42i 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



self-relying English practice. No matter how full the register 

 of Douglas or McKillop, no matter what their means of 

 iafortnatiou — business conducted by virtue of their record, or 

 their judgment, is like service performed by a substitute ; 

 and proverbially if thiugs are wanted to be done well they 

 must not be left to be done by others. The English merchant, 

 or his representative, trusts nobody ; but sees the business of 

 his customer, makes inquiries, and forma opinions for himself: 

 and, if cow and then he is taken in, the circumstance leads to 

 circumspection in the future ; and little noise transpires. The 

 American business mechanism, although unsuited to the 

 domestic English trade, cannot be too freely used in 

 transactions with parties at the other side ; as any house in 

 bad repute, or unknown to the agencies, should, as a matter of 

 business-principle, be let alone. 



The pe.'uliar unknown elements of the North American 

 commercial class secure footing for great numbers of mere 

 adventurers. The run of these cannot possibly be kept by 

 the shrewdest agency ; and crowds of men, of whom nothing 

 can be learned, infest, and often rule, the stock and corn 

 exchange, and other marts of trade. These men of no 

 reputation — and no doubt, in the majority of cases, of no 

 means — lose nothing by unfortunate reckless trading; but have 

 the certainty of making money, if they start the market, and 

 sell out to those who must foot the bill. Strange to say the 

 law Bustains, or rather does not extingui-h, such a system, and 

 such a class. Not to meet engagements when these mature 

 is certainly no crime in the United States, and too often is 

 lightly thought of in the American dependencies of the 

 British crown ; and even when circumstances or convenience 

 oblige a man to burst, he has no bankrupt law to face. 

 Assignment directly to a friend, or indirectly to a wife, stops 

 all process ; and by-and-by defaulters make another start, 

 amoug old iriends, if they can do better by moving 

 elsewhere. 



The banking class, perhaps, more than any other, is made 

 up of such nondescripts ; and in the West particularly, so well 

 is the art of money making understood, that people usually 

 look out every season for banking houses suspending tem- 

 porarily when the fall business is fairly over. To constitute an 

 American banker, nothing more is needed than showy pre- 

 mises, a few clerks, and some small notes and change in the 

 window. Instances have been brought to light where young 

 banking houses have had the window funds on loan, with the 

 imderstanding that the lender should share all business profits. 

