The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-01-20
OUR CITY.
A Great Market for Masufaturers OF
All Kinds OF Goods.

ktneo
marks TO Board ofTrsde Dinner 60
Manager Hays of the Grand Trunk
Railroad.
The correspondent Of the Commercial
Intelligence Of London, Eng, sends the
following to that well known commercial
journal:
Portland now affords almost unrivslled
facilities to the British exporter. In q
| speech made bv the Hon. J. W. Deering.
Collector of Customs, at banquet given
by the citizens of Portland TO Mr.. Hays,
the General Manager of ths Grand Irunk
Railroad. the Hon. Mir. Deering made the
| following suggestions, regarding the
ltrans-Atlaut.d trade, both exports to the
United Kingdom and imports therefrom;
THAT while the exports from Canada
and the United states would always give
the ships trading from this port foil car
goes outward TO the United Kingdom
that alone. in my Judgment. should be
| termed bad business. because the ships
| should have return csrgoes to ensure
prosperity; and unless the importers of
the Great West and the merchants of
| Canada during the winter season can be
brought to see the advantage Of bringing
| their goods via Portland, instead OF to
| Baltimore, New York and Boston, th NJ
necessarily the farmer OF Canada and the
Great West must pay the steamship lines
an amount Of freight on the exports Of
Canada and this country that would en-
able the ships to return in ballast
That, in my opinion, 1t is fact that
| the New York Custom House and general
warehouses are often In such oongested
state from the plethora of oonmeroe that
goods are often detained by the appraisers
| for "a long time waiting their turn for ap-
praisal and shipment West; and this CON
gssted state OF commerce In New York Is
| to some extent owing to the fact that a
great many Of these goods could have
been shipped via Portland, saving much
time and expense. and the consequent de-
| lay that Is often fatal to the sale OF seas
enable merchandise.
az think, also, that merchandise
shipped via Portland could oftehtimes be
simply for the purpose OF putting the
ships down In the water to q goo ballast
| trim, thus enabling the ship to make
| better progress as well as being much
| safer.
II am of the opinion that 1t is the duty
of the Portland board Of Trade to bring
TO the notice Of the importing merchants
of Detroit, Chicago. Milwaukee. 81
Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Denver
| the great advantages that Portland offers
in dispatch, via the Grand Trunk and
Canadian Pacific Railroads, over the
more Western seaports of the United
States, for Portland is almost free port;
the bonded warehouses OF the Grand
| Trunk railway Will receive from the
sides Of the ship the goods destined for
| Canada and the Great West, and goods
intended for ports In the United States
| would be appraised and loaded into tho
cars Of the Grand Trunk almost witho ut
charge. There Is no port in the Unit ed
States that has such facilities for economy
and dispatch in the handling Of goods as
| Portland has" These remarks seem to
me to be OF great Importance to British
exporters, and importers might also lind
Ii to their advantage TO take the matter
up.
The exports from this port are made In
vessels of the following lines: Allan
Line. by "a weekly service to Liverpool
and fnrtnightly service to Glasgow.
| Leyland Line, by weekly service 10
Liyerpool; thompson Line, by weekly
service to London; Elder Dempster Line,
| by tri-weekly service to Bristol; Ham
Lurg American p. Company, by u fort
nightly service to Hamburg. 1hs wois
OF deepening the upper harbour and the
| approaches TO ths docks by the United
States Government Is progressing rapidly
and when completed there will be depth
at the piers aad elevators at mean low
water OF not less than 20 feet The
| services OF lightship has been requested
| for the safer entry of vessels, and the au-
| thorities here believe that the request will
be granted in the near future.
| An idea of the increased Importance Of
this port will be better obtained by the
following figures: Five years ago there
were &c steamers touching here, in the
| winter of 1925 and lsy6 the nlnlb In
| CREASED 10 81, last year there were 81, and
| this year 1t is expected that the number
| will be about 12u From figures furnished
by MIR. Hays. this General Manager. the
Grand Trunk Railroad 5 steamship blu IL
ness for the season of 1896 and 1897 Shove d
an Increase of 100 per cent. For 1897 ana
| 1898 the increase was 6O per cent over that
of the previous year, anu during the pres
emit season 1t is anticipated to increase the
| volume of business by 500 per cent.
A part from the recommendation of the
Collector of Customs, which l heartily
ndorse, feel sure that manufacturers o.
silk, woollen and black dress goohs,
raohair and dress fabrics, Irish linen,
| osiery ware. Nottingham laces, crocker!
Il I'D cutlery will Ind 10 to their jnterss
to- more vigorously push their sales 10 this
di strict The statement made to me by
the principal OF the largest Department
ST pre- in this city should receive careful
att ention. This gentleman said that tho
delcand for goods of British inanufac-
tur was constantly increasing In proper
ton to his general business Perhaps one
OF he best signs of returning prosperity
is the fact that there Is very strong de-
mand for higher grade articles in s.apia
good s, in addition To those usually cias 81
fed as luxuries, or goods which are gen
orally considered, on economic grounds,
as eas lilly dispensed with. In view of this
imprc wed state OF affairs | trust that
BIRTHS h manufacturers will find tito their
intere vt to maintain the standard of Brit
ism manufactured goods. was, only
last week, the purchaser Of o jocket knife
for VIII ioh / paid fifty cents, and which
the ret niler offered TO me as being 'all
right eoause IL was of British nauufac-
ture." The knife was stamped with the
name Of maker In She field and l &C
cepted this as guarantee of its value
The nrs time l used IL found that ii
materia was made of stesl (f) that bent
like p iece of Z n.
This experience brought wildly to my
mind one Of the remarks made to me by Il
retailer: The sale Of English good;
suffers v cry much owing to desire e
meet con ipetition by sending out here d
poor qua lily Of goods, and thus permit
ting reta iers to take advantage Of the