New York
should be as rapid and cheap as the circum-
stances of the case demand. This is the only
solution of the present difficulty, as, unless
steps are taken to secure cheap and ready
transit to our port, the commerce of the West
will undoubtedly flow into other channels.
The fact that nearly one-half of the whole
grain export of the West for the week ending
May 81 was shipped through Canadian ports
ought to warn us how mpidly this branch OF
commerce is departing from u.s. while il
fourishes with our neighbors. The lumber
trade, of which at one time we enjoyed a
monopoly, has also almost completely passed
away from u.s. and while Quebec is crowded
with shipping loading for foreign ports some
half a dozen vessels only are engaged in the
foreign lumber trade in New York. AS the
cause of the decrease in our trade is patent,