The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-16
THE BRAZIL SUBSIDY.

granting subsidy to the Brazilian steamship
line, which originated In the Senate.
It will certainly be great national misfor
tune should this measure miscarry. Wher
we take into consideration the depressed con
dition of all our industrial interests, the vas
amount OF suffering and discomfort re
; sulting therefrom, and the universally
recognized cause of it the excess
Of the capacity to produce over anC
above the demands of the markets tc
which we have access, and the consequent
enforced idleness Of our surplus labor-we re.
peat, when these facts are considered, there
is no question before Congress of more para
mount importance than the substituting Of
the Brazilian line Of steamships. broad
and liberal commercial policy looking to the
establishment Of our trade with the countries
south of us upon the natural and healthful
basis of barter and exchange, In the place of
the present system by which we pay out
gold, to enrich English merchants, for the
products of those countries, would do more to
allay the Communism and labor troubles
with which the country is disturbed than all
the theoretical politics and dogmatic pro-
nunciamentoes that Congress can evolve be-
tween now ana Q0OLnSday.
The following extract from the letter of
Gen. Bussey to the Baltimore Board of Trade
sets forth the disadvantages attending our
present commercial intercourse with Brazil
and, at the same time suggests the only DOS
sible remedy-the establishment of direct and
rapid means Of transportation. Says Gen.
Bassey:
Every intelligent business man In this coun-
try knows that we never can build ltp a COM
merce with Brazil until we establish steam
ship lines with that country equal to those
running between Great Britain and Brazil.
At present an English ship, with cargo of
merchandise and breadstuffs, every article Of
to Brazil, then takes a cargo of coffee and
sails to New York, and with the money paid
for the coffee, together with the profits of the
ship, takes cargo ofewheat and other articles
have paid for the coffee is paid out to English
merchants for another cargo for Brazil. Is it
not perfectly apparent that ii the vessels
which bring to us nearly $50, 000, 900 worth of
the products OF Brazil annually, returned
from our ports TO Brazil, we would sell to
Brazil nearly 900 worth of our manu-
features and products OF our soil Can we
ever hope to bring about this great object
against the influence of subsidized British
steamship lines by means of small feet of
sail vessels belonging to some very worthy
merchants Of Baltimore? The insignifcance
of our trade with Brazil-only about 81, 900, 600
a year-shows the fact that British influence
is too powerful for us until we determine to
go to work In earnest to protect our CONNER
cial rights.
The conditions that govern the trade with
New York apply here The ship that brings
coffee from Brazil to New Orleans loads here
with cotton for Liverpool, and there it gets
it's cargo of merchandise for Rio. All that it
Is necessary to accomplish is to send these
ships back to Rio, direct, with merchandise,
produce and manufactures produced by our
own people. Until this is accomplished we
have really no such thing as a commerce with
Brazil.
Commerce implies exchange Of merchan-
disc or commodities, and so long as this
exchange does not exist there is no COM
merce This certainly does not exist now,
and there is but one way in which such re-
lations can be established, and that Is by the
subsidizing of lines of steamships direct
between our own ports and the countries
from which we necessarily procure many of
the staples of commerce.
In regard to the national character of the
benefits to be derived from this direct COM
munication, and the solicitations which in
duced the action of the Senate, Gen. Bussey
says:
The manifest of the City of Rio, which sailed
from New York to Brazil in May last, shows
$500 barrels Of flour from Baltimore and $500
from Richmond. The City of Para, which
sailed from New York to Brazil last week, had
from Baltimore 7167 barrels flour, and 5516
from Richmond. The freight on the flour
from Baltimore to New York was twenty-five
cents per barrel, and from Richmond thirty
cents per barrel These facts sufficiently illus
trate the value of this line to the merchants
of Baltimore and Richmond, should Congress
pass the bill, fixing Norfolk as the point of
departure for the New York line.
In February last large and influential
convention, composed of delegates represent
ing all the important towns and cities Of the
country, assembled in this city, and unani-
mously memorialized Congress to establish
mail steamship lines between the United
States and South America. In July last there
assembled at Old Point Comfort, Va, con-
vention Of three hundred delegates, repre-
senting all the important towns and cities Of
the South. After careful consideration a
committee reported, and the convention unan
imously adopted the following resolution
The establishment on some substantial basis
Of mail contracts of steamship lines between
Northern and Southern seaports and ports of
South America, Central America and the West
Indies The commercial bodies of New Or
leans Memphis, Louisville, st. Louis, Cincin-
natl, Pittsburg, New York and other cities
adopted similar resolutions, and in response
to the unanimous demand Of these large, in
telligent and influential bodies, the Senate, by
decided majority, passed a bill establishing
line from New York via Norfolk to Brazil,
which will furnish facilities for reaching that
market to the manufacturers OF New Eng
land, the merchants and manufacturers Of
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Della
ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, East Tennessee, and West
Virginia. The New Orleans line will furnish
the same outlet to the manufacturers and
producers of the States of the Mississippi
valley.
From this it will be seen that this legisla- |
ton is demanded by almost every city of any
Importance in the Union. The only opposi- |
ton to 1t Is local, and comes from the mer