Year: 1878

The Truth ms Shown by Actual Figures


and the Teachings of Experienced


comparison Between london, New


York and Rev orleans to the Advan-


tage OF The Latter.


Especial Correspondence of the Democrat


WASHINGTON, September %, 1878.


cut the following paragraph from the
London Times of September 70:


A correspondent writing to the New York


World from New Orleans on the fifteenth of
August, refers to the effect Of the fever panic
upon the commerce and business Of New Or
leans. He says: "The fever panic has caused
New Orleans


AN INCALCULABLE Loss IN MONEY.


This has resulted in two ways First, COM
merce is entirely suspended; conveyanees
from New Orleans are quarantined at every
port, many places refusing to receive not only
passengers and merchandise, but even mails.
The authorities OF Vicksburg refuse to allow
the mail for North Louisiana to pass through
their city; there are armed ,pickets watching
Vicksburg, and they refuse to allow boats to
touch the banks. Secondly, as there are
usually sporadic cases of fever In New Or
leans every summer, no business man can tell
In purchasing his stock whether he will have o
full market or not for now that the fashion of
quarantines has sprung up and been sane
toned by New Orleans tits as likely to prevail
one season as another. With these chances
before him no stranger will desire to establish
business in New Orleans. Therefore the in
flux of capital is likely to be retarded


It is perhaps q trife outside of my province
to treat Of matters of this sort, inasmuch as
your editorial force is employed for such
work, while my contract is to furnish the
news of the day from this particular news
centre. In this instance however, am led
to depart from the rule because the gratuitous
slander of the World correspondent seems to
have escaped the yigilant eye Of the news
editor Of the DEMOCRAT, and gone across the
water to work mischief in the minds of Eng
lishmen.


Nothing in the whole scope Of journalism is
easier to write than vague, sweeping general
zations Of the sort above copied, and, as q
rule, in no direction are the mischievot,s Dos
slbilities of tlppant and irresponsible jour
nalism more frequently manifested than In
the one under consideration. It is no doubt
strictly true that "the fever panic has cost
New Orleans an incalculable loss in money"
It is also true that commerce is (partially, at
leastJ suspended" It is never easy to calcu-
late consequential damages, such as result
from the causes now operating against the
COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY OF NEW ORLEANS.


When q town is burned up, like Chicago
was, the damage can be calculated, because it
Is q positive destruction Of property already
accumulated and measured In value. But in
the case of n commercial city Wis.,
tied with pestilence in q sufficient
degree OF violence to derange the operations
OF trade and to suspend the functions of col
lecting and distributing goods and products,
the damage can be measured only by con-
Pnmn4r1SnD hefyyhnn what fhn fFaHa
OF the city actually is during the period of
suspension or depression, and what it might
have been under normal conditions. So far
the World correspondent had warrant for his
declaration. But when we come to examine
his second postulate, to wit: THAT with
these chances tof recurring epidemics) no
stranger will desire to establish business in
New orleans. 1t appears that the corre-
spondent must have written either ignOranty
or maicously; either without reflection as to


THE TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE
IN the direction treated Of or witha desire to
oring about, so far as in him lay, the precise
result which he processes to deplore.


The facts In the case are not difficult to get !
1t, nor are they hard to comprehend. The |
history of commerce teaches us that the cal |
,ulatiOns upon which men base all enterprise |
md all endeavor, are invariably made with |
special margins for every particular circum- |
stance involved. The greatest Of political |
has written that the science of for
S-AAtthlIS5 itLI GtiS hib vi Sy"RttbluR
Ire based upon the simple proposition that |
;he interest or profit exacted in any given |
transaction must be recknned in ratio of the |
Is ,lsks to which capital employed Is subjected |
Therefore there is d radical difference be-
,Ween the rules governing business ventures |
= different climates and under different con-
1itions OF society. England is now


THE CENTRE OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION
~ common consent. Her government is ac-
counted the most stable, her social system
he most conservative and her means of en-
orcing law and maintaining order the most |
7antages her climate is freest from epidemic
possibilities and the chances Of long and up-
disturbed enjoyments Of the fruits of labor
md skill are considered better in England
han anywhere else on the face Of the globe.
Therefore, men embark in business ventures
n that country upon a narrower speculative
margin and capital eXacts lower rate of in
crest for it's use than elsewhere. Men who
re content with the slow accumulations pos
1ble to industry and tact In England will re-
main there, do business under the regulations
nd by the maxims Of the place, and get rich
ust in time to afford a splendid funeral. Men
i that stamp 2 will probably take the declara-
ion Of the World correspondent for advice
nd stay away from the tropics.


But there Is another class Of men, not as
numerous, perhaps, as the class just de-
cribed, but making up in celebrity and activ-
ty what they lack In numbers, to whom the
nhanced risks Of tropical enterprise form a
eeble consideration to set off against the in
reased chances Of rapid success. There are
rawbacks to all human enterprises; and
yhen you survey the world of trade traffic
nd fortune from one end to the other, you
nd the mean. Of net recompense to be about
he same everywhere and under all crcum-
tances.


THE GROWTH OF NEW ORLEANS


as been the product Of causes, like the +
rowth OF New York Or London. It's progress
as also been subject to vicssitudes, like
heirs. But the relation of the sum total of
icissitude to the sum total Of progress does
OF vary much, if any, in the three cases
yhen ali things are duly considered. The
auses that made New Orleans the chief city
t the Gulf coast remain to-day much more
early intact and less liable to subversion in
he future than do the causes which made
'ew York the chief city Of the United States
r London of the world. Yellow fever cannot
ransfer the sugar lands of Louisiana to
ther clmes, cannot relieve mankind from
be necessity of using sugar in its coffee and
IS whisky, cannot, open up new canefields
lsewhere to crowd your product out of the
II p+ |