New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-07-02

/ nine months of 1875, . loss of only 326, ga
bushels. But st Montreal there was loss
in receipts Of grain Of CSC, 373 bushels. 80
that at the five American ports there was a
small gain. On the other hand, receipts at
New York during the first nine months OF
1874 were "a, 166, 049 bushels, and during the
first nine mOnths of 1875 only 63 234 POI
bushels q loss of 20 93l ,84S bushels, or
nearly one quarter. In grain, excludin &
bushels during the same period, or more
than one.fonrth, for receipts Of grain in
1874 were SO, loo, 279 bushels. and in 1875
only 40, llS 5l3 bushels. But during the
same nine months receipts Of grain alone
at the five American ports were larger than
during the corresponding period in 1874 by
4 1000 1863 bushels.
The report of the Exchange, says the
New York Tribune
Attributes this loss to tho fact that
lighterage and transfer charges at this city
are about four cents per bushel, or about
81 80 per ton, while the charges at Pnila-
delphia. Baltimore and Boston are one and
three. eighths cents per bushel, including
ten days storage. The difference, about
virtually q premium paid to the Western
shipper to send his grain to other cities.
The report observes, moreover, that this
lis only the beginning of what must, in the
near future, be expected and commended
against, on q larger, grander scale, when
the improved facilities Of rival routes shall
have been brought into practical opera
ton" For the enlargement Of the St.
Lawrence canals, to be completed in 1879,
tages, and yet without those sdvanta-
ges and in spite of the reduction Of tolls
on the Erie canal, that city has nearly
maintained it's aggregate receipts, and posi-
lively increased them in proportion to the
crops handled.
Onr readers will see that the direction
Of this important commerce depends upon
the facilities of transferring the grain from
the vehicles Of interior transportation to
the ocean vessels. The Tribune says:
The business men of this city ought to be
aroused to earnest and united effOrt-such
effort as shall command all the capital need.
full to provide ample terminal facilities, and
control traffic enough to induce all trans
porters to yield to reasonable demands.
According to the theory of the REPuB-
L1cAN, trade is directed upon the lines Of
transportation which afford the most rapid
and direct transportation and delivery. In
this point of view it will become i'm
portant to New Orleans to see that no
heavier charges on through grain shall be
imposed at our port than elsewhere. If the
charge of lighterage and transfer at New
York equals four cents bushel, then we
should not allow anything like the same
rate to be imposed here. We have called
the attention of the Common Council to
the importance of holding control of the
wharfage rates, in order that we may
enter upon this competition which seems
to depend upon reduced rates of
charges. We repeat that drawback
should be given to the shipper
of grain foreign, equal to the wharfage
imposed on the river and ocean vessels on
which the grain has been transported.
We may not save the through trade of this
city, except by giving up or reducing the
local charges. The profits of the through
trade consist in the reduction of freights
upon the local trade that accompanies it.
It results from the control Of the financial
values invested in the trade and the indus
trial advantages to the ship carpenter, the
dock companies and the ship chandler.
If, then, it shall become necessary to re-
duce or repeal the port charges on the
grain trade-we do not advise it as to any
other commerce-the Common Council
should not fail to adopt it. Other cities
suffer from the same diversion of trade
which af1icts New Orleans, and We should
adopt the same means of protecting our
of which they have set the ex-
ample.