Evening star., 1896-11-16
+0CEAN TRAFFIC.
Greatly Increased Exports From Ports
in the South. :
new LINE OF STEAMERS PLANNED
Disastrous Effect on New York and
Other Northern Ports.
SOM E FIG RES VEN

The completion Of arrangements by Presi-
dent Spencer of the Southern Railway COM
pany Tor the opening of a lire of steamers
between Savannah and Liverpool, mention
OF which was first made in The Star prom
ises TO be one of the most important move
ments made in transportation matters in
a long time, and with the completion of
great terminal facilities at New Orleans by
the illinois Central Company seems likely
to revolutionize many lines of business
throughout the entire country.
1t Is a question in some minds whether
so great have been the strides made re-
Gently in the south. eastern seaports, from
but excepting Norfolk north and including
Baltimore. are not likely to lose in the near
future the major portion of their grain and
produce export business.
The proposed opening of the Savannah
Liverpool line. which is to be inausurated
today. has been followed by the max
ing of preliminary arrangements by the
same firm the owning the Sa-
vannah line, Messrs. William Johnston &
Co., to put lines of steamers from,
Charleston, Brunswick and Norfolk, thus
practically covering all the important ports
on the South Atlantic coast. 1t is under
stood that the object of the railroad inter-
ests in making this arrangement with the
ship owners and charterers named is to
eQualiZe rates through all the South At
lantic ports. which by this is meant that
they will be made proportiorate to the
natural advantages of the ports them
selves, each as compared with the other
Each Port tO Get It's Proportion.
1t is believed that under this plan each
port will have no trouble at all in getting
its full proportion of the cotton intended
for foreign shipment. Heretofore" said d
gentleman who is conversant with the
plans Of the Georgia Export and Import
Company, as the new company is to be
called, there have been at times too many
ships at some ports and too few at others,
and this has sometimes led to cutting of
rates on the part of some of the railroads
or shipbrokers, and the consequence was
that the exporter was not always in a
position to know what he could depend on,
and If 1t is fixed that these rates are ali
equal there will be no trouble on that
score"
OF course, the business of the new steam
ship lines VIII not be limited to the carry
ing of cotton, but Will extend to gran,
fruits and produce of all kinds, and to
almost every important line of railway in
the south, and especially the Southern,
scuthwest, notably the Southern Pacific
ard to the Illinois Central, Wabash and
ether lines both east and west of the Mis-
die west and northwest, advantages which
they have never heretofore enjoyed.
Readers Of The Star will remember the
publication several months ago of statistics
whlch We're copied from report made to
the interstate commerce commission by the
produce exchange of the city of New York,
IN which II 2 exchange bemoaned the fact
mat the trade of. that great seaport had
ALREADY FALLEN on to a frightful amount as
compared with the amount of traffic car
RED OH there ten or fifteen years ago and
appealing to the commission to force the
baltimore and Ohio and PENNSYLVANIA rail
way companies to abolish the differentiai
~. IaVor OF baltimore, which has been AL
lowed Tor many years. but which. they
Canned was the main cause of the troubles
OF the New York men.
Since the date of the report referred tn
tne foreign commerce of New York
has continued to dwindle away 1t is be-
IieVed' however, that the losers have
awakened to the knowledge that this stat
OF affairs is as much owing to the extra
ordinary energy which has been recently
developed in the south through the ex-
ample set by President Spencer of the
Southern as from the differentfal com
planned Of. and the present indications are
mat unless New Workers and the mer-
chants Of other cities in the east change
their manner of conducting their export
business they will soon have but little of
tnat character OF business to transact.
Increased Exports in the South.
1t is stated on reliable authority that
from January of the present year to Sep
tember 80 the exports of corn from New
Orleans amounted 10 between 17OOO,UOO
and lS,OoO.o00 bushels. Baltimore was the
only port having a higher record and that
was less than 2j0,0O0 bushels larger. while
for the period named New York's record
was but for about 13,OOO,OOO bushels.
Merchants in the grain bushes regard
hos fio,,r how oil
canoe when 1t is recalled that the export
movement of corn has been exceptionally
heavy, and that the figures of New Orleans
indicate an increase of 14,090.OO0 bushels
compared with the corresponding period
of last year. ,,z
1t is interesting also to note that New
Orleans is this year going actively into the
wheat export business. In September the
wheat exports amounted to GoS,9sS BUSH
els. comparing with only 1900 bushels the
preceding September, " hile from the be-
ginning of the year to September 30 the
wheat exports amounted to nearly two and
a quarter million bushels. against about
1aS.0Uo bushels the corresponding period
last year, and during the remainder of the
year the percentage of increase promises
to be largely increased. ,....
Aside from. grain, the exports at New
Orleans show marked improvements in the
matter Of lard and talow Septembers ex-
ports of lard amounted to nearly 2,Jo0O0
pounds, against abou. 1900 pounds for
lIe corresponding llOHtH Oh last year, WAfS
for the nine months ending with Septem-
ber the total was more than 2O,O0.Un
pounds, as compared with about 525, 900
pounds for the same months Of 1895.
The September shipments of cotton were
nearly 2OO,OO0 Bales. an increase of nearly
5000 bales as compared with the same
month of the previous year.
In reference to what, as above mentioned
the Illinois Central Railroad Company has
done for the port of New Orleans it may
be stated that they have completely solved
the question Of free storage a problem
with which exporters In eastern cities have
wrestled for many years. bur concerning
which they have so far reached no con-
cluSioE.
ErastuS Wiman and a few others have
for several years urged that New York
ers ought to offer to the shippers of the
west free storage facilities, but they have
not been able to convince those interested
generally that this. would be the proper
course to pursue If they would like to see
New York resume her former prestige as
the greatest commercial seaport of the
United States.
Meanwhile the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, whose main lines extend from
Chicago to New Orleans. has completed
at cost of more than one million of dol
lars, and opened free of charge to shippers
series of docks and ar elevator having A
frontage of 2,1OO feet on deep water, at
which vessels can be boarded direct from
the cars.