The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-06-09
Tonnage of the Mississippi.

The following article we take from the edi-
torial columns of the Baltimore Sun of the
3rd. 1t will be seen that it is consolidation
of some of the salient points of an address
delivered by Mr.. F. G. Morehead, President of
the Mississippi Planters Association, and
gives very encouraging insight to the increas-
ing commerce of the Mississippi river and the
prosperity of the country drained by it. We
publish it as an indication of the future of the
South. Taken with the vast railroad schemes
and connections now well in hand, it points to
great future for the Southern States
The address made by President Morehead at
Memphis, at the annual meeting of the Mssis
sppi Valley Planters Association, fairly bris-
tied with points of interest. The subjects
discussed by him, and fortified by an elaborate
array of statistics, were The share system in
raising cotton" 1.-THE value ofimproved labor
saving machinery in economizing the cost of
production )" "the Importance of developing
manufactures at the South" ''the improve
ment of the Mississippi river" 1.-THE necessity
ofsmore railroads and the subject OF immigra-
ton" These heads cover wide field of argu-
ment and explanation. But,what particularly
concerns us of the Atlantic seabOard are the
statistics that Mr. Morehead presents of the
tonnage of the Mississippi river, and of the
steady increase of grain shipments from the
= -
Morehead gives figures to show that the total
tonnage of the Mississippi river, comprising
streamers and barges, amounts to 1,107 414
tons, which. averaging twelve trips year to
each vessel, gives 13,2S9,6S tons of freight
carried per year. In re-statng this fact he
goes on to say:
Now the total river, lake and ocean ton
mage of the United States is 4,05S,937 tons,
which is less than four times that ofthe Mis-
sissppi river and its tributaries. Estimating
that all vessels in our calculation will average
12 round trips year of their full tonnage ca
pacity. we would, by multiplying the CARRYING
capacity 1,1O7, 474 tons by -, obtain Il, 29S,-
6SS tons as the total tons of freights carried
by vessels on the Mississippi and its larger
tributaries per year. Much more might be
added if data could have been obtained from
the smaller streams, over Cincinnati being
| omitted on account OF not getting data in
time.
He estimates that the agricultural products
last year of the country tributary tothe Mis-
sissippi amounted in wheat, corn, rye and
oats, to 2OOO,O0O,O0O bushels, and he argues
that the farmers of the Mississippi valley "can
ship their grain to Europe by the river at less
than one-half the cost of shipping it to New
York, and several cents per bushel less, on a
through rate to Europe via New Orleans, than
| it is possible to obtain from any city on the
Atlantic seaboard." He predicts that in the
course of a few years the present infant grain
| shipments via New Orleans will swell to such
| vast proportions as few dream of to day.
| Whether this prediction will he verified time
| alone can determine. That there are some
drawbacks to its success we shall see present
| y. In the meantime, the st. Louis shippers
| are enthusiastic over the barge system, and
sanguine that it will divert a considerable
portion of the grain trade from the eastern
ports. The scale on which they are undertake
| ing this new enterprise is characteristic OF
| Western energy. On Monday, the 10Th of the
present month"; the tow-b boat Oakland left st.
Louis with tow of barges in two sections.
| containing eleven thousand tons of grain. Two
other lows were to follow, with about two
hundred and fifty thousand bushels each, and
Il third-a monster" tow-Was then in prepa-
ton. We cite these announcements as signs
of the times, and as evidence of the energy
with which the Western people take hold of a
new thing, not always counting the risks
they incur. Among these risks is the danger
of grain heating in its progress down the Mis-
| sissippi to the sea. They have had already
some experience of this. Although the hot
weather had not yet set in, it is reported that
grBin shipped by the barge lines cheated and
swelled SO badly as to make it unfit for the
market" The Southern railroads are also OBJ
viously afraid OF being subjected to claims for
| damages from this cause. All the lines run
ming south by way of Cairo have been Motif
ed by the agents of the Georgia and Western
| Atlantic Railroads that they will not trans
port any more corn unless released from
claims for damages and the freight guaranteed.
1t is proper, however, to say that these pre-
cautions may, in part at least, be owing to the
fact that large quantities of Western corn
were stored, as usual, in the husk in open
pens, and that last winter and during the
spring it was subjected to unusually heavy
SHOWS and rains, and much OF it was shelled
damp from the cob But, even at Chicago and
elsewhere, under the best conditions corn in
bulk requires careful handling to prevent it
from heating during hot weather.