New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-11-25
SENATOR WEST.
His Reception al Shreveport.

The following account of the reception of
Senator West at Shreveport is from the
Telegram. of November 90:
Our reporter took the eight O'Clock train
this morning in order to meet Senator West,
who was en- route to Shreveport on the in
coming train. C9R arriving at Green wood
we stepped into the palace drawingroom
car, which had been furnished by Colonel
Noble superintendent of the Texas and
Pacific, and foand Senator West, Colonel
Noble, General b. B. Simma, Captain Dick
Ford and Colonel Ross Wilkinsen-G General
Smms having accompanied the Senator the
entire trip II ON New Orleans.
The train was soon put ia motion, and
| arrived in Shreveport about hall past eleven
o'clock.
Quite crowd was in attendance at the
depot on the arrival of the train, and the
Senator was cordially received by the re
ception committee, To whom he was intro
duced by the Hon. George l.. Smith. The
hacks were soon in readiness, and with
Senator West, accompanied by p. W. H.
Cumming, Mayor Murphy and Hon. George
L. Smith in one. and Captain j. G. McWil-
liams, Colonel r. II. Lindsay and Captain
| James +. Utz in the other, were rapidly
driven to Nictor's Restaurant, where the
Cotton Exchange had engaged rooms for
| the Senator. Shortly alter his arrival at
| Victor's Senator West was called upon by
| cOngre tulations extended.
At one o'cl ock the Senator was given a
respite to prepare himself to meet the Cot
| ton Exchange, the hour for the meeting
having been fixed for two o'clock.
The Cotton Exchange met promptly at
| two O'Clock, and Senator West was escorted
from his rooms by the committee, to the
| rooms of the Cotton Exchange, on Spring
street. The crowd in attendance was large,
many being unable to gain admission and
being compelled to stand on the sidewalk.
| We regret that the protfer of Tally's Opera
House, 30 courteously made by Messrs.
| Ricou Il Grouchy, was not accepted by the
comfortable, and all citizens, whether mem
bers of the Exchange or not, could have at
| tended and heard the views of Senator
West. Every citizen, be he a property
| owner or not is interested in the subject
discussed to day-that of building railroads
and all of them would have been pleased to
have heard the views of the honorable SEN
| ator.
| The Exchange was called to order by the
president, Mr.. Nathan Gregg, and Senator
| West introduced to the audience.
| Senator West made his respects to the au-
| dience, and remarked that he believed that
it " as the purpose of the Cotton Exchange
of Shreveport to have the tirst say and
| he would therefore wait until he had heard
from the representative of that BODY.
| Judge W. A. Seay was then introduced to
| the assemblage. and addressed them in sub
| stance as follows:
After few complme nj ary remarks to
Senator West, in which his regards for the
interests of the State and his sympathy and
assistance 10 our people in the epidemic of
| 1873 were alluded to, the speaker proceeded
to the work for which he had been deputed,
| viz: To indicate the views OF the Cotton Ex-
change with regard to the works of internal
| improvement in which the city and this
part of the State are peculiarly interested.
The favorable location of Shreveport as
railroad centre was demonstrated. 1t has
already got the start Of all other neighbor-
ing towns, and has 0ilt up trade that
has been estimated at nearly 10000, 900 an
| nuaily. This trade is worth contending for,
as is shown in the fact that all the railroad
lines contemplated through this section of
the country look to Shreveport as railroad
centre.
| The speaker then proceeded to account
| for the comparative decline in the com
merce of Shreveport within the last few
| years, contending that it was only tempo.
rary, caused Dy other sections having rail
road facilities which are denied to Shreve-
port.
| The point, therefore, to be dwelt on at
present is to devise the means of affording
an outlet for the produce which naturally
| gravitates toward our city. We see our
| trade to-day diverted to other channels
simply because the only egress we have to
market is a river that is virtually dry, and
| single railroad track beyond our borders
that is now ologged with produce beyond
its capacity to accommodate.
| Our river must be improved, and we must
have a line of railroad to the sea.
The fact that Shreveport is situated on
great navigable stream has given her an
immense advantage over other towns that
| have competed with her for the trade of
this section Of the country. River naviga-
| tiOn is 20 much cheaper as means of
| transpoIt alton, than that afforded by rail
roads, that, if Red river should always be
| high enough for the largest boats, all the
produce in the surrounding country would
find its way to Shreveport for transporta-
| ton, instead of passing over the railroad
| lines to Memphis, st. Louis and Galveston.
| But, unfortunately, Red river is very
treacherous stream. Early in the present
season it was unusually high, and as a con
| sequence the receipts of cotton were cor
| respondingly large 1t is now, as often
happens at this season of the year, very
| low, and there is NO saying when it's naviga-
tiOn will improve. As q cOnst quencs the
receipts OF cotton, which were over 1000
bales day during the high water, have
the owners of cotton do not believe that it
! can be shipped here at reasonable rates.
The cotton, therefore, which should be
handled in Shreveport, has found it's way to
ports to which the means of transportation
are better than from Shreveport, to the
place OF shipment to foreign countries.
The first work. then, in which the people
of Shreveport, of Northwest Louisiana, of
Eastern Texas and Southwest Arkansas are
concerned, is the improvement of the navi-
CATION of Red river.
l have at this time before me the report
of q commission of engineers appointed to
devise plan for the reclamation of the al
luvial basin of the Mississippi river. The
primary object of this commission was to
discover whether some means could not be
devised to redeem, by general levee sys-
tenn, the rich alluvial lands on the conti-
nent-and it is now historical that proper
appropriation from the government was de-
feated because Louisiana had not her con.
stitutiOual number of representatives in
the Senate Chamber. We still expect that
the federal Congress will at the proper
time see the Importance of measure in
which the whole country is 80 much inter
ested.
But the use which propose to make of
this report at the present time is to show
how small an appropriation would suffice to
make Red river navigable at ordinary
stages OF water. IT, for instance, Tones
bayou should be closed-an enterprise
which has been talked about so much, with
out much practical effort at exeoution-the
volume of water in the main channel would
at once be more than doubled. There are
other outlets, SO common In the slluvial
streams of Louisiana, and particularly nu-
merOus in the channel of Red river, whose
closure would throw the water of these
hayous, lakes and sloughs into the main