The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-08-04
THE POSTAL CONVENTION.
OUR POSTAL AND TRADE COMMVNsEA- A.
TON WITH SPANISH AMERICA,
Letter from the Hon. william VI. purwe,,.

AeeefF HVW she Hon. William VI. HurweIi.
New ORLEANS July 10. 1877.
Hon. Chas. e. Fenner Delegate tn tho Postal
Convention
Sir take pleasure in compIyinp with
your request to furnish you with nv views
and such facts as | have gathered touching
the subject Of postal and trade cornmunina-
tion with Spanish America
IL Will not be necessary to occupy spnee in
tabuiating the value of the foreign trade of
the States and Colonies upon this Continent
south OF the United States. It will be as-
sumed at u total Of $3.50, ,OOO, 900 annually. of
which the proportion enjoyed by the ports
Oh the United States east Of the Rocky Noun
talns is perhaps ten per cent. or about fifty
millions. 1t will not be objected that we
claim for that portion Of this American peo-
pie who dwell along the meridian of the Mis-
sissippi Valley their ratable share of this
commerce, nor that the people of Canada
West, whose line Of tropical trade comedies
with our own, should employ the same ports
and carriers as to this trade with our own
citizens. Let us assume, then, the g2d parallel
of longitude as tho axis of this inter-
course. 1t corresponds with and confirms
what Lieut.. Maury long since predicted of
the complementary commerce of the Amazon
and the Mississippi rivers.
A population of more than twenty millions
lies along this line Of least distance and in
surance, north Of New Orleans. They pro-
duce q surplus Of manufactures and pro-
visions only limited by tho demand. domestic
and foreign. The intercourse between these
natural customers has been perverted from
it's original course by the superior facilities
offered at the East. A single illustration will
suffice. According to the American Minister
at Brazil, the American people consume more
coffee per capita than any Others and, he
adds, the Southern States more than any
other part of the Union. In 1874 New Or
leans, the proper port for the supply Of these
twenty millions Of consumers. only i'm
ported six per cent Of the whole supply inn
ported into the United States. Setting aside
for the moment the true line which should
supply the flour Of st. Louis and the hog
products Of Cincinnati and Chicago in ex-
change for the coffee of Brazil, we will
assume that the proportion Of the trade values
to which the population referred to is entitled
will Justify the establishment Of q regular
postal and mercantile service between the
port Of New Orleans and those Of Rio jan
GIRO and Aspinwall respectively. It will be-
como proper, therefore, to inquire In what
manner this enterprise may be effected with
the most advantage to this country.
Ocean and overland transportation has
come to approximate navigation, in the direct
ness OF transit between departure and des-
tination. Aspinwafl, on the Isthmus of Pana-
ma, is in latitude 10degrees north, longitude
50 degrees west from Paris. New Orleans
is in latitude 20 degrees north, longitude 90
degrees west from Paris. The diagonal
which connects these two ports will be, ae-
cording to Berghaus, 400 miles, At twelve
miles an hour, the steam time between these
two ports would be- four days and twenty
hours running time. The papers to-day adver-
tise time of "sixty-two hours from New Or
leans to New York" This makes q total run
ming time between Asptnwall and New York,
via New Orleans, Of seven days and ten hours
We may state the distance between Aspin-
wall and New York, via st. Thomas, upon the
same authority, at 2453 miles, which, at the
same rate, will make running time Of eight
days and eighteen hours. There would be
thus saving OF one day and eight hours,
mail time, on the Now Orleans route, with
the advantage Of the telegraph after the ar
rival OF the steamer ut that port The saving
OF mail time and OF travelling expenses Of the
interior centres may be found by the differ
ence of mail time between New Orleans and
New York and such centres, respectively.
There would be the further consideration
with those centres that their tropical business
would be in part conducted by their own
railroads and river craft.
tits unnecessary to consider the competition
Of these inboard with the coast lines of trans
portation. 1t is an established fact that
passengers, specie and other insurable goods
prefer the rail to the coast steamer Our
Eastern coast steamer tonnage has diminished
within few years past, and the railroads
from the North and West have brought to
than 100000 OF merchandise. 1t may be
inferred that these roads can as well stand
the competition OF the steamers upon the
whole voyage as upon that between New Or
leans and New York. In estimating these
considerations OF safety and rate OF insurance
which enter 50 much into the calculations of
commerce, we cannot forbear to reproduce an
important argument in favor OF the voyage
through the Gulf of Mexico and the caribbean
Sea employed by Hon. e. q. Squier, in his ad-
vocaey of railroad across Honduras, from
Puerto Cabello to the Bay of Fonseca He
published a tabular list OF fifty hurricanes,
occurring from the year 1875 to 1888, and Illus
trated their track by a chart From this it
appears that within a century and half but
one of these tropical hurricanes extended as
far west as the shores Of Central America,
while all the rest crossed the track OF voy-
age between New York and San Domingo or
st. Thomas twice in the curve Of it's course.
1t may be supposed that a proposal to be-
stow the postal contract between the United
States and the ports stated would meet with
much opposition in Congress It i3 very true
that the influence of the Pacific Railroad has
been cast against the Panama crossing, and
that New York, single-handed has been un-
able to contend with that influence The
present proposition has, however, much
stronger hackers. 1t will be subsequently
shown that an inboard service will enlist
large amount Of railroad and representative
influence in Congress. The great strength OF
the proposition, however, will consist in the
economy which it offers to the pOstofice
service. which now falls so many millions