The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-08-20
The Trade of Richmond.

The following communication docs ~
more than Justice TO the businessmen o
Richmond. Indeed, II we were to say wha
we really think, we should say that no cit,
ON Garth has ever shown more enterpris
than has this city Ct Richmond. We hav
heard men who have resided in the ia
West declare that even in such hyperboreal
regions as the State OF Minnesota n
northern man can compete with th
Virgiuians In the matter OF persist
cnt industry and continuous labor. Ant
why should this not I've trueg There 1
not cultivated on the face OF the earth an
other staple which requires such uninter
hitting attention-and as the planters trul.
enough say, for sixteen months in tn
year--as does tobacco. II Virginians ar
not persistently industrious, then no othe
persons in the world ought to be, since
none others can possibly have q bette
training. So In the cities. Necessity ha'
compelled our businessmen 10 be enter
prising, iar-seeing. and industrious.
The correspondent OF the Petersburg
Indc1-Appedi, writing from Richmond un'
der date OF the 18th instant says he chad ;
long conversation last night with mem
Der OF an old mercantile firm which has
been IN business here for thirty years. Ht
is familiar with the trade OF the city, anC
assures me il is falling of from year tt
YEAR" &c, &C., and instances the fact that
one house here "lust before The war SOLO
$4,000 barrels OF -four on commission. and
this year will not put 1000 on the market
Lynchburg once sent Hour mere D!
the 1000 barrels. She now sells from
her own doors. Our large mills thai
can turn out 1000 barrels a day are moi
running on full time" &C., "and much OF
the wheat sold here is not for this market
but shipped to Cherbourg, France He
ought also to have added that houses tha
used to sell large quantities OF coiee-man!
thousand sacks yearly-do not no,1 sell
sack, and thus proved things still worse
1t is surprising that the correspondent o
an enterpising paper like the Inder-Ap
peal should have written such letter a
that and not have seen that the conclusion
stated did not at all follow from the pre-
misses OF the merchant of thirty years eX
perience.
1t can by the same kind Of argument b'
proved that every city in the country L
losing its trade. Richmond used TO shll
many thousands OF barrels OF flour to Boston
She now ships none or nearly none, but sell
"ber flour from her doors" Does this prove
that the trade OF Boston is falling off,
Norfolk used to ship many thousand bales
OF cotton to New York. She how ships
more cotton to Europe than New York
herself, being the second cotton port IN
the country; therefore, according to the
old merchants argument, the trade OF New
York must be in bad way.
Again, but trltlc OF the wheat that goes
TO New York, Baltimore, or any other mar
ket OF consequence, is consumed there, but
goes abroad. 1t is a strange argument to
say that. because all the receipts OF wheat
or other raw material received at Il market
are not consumed there, but shipped
abroad, the trade OF that place is falling oil.
Trade is trade, whether you buy and sell to
your own people or foreigners; and most
markets i'm this country try to increase
their foreign trade and ship as much rs
possible.
1t would seem that the old merchants
idea OF a Prosperous business is that the
people OF 4 town should not ship anything,
but trade entirely among themselves, thus
realizing OIL large scale the idea embodied
in the old story of the two Yankees, who.
being cast away on q desert island, made
each large fortune by swapping jack
knives with each other.
This theme OF the falling off Of the trade
OF Richmond is favOrite one with other
old merchants besides the one alluded to
by the correspondent of the Inder-AppeGl,
but any one with half an eye can see that
IL, ~ 1an Il
running out OF Richmond ended nowhere,
you may say, without through traffic ar
rangements, and doing comparatively lit
tie business. Now they are giants conf
pared to those existing before the war,
with branches and connections extending
thousands OF miles and yeaching TO almost
every town and village in the country.
and instead of two or three insignifi-
cant little steamers plying between
here and New York we have the magniti-
cent Old Dominion line. 1t is unnecessary
TO extend the comparison. We may not
get as much -four from Lynchburg as we
used to, but we get thousands OF barrels OF
flour and hundreds Of carloads of grain
from Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota. Michigan
and even from California. from none OF
which came a barrel OF flOur or a buShel OF
grain to this market before the war. II
cannot be safely asserted that the grain anC
-four trade mentioned above does not more
than counterbalance the loss of flour iron
Lynchburg, or even loss OF $4,000 barrel,
per annum in the sales OF the commission
merchant above referred 10.
The trade OF Richmond is not what il
ought to be, owing to the lack OF enter
prise on the part Of her merchants, nor il
il what il is 10 be hoped it soon will be, bu
when we read such statements us that o
the old merchant, they certainly do no
look reasonable TO young merchants.
The cause Of the slow growth of bust
ness here is not the want OF energy on thu
part OF our merchants, for none wOrl
harder or show more good Judgment il
the management Of their business. The,
lack enterprise. however, sadly. No set o
men in the world deserve more credi
than the businessmen OF Richmond de
for what they have accomplished since tn
war. Beginning without capital, the cit,
in ashes, with the hostile legislation o
Congress, and the depredations OF hord
Of hungry and INSCRIPTIONS Federal off
cials to encounter, they have made tn
place what it is, and If their enterprls
was only equal TO their industry and energ
there is no telling what Richmond woul'
be In the next ten or twenty years.
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Colonel Ruffin Last.