Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-24
EXPORT TRADE HEAVY.
Big Cities Along Atlantic Coast Are
 Looking for Some qf It.

Washington, D. G., Oct 24.-Time was, and not long since either, when comparatively little heed was given to the export business of ports of the south. It is different now. The in crease of exports from southern points has been so remarkable during the past two or three years that the big cities along the North Atlantic coast have begun to take serious mo- tice., Their own export trade, par ticularly in grains which come chiefly from the west and northwest, has de- creased heavily. Their commercial bodies attribute the decrease to the railroads and they say some ugly things about railroad traffic officials who do not favor the communities in which they reside.
 That the charges against the rail roads. on this account, are merely manifestation of pique is pretty definitely settled by statistics which have. been prepared by the depart ment of commerce and labor. The figures show that the grains for ex- port are going now to southern ports, to far greater extent than ever be- fore, because they can be put on board ships at Norfolk, Newport News, New Orleans and Galveston at much less expense than they can be sent to Boston or New York, or even to Philadelphia. The reasons are wholly natural. Geographically, the southern cities are more favorably located with reference to most of the grain-growing region of the country than are Boston and New York. With facilities to handle the. grain at southern ports after 1t gets there, every reason exists for the diversion of much of the grain traffic from eastern to southern points. These facilities the. steamship companies both American and European. have supplied. The Virginia ports. New Orleans and Galveston all are i'm portant cargo points for many lines of big freight steamers and they are encouraging shippers to forward their bulky freight through those ports. The result of this encourage ment is increasingly evident from year to year. almost from month to month. During the past nine months 1,250.O00 bushels of wheat were ex- pected from Galveston. against only 750,O00 bushels for the correspond ng months of the previous year. The increase of grain exports from New Orleans for the same period was even more remarkable. The total wheat exports from that city during the last nine months were 3.333.000 bushels. against 11S.000 bushels for the corresponding period of 1905. Other southern ports have increased their grain exports in a somewhat less proportion. but still at tre- endous rate.
 On the other hand. Boston's wheat exports for the same period fell off from more than 5000. 900 bushels to just little over 3.00O,000 bushels; while New York's wheat exports dropped from 21.750. 900 bushels to 1T,225.000 bushels. Philadelphia grain exports increased measurably. and Baltimore's jumped from 5000 900 bushels to about 20.000.000 bushels.
 The facts cited from oficial sta tistics indicate clearly that the ex- port trade of the south is keeping step with its industrial development. They indicate. also. an intelligent in- terest of the railroad lines which run north and south in taking advantage of the fact that 1t is a much shorter distance to tidewater from the Mis- valley through ports of the south than 1t Is through ports of the north and west.
 That the export trade of the south will continue to increase is still furth- CT evidenced by the fact that one great line of steamers. the Hamburg American. has agreed to put on a line of immigrant steamers fronhI Northern Europe to Charleston. s. c. These vessels will have to be given return cargoes to insure the contin- ance of the trade and it is known al- ready that the necessary export trade ls assured II Is not unlikely that other lines will establish immigrant ports in the south thus diverting to that part of the country much of the that now flows through