USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 4
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"The merchants of St. Louis, and her citizens generally, never lost faith in the possibility of developing a large eom- merce by river via New Orleans, especially in the exportation to foreign countries of the surplus produets of the. Western and Northwestern States. It has always been believed that the river route not only afforded a cheaper avenue of transportation for such traffic than the east and west trunk railroad lines, but that the increase of traffic upon the river would so much reduee the cost of transportation as greatly to increase the regulating influenee exerted by the river rates over rail rates. Results al- ready attained seem to prove the correctness of this view."
In regard to the transportation facts upon which some of these great expectations have been founded, we have the following :
"ST. LOUIS AND NEW ORLEANS TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, "ST. LOUIS, Feb. 2, 1881.
" DEAR SIR,-As requested in your note of 24th instant, I inake reply to the two inquiries propounded by Mr. Nimmo, of the Bureau of Statistics (in letter of January 20th), as follows :
" Ist. I certainly do not believe that a tariff of 12} to 15 eents per 100 pounds between Mississippi River points and the ports of the Atlantic seaboard could be maintained by any of the railway lines without losing money.
"2d. I say without hesitation, that with a rate of five cents per bushel on grain from St. Louis to New Orleans via river, there being at the same time an average differenee of four eents in ocean freights against New Orleans as compared with the North Atlantie ports, there would be a most decided diversion of grain in the direction of New Orleans.
" Let me add, however, that in the uncertain condition of the river (as regards depth of water) during the period of naviga- tion, the low ness of the rate of five cents per bushel eannot always be depended on, but with the depth of water which the eontem- plated improvements between Cairo and St. Louis will un- doubtedly give, the time is not far distant when the rate named, five cents per bushel, may be continuously counted on.
" Very truly yours, H. LOUREY, President.
" GEORGE H. MORGAN, ESQ.,
" Secretary Merchants' Exchange."
"ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 26, 1881.
" DEAR SIR,-Referring to letter to you from chief of Bureau of Statistics, dated Washington, D. C., Jan. 20, 1881, which letter you refer to me, I give it as my opinion that a tariff of 15 cents per 100 pounds on grain from St. Louis to the Atlan- tie seaboard could not be maintained by railway without loss to the companies carrying at such rate.
" The cost per ton per mile for movement of freight over the Pennsylvania Railroad and its connecting lines in the year 1879 was as follows, viz .: Over the Pennsylvania Railroad proper, 4.27 mills per ton per mile ; over the New Jersey Division, 1.012 cents per ton per mile ; over its lines west of Pittsburgh, 4.48 mills per ton per mile. Taking the average distanees on the different divisions gives 4.89 mills per ton per mile, or $5.20 per ton, or 26 cents per 100 pounds from East St. Louis to New York, reekoning by the shortest route, say 1063 miles.
" These figures, I am sure, are lower than the cost per mile of any other line between St. Louis and the seaboard, saying nothing about the longer distance to New York or Philadelphia by every other line. It is evident, therefore, that if it costs 26 eents per 100 pounds to transport property any given distanee, a tariff of 15 cents for the same distanee would be a losing one, as Bardwell Slote would say, 'by a large majority ;' or if it costs 4.89 mills to transport onc ton one mile, a tariff of 2.8 mills will be a losing one.
Bushels. 18,599,889
1002
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
" As to the other question, viz., whether a tariff by river of five cents per bushel, St. Louis to New Orleans, and an average difference of four cents in ocean rates against New Orleans, any tariff above 15 cents per 100 pounds from St. Louis to the Atlantie cities will turn grain in the direction of New Orleans, I do not feel competent to answer. I should say, all other things being equal, it would. If the same time can be made or nearly so, the same regularity in delivery be guaranteed, the condition of grain on delivery be as absolutely depended upon, and the facilities for handling, transferring, etc., be equally good by river as by rail, I do not see why, at a greatly reduced tariff, the river should not command the business.
" Yours truly,
N. STEVENS."
These facts were first fully brought to the front in 1872 by the investigations of the Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard, of which Senator (afterwards Secretary) Windom was chairman. It was shown to this committee that, witli a properly regulated and normal commerce, it was simply impos- sible for railroads, or a combination of lakes, canals, and railroads, to compete in cheap transportation with the Mississippi River and the ocean navigation from its mouth. It was shown that the actual cost of moving a bushel of wheat from St. Louis to New Orleans, twelve hundred and fifty miles, was only five and a quarter mills, .00525 of one cent.
