New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-10-22
NEW LAWS OF TRADE.

additions made to the manufacturing ca
pabilties of such countries as England b,
the use of machinery, and found in then
the chief cause of that over-pro1uctiol
which has carried supply beyond the ut
most limits of demand. If England now
with her immense steam power and tire
less metallic aids, is capable Of producin.
as large a quantity of manufactured arti
cles as could be produced by the com
bined manufacturing skill and industr.
Of the entire world before the spinning
jenny was invented, the problem of over
production is easily explained. For no
/ only has the manufacturing power O
England been enormously increased, but
through the same agencies, that of othel
countries also. Here then, with no ma
terial increase on the old demand, thu
manufacturing capabilities of our race
have advanced to an almost illimitabls
extent, and as production, when it ex
ceeds demand becomes r-production
and as production involves ruirou:
competition among producers, together
with consequent commercial and indus.
trial difficulties, it is not hard to account
for those trade depressions of which the
whole world has recently complained.
There is, however, another elemen!
which materially affects the relations be-
tween producers and consumers, and that
is, practical decrease Of the distances
by which they were formerly separated.
Speedy communication by telegraph, and
speedy transportation by steamships and
railway lines, have given new laws not
only to domestic but to foreign commerce.
The merchants who, by new order for
goods, can in few days, or at most
weeks, meet every possible trade demand,
finds himself released from the once ex-
isting necessity Of keeping large stock
on hand at oil times, in anticipation Of
possible or expected customers. He can
trade on a smaller capital, and he does so
by making the nimble sixpence do the
work Of slow shilling. Bot the bur.
den Of which he is relieved falls
elsewhere. The goods he can speed
lily order by telegraph and speedily
receive by rail or steam must be kept
or they can not be obtained
when wanted. Under the operations of
the new laws of trade, the burden Of hold
ing goods till they are needed falls upon
the manufacturer, and where the manu-
facturer happens to be weak financially
ne is compelled to make sacrifices which
ire incapable Of afording anything be-
7ond mere momentary relief. With this
abnormal pressure on manufacturing in
erests many of the weaker concerns are
orced into failure, and the complaint of
lard times, which originated in other
quarters, has thus been intensified
A communication in the Liverpool Dailg
Post on the cotton situation states that |
ince the opening Of the Suez canal The
,hole system of trade with the Els. has |
Undergone an entire revolution, and this
ot only as to India, but as to China. For
,erly large stocks Of goods, especially cot
IN goods ana yarns, were held at Bombay |
nd other import towns, or on shipboard,
= the long and tedious route around the
ape. All this, however, is at present
hanged. Local stocks and those in
'ansitu are materially reduced, for, thanks
the telegraph and canals, goods can be
rdered from India, and received from
.ngland within seven weeks. This change
! the current Of trade forces Manchester
nd other manufacturing centres to keep
lrger stocks Of goods on hand than were
'rmerly considered necessary, fog sur
lus must be held until the purchasing
rders are received, and these orders are
DIV regulated rather by actual than pros
ective demands, and their frequency, by
le practical distance in time and space
etween producers and consumers.
1t is quite possible that, without prop
" estimating the considerations just
oticed, the manufacturers have been in
iced to regard their trade prospects as
orse than they actually are. The panic
hich set in three years ago, and the po-
ical troubles which affected so many
ntres of population and consumption,
We intensified what otherwise might
We been mere temporary difficulties,
d continued the disadvantage of operat-
3 on a constantly declining market.
he bottom has, however, at length been
1ched, and if the relations between sup
7 and demand are regulated with any
rewd degree Of industrial and financial ;
esight, the course will hereafter be on
I'd and upward. Even now the silver
ing of the cloud is beginning to show
elf Manchester, though constantly
has done more business in
4nufactured goods within the last three
'nths than during any corresponding
arter since 1873. And what is true of
lnchester is, to greater or less extent,
e as to other centres Of production.
Within the last three years the impor-
ions Of goods to this country have been \
atty reduced, as compared with expor- Il
ions, and the balance of trade, which U
l for long period ruled against US, is !
Y unquestionably in our favor. We
re been using up our old stocks, wear u
out our old clothes, as it were, and
rning from that hard teacher, expert u
"a tho ac0nOynv rbioI, 10 ,ooo,oo,,r - | II