New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-14
TEE ool0rER0IAL SITUATION.

not only are the laws silent during war,
but the wheels Of commerce and finance |
are arrested also. The Times quotations |
OF our local stock market show no oper-
atoms in the stock of five Of our sixteen
banking institutions, nine of our seven
teen insurance Offices, five out of twenty
three joint stock companies. The arrest
of transactions in bonds is equally OBJ
vious. Asingle quotation is made Of con-
solidated State. OF city securities, trans
actions are confined to premium and con-
solidated, while out of a list of eighteen
classes of city debts, fifteen were without
movement.
In like manner operations in State war
rants and certificates were suspended,
while the claims Of policemen and teachers
are held at ten per cent more than is Of
fered for them. II is known that the
holders of these stocks depend more or
less upon their sale or hypothecation for
the means of business or subsistence.
Such an arrest of their sale and circula-
lation must aid the usurers and pawn
brokers, while it leaves the holders Of
these securities in sad condition.
The REPUBLICAN, hrs heretofore adj
verted to the suspended increase of our
cotton receipts. The Times, in very full
report of the commercial situation, says:
The receipts at this port for the week
show falling off of II, 1875 bales compared
l to last we elk, and AZ, 43S bales compared to
| the corresponding week last year, which
wipes out sll excess over last season and
| places the figures of our receipts since Sep
/ TENDER l3l, s175 bales behind those of the
same time last year.
1t also says the movement Sat the other
ports was larger than was anticipated, u
and notes that while the receipts at the
interior towns are less than last year, they
are ''larger than last week"
We trust that this stoppage and deter.
mination in another direction will be but
temporary, but there is another serious
danger to our market under even unjust
suspicion. The same paper from which
we quote gives the range of seventy-fvt
cotton prices in fourteen seaport and in.
terror markets. We find the price at New
York 10 3-16c; at New Orleans 1880
The prices at Galveston are two-eights
cent per pound less than here. The prict
at Savannah and Charleston is better
by an eighth than ct New Orleans
There is, however, price paid at all til,
places quoted, and this seems to be tn,
Liverpool price, less the cost Of deliver.
in that market From this it would appea
that though our market may be usual,
preferred over many others when there il
no actual or imaginary impediment to it
operations, yet that we hold no monopol.
in the receipt and sale Of cotton. Tn
very rumor that our government is in
state of armed conflict, ridiculousl,
spread abroad by our rivals-the appre
hension that our financial affairs may b
so complicated by events as to rende
even the most honest intentions incapabl
of doing justice to consignments, Wit
the great modern fact that q certifcat
Of shipment is q capital, and even cur
rency, in the hands of the holder, upol
which be may realize at many places in
stead Of in q single or special mar
ket, combine to account for the ares
and even temporary transfer Of thi
trade to other and rival markets. It j
certain that our cotton receipts have re
Gently declined, and that of other MAI
kets have increased, and this we fee
authorized to attribute to the apprehen
sion of shippers that something may hap
pen TO their cotton shipped throug
this route, which can not happen upol
other routes and in other markets.
There are some other subordinate con
sequences Of the political commotiou
Clerks and journeymen can not wait O
customers and carry arms at the sam
time. Trains Of artillery interfere Wit
the movement Of the drays and Goats
The question of financial authorit
arrests transactions in public certificates
while the pawnbroker and note shave
prosper and fatten as the vultures afte
the battle. There is no doubt that Ia
Republican government desires urgentl
and ardently the inevitable action Of th
Federal government, but this emergenc
of restored order is not so pressing upol
the government as upon the capital an
industry now paralyzed by the eonstsn
apprehension Of popular collision or Of
military solution which might suspen,
al the legislation and official admins
iration Of the State and city.