It was also shown that in the final analysis freights by rail could never compete with water-borne freights. The following tables illustrate this conclusively. Rates vary and have changed materially, but ratios remain the same, or very nearly the same :
STATEMENT showing the value of a ton of wheat and one of corn at a given distance from market, as affected by cost of transportation respectively by canal, by railroad, and over the ordinary highway.
Canal Carriage.
Railway Carriage.
Common Road Carriage.
Wheat.
Corn.
Wheat.
Corn.
Wheat.
Corn.
Value at market.
$49.50 $24.75 $49.50 $24.75 $49.50 $24.75
YEARS.
Total.
From the United States.
Per Cent. from the
United States.
Average Value of
the total Wheat
Average Value of
Wheat Imported
from the United
States.
1860
59,438,262
17,388,233
29.3
$1.71
$1.721
1861
70.273,849
29,139,548
41.5
1.66
1.661
1862.
93,412,469
40,628,162
43.5
1.49
1.512
1863
57,657,398
22,155,801
38.4
1.31
1.316
1864
53,829,445
18,811,205
34.9
1.22
1.221
1865.
48,241,297
2,797,347
5.8
1.25
1.265
1866.
54,827,134
1,840,961
3.4
1.48
1.546
73,055,323
9,504,568
13.0
1.90
2.039
68,144,617
12,606,326
18.5
1.79
1.929
1869.
82,969,174 68,891,415
28,106,841
40.8
1.39
1.388
330
340
...
46.80
46.75
23.05
44.25
19.50
34.50
9.75
1874
92,069,027
50,784,630
55.2
1.63
1.641
1875
111,153,693
49,228,015
44,3
1.42
1.405
1876 ..
96,888,275
41.483,685
42.8
1.40
1.409
1877
118,517,334
44,042,143
37.2
1.67
1.672
1878
111,424,288
62,697,899
56.3
1.50
1.505
1879 ..
136,270,605
83,289,955
61.1
1.43
....
1880.
127,746,325
83,487,243
65.4
1.50
...
49.40
24.65
49.20
24.45
46.50
21.75
30
...
49.35
24.60
49.05
24.30
45.00
20.25
40
...
49.30
24.55
48.90
24.15
43.50
18.75
50
...
49.25
24.50
48.75
24.00
42.00
17.25
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
...
47.85
24.10
24.05
47 40
22.65
28.50
3.75
150
160
170
320
...
46.90
23.20
44.70
19,95
1,50
1870
82,809,490
29,167,285
35.2
1.58
1.587
1872
88,877,406
17,984,118
20.2
1.66
1.704
1873
96,378,234
40,646,872
42.2
1.74
1.714
1000
1650
1980
3300
...
33.00
8.25
24.75
19.80
...
24.70
49.35
24.60
48.00
23.25 *
20
=
...
49.10
24.35
48.30
23.55
37.50
14.25
48.05
24.30
48.15
23.30
36.00
11.25
..
48.00
47.95
47.90
24.15
47.70
22.95
31.50
6.75
30.00
5.25
140
...
47.80
47.75
24.00
47.25
22,50
27.00
2.25 1867
22.35
25.50
.75 1868
34.5
1.37
1.379
...
46.85
23.15
44.55
19,80
19.65
350
...
...
44.50
19.75
41.25
16.50
24.75
...
39.60
14.85
19.80
COMPARATIVE COST AND RECEIPTS OF TRANSPORTATION.
Per Ton per Per Ton per
CLASSIFICATION.
Mile, Cost.
Mile, Receipts.
Mills.
Mills.
Transportation by railroads.
17.90
29.80
Transportation by canals, including deduc- tion, lockage, etc.
6.40
11.40
Transportation by Erie Canal, including de- duction, lockage, etc ....
4.05
......
Transportation by rivers, steam-towage ...
2.26
2.90
Transportation by bays ...
2.27
3.73
Transportation by ocean.
1.26
2.50
If the cost of transportation be thus proportioned, 17.90 by rail to 2.26 by river and 1.26 by ocean, she is confident that she controls the lowest rates by the surest routes. With a perfected barge sys- tem, the forwarding of the Mississippi River im- provements, and the construction of the Florida ship canal, the great trade centre on the Father of Waters will return to its old-time supremacy in transportation and deliver grain and other produce in Liverpool five cents per bushel, forty cents per quarter, cheaper than it can be done from any other centre of distribution.
The consequence will be all grain and provisions will go to St. Louis for shipment. But another effect will be that the United States will succeed in driving all other competitors out of the grain and provision markets, and our sales on foreign account will be en- hanced to that extent. Already, as the following table shows, we supply Great Britain with 65.4 per cent. of her total purchases of wheat and flour, against only 3.4 per cent. in 1866. With this new channel of trade adequately developed, we will supply the re- maining 34.6 per cent., and all that will be an incre- ment of the trade of St. Louis :
STATEMENT showing the quantity of wheat and wheat flour imported into the United Kingdom from 1860 to 1880, inclusive, with the quantity of the same imported from the United States.
[Compiled from the Reports of the British Board of Trade. ]
Wheat and Wheat Flour Imported.
Bushels.
Bushels.
Per Bush.
49.15
24.40
48.45
23.70
40.50
15.75
...
49.20
24.45
48.60
23.85
39.00
14.75
48.00
23.25
34.50
9.75
24,20
47.85
23.10
33.00
8.25
...
47.70
23.95
47.10
46.95
22.20
24.00
...
47.65
23.90
23.10
44.40
4950
5940
9900
49.45
10 miles from market ...
.
Imported.
Per Bush.
...
24.25
...
=
47.55
22.80
...
28,597,813
1871
1003
We are free to admit that there are serious draw- backs to the immediate realization of all these pleasant prospects, but none of them seem to belong to the class of any but the preventable diseases. Prudence, forethought, wise management in respect of legislation, economy of resources, careful selection of representa- tives, and liberal expenditure when great ends are to be accomplished will bring to pass every desirable re- sult for a city possessing already such incomparable resources. But it will be wiscst to consider these drawbacks and obstructions first, as the presentation of them may suggest the remedies which should be applied. The construction of the Eads jetties has already taken away one of these hindrances to com- merce. The cutting of the Florida ship canal and the construction of the Tehuantepec ship canal or railway will remove others. The benefits derived from the jetties are very conspicuous. It was diffi- cult to get sixteen feet of water on the bar in any of the passes in the mouth of the Mississippi. Now there is twenty-six feet regularly maintaincd. The charge for towage has in consequence been reduced from a dollar and a half per ton to one-third that figure, and there is a material reduction on account of insurance.
But there are other hindrances and obstructions not yet removed. The ice is often troublesome, not below Cairo, but between that city and St. Louis. The interruption to navigation from this cause, which at Chicago gives the railroads a monopoly of traffic for a hundred and forty days in each year, occurs nearly every winter. During the last seventeen years navigation has been suspended at St. Louis on account of ice as follows :
ployment of boats and barges loaded to draw not more than four feet. This greatly increases the cost of transportation. The actual cost of transportation in vessels drawing only four feet is said to be nearly twice as great as when loaded to eight feet.
This subject was carefully considered by a select Committee of the Senate on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard in their report submitted April 24, 1874.
It was found that during the nine years from 1865 to 1873 the condition of river navigation below the city of St. Louis was as follows :
Average number of days less than 4 feet .. 31
66
"
over 4 and less than 6 feet .. 52Ž
66
over 8 and less than 10 feet .... 691
over 10 feet. 1365
It appears from the foregoing table that during nearly one-half of the year the commerce of St. Louis was more or less affected by low water.
The average stage of the river below St. Louis during the years from 1874 to 1880, inclusive, was as follows :
YEAR.
Less than 4 feet.
Over 4 feet and less
than 6 feet.
Over 6 feet and less
Over 8 feet and less
than 10 feet.
Over 10 feet.
1874
... No record.
...
...
...
...
1876
No record.
...
...
...
...
1877
...
64
80
59
126
18782
...
51
92
87
119
18793
4
81
79
55
105
18804
20
66
73
46
156
1866-67,
66
.......
....
1869-70,
66
66
......
40 7
66
1871-72,
1872-73,
51
66
1874-75,
66
...... .
......
60
1878-79,
1879-80,
66
15
78
66
1881-82,
16
During the winters of 1868-69, 1873-74, 1875-76, and 1877- 78, the river was open, and navigation was not suspended.
The navigation of the Mississippi River is at times affected also by low water, especially in that part of the river between St. Louis and Cairo. The enjoy- ment to the full extent of the advantages afforded by the Mississippi River requires the employment of steamboats and barges of large size and drawing when loaded about eight feet of water. At times, however, the river falls so as to admit only of the em-
Days.
Days. 146
Days. 30
Days. 175
14
1875
27
38
1867-68,
1870-71,
66
......
....
32
42
......
......
58
1876-77,
58 46
The interruption to the navigation of the Missis- sippi River at St. Louis on account of ice and low water is of course detrimental to commerce. The average annual duration of the efficient commercial usefulness of the Mississippi River is, however, con- siderably greater than is that of the northern water line. The average time during which navigation is suspended by ice each year on the Erie Canal and on the Canadian canal is about five months. The aver- age time each year during which navigation has been . entirely suspended on the Mississippi River at St. Louis in consequence of ice during the last ten sea- sons was only thirty-five days, and the average time each year during which steamboats and barges could
1 Closed for thirty-six days on account of low water.
2 Closed for sixteen days on account of low water.
8 Closed for forty-one days on account of low water.
4 Closed for four days on account of low water.
than 8 feet.
Days.
Winter of 1865-66, navigation suspended ..
Days Suspended.
1880-81,
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
66 over 6 and less than 8 feet ...... 1035
1004
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
not be loaded to eight feet, in consequence of ice and low water, during the seven years from 1874 to 1880, inclusive, was only about one hundred and twenty- six days, or about three and one-fifth mouths.
The suspension of navigation at St. Louis does not, however, at any time cause an entire suspension of the river traffic, as during such periods shipments are made by rail from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill., and to Bel- mont, Mo., at which points merchandise is trans- shipped to steamers and to barges. Navigation is seldom, if ever, obstructed below Cairo or Belmont, either on account of ice or low water.
The supposed injury to grain from the heat and humidity of the tropical belt between New Orleans and the Florida capes has been proved to be a fallacy, and prices are not affected by it. But the existence of yellow fever more or less nearly every season in the lower Mississippi is an admitted hindrance.
Improvements in sanitary measures and precautions are necessary to remove these obstructions. They are necessary equally to the commercial existence of the towns and cities which are exposed to these as- saults of pestilence, and within two years very great improvements have been effected, especially in sewer- age and drainage, at New Orleans and Memphis. Much still remains to be done, of course, but a good beginning has been made, and the work will go on.
The improvement of the Mississippi River has also been undertaken upon an expensive and comprehen- sive system, which, when it is completed, is expected to make this noble river safely and easily navigable at nearly all seasons. If that should be accomplished, it is hoped that a reciprocity treaty with Mexico, and an equitable trade treaty with Spain, in respect of our commodities in the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, will give St. Louis, through her combinations of railroads and water routes, a most extensive and valuable trade in tropical products. Hon. W. M. Burwell, of New Orleans, in a communication made to the Windom Congressional Committee on Transportation Routes in 1873, said,-
" The subject upon which I am specially requested to report is in regard to the state of commerce between the valley of the . Mississippi and the Spanish-American States. There are many of us who believe that the trade lines of latitude cross above us, and that a very large proportion of the western productions will move directly to Atlantic ports for exportation, as they will and have received the foreign importations through the same ports. I would say that in the estimation of many in this city, merchants and others, the most important object of improving the Mississippi River will be to establish a direct line of com- munication between the immense productive interior of the West and the consuming markets of and beyond the tropics. There is a physical impediment in the way which we ask Con-
gress to remove; but there are diplomatic impediments also, which are even greater, as far as that line of trade is concerned, than the physical impediments to which I referred. The diplo- matic impediments consist in the want of reciprocal trade- treaties between the United States and the Spanish-American States that are adjacent to or lie south of us. Gentlemen know, and especially members of the Senate of the United States, bet- ter than we do, the precise state of the treaties between the United States and the Spanish-American powers, and they will remember that, with the exception of a few special conventions, there have been scarcely any changes made in the treaty rela- tions of those two great interests since almost the origin of the government. Almost all our trade-trcaties, as I understand, are based on the phrase of 'the most favored nations;' and while such are the terms of our commercial treaties with Spain, and while it is true that we can carry American provisions or Amer- ican manufactures into Spanish possessions on the same terms with any other power, yet when the fact is that we are the only people producing corn and grain and hog products, that we do send to the Spanish-American possessions, it is perfectly plain that that which is a tax on the trade of the most favored nations is practically an oppressive tax upon the trade of the United States. The Spanish tax in Cuba is 40 cents on the bushel of corn, which is altogether equivalent to the entire cost of transportation from Iowa to New York. The tax there is $55 on an American horse, $19 on a mule, $8 on a barrel of flour, and 3} cents on lard ; and it is plain that a tax of 80 per cent., which is the average upon the products almost exclu- sively marketed by Americans, is an excessive tax when con- trasted with the American tax upon the products of Cuba. We, as I understand, only tax two of the principal products of Cuba. We admit her coffee duty free, and we impose a tax of some- thing upwards of two cents on sugar, and a tax of some 75 per cent. on tobacco manufactured and not manufactured."
Ex-President Grant has some very " advanced" and decided views upon this subject, and it is be- lieved that, with a reciprocity treaty with Mexico and the navigation of the Mississippi properly improved, St. Louis could control the entire grocery trade of the Mississippi valley, and refine all the sugar consumed by thirty million people. The vessels taking corn, cotton, and grain and provisions to Europe could return via Trinidad and the Caribbean Sea, picking up cargoes of raw sugar on their way around the Gulf, and thus freight would be saved on both out- ward and inward cargoes. These countries, together with South America, have a commerce the total annual value of which exceeds eight hundred million dollars.
But it is imperative to improve the channel of the river before this commerce can be invited in. The general plan of the improvements which are now in process was succinctly sketched in a letter from Col. J. H. Simpson, United States engincer, to Hon. E. O. Stanard, of the Union Merchants' Exchange, St. Louis, on Oct. 29, 1873.
But a much more comprehensive plan is under consideration, involving the expenditure, probably, of more than a hundred millions before the improvements
1005
SAINT LOUIS AS A CENTRE OF TRADE.
are completed for the whole river upon a scale com- mensurate with the commerce involved.
" No adequate estimate can be formed of the value of the com- merce on the Mississippi River, nor of the value of the total commerce of the towns situated upon it. An idea of the magni- tude of this commerce may, however, be formed when it is con- sidered that the value of the commerce of the cities and towns on the Ohio River amounted to the enormous sum of one billion six' hundred and twenty-three million dollars in 1873. The national government has provided no means of arriving at a knowledge of such important facts as this in regard to the in- ternal commerce of the country. The collection of the necessary data from private sources, and from data prepared by boards of trade, State and city governments, would alone require the constant labor of one person for a year.
" Not only has the commerce of the Mississippi River been crippled by the existence of the bar at its mouth, but the value of the river above is greatly depreciated by obstructions which may be overcome very readily by engineering skill, and at an expense quite insignificant in comparison either with the present value of its commerce, or with the increase of trade which may be expected as the natural result of such improvements. Hitherto the improvement of the Mississippi has been carried on merely by sporadic efforts. Appropriations have from time to time been made and money expended, without any general plan as to the ultimate results which were to be attained. The committee recommend that the necessary surveys and estimates be made at the carliest practicable moment, in order to mature a plan for the radical improvement of the river, and of all its navigable tributaries.
"Such a plan should comprehend the establishment of a given depth of water on the Mississippi River in some such manner as the following :
" Ist. Improvements designed to secure a depth of from eight to ten feet from St. Louis to New Orleans at the lowest stages of the river.
" 2d. Improvements designed to secure a depth of five feet at the lowest stages between St. Louis and St. Paul.
"3d. Improvements designed to secure a depth of four and one-half feet in the river above St. Anthony's Falls.
" Having adopted a plan of this kind for the radical improve- ment of the river, all works should be carried out with this general object in view.
" It is much more practicable to establish such a plan now than it was a few years ago, for the reasons that the successes and failures of past efforts have enabled engineers to discover the nature of the difficulties which will be met, and to adopt the best methods of improvement. Diverse opinions still exist among some of our ablest engineers as to the best means to be adopted in specific cases, but it is believed that sufficient practical knowledge has already been gained to determine a general plan of future operations, both in regard to the Mississippi River and its principal navigable tributaries. The time has arrived for thorough measures, and the necessary plans and estimates upon which such measures must be based should be prepared at once.
" It is impossible to overestimate the commercial results likely to follow such improvements. With the well-established facts before us in regard to the much greater cheapness of transport by navigable rivers than by railways, it cannot be doubted that such improvements would increase the commerce of the Mis- sissippi very greatly, and at the same time afford relief to a large area in the Western States now fettered in its growth and prosperity by the cost of transporting agricultural products to both home and foreign markets." I
Such is the noble perspective of the aspirations of St. Louis for the commerce of the future : the centre of a valley of magnificent, continental proportions, gathering up the products of hundreds of millions of intelligent people, cultivating the soil of the most fer- tile of regions, supplying the world with their pro- ducts, and supplying the producers in return with all the merchandise which enters into their consumption. These hundreds of millions of people will be brain- workers and machine-workers, and the volume of their products will be stimulated and augmented in propor- tion to the grand culmination of their intelligence, until human force will find itself the conductor of a grand and perfected mechanism of subsidiary forces such as the world never before saw at play.
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