Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-06-21

( Ia offer greater facilities TO the extent Of
/ about = per cent. of the value OF cotton.
In citing the above details in the matter OF
( railroad management, which have been milf
1 tating OF late against savannah as a cotton
port. your committee do not pretend 10 nave
/ exhausted the theme. They believe 10 nave
/ said enough, however, to indicate that changes
4 are required. Some OF these changes are
/ clearly within the discretion OF the ROADS;
1 others loyal Interpretation OF the pool agree
! mcnt would seem to put Dey0nu theH power.
1 4 Surreptitious and circumlOcutlonary cut
| ting of rates, on the other hand, would seem 70
/ be fraught with more dangers ana disadvan,
I tages even than an open war, Such as would
be inaugurated by break up of the pool, an
| eventuality which seems to offer the only pos
| tive hope of an abatement OF existing eNlis'
One serious complaint when the merchants
/ of Savannah, in common with all parties IN
| Georgia interested directly or indirectly IN
| cotton, have against the railroads Is the want
1 of protection against bad weather provided
! by them for that article. The law Whlch
I makes common carriers responsible for dam
| age caused to merchandise committed TO their
care, by reason of negligent handling or OF
/ exposure to bad weather, should certainly ap-
| ply to cotton as well as to other articles: I'm
fortunately. the damage done TO cotton Dy eN-
posture to rain, or by being stored on wet
! ground, becomes apparent only weeks OF
months after it really has occurred, viz: When
in most cases the cotton Is already thousands OF
miles distant. and when proof against the
roads has become impossible
The utter disregard with which cotton-the
man product of this State-is being treated,
would scarcely be iustifable in semi-bar-
barous country. The damage thus caused TO
she cotton crop by exposure 10 PAD weather;
amounts probably to more than per cent. OF
its value, or on the Georgia crop IN round
numbers to half million dollars annually.
Such sum of money would probably DC
nearly sufficient to pay for rough but staunch
sheds at all the depOts in Georgia.; so that one
years outlay of money would save the people
of the state an annual loss amounting TO about
the same sum. Action under the premises
VVnulH epFfajn1N to within the
province of the Railroad Commissioners OF the
State.
The decrease in shipments of cotton from
Atlanta to Savannah seems 10 nave been
caused to a large extent by the very general
refusal of foreign shipping in Savannah to
take interior compressed cotton. This re-
fusal has been owing to the fact that the Sa-
vannah congresses are more powerful than
those in use at Atlanta and other interior
points, and enable ships on an average to carry
eight per cent. more cotton. Under these cir
cumstances. and assisted by a comparatively
strong freight market, ship agents and steve
dores have thought it their duty to encourage
owners and captains OF vessels IN discriml-
mating against cotton not pressed here, but IN
doing so they have contributed towards di-
ing large proportion of the ports business
into other channels to the detrlment
OF all commercial classes-they them
selves, however, being probably the
chief sufferers. There is reason to believe that
less opposition to interior compressed cotton
will be manifested in future. Ships agents
and stevedOres will be unable to ignore that
| the policy pursued by them heretofore has
been a shOrt-sighted one. The remedy for the
evil, however, seems to lie in the hands of the
exporters. If these would insist on elimina-
ting from charters the clause savannah
Compressed Cotton and on retaining for
themselves the appointment of the steYedOres,
they could easily succeed in putting Savan-
nah in this matter on an equal footing with
neighbOrlng ports. This question deserves all
the moro attention as unfortunately, the ten
dency seems to be towards a comparative in
I nf
The COMPRISING at this port is done by the
Gordon Press, owned 10y the Central Railroad
of Georgia, and by the Savannah Cotton Press
Association. Under mutual agreement the
former presses all cotton which arrives in Sa-
vannah on through bills of lading, or to the
care of forwarding agents OF railroads; the
latter presses all local cotton. As guarantee
for the strict observance of this agreement,
and as a safeguard against any mis-
construction of the same, the Gordon
Press has consented not to allow
The disadvantages of this arrangement of
the commerce of Savannah have already been
referred to. The charges of the Savannah
Cotton Press Association are nifty cents, with
six bands for coastwise cotton; siXty-five
cents with seven bands for foreign cotton, and
ten cents for every extra band, No rebates
are given to ship or shipper. The charges of
the Gordon Press are n0minally the same for
foreign cotton, but if cotton Is sent there from
connecting points a rebate of thirty cents is
allow ed to the interior merchant, For coast
wise cotton the charge Is twenty-five cents.
In Charleston rates assimilate to those of
the Savannah Cotton Press Association, but
the presses, directly and indirectly, pay heavy
rebates to shippers, enabling them 10 work for
lower commissions viz: to pay higher prices
for cotton, and to draw more of it that way.
