Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1876-09-08
The CustOul.HOuse CnF.

The Custom-house car, as 1t IS called.
is very simple contrivance. Ii was
inv. u.ed for the accommodation OF I'M
poIteis in the interior Of the country.
The Z PODS which they purchase III for
eign lands are placed. On their arrival at
the sea port, in one Of these cars. which
IS IS .ied up by the customs authorities.
When the place is reached for which the
the goods are destined the seals are re
moved, the duties are paid and the
transaction is ended. The arrangement,
is exclusively American and was devised
in the interests of economy. Bat 1t has
been attained with results which were
anticipated only by few at the time OF
was adoption Of the system. 1t may be
Z garded as an invention for the humll-
iition Of sea ports. If there had been
no Custom house car, al! foreign goods
would have to go into store at the port
of their arrival. Interior merchants in
need of them wosld have to travel to
tina, port to purchase. This once placed
all the foreign trade in the hands Of the
merchant on the seaboard.
The goods were hauled from the Gus
tom house to the warehouse. This
gave employment to draynen and b
large number of dock laborers. They
went into store, aud yielded profit to
the owner Of the real estate. They were
taken care of by clerks and moved about
by porters, ana in this way great many
persons made q living. In process OF
time they were sold to interior mer-
chants, aud carted away again to the
depot of the railroad by which his place
of business WAS reached. But most Of
these opportunities for hidden en- have
been swept away Dy the Custom house
car. The goods for the interior trader
now arrive at the port nearest to him.
are put into q Custom-house car ana
dispatched directly to him. There is 20
expense of handling. except that for the
tran sfer from ship to Car. Chicago, s..
Louis, Plttsburg, indianapolis, have
as New York, Boston, Baltimore or
Philadelphia. Their merchants impor'
from Europe, and the goods come AS
direct to them a. 20 merchants on the
seaboard.
We have here beyond question one Of
the causes Of the commercial stagna'ion
in the Atlantic seaports. They are no
longer the agents for factors exclusively
of the great interior. On the contrary,
uuder the operation of the Custom
house car they have only 10 buy for
their own communities and the country
Immediately surrounding them. The
effect, undoubtedly. is TO depress Sea-
ports and build up the great distribute
ing points of the interior. The out
come for US is San Franciso has MOI
been. however. by any means 80 marked.
The reason is that as respects the rest
of the country, though fronting on the
vast Pacific, our city is in sense .
city in the far interior. We. like
Chicago. st. Louis, Pittsbu,g, Indianap-
oils aud other cities. import largely
from Europe. and goods Of certain des-
criptious TO come to VI, across the Pacific
railroads. If there had been no Custom
house cars our purchases, at least for
imported by rail, would
have to be made in New York As q
we would be supporting
crowd of middlemen there-teamstsrs,
dock laborers, rent for storage. book
keepers, statesmen, porters and fancy
clerks. At least they would all be-
living, in part, by the handling Of
goods in trsnsitu for us.-lS. +. 8ulls-
tin Sent s.