The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-05
THE VALUE OF COMMERCE.

owners of vessels visiting or loading
this port because they did not pur-
chase supplies Of our merchants and
Mr. Goodman, the complainant
charges these owners with selfishneSs
because they prefer to buy their sup
plies in the cheaper markets OF san
Francisco and elsewhere, although they
obtain large profits out of the Island
trade AS a rule, all men buy in the
cheapest market, without any regard
to moral principles.
1t is only the commercial tender feet,
and the linen buster boomer who sim
cerely ask consumers to pay high prices
in order to encourage home indus
tries.
But this complaint suggests what
the condition of this port will be when
the Nicaragua canal is open. Enthu-
tasts become very red in the face,
-nd inspired when they dwell upon
the vast profits from the commerce of
the Pacific, but not one Of them des-
cendS from the clouds and touches the
earth of fact. There is a popular be-
lief that merchant vessels carry and
spend money. 1t is founded on an
ignorance of the way vessels are
equipped, and of the methods of COM
merce. One case will illustrate the
method. Norfolk, Va, ranks third in
the quantity of cotton exported from
the United States The railway COM
panies bring the cotton to the docks
and many hundreds of steamships car
ry it to Liverpool. The quantity ex
ported, and for which enormous ship
ping facilities are required, is not less
than 5000 900 bales year. The only
effect of this vast commerce upon the
trade of Norfolk is that the wages of
several hundred negro laborers are
spent in the place. The vessels TAX
ing cotton freight bring their own sup
plies, with the exception of fresh meat,
and of this they use little. The officers
of the vessels, on small wages, and
the crew on less wages do not spend
money. At the terminus of one rail
sive coal supplying dock and appara-
tus. Three to five hundred vessels per
months arrive, remain several days
and depart with cargoes of coal The
theorists believe that such commerce
builds up city" But the income to
the city from this commerce is trifing.
The vessels bring their own supplies.
The income from the vegetable farms
in the neighbOrhood of the city,
amounting to over S2,000,000 year, is
thousand times more profitable to
that city of $4,000 people than the pro-
fits of the trade from vessels.
At Old Point Comfort, Va, the most |
central calling port, and within the |
largest and deepest harbor ON the At
1antic coast, as many as twenty large
at anchor for many days, waiting for
orders. Two grocery stores VIII fur
nish them all the supplies they need.
These steamers drop no money there. |
The opening of the, Nicaraguan canal |
will probably bring, a large European
fieet. especially British to this port, as
a calling and coal station. But the |
coaling of these vessels will be done |
by machinery and q few laboring men |
So far coal beavers have not made |
close. Since the use OF canned goods |
became general all vessels are supplied |
with them at the home ports. It would |
be an interesting question to investi- |
gate: the amount of money spent in |
this port, in the forties, by one of the
old whalers, of $50 tons burden, and |
the amount spent by one of the large |
steamships of the present day, equipp |
ed with refrigerators.
Port Said at the entrance Of the Suez
canal is another instance of the very |
moderate prosperity given to a calling |
port by an immense commerce. West |
ern towns of America have grown with |
much greater rapidity than this at |
which an enormous commercial marine |
gathers.
But when commerce breaks bulk
in a port, whenever distribution and
exchange takes place, as is now done to
some extent in Hong Kong, whenever
is established there is
hardly any limit to the growth and
of a place. The distrlDu-
ton of goods, and the manufacturing
OF articles distributes money to labor
ers, and creates a most desirable class
OF small traders who make moderate
profits and build excellent houses.
At Newport News, Va, the terminus
line w there iS Of