In Norfolk the presses are owned Ly parties
who make it business to charter steamers
and vessels by the lump sum, and to relet
room by the pound. Their profits or losses
depend on the quantity of cotton which they
succeed in putting into ship and on the course
3 M { m
slble TO ascertain what rate they charge for
COMPRISING on their books. The interior
presses as rule charge from 90 to 60 cents
for seven-band cotton, but they almost inva-
riabIV pav rebates to merchants amounting
to about % cents bale.
From the above it would seem that the Sa-
vannah Cotton Press Association collect q
higher net price per bale for COMPRISING than
any other presses whose work comes into di-
rect competition With theirs. In explanation,
II Is claimed that its presses do their work
more thoroughly that they handle cotton
more carefully and give greater facilities in
the way OF storage and of drayage than is
done elsewhere; and it is claimed that mer-
chants abuse these facilities, causing useless
expense to the presses and forcing them to
maintain high rates. 1t is claimed on the
part of the presses that the work of COMPRESS.
ing alone could be done profitahly it about Is
cents per bale, but thai saperfiuous extra
h2ndllgs, storage. drayage, cost of extra
bands, etc, make the high prevailing rates
obligatory.
IL Sutli NC ttc CdSc. Il 1uSlllenI OF rates.
by which the ship would pay for comprising
and the shipper tor etheT EXPENSES Incurred
would seem advisable in the interest of the
trade. Expenses would thus be assimilated
not only to those of rival ports, but to those
also of interior markets, whose rapid develop
ment, taken in connection with the growth of
the overland movement, threaten a slow but
continuous reduction of the volume of SaVan-
mains business,
Your committee are glad to report that the
Directors of the Press Association have prom-
Used to give this matter their prompt atten-
ton. 1t must be Acknowledged that in the
Gulf ports the press charges are as high and
higher than those of the Savannah Cotton
Press Associations: but it must also be men,
toned that in New Orleans the adverse in
/ fuences of these high charges which tend to
build up the business of interior towns, and
/ to foster interior congresses, have become so
manifest that parties largely Interested in
/ that city haze formed company for the pur-
I pose OF constructing new cotton press,
/ capable of handlinga million of bales annu-
ally, with the avOWed intention of forcing q
reduction of rates. similar enterprise
( the conditions which the City Council
attached to the Gale of the old water
4 works property, momentarily the only avail
/ able site for an enterprise of that kind. The
/ Savannah presses claim that owing to their
! superior work freights are cheaper here than
/ in Charleston, allowing savannah exporters
I to pay 80 much more for cotton. As far as
/ YOUR committee have been able to ascertain
| the difference amounts in the average to be-
/ tween LEA and 1872 of penny per pound, or
/ about 20 cents a bale in favor of Savannah,
| but this difference is, to a large extent, made
/ up to the Charleston exporters by the charges
for fire insurance against the ships. rebates ON
/ wharfage, etc, customary there In this E0n-
nectiOn il WoHlc be well net ta'lose sight of
I the fact that pressing, II carried beyond
/ certain point, Injuries, il not the spinning
I qualities, at least the appearance of cotton.
/ Your committee has been informed that pi-
| lOtage is higher in Savannah than in other
! Atlantic ports. If this be 50, the attention of
! the Commissioners of Pilotage for this port
/ ought to be C llled to the subject. StevedOring
! charges in many cases are higher in Savannah
! than in competing ports, even on the basia Of
nominal rates, and stall moro so If the heavy
rebates allowed to ships and shippers else
| where are taken into account. Charterers
ought to exert their influence towards correct
ing this evil. If they would insist on stipu-
latlng for the appointment of stevedOres by
themselves, they would find more than one
way of accomplishing that oLiesg.
The expenses OF handling cotton, which con-
Germ neither public nor private carriers, and
which fan directly on merchants, seem to
have undergone scarcely any change in Sa-
vannah SINCE 1865, nOgYit fstanqing the de-
cline in the price Of cotton and Of all the
necessities of life. brokerage nov, as then,
is % cents, but now 1t Is gold and equal to
about SO OF per cent, then IT was currency
equal to about l-5 per cent. on the value of
the article. Many merchants in this city
whose other occupations prevent them from
buying cotton in person, and who must either
employ broker or make their purchases in
country markets, are often forced by the pre-
valing high rates of brokerage to decline
business or to transfer il % the interior, and
thus to deprive Savannah of at least part of
the benefit connected with it.
Drayage now, as in 1868, is Is cents per bale.
Draymen, however, claim that whilst rates
have undergone no change their labor has
increased very much in consequence of the
extension Of the business BART of the glty