The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-01-19
THE ENGLISH DEPUTATIoN'S
REPORT,
from the 50. Louis Republican.

Wltn tue OBJECT OF eSJaDllSnlng relatlOnS
with the Changers for mutual inter-
change of products. The trading company
is British association regularly organized,
and representing the various cooperative
associations in England associations
whose aggregate capital is 100000, 900,
and whose operations embrace various
kinds of manufacturing and nearly the
whole business Of dealing in supplies The
deputation visited New Orleans, Atlanta,
Charleston, Memphis. st. Louis, Calves
ton, Louisville, and other southern and
western cities, and made careful investi-
cation Of the southern and western states.
Their full report is printed in the 90
Operattue Ne,os, the recognized organ of
the British cooperative societies, and
shows the intelligence aud thoroughness
with which they performed their task 1t
states, as the starting fact in the enter
prise of opening a general direct trade
between Great Britain and the western
states, that the Mississippi river must be
the chief channel of the proposed trade,
and therefore "the removal of the bar at
the mouth of this river is an object of the
greatest interest, not only to the United
States but to England," because cheap
transportation of the products of either
country is a matter of supreme importance
to the producers and consumers Of both.
High traffic rates between America and
England" says the report mean for Eng-
land, dear bread and cotton, and for the
American farmer a smaller return for the
products of his land and higher price for
the manufactures he wants. A few cents
on each bushel of corn will stop millions
of bushels that should find their way to
English markets" 1t states that the
Mississippi valley is fitted by nature to be
the granary of the world; if cultivated like
England or Holland, it would support four
hundred millions of people; and cult
waited as it might be, a thousand millions
In year of full crops the corn growing
states of this valley have a surplus of
400, 0OO,000 bushels of cereals, the ship
mCul vi WIlCu W luC hGlS NuClC IL Is
needed is constantly retarded, and in a
measure prohibited by the cost of carriage
The interchange must be effectual at less
cost, and the means of securing this re-
duction are the Mississippi river and the
Gulf stream. Eighty per cent, of the
wheat surplus Of the west is grown in
districts closely bordering on the great
river, and more than six out OF nine
millions tons of agricultural products not
required in the states where they are
raised seek transportion from districts
to which the Mississippi and its tributa-
ries, il rendered available for cheap car
riage, offer route more readily accessible
than any other The report considers the
various existing and proposed routes o
transportation between the west and the
seaboard, and concludes that 1.-The advanta
ges offered by that free highway, unlimited
in capacity, and closed from St. Louis
southwark an average of only eighteen
days in the year, will be worth more t.
the producers of the West and the con
sumers Of England than all other route
whatever" The deputation visited tn
mouth of the Mississippi ndinspected til
work on the jetties. They set hig'
value on this improvement, and estimat
that it, together with a removal Of the Oh
structions to navigation at other places
the river, would reduce the cost OF cal
riage to England on grain 10 cents
bushel. The report refers to the exteI
which Great Britain is dependent on tn
United States fer grain supplies. Durin
the Is years ending 1872, the quantity {
wheat or its equivalent in -four importe
into the United Kingdom was 52S, IA 8,
cwts,, Of which nearly one third r,as su
piled by the United States, an, less tn,
one'thir3 by Russia, r. grain W
moved from the we'' to the seaboa
chiefly by the lakes. and by rail, ''the expo
on any great sjcale by the great natur
highway OF the Mississippi being prevent
by the impossibiiity of bringing lar
ocear. steamers with safety to New Orlea
on account or the impeachment at the bar
But" says the report:
with all its draw backs the total shi
ments Of wheat from St. Louis southwa
in 1873 were 1874, 36l bushels, as col
pared with 1910, 1856 in 1865. St. Lot
is the greatest centre of -four manufactu
in the world, the city mills turning o
nearly million and half barrels p
annum. The transportation of produC
from st. Louis to New Orleans and of il
ports from New Orleans to St. Louis
already well organized. and all that
needed to develop great information
trade is the organization Of a line of oce
steamers of suitable capacity and constrl
ton. The books of the Mississippi Trar
portation company show a steady incres
in the imports of salt, tinplate, chemic
and earthenware, although diminuti
in the import of railroad and pig-irC
Nor, can it be doubted that, even in sp
of the heavy and almost prohibitiye dut
imposed on English products, a large a
profitable trade might be developed in t
Mississippi valley.
The conclusion at which we have aimt
after careful review of all the facts.
that when the channel at the mouth
the Mississippi is deepened to 30 feet, a
the impediments to its free navigation
to st. Louis are removed, there is no re