The Portland daily press., 1900-02-05
IN MONTREAL.
Portland's Growing Trade Causes
Discussion.


is b, ing felt In shipping circles In Mon
treai. and naturally enough. perhaps, the
merchants Of the Canadian metropolis
do not look with entire favor on the new
order OF things. Lsst week the Montreal
Coru Exchange association held Its an
nual meeting and the great volume OF
business now co,uing to Portland from
the Canadian proyinossx was .among the
matters discussed. Mr.. Alexander Me-
Fee, the retiring president, In the. course
of his remarks to the association said that
be regretted the business Of the port
showed dscrsase, as compared with that
of the previous year. though 1t was one
OF the largest In Its history. What the
Corn Exchange had to watch was that
the grain-osrrying trade which should
como to Montreal, was not diverted by
way Of other ports. There were three
railways competing against the waterway
for the 2rsin-oarryiny trade of the great
West, and &c was likely that these rail.
ways oald be able to remain In the
field. BscSuss OF this competition Mon
treal had much to fear from Portland
and Q7ebeo. Portland, In particulars has
advantages In terminal facilities, grain
teipg transferred from the cars to the
steamers at lower cast than In Mon
treal. He was Inclined to think that the
rail ways were waiting for subsidies or
con oessions OF some kind, which they
were, no doubt, resolving at other potts.
Where these subsidies were to come from
ne was unable to say but II we were to
Judge from the remarks of the railways,
they were not very anxious to place Mon
treal IN as fsvorable position. as faras
terminal charges were concerned, as trade
in other ports enjoyed. Something
shouli be done by the incoming commit
tee to put Montreal In as favorable POSI-
tion In this respect az possible. One OF
the heaviest burdens under which Mon
tresl laborsd was the excessive insurance
charges which had to be paid upon goods
shipped by. the st. Lawrence.
During the year the COMMITTEES Of Man
agement had called the attention OF the
go ssrpment to the fact that the pert of
Montreal was laboring under these ex-
cessive insurance charges. The govern
ment was. no doubt, considering this
problem very seriously. and We might
hope to see q lower rate Of insurance
from Montreal Ii ths buying of the river
were improved, the channel widensd and
despsDed, and the pilotage system placed
in the hand of men who would do their
work IN q manner satisfactory to the
insurance companies. he then moved the
adoption Of the report Of the Committee
of Management seconded by M. Edgar
Judge.
Mir. Geo Hadrill then read the heads Of
the several subjects referred to in the re-
port.
Mr.. Meighen said that nothing had
hesn said In the Harhor Commissioner
agreement to assist the Canadian grain
rade In Montreal, sre,ial mention Of the
OF which mad been made in
the first clause of the report.
He believed that the Connors' Syndi-
cats would bring more than 35,00O.O 900
bushels BY way of Montreal, as the sypdi-
cate probably had connections with
business houses in Chicago which would
secure to them that amount. But our
object should lie to divert the Canadian
grain trade now going through American
territory to Great Britain. We were
American transportation COM
panles with freight and placing our west
srn men In touch with American middle
men. Two thirds of the wheat producing
lands OF the North American continent
lay within the Canadian boundary, and
now that immigration was pouring into
Canada, this country should look for
ward to becoming the great stcrshouse
OF the Mother Country. Tho Maritime
Provinces contributed TO our canals and
lad q right to a return by working the
grain through their rorts in wiz ter.
Mr.. Meighen said he believed the
the grain from the NORTHWEST to the
port of Montreal. We should encourage
the government to extend all the fsoili-
ties possible for the purposes OF tran spor-
tation. Canada must ship all her own
grain and must extend her, trade as
much az possible with the Mother Coun-
try. He understood that an engine
ing 1000 bushels each. A train load of
grain could almost come from North Bay
to Montreal by force Of gravitation. The
railway, he thought was the solution of
the problem.
At tbs present time Canada's sons were
standing shoulder to shoulder with those
OF the Mother Country, in the South
African hills. He wanted to SEQ Canada
pay oil the expenses incurred In the
of her volunteers, instead
of allowing the Mother Country to foot
the bill. We had set q noble example. In
giving England preferential trace and he
had no doubt that England would recip-
rosate in time. We must develop our
trade with England. We raised the same
products as the Americans. They were
our aggressive competitors in every mar
ket. Commerce was war and we must
carry the war into Africa, We must ship
all our own products through our own
territory.