New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-09-04
New is the Time TO Strike Blow for the
Grear Wafer Route.
TFrcr the St. Louis Democrat.

Among our teIegrams from New York IN
Yesterday g paper was the following one,
which we regard. Of sufficient importance 10
warrant republishing
The New York Herald of tue twenJy-ninth
August has a long article on the grain trade
OF New York, showing the necessity CT IN
creased and cheaper facilities for transport
ing grain and other products TO this city;
and for maintaining its commercial supre-
macy. 1t says New York, before the era OF
railroads, was the distributing port Tor
several of the seaboard cities that now have
direct trade with the West. Then New
York had from about ninety 10 ninety i've
per cent of the entire breadstutfs trade Of
the interior, bat the comparison of the re
ceipts at New York with those of the lake
ports does not show the extent OF the loss
of trade There have been large rail ship,
ment5 Of breadstutfs from the interior West
ern points, other than the lake ports, direct
TO the consumers in all the small towns IN
the East. Tbs trade in nearly all products
other than breadstutfs shows similar
changes. The center Of population in this
country will be in few years in the lake and
Mississippi valley States. These also. will
be the centre Of product and consumption.
Can the present or prospective trade of the
West be secured and retained by the impO-
sitiOn of high tolls on canal commerce,
high transfer charges of dOckage, storage,
etc, at the points OF transfer where there
are SO many active competitors seeking to
secure it? The Mississippi valley States are
organizing a system of barge transporta-
ton on the Mississippi river which, taking
into the account the capital required is
cheaper than any other. as has been demon
strated practically for many years on the
Hudson river between Albany and New
York. These facts demand the serious
consideration OF our merchants, who should
prepare to meet them by system of cheap
and rapid transportation. The low toll
policy, in operation for two seasons, has
tended toward checking, but not arresting,
the diversion of trade irons this city. The
Eastward movement of cereals froTe
the interior through the st, Law
renee and to the United States sea
board ports other than New York has been
larger than in any previous one. The east
ward and westward through movement of
property by all routes of rail and water
north of the thiTty-eighth parallel aggre-
gates about 100000 tons annually. The
railroads and canals Of New York carry
less than one-half the through movement
The through movement OF property be-
tween the interior and the seaboard is be
ing rapidly augmented, as the population
consumption and production increases, and
what is now l0,0O0O00 tons annually will
be in a short time 10000 O00 The Rernld's
facilities for storing grain IN New York,
reduction ofrailway rates, increased means
Of transportation, reduced customs and
port charges, and a prompt transaction OF
grain business. 1t accuses the Central rail
way with discriminating against New York
in favor of Boston, and says one of the
prominent directors of the Erie railroad
under the Jay Gould regime is accused by
grain dealers with Onerous exacti0ns on
their trade.
The st. Louis Democrat comments on the
Herald article as follows:
Tg will be realized by the above SYNOPSIS
of the Herald's article that the large amount
of grain now moved from Chicago to Europe
via Montreal is causing serious alarm in
New York city. And well it NAV. The
Canadians are crowding into Chicago in
great force, and are among the heaviest and
boldest operators on Change. They deal
enormously in grain and provisions, and
are mostly connected directly with Mon
treaI parties, and direct their shipments to
that city Montreal will not, as a matter
of course, ship the produce she handles via
New York. Thus, despite the lakes and
the Erie canal, a large part of the produce
and provisions Chicago will handle in the
future will 90 abroad by the St. Lawrence
river, even were the canal to be made toll
free and no charges be laid foF transfer at
Buffalo. r..
New York has but one remedy against
the steady decline of her large produce and
| provision trade, and that is in cooperating
with St. Louis to take the grain and meats
of the West from us via New Orleans. If
New. York city will spend half the money
in erecting ocean facilities to take the grain
which St, Louis can give her, from New Or
| leans, which she has spent in furnishing
| river, canal and lake tonnage to take it
| from Chicago; if she will establish few
| branch grain and packing houses in ST.
| Louis, put a little money into barge lines to
ply on our upper rivers, and give US rea-
| sonable rate of freight from New Orleans
| to New York. she can completely flank the
| Canadian influence in Chicago by getting
| the wheat, corn and hogs from first hands
| via St. Louis and New Orleans. We offer
| her a water route, open the. year around,
against one closed half the year by ice. We
| offer her large steady trade during every
| month in the year, against an irregular,
| divided and altogether uncertain trade
| from Chicago. New York city cannot afford
| to loose the produce and provision trade of
! the West, because with it will depart the
| importing and emigrant trade, and the dav
| of the commercial decline of New York
| would have daWned from that hour The
| first step New York should take in this
matter is the establishment of half dozen
strong grain buying firms and packing
houses he ,. The next step should be the
putting on of daily line of iron grain pro-
| pellers from New Orleans to New York,
| able to carry cotton, sugar, tobacco and
hides amidships and $4,000 bughel of bulk
grain in the hold. These two steps would
insure her much more trade in grain and
| provisions than any one dreams of, and the
| things to be done 10 further increase this
| trade year by year would naturally sug,
! gest themselves.