The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-10
GREAT RICHMOND
IS MILLING TOWN
The Records Refute the
Carpings Of Kickers
and Knockers.
MODERN COM M ERCE
TELLING ROMANCs
How Richmond and Balance of
United States Lost Brazilian
Flour Trade-How Richmond
Mills, by Pluck and Energy.
Found Other Foreign
Markets.

BY FRANK s. woopsos.

By FRANK s. WOoDSoN
Richmond. like most other cities, ha,
some lively kickers and knockers. and
some of them. too many of them in
fact, who have nothing else to kick
at proceed to knock Richmond. They
say Richmond isn't doing this. and II
doeS not do that and the other ike
some other cities, The fact is thar
these kickers and Knockers have no.
taken the time and trouble to find on,
Just what Richmond Is doing in In
dustrial and commercial lines, ano
their knocking is therefore due on
tireiy 10 Ignorance
There is no city of it's dimcnsiors a.
the South. or in the whole country
IL may be said, that is ENJOYING better
trade or doing better in the variety
OF It's manufacturing establishments
than Richmond. and yet the ignorant
knockers are often heard making un-
favorable comparisons between this
city and Its Southern and Western
trade competitors
The Voice or Ignorance.
Only few weeks ago Richmond
newspaper in discussing the dock Inv.
Ing and Improvement question and in
rec!ting thrilling story OF the old
time Importance OF the dock and tho
numbers OF ships that came into It to
be loaded with -four ETC. intimately
that the milling business here was
nothing like 1t used to be in olden
times, and that the millers were fs5t
asleep, or words to that effect. few
days ago I heard an aged gentleman
declare that while this city used To
| furnish Brazil with almost all the
flour the Brazilians consumed. Rich
mond Is now exporting no -four. Ills
old gentlemen was simply ignorant
and that 1t all there is to say about
that.
1t Is true that way yonder before tn
war, when this old gentleman wa,
young and risky. the Haxall -Crenshaw
Mills. the Galiego Mills and the Dun.
lop and McCance Mills shipped thous.
ands upon thousands of barrels of fioul
to Brazil, giving return loads TO the
many vessels that came here from
that country laden with coffee and
other South American products. and
this business was resumed after the
war TO some extent But about a quar-
! ter OF a century ago Richmond found
1t could buy its coffee to better adj
vantage in New York. and the coffee
laden ships stopped coming I'D tho
James River. but all the same the
wholesale grocers and the coffee roa ST "a
ers of this city are now selling mora
coffee throughout the South in one
year than was distributed from here
in four or five years OF the olden
time.
Changed Conditions for MilIers.
More than twenty years ago the
Brazilian governments concluded that
that country ought to do its own grind
ing and milling and SO the government
encouraged the utilization of water
powers and the building of mills by
placing an import duty of 80 cents per
barrel on -four. while the tariff on
wheat was held down to is cents per
bushel, or Ct cents per barrel, thus
giving the native miller an advantage
OF 80 cents per barrel over the foreign
shipper. Furthermore, about that time
Argentina became great wheat
growing country and now it srows
about 2oo,0oo,oo0 bushels per year
of superior grain and exports
largely more than half OF its product.
the bulk of 1t going to the neighbor-
ing country, Brazil. I am not sure,
but think there is a reciprocity ar
rangement between Brill and Areen-
tina by which wheat from the latter
gets into the former under an import
duty OF less than is cents per busheI.
At any rate the freight charges are
much smaller than from this country
These new conditions broke up this
country's flour trade with Brazil, and
according. the government reports for
1903 the whole of the United States
sold to Brill but a trife over 100000
barrels and shipped that because sou-
happened TO be little higher in South
America that year than In other for
eign parts.
Richmond NiilIera Not Asleep
However. with the loss of the Bra
lillian trade because OF the conditions
as outlined above, the Richmond mtIlera
did not go to sleep as intimatea but
Immediately sought other foreign fields
to conquer. Warner Moore & Conn
pany. who had acquired and consolidate
ed the business of the old Haxall- Cren.
shaw Mills, the Dunlop McCance plant
and the Gallego Mills as we'll as tina
Shockoe Nils. corn grinding concern,
invaded all foreign ports that wera
open to them and not booked up by
heavy tariff laws. and to-day the con-
solidated concerns. under the name of
the Dunlop Mills. are exporting nore
-four than all R!chmond did at any
time before or since the War Between
the States.
Europe Is Our Market.
1t Is true that Richmond ground houf
no longer goes TO South American
ports. but II goes all over England. the
ports being London and Liverpool; all
over Scotland through the ports of
Dundee, Aberdeen. Glasgow and Leith.
which latter Is the seaport for Edin-
burgh all over ireland through ports
OF Belfast Cork and Dublin; an over
Holland through Amsterdam and Rot
terdam, and 10 North Africa. even to
the contre OF the Desert OF sahara. also
to Cuba and Jamaica. These mills also
| have a h!g trade IN ali the Atlantic
Coast States. having large branch
warehouses in several OF the leading
~, -. -