New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-04-01
THE MID BLOCKADE

THE MUD BLOCKADE. n
That the commerce of a vast vale
! should perish by constipation is an alarm
ing fact. That those most intereste
J should, like Sargrado and his opponent
: squabble over the dying patient about til
: cause of disease or the mode of relief
discouraging
10 our mind the detention of this fee
Of fifty ships outside of our harbor has
most important bearing on the question
now pending. The rapid concentration
OF exports and imports upon the railroad
will relieve the Western commerce of al
necessity for using the river outlet, an(
year by year the power Of these roads ant
the interests of these commercial centre:
Of the West will become more and more
powerful, while the necessity for the use
of our outlet will be diminished in the
same ratio.
That this interest in our way to the
ocean is extremely feeble even at present
is obvious from the delay in obtaining an
appropriation Of thirty thousand dollars
to remove existing distinctions. It is OBJ
vious, also, from the argument, that a
plan that asks no money from the treas
ury should be preferred, though but ex-
perimental. Now were there the import
ance attached by the West to this outlet
that ought to be, a sum adequate to the
dredge operations would have been voted
instantly, while the proposal to postpone
the certain construction Of an adequate
outlet, until the experiment could be made
for nothing, would have been spurned as
an insult to territory and people who
contribute so much to the power and reve-
nues of the Union
But the power and growth of which we
have limited will annually make it more
important that We should have some work
beyond the necessity of an annual or Pc
riodical appropriation. This is the rea-
son why an outlet canal should, if prac-
ticable, be preferred to any other mode.
The indispensable necessity for current
appropriation to the dredges is shown. 1t
is also evident that the river returns to its |
regimen depth of from twelve to fourteen
feet when this work is suspended is also
beyond dispute. The system of jetties, if |
successful, will require periodical appro-
priation from Congress. Every year we
must have money for the dredges, every
i've years for the jetties. Does it not
occur to every rejecting mind that, as we
IAN not get thirty thousand dollars with
'ut objection and delay. this year, We
would experience the same or greater diff
iculty next year, while a periodical ap-
'ropriation for jetty repairs might be laid
IN the table? When the shipping ports
# Baltimore and Boston see this fleet
'lockaded, is it not probable they will say
o ship owners. why send your vessels to
port that may be closed by mud and
ept closed by only laying bill on the ia
lie? When the great railroads of New York
nd other Eastern cities, with their FORTY
miles of trunk and branches.
nd their three hundred millions Of in
estment, perceive that this blockade NAV I
Q prolonged, and the freights of cotton. i
orn and merchandise thereby diverted
Yer their own lines and distributed a
nong their own cities is it not within a t
asonable estimate of human interest to a
oppose that they will close this great Fl
'mpetitor? 1t must not be forgotten that "
close the Mississippi requires no car il
'es OF stone nor constructed distractions. b
is only necessary to withhold vote for Il
improvement and the river will close u
elf Of
1t is therefore that We exhort our Repre- p
natives to insist on the construction of ST
work which, if practicable, will be per- III
'nent. With the pittance of thirty thou pf
i'd dollars objected to by Delaware, and 10
zen grudgingly, what hope can there be re
It continued appropriations can be ex- tn
ted from an unwilling Congress? WI
here should be truce among the dis lei
tants. There should bea concentration to
all the influence that can be exerted IN
IN Congress. The new election and all WI
er political questions pale before this 81
FALLING prospect of commercial destruc- rel
l. And as all neighbors, without re- thu
ct to race, faith or condition, re- OPP
dless of feuds and factions, must for
tie to stop crevasse, SO all must unite pol
arrest this common calamity. Our the
'resentatives must take care to obtain tor
ley enough to run the dredges all of the
year, and not let them break down ret
in the middle of the business season. ant