Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-12-01

THE GREAT SUSPENSION.
Cereals and Other Productions, Valued
at Millions Of Dollars, BIOekaded
from Market by Snow
and lee.
A Thousand CanaIboats and Steamboats,
Caught in the Iee-GOFge-The
Suspension General.
Ii Seriously Involves More than $780,
00O,00O Of Pr0perty-The Missis-
sippi Route still 0pens
From the New orleans Times.l

l From the New Orleans Times.
The telegraph brings to us the most astound-
/ ing news of business suspension which has
| occurred for many day. 1t appears from the
| best information that during the year 1872 the
| agricultnrists of the north and west raised
| vast crops Of corn, which, for want of water
| transportation, they were unable to send to
| market. The railroads were open to them, II
| was true, but the cost of carriage in that way
was SO great that they found It more profit
able to keep the corn for fuel than send IL 70
market. The lesson was one OF bitter expert
ence, and the farmers in planting their crops
| for the present year thought % pTont Dy II.
Corn was not the cheapest fuel at their com
mand. Their forests abOunded with the
| finest timber, which could be obtained at less
| expense and with less labor than corn. To
| avoid the miscalculations OF the previous
year, they determined to plant less corn, and.
/ II possible, limit the production to the home
| demand and the narrow capacity OF the lake
| and canal means of transportation. II IS now
/ ascertained that Illinois reduced her corn
product 65,62S,0O0 bushels; Kentucky 2r94l55e
bushels Ohio $40 bushels; Iowa, y, $50
bushels; Missouri, 1887 ,I20 bushels, and KAN
| ssS, 9,lS5,6l0 bushels. corresponding reduc-
| tions were made in nearly all the states, eX-
| cept the southern States. This prudence,
| forethought and moderation on the part OF
| the farmers has, however, failed to save them
| from the great calamity which has now 50
unduly befallen them. Having approximate
| ly avoided the error Of producing too much
corn, IN the hope that with favorable and
open season they would be able to get what
| they raised to market, they now find them
selves suddenly checked in all their opera
tions by snow and ice. On every hand they are
blOckaded by an immovable barrier. From
New York the words come over the wires,
s'Navigation on the Hudson to Albany sus-
pended, The steamers have gone into win
ter-quarteTs This is the earliest closing during
the present century," The same calamltous
news reaches us from the Erie canal, in which
large numbers OF boats were frozen ql
hundred boats, all loaded, are reported frozen
in near Utica, and the owners OF the grain
freights are thus necess1tated 10 transfer the
vii aid rf elevators tn
the railroads at an enormous cost, probably
exceeding the value Of the grain itself, or let
1t remain on The boats, thaw out IN the spring
and probably spoil before 1t can be transport
ed to New York. These five hundred canal
boats have on board not less than six million
bushels of grain, besides other freights. At
MechaDicsvide, New York, one hundred boats,
iosded with potatoes, chiefly, .are reported
trying 10 fight their way through the ice, and
sevenfy-fiye more are at West Troy. All the
canals and rivers are neasuraDly closed by
ice, and scattered at points al the way from
New York to Chicago and Milwaukee are
thousands of ice-bOund vessels loaded with
have no means at hand TO estimate
now much, but il is not imprOba-
bushels of grain, besides vast quantities or
other productions, in transit, are thus
blOckaded from market by snow and ice. We
speak now only OF shipments already made,
not forgetting that many more millions OF
bushels yet remain at the grain depOts along
the lakes and in the cribs of the farmers. The
same SAD story comes from tu6 NaQaQlan
water routes, where large numbers OF steamers
aud barges are reported fast in the ice, and
from Quebec the report comes of many vessels
which have been wrecked. The condition
in the lakes is almost as bad as IN the rivers
Many Of the bar-doors are already closed, and
from all points are reported 1.-THE last boat of
the season." The suspension Of commerce is
general throughout the entire northwest, and
involves property valued at more than i've
hundred million dollars Practically, that
entire region has gone into winter
quarters. Such are the calamitOus fruits
which the northwest is now reaping from the
insane reliance upon northern routes OF
transportation to the SeabO8rd, which, in a
vast measure, might have been avoided by
the proper improvement and use OF the Mis-
sissippi route to the sea. One-tenth of the
money expended to develop the northern
route would have made the southern route
perfect in every apartment. 1t would have
removed the snags and bars in the river from
New Orleans to Keokuk, built the Fort st.
Philip canal and secured an amount of ocean
tonnage equal to the vast requirements of the
west. As long as the west shall continue TO
rely on the lake and canal routes, they must
expect TO reap the rewards OF misfortune
such as are described above. They
must choose between two proposi tiOnS, either
cease producing cereals beyond the require
ments of the home demand, and turn to feed
ing and fattening southern cattle for western
and eastern markets. or adopt the Mississippi
river as their best, easiest and cheapest outlet
TO the sea, and having adopted it, demand its
liberal and adequate Improvement as a ma
uonal highway. What else can they do?
This southern route is never blocked by ice
1t is always open to Cairo and st. Louis. In
the course of years it may happen few times
that the river will be gOrged with ice for
few days above Cairo, but il never happens
below Cairo. We are safe in saying that there
is not u month in the year in which YES
sells do not ply freely between st. Louis
and New Orleans. Here, too, we have
facilities for river transportation equal to any
demand. A single barge, such as are now used
by the Mississippi barge line, will carry as
much grain as one hundred box railroad cars,
and q single tow, making the trip from ST.
as much grain as one thousand such cars, and
that, too, at almost twO-thirds less cost than
the most favorable rates ever obtained by the
lakes and canals to New York. The saving in
time from the West 70 Liverpool, averaging
nfteen TO twenty days, is also another
important item which should not be
overlooked. What more can the West
ask or expect than is offered by the
New Orleans route? Now that the northern
routes are closed for the winter, can the peo-
should not at once commence sending their
surplus products this way for exportatione
II win not do to say that there is not sufficient
amount of ocean tonnage here. There is tom
mage here, and more Will come if 1t is de-
manded by freights. Without hesitation, we
are plenty of men here who viii contract for
its speedy shipment. That il may be seen by
the west what can be done by shipping grain
from this port, we mention the fact that we
have now before US a memorandum OF the sale
of the cargo of grain sent out on the steamship
Louisiana, which arrived at Liverpool In
splendid condition, and sold at the top figure
of the market. The lot comprised about 25,000
bushels, and brought S3s sd per quarter, which,
estimating sterling exchange al its present
rate, I6e, would be a fraction over 81 % per
I'm American currency.