New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-07-09
THE ST. LOUIS BRIDGE,

perfected. We accord honor to the en-.
ergy and ability Of Mr. Eads, who has
has consummated successfully necessity
OF commerce. We give all praise to the
pride of the people of st. Louis in thei,
city, in their men, and in the harmony
which has united all, without regard to
political or polemical differences, in the
celebration of work which will make
st. Louis renowned throughout all ma
TONS 1t is great and honorable adver-
tisement, and all the world will be on the
wing for location where the arts and in
dustries find new home. 1t may arrest
the attention Of our young men in
whose minds the dream of political fame
arises, to regard the honors given to me-
chanical genius, and to remember that in
the presence of James B. Eads, builder,
the rhetoric of the orator, the fame of the
warrior and the cunning of the politician
was forgotten. So much for the merit of
the work and the fame of its architect.
We turn now to the commercial effect of
this structure, which unites and consoli-
| dates the whole system of latitudinal
transportation across this continent, its
rivers and its mountains.
Before doing so we will state the grounds
of just complaint against st. Louis.
New Orleans is wholly dependent on the
Wv fo, ~ 70 <ba &c hoo
other modes of reaching the coast ports.
When New Orleans had conceded to St.
Louis the direction of all the river i'm
provements except the outlet we were Of
opinion that to the experience and to the
interests of New Orleans should have
been left the designation Of the outlet
improvement. We have complained of
st. Louis for interposing a mode of i'm
proving the outlet which might destroy
New Orleans, while it could have had no
such effect upon st. Louis. To confirm
the justice Of this complaint we quote
from leading St. Louis paper to show
that the new bridge has declared "the in
dependence Of the city Of the Mississippi
river" 1t is said: 'sThe grand river has
been, nevertheless, the greatest obstacle
in later years to its growth Even the
magnificent water channels became an
intolerable incubus. The bridge, then,
sets st. Louis free from the river. Eleven
railways will leave st. Louis for the West.
Thirteen Eastern railways will connect
with them by the bridge. The bridge
will. receive from these railroads tariff
Of sixty-fve cents ton, estimated to pro-
duce at once more than half million
Of dollars. This transit tax is, of course,
all levied upon trade diverted from the
river.
Yet we by no means object to the
bridge. 1t is commercial necessity, an
inevitable result of commercial progress.
The REPUBLICAN has long since explained
that trade moves with the money ex-
changes Of the country. The commerce
Of the Mississippi valley has crossed the
great rivers and mountains on its route to
Europe via our Atlantic coast ports. The
Western trade is already ten or twelve
times greater than that which follows the
Mississippi and the coast to the Eastern
ports or to Europe. The bridge is but
one more crossing, the best and most
important The negotiation of its finances
were based upon this law of commercial
travel and transportation. Without this
demonstrated tendency of trade, Morgan,
the great English capitalist, whose aid is
acknowledged in the speech Of Mr.. Eads,
would not have been justified in contrib
uting to erect mere ARCHITECTURAL wonder.
St. Louis, then, having no further use
for the Mississippi, should, we think,
allow US who have no other way to market
to improve it in the manner deemed by
New Orleans the most practicable. We
hope she will be content to do so.
Looking up the loss of the cross trade
as inevitable sooner or later by one way
or another, it will become an important
inquiry for st. Louis which route this
trade will take to the coast ports. Taking
the land and ocean time of transit between
the European producer and consumer of
Western commerce, it will be found that
the rail line of from 200 to 400 miles to
the lake ports of Chicago and Toledo
offer great competition to these exports,
whether they go By the st. Lawrence or New
York. The operation of the same principle
that built the bridge will determine the
route of the Western trade after it shall
have crossed the bridge. There will be
Of course very active competition among
the cities of Canada and the East, which
can offer the greatest inducements to
shippers and exporters. We do not pre-
dict upon this any arrest or abatement of
the progress Of st. Louis; on the contrary,
this very facility of intercourse will con-
centrate the capital, material and indus
try essential to constitute the chief man
ufacturing centre on the continent The
period must soon arrive when New Or
leans and the Mississippi river will mani
fest again their paramount consequence
to st. Louis. It will be when proper |
commerce shall have been opened |
between, the farmers and the manu.
facturs of St Louis and the pro-
ducers and consumers of the whole
American continent When this period |
shall have arrived, and st. Louis has now