The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-11-17
Commercial and Financial Matters.

Yesterday s7oe bales OF cotton were received
| here by river. and 1883 bales by railroad.
| The bark Trino cleared yesterday Cor Queens
| town, England, with cargo OF 2e.sso bushels oil
corn in bulk.
The towboat Port Eads. with barges, will ar
rive to-day from st. Louis. bringing 113.1o4
bushels of bulk corn $3.50 sacks Of oil cake, be-
sides large assortment Of Western produce.
| The Cotton Exchange of Memphis has ad-
! dressed circular to planters, shippers, steam
| boatmen and persons having charge of cotton
| landings, setting forth the Importance Of adopt
ing better methods for taking core of colt on
| while awaiting shipment and while being
loaded on board boats The circular declares
| that greater care is taken of bale Of hay than
| of O bale Of cotton In places of shipment, and
that the entire value Of bale Of hay is often
| less than the damage to bale Of cotton when
| rolled over In the mud and water"
The Coffee Trade.
| In our Yesterdays issue we gave the grara,ner
of the charge made by Western buyers against
the New York and Baltimore sellers. or jobbers.
In the article of coffee and there is no necessi-
ty of our repeating the same. Suffice 1t to say
| that. according to present appearances, there Is
IN irreconcilable difference between the Eastern
receivers, or jobbers, and the Western consum-
ers. We of the city Of New Orleans should OK
ert our energies to take advantage Of this state
of affairs and endeavor to restore to our city
the trade in coffee that has been. to great ex-
tent lost to us.
To convey an idea Of the Iiminution In this
trade we will give few facts which will speak
for themselves. For the period of ten years be-
fore the war the city OF New Orleans engrossed
fully one-third Of the imports from Brazil !:
since the war the receipts at this port have not
quite come up to one-tenth Of the importations
from that country. We were formerly the great
receiving port in this line of the United States.
and five or six representatives of the great
houses of Baltimore habitually spend two or
three months during the winter In this city en-
gagged in purchasing coffee to supply the de-
mands of their customers. as did old Capt. VIM.
Gay and Robert Buchanan, of pious memory, In
the sugar line.
This little imbroglio which has recently
sprung up between the New York and Balti-
more importers and the Western buyers and
consumers. will inevitably inure to our benefit.
Our coffee men do business on much more
liberal scale than their brethren In the North
and East. and this fact. which we will demon
strate hereafter. should convince our Western
friends that they should get their coffee from
New Orleans.
The Chicago Fire and the New Orleans
Underwriters.
Every one Of our readers will no doubt re-
member the great fire In Chicago. which took
place some four or five years ago. by which
millions of dollars of property were swept
away in few hours. Commencing with the
ridiculously insignificant circumstance of an oil
In boip oh Nv in a harp all
uated In the suburbs of the city the fire. famed
by u strong wind then blowing. rapidly spread,
and permeated-if We may.use the expression
the very heart Of the city, destroying its most
substantial and ornamental buildings. which
were the pride and glory OF Chicago. From the
"fervent heat of this confagration granite and
iron seemed to melt away like frost before the
sun.
Since this occurrence it has been the study Of
Chicagoans to erect buildings which will bid de-
fiance to the attacks Of the fire fiend. Among
these. which have been put up within the last
three years. is that known as the Singer
Building" occupied by Messrs. Field, Letter &
Co.. the great dry goods men OF that city, which
was destroyed by fire last Thursday. This
building was Of five stories. built OF marble and
iron with metal roof; there were two stands
OF pipes. and hose attached, on each floor; three
plugs IOT CITY eU8lHeS use, bWO lIOH ou
the top floor always kept full Of water. iron
shutters on every side Of the building. stone
| sidewalks. Babcock extinguishers throughout
the building, with special watchmen on duty
| night and day, with watch clocks" to indicate
their faithfulness In the discharge of their duty
| Notwithstanding all these precautions this
great building. costing about 100000, having
within its walls stock of goods valued at ST.
100000, was destroyed by fire. There are nc
charges made or insinuated that this was 6
case of incendiarism.
II the telegraphic reports are to be credited
this fire will entail loss upon six of our insur
ance companies, amounting In the aggregate tc
$45, 0O0 Now. the natural question arises, es
pecially among our local stockholders. were
these risks prudently and judiciously taken
Taking into consideration the construction o.
the building, the extraordinary precautions
adopted by its builders and owners against
the occurrence OF fire. we cannot but thnl
| that our underwriters acted we'll and wisely
| The risks taken on this property were at tht
same rate of premium charged on similar
stocks Of goods in brick buildings in the city o.
| No,