New-York tribune., 1890-06-30
SHORTER LINES OF TRADE.
VI.
BENEFITS OF RAPID STEAM COINIUNICA-
TON.
EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE or IA GUAYRA-
MARKED DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN COM.
MERCE-vENEZUELAN COFFEE CCLTIvA
TI0N-AN OBJECT LESSON APPLI.
CABLE TO SOUTH AMERICA.

CABLE TO SOUTH AMERICA.
tvRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
La Guayra, March o.
Venezuela has four chief ports, Maracabo,
Puerto Cabcllo, La Guayra and Ciudad Bolivar
on the Orinoco. OF these ports La Guayra is the
most important, although it is an insignificant
town with a population of 5000 The harbor is
unprotected roadstead, with high and often
dangerous surf Tho town lies on a narrow shin
gle Of beach at the base Of precipitous mountain
range sloping abruptly toward the sea. There
are two or three clusters of houses in ravincs
above the shore line; but nature has mterposed
insuperable obstacles to the growth of the town.
The shelving shore is narrow and the bllsides are
so steep that La Guayra must remain q port
Of limited population. Its trade will always
be large, because Caracas lies behind the noun
tains distance Of ten miles in an air line
railway about twenty miles long connects the
capital with its port. The engineers, IN their
eagerness to avoid tunnelling, have made the line
of the railway needlessly circuitous and have
largely increased the expense of keeping ii open
during the season of landslides. After heavy
rains, which this year have come prematurely,
the roadbcd is frequently impossible for several
days and traffic is obstructed for weeks. Bolder
engineers would have chosen more direct route.
constructed more tunnels and diminished the lia-
and equipped in comparison with the Peruvian
railways II offers however, attractions to sight
seers-the maripe vstas from the mountain slopes
being especially fine. At Caracas there are three
short railways leading TO Petare, Antimano and
El Vale The coffee and cocoa collected by these
lines and by donkey routes in the mountains are
shipped from La Guayra. The bulk of the for
eign importations is also brought into this road
stead for distribution throughout Venezuela.
With the american, Spanish. Dutch and German
lines running between La Guayra and New-fork,
and with two English lines calling here on The
way to New-Orleans, there are ample faclllues
for rapid steam communications with American
ports. Mails are received every ten days from
the North Atlantic States, and merchandise can
'e ordered more promptly from New-York than
from Liversool. Freights are also low in conse-
ouence of sharp competition between four steam
shin lines With shorter lines of ocean transporta
tion to New-Yorh than TO Hamburg. Havre or
Liverpool, the Americans have marked advan-
tage in trade. and they are profting by IT, Inc
Boulton house has been represented in caracas
since 1880. 1t has established large trade be-
tween the United States and Venezuela. and de-
veloped it greatly during the last eleven wears
by substituting steam for SAIL and collecting
freight at Coro and Maracaibo by tenders for trans
shipment at Curacao. 1t has made heavy invest
mentS OF capital, dlSplaNed much enterprise anu
been eminently successful Its business interests
here are directed with intelligence and sagacity
BY H. L. Boulton, familiary known in Caracas as
"Uncle Henry" He is an Englishman by birth
and does not like admit that his house is amass
ing wealth from American trade. He amused
me when applied to him for information respect
ing commercial matters by complaining that Amer
lean produce and manufactures could not be effect
lively introduced in this market and that Ven
ezuelan coffee too good for New-lork dealers,
who preferred the cheaper Rio grades. We are
trying to educate your people, he added. with
benevolent air, :" but they do not yet know what
coffee is They are the richest people on
earth and drink the poorest coffee | would
never have suspected from Mr.. Boulton's sharp
strictures that the bulk of the Venezuelan coffee
and all other produce. except cocoa, goes 10 New
York, and that American trade with this country,
as l have shown in a previous letter greatly eA-
ceeds in volume that of any other maritime conn-
try The following table of exports from La
Guayra, taken from the American Consul's records,
shows that Germany is the only country which
makes a close approach 10 the United States
EXPORTS FROM LA GUAYRA-lse9.