The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-12-03
WONDERFUL GROWTH OF
NlRFOLk'S EXPORT TRADE
Concluded from frs. page.)

largest of It's class in the world. Its
head office Is at Liverpool. Eng. while
Its branch offices are 10 be found In al
most every port along the American
| coast from Montreal to New Orleans, as
well as In the interior, along the Missis-
| sippi and great lakes. Heretofore, the
company's main office in the Western
hemisphere has been in New York, and
| was In charge of Mr.. Patterson. The
latter, with his private secretary. Afr.
| 9. Nj. Barnett, of New York. has estab-
lished himself in a magnificent office
suite, comprising about half of the NTH
floor of the Haddington Building. and.
| as matters now stand, this is. in effect,
the main Office On this side Of the At
lantic. and ii Is not altogether a shrewd
guess to say that other offices along the
coast will not be surprised TO receive
orders emlnating therefrom.
y SECOND NEW YORK
1--WE haven't got fixed up, as you can
see, SAID Mr.. Patterson. pointing to the
next room, where workmen were busily
| engaged In removing the partitions of
what were formerly three commodlous
| offices. I'VE expect, however. to have
things in running order in short time"
How did your company happen TO es-
tablish an Office here?" asked the re-
potter.
We'll, I will tell you candidly." said
Mr.. Patterson, lin our opinion Norfolk
is going to be second New York. We
are looking at the future, not at the past.
we thought that this was a good place
10 come. This city mas u wonderful flu
ture. and we wished to establish our
selves here now to get the benefit of 1t
when 1t comes. Get into the band
wagon Is the expression goes. Why
do we think Norfolk will equal New
York? Well. her natural position is the
chief reason. From the very nature Of
things this port must be, a 1t is rapid
ly becoming, the great outlet for all
Southern. Southwestern and Western
traffic. Then her facilities are a great
factor magnificent shelter. depth of har-
Dor. and especially the monster rail-
roads which centre here and which are
tapping the great natural wealth of the
country in every direction.
The average citizen forms his opin-
IONS of sections future from super
tlcial glance. With us II is different. "A
great transportation company, familiar
as II Is with the traffic of the railroads,
the commerce of the ports the resources
of the country, doesn't take Il step like
his without knowing what II is doing.
| Its judgment is based on facts. When
we say we believe in the great business
| destiny Of the South and of Norfolk. II
| Isn't altogether matter of sentiment.
we have Just established branch
offices at Charleston. Savannah, and
| Brunswick. Our first vessel from this
port will be the Dorset, for Liverpool
She will sail about the 25th. We will
send ships 10 all the tran satlantic and
| nter-Mcd!terranean ports"
BARBER & CO.. LINES.
Barber & Co., operate the oldest regu-
| lar line of transatlantic steamships
| plying out OF this port. The line estab-
| ished its Norfolk branch about ten
years ago. and although as cotton
| port Norfolk at that time stood second
in the United States, the line is now
handling far more general stuff and AL
most as much cotton as then.
The increasing Importance OF Nor
| folks export trade, said Mr.. L. J. Rud-
Sand Wigg, the manager of the Nor
folk office. Is an old story to men in
our line Of business. The commercial
world. or at least. that large portion OF
1t engaged In transporting the pro-
ducts of one nation to another country.
cross seas. have long known Norfolk.
he said, for her natural advantages, and
they have all along realized the tremen-
dous future that lies before her
AS early as 1856 his line had awaited
itself of the harbor and rail connec-
tons of the port. and taking time by the
forelock, 1t had established small line
| out from here. the business OF which
had been steadily increasing ever since,
and recently with great strides.
The line acts as agents and brokers
for chartering steamships TO ali ports
and does q large business in this way
also.
It's own saillngs Ire for Liverpool Bre-
| men and other English and Continental
| ports. The steamship Tyr was cleared
| M November 30th for Bremen with q
general cargo, and about six other ships
| nave been cleared in the week previous.
| The Empire, big 2,l30 ton vessel, vii
leave on the 18th instant for Liverpool
and several other vessels are under
charter for this month.
The class of matter transported most
~ consists of cotton, lumber and grain.
Mr.. Wigg said that the increase In
cotton shipments this month will be
something tremendous. He conside, ;
the Increase in ell lines handled here a
healthy one.
PACKlNG-HOUSE EXPORTS.
\ comparatively new trade from this
port, as has been mentioned, is the cx-
port of packing house products. which
has been an outgrowth OF the efforts of
the new transatlantic lines TO secure
new business in the West. This class
Of stuff has been largely handled dur
ing the past few months by all these
companies. cargoes of lard as large as
2.0O0.O coo pounds having been dispatched
by several of them.
MANAGER DONOVAN TALKS.
Mr.. +. j. Donovan. the local manager
of the United States Shipping company.
was enthusiastic owed the prospects Of
| the ports of Norfolk and Newport News.
His line was established here q little
more than IL wear and NDwDOrl