New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-10
PRIMERS AND MERCHANTS.

Long ago we warned the railway companies
that they would soon have to face an oppo-
sition at this end of their lines quite as bitter
and as resolute as the hostility of the farmers
at the other. The merchants, the manufac-
turers, and the Patrons of Husbandry have
common interest, and will fight shoulder 10
shoulder. They have all suffered together
from the exactiOns of the oppressive corpora
tions; they are all alike threatened with alb
soute ruin unless there is a great and speedy
change The case of the Farmers has been
clear one from the first. Their misfOrtunes
have been evident to everybody. But the
public is just beginning to understand how
intimately other classes are involved
in the same troubles. 1t is not only that a
depression of the agricultural interest affects
our whole national prosperity at its very source;
but New-York merchants have an especial
grievance quite as great as that of the Farmers,
though it has not been realized quite so quickly.
For while the tolls from the grain region
to this port have been placed at ruinOus
figures, other cities have seized the oDportu-
nity to make bid for our trade, and there
is fair chance that they may get it away
from us-nOt merely for one season nor for
two, but forever. We have already shown
that the cheapest way to get frelghts from
New-YOrk to Chicago is sometimes to send
them by the way of Boston, and that grain
can often be shipped from Boston much
cheaper than it can from the metropolis,
and with much more convenience. We
have shown also that the exactions of harbor
masters, health officers, and CustOm-house
Ieeches have been driving commerce away
from New-York for years past, and that
Boston and Philadelphia have been enriched
by our misfOrtunes. But far more serious
danger threatens us in other directions, pointed
out in a suggestive communication which we
print this morning. Canada is charging the
Welland Canal ard in short time the lake
steamers will be able to carry grain from
Chicago alongside the ocean vessels at Mon
treaI 1t can then be exported to Liverpool
at much less cost and with much less delay
and inconvenience than by any route of trans
portation through New-York. The other rival
is Baltimore. The Chesapeake and Ohio Rail
road is to be extended to Chicago, and they
say its stock is not to be watered; it is to be
built for cash; and it is to earn dividends
only on the actual honest outlay. A road like
that can certainly compete 10 advantage Win
the Erie and the New-York Central.
These facts, and Others of hardly inferior
significance, are the reasons for the meeting
at the Cooper Institute tonight. The Mer-
chants Movement evidently has the sympathy
of the leaders of New-York trade. Several
hundreds of the best commercial names in the
city are appended to the call which appears
in our columns this morning. If men like
these seriously undertake to meet the difficulties
of the situation, they will succeed. There is
much to be done. We want better routes of
transportation to begin with, and when we
have secured those we want docks, wharves,
warehouses, elevators, freight depOts, aud
honest customs officers. But we can have
them all if we make up our minds to it, and
now that the people seem to be aroused the
prospect is not discouragng.