Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-14
LOST ITS QUAINT AIR
Business Section of New Or
leans Modernized.
MANY RAPID CHANGES
EVEN THE FRENCH QUARTEh
WILL SOON BE INVADED.
Millions Being Expended by the Rail
ways for Terminal improvements
Interest in Panama Canal.
MANY RAPID CHANGES
RY WM f CURTIS.
SpeciaI Correspondence of The Evening Star and
the Chicago Record Herald.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
the Chicago rd-Herald.
NEW ORLEANS, April 8, 1905.
1t will be regretted by tourists and sem
t'uental people that New Orleans is losing
its quaint air of antiquity and foreign as
pect. and is being gradually brought up
to date The city has been the most pic
turesque in America. Its primitive condi-
ton. it's lack of what people call modern
improvements" it's odd, un-Amercan Gus
toms, and the French flavor of life below
Canal street have attracted travellers from
other parts of the country and given them
great enjoyment. To visit New Orleans
was next to a trip abroad. and. indeed,
many foreign cities are not half so for
elgn: that is they are not different from
what we are accustomed TO. While much
of the picturesqueness and peculiarites OF
New Orleans remains, the business portion
of the city is gradually undergoing trans
formation, and since 1 was here seven years
ago the section around the st. Charles Ho-
tel has been altered very much. Old-fash-
ioEed buildings have been torn down ana
modern structures have risen upon lhe't
foundations. This change in appearance
has been accompanied by change OF at
mOsphere. The Creole methods or DOING
business are gradually giving way to north
trn ways. Enterprise is in the air. People
are boasting of the progress of the clly
rather than lamenting innovations ana DC
partures from the good old days Inc
greatest changes they tell me, have oc-
Cured during the last three years, and the
plans for the future are still more COM
prehensive They contemplate regenera-
ton, If l may call it that of the business
section. The French Quarter still holds rs
own. but will soon be invaded and the
New Orleans which Gable described with
such graphic interest will gradually van
ish into history.
Deep Interest in the Canal.
The hotels are full of northern and wes--
ern men, looking for investments and spec
ulative opportunities in anticipation of the
completion of the Panama canal. 1t Is re
markable how much everybody in the
south is thinking of and depending upon
that project. You never hear 1t talked
about in a similar way in the north. In
Mobile Pensacola, Montgomery and other
southern cities it has the most vltaliZing
influence. and in New Orleans there is even
wider interest and greater expectation
There is a universal conviction that when
the canal is finished there will be a great
boom. Everybody is counting on immedi-
ate prosperity from the sale of supplies
and the shipment of material and the Pres
poets for commerce in the future. New
railways are coming in and old ones are
improving their terminals. The Illinois
Central railroad had S5,00o000 fire here
not long ago. but the phoenix was not
circumstance to the officers of that cor
pOratiOn in the matter of rising from the
ashes. They are making new docks, ware
houses and elevators larger than before,
and are using iron and steel for them In
stead of timber. The Illinois Central VIII
build about two miles of warehouses, ele-
Vators, sheds. cotton platforms and other
freight facilities along the leVees. where il
can transfer the CargOeS OF steamers mo
its freight cars, and vice versa with the
greatest economy of time, labor and eN-
pense. The tonnage of merchandise de-
f1,-g,7
into billions, and is growing every month.
This spring it will spend more than $500
UD along the water front.
Millions Spent for Terminals.
The Rock Island and Frisco systems,
which have just come to town, have bought
nearly two miles Of frontage the river
ana are spending S10,GO0,O00 in the Construc-
ton of stations. sheds. docks, warehouses,
sidetracks and other terminal facilities. The
Louisville and Nashville road is keeping
pace with the others, the Southern Pacific
and the Gould system are making enormous
improvements. and within the next two
years the railway lines centering at New
Orleans and the steamships which connect
with them will be prepared to handle an
enormous trade. The city government is
spending S2OOOOO0 for docks and steel
warehouses and for paving the evees with
granite blocks. When the work is finished
there will be about seven miles of c0ntinu-
Gus wharfage on the city side of the Mis-
siSsippi, with one of the most complete and
convenient and extensive systems of ter
minals for handling freight in the world.
The government of the United States is
contributing its share to the general prog
ress and Improvement. 1t is spending mil
lions of dollars in building a naval station
ON the Mississippi opposite New Orleans and
erecting a steel floating dry dock capable
Of accommodating the largest battleship
that floats
Commerce of New Orleans,
These improvements have been made none
too soon. The growth of the import and
particularly the export trade requires
large increase OF accommodation. During
the last ten years the imports have in
creased from SIS .oST, 944 to $50, S73, 300 the
exports from $7S.7S6. lSS to STAG. S64. 29S, and
the customs receipts from $1,2sS,0O2 to
s.. 40. S24.
There are now twenty-seven lines of
steamers connecting New Orleans with
cighty-seven foreign ports, with an average
of 10 steamers per month. They reach
every section of the world except Australia.
There are regular lines To Liverpool, Lon
don. Manchester, Belfast, Havre, Hamburg
Antwerp Copenhagen, Rotterdam, BARGE
iona, Trieste. Venice, Cuba and all the
principal Mexican and Central American
ports Some OF the vessels are of large
size. capable Of carrying 20 600 bales of
cotton. In January two of the Leland Line
sailed from this port carrying the contents
OF twenty miles of freight cars. This line
has hfty-ive steamers in its service with
a gross tonnage Of 2TT,70o tons. They carry
annually 10 London and Liverpool an aver
age of 100000 bales of cotton, from three to
four million bushels of grain and other mis-
Cellsneous cargoes. The Elder Dempster
Line carries nearly 100000 bales of cotton
and about three million bushels of grain
and other steamships carry similar cargoes
10 the ports l have mentioned. Not long ago
the Peerless sailed with u 91T packages of
harvesting machinery. binding Irvine and
cher farm implements for Novorisisk. Rus
STA, and shortly after was followed by the
Baron Driesen. carrying 2s3lO packages of
a similar cargo to the same port, and the
Redvers Hocken, with 21,3T2 packages for
Cd
The exports Ce cotton have increased more
than 80 per cert during the last ten years;
the exports of flour have increased from
$4,000 to $4,O0O,000, and other articles at
a similar ratio.
Promise of the Next Few Years.
Speaking of the great improvements that
have already taken place during the rast
three. years. and the greater improvements
that have been planned for the immediate
future. Mr. Henry Mayo. secretary of the
Progressive Union, said that the building