New Orleans Republican., 1875-09-01
OUR ANNUAL STATEMENT.

AuoAtuos y uoeiecdoie icutuie VI ~ 40 s'''S
it shows a general decrease in the value
of receipts Of the products supplied by the
surrounding States. There has been a
material falling off in the great staple
In fact, the whole decrease Of the total
crop has fallen upon New Orleans. lhe
other receiving ports have held their own
pretty nearly. There has been slight
increase in sugar and rice, articles which
are chiefly raised in our own State.
We have pointed out from time to time
the many adverse influences which have
been brought to bear to divert trade and
commerce from this port. We are sadly
in want of receiving lines of Transports
ton. Nine-tenths of the produce OF the
United States has been carried eastward
over lines of railroad lateral to the meri-
dians. The frequent and immense cargoes
OF Western produce which formerly ar
rived in steamboats, from st. Louis, LOUIS
vile, Cincinnati, Pittsbarg and other
points have almost disappeared from our
levee, and in their place We have the
gleanings of the cotton fields lying out OF
reach of the all-absorbing railroad inter
ests. The st. Lawrence river and Erie
canal divide with the New York Central.
Erie, Pennsylvania Central and Baltimore
and Ohio railroads the carrying trade OF
all that part of the country lying north OF
the Ohio river. Everything is hurried off
to the Atlantic coast for consumption and
export to Europe, while the Gulf ports
have been comparatively neglected. 1t is
upon these, and not Liverpool, London.
Bremen, Havre, ETC., that New Orleans
will have to rely in the future. The Eu-
ropean trade is well attended to, perhaps
overdone, while Cuba, Mexico and the
other Gulf and Caribbea. ports are very
much neglected.
There are many things which should be
done right away to establish trade with
the tropical ports. First and foremost,
a market for our products ought to be es-
tablished by means CT reciprocity treaties
with the various local governments which
sway the destinies of the Gulf States and
provinces. The tariff on most of the arti-
cles of produce which we could export
every year as surplus is unreasorably
high. In many cases, as, for instance,
-four, lard, corn, ETC., to Havana the rate
is equivalent to prohibition. In Cuba and
some Mexican cities thousands Of people
never see white bread, simply because
they can not raise money enough to pay
the customs dues. Were they placed at
q nominal rate, and comparative free
trade allowed, an immense business would
be done in exchanging the products of the
United States for coffee. sugar, logwood,
fruits, bullion, cochineal and the endless
list Of tropical articles.
Money and enterprise are powerless to
accomplish any permanent results until
the political restrictions are removed, and
commerce is freed from the fatal bonds
that fetter it. Eight dollars in gold on
every barrel of -four, three cents pound
on lard, and forty or fifty per cent ad
valorem on corn, operate as fearful per-
centage against the importation Of these
articles.
All these restrictions could be easily
removed by treaty, if such were in
sisted upon at Washington, with anything
like persistence and a consistency of pur-
pose. If the Western and Southern mem
bers of Congress, from Florida TO Mime
sofa, were to unite in one determined
effort to this end, success would be as
sured Such a market and demand for
the products of the Mississippi valley
would be created as would result in COM
pelling the Illinois Central, and the New
Orleans, st. Louis and Chicago railroad
companies to lay. down double tracks,
and quadruple their freight cars.
Europe now takes quite as much of our
products as can be disposed Of except at
a great reduction in price. In return we
receive manufactured articles and luxu-
ries, many of which we do not need and
would be better off without. Besides, in
that direction, we come in contact with
opposition from the great grain growing
region of Northern Europe, from the Bal
tic to the Caspian Sea, and the great val
ley of the Danube, and Southern Europe,
Until something of the kind above
limited at is done, the annual reviews of
the New Orleans market will continue to
show decrease in the volume of business
passing through here for the sea. There
is no subject before the people Of equal
importance to this. The currency ques-
ton, the disputes between the various
theological denominations, and even the
work Of establishing honest home rule on
Democratic basis, as understood by our
Office seeking Last Ditchers, yield in mag
nitude to the great business ofexchanging
our surplus for the valuable products Of
the tropical countries. The statesman, be
he President, Senator, or Secretary of
State, who will unlock the Gulf ports to
American commerce, will deserve every
thing at the hands of q grateful Southern
and Western people, and at the same time
greatly strengthen his own chances for
political favor.