The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-11-14
commercial and Financial Matters.

q Yesterday az 600 hogs we're received at Chica-
70, and 900 the day before making 81. 600 hogs
For the two days, which are unusually large
receipts even for that great meat port.
IN those DAYS of meanness and cupidity, 1t is
nleasant to place on record an act Of OPEN
handed charity on the part of a man Of wealth.
Mr.. James Brown. the famous merchant and
banker. the senior Of the firm of Brown & Bros,
whose death was announced some days ago. left
$40 600 to church and charitable purposes.
Three steamers cleared yesterday for foreign
ports with an aggregate Of 1928 bales of cot
ton, distributed as follows: the Frankfurt, for
Bremen, 2sl4 bales with IL ,533 bushels of corn in
bulk; the Baltimore, for Revel. $3.50 bales. and
the Aurrera. for Liverpool, 1850 bales. These
ships carried also large consignments Of other
articles. Steamships seem to be doing lively
business.
A dispatch to the Board of Underwriters, re-
ceived yesterday. announces the fact that the
steamboat J. F. Tolle. reported as destroyed by
fire on Saturday at Grand Gulf, sunk in twenty
seven feet Of water. The cargo is total loss
She had on board only forty five bales Of cotton.
which were taken on board at Hard Times land
ing. only few miles from the scene of the dis
aster.
Our flour market is well stocked, but there Is
no demand except for local consumption. The
fact is, there is little or no export demand for
this article. European consumers Jour West
Indian and South American trade in this line
having been reduced to a ridiculously small
fgure prefer to get their wheat in it's crude
State and lido their own milling. Hence the
great demand for bulk wheat and very little for
-four. There are too many mills running now
to meet the exigencies of the times. 1t is an old
saying that the mills of the gods grind slow
ly;" our Western friends are grinding theirs
too fast at present, as they have found out to
their cost. The logical deduction is that they
are not the gods" of the situation,
Quite q number of New Orleans capitalists
have reason to remember the Rosin Oil Com
pany, established just prior to the war. This
enterprise promised well. and did admirably
for a short period; but then came the war. and
contempo1 aneously the discovery of petroleum,
yelling up. as it were, spontaneously from the
soil OF Pennsylvania, which, from its remarka-
BILE cheapness, put an effectual estopel upon the
manufacture Of oil from the product of our
pine forests. 1t seems from recent accounts
h that petroleum has. to a considerable extent
superseded the use of another article of com
mence viz: alcohol. In fact the trade in alco-
hol and alcoholic spirits is suffering great
depression. 1t is beset with many diff
culties, among which are: The discovery of
petroleum, the large increase in the European
manufacture of alcohol, the decrease in the use
of that article in American manufactures. the
greatly increased consumption of lager beer
and the establishment Of that great industry
Previous to the discovery Of petroleum very
the growth of American wines and brandies
large portion of the alcohol made in the United
States was turned into burning fluid. or used as
substitute for the more expensive animal and
fish oils. In the manufacture of alchol this
country had once almost an exclusive monopoly
Considerable attention is being paid in Mex,
leo to the production of coffee. that industry
having been largely developed within the pas
six years. About 5000 900 pounds are now an.
nually exported from Vera Cruz.
Recent severe storms in the Adriatic were the
cause of some very successful fishing in the
lagoons of Venice The fish were driven uL
into the shadows and taken in immense quain
titles. At one single point 100000 eels were
caught in a couple Of nights.
Texas made this year 1000 bales of cotton
from which will be obtained 0,o00,0 900 pounds
of seed. This seed, converted into Oil, would
bring over S14 900 900. The total exports OF cot
toni from the port Of Galveston DUR ing the sea.
son just closed were 495, Sl4 bales, OF which $50,
92S went to foreign and 23s 1856 to domestic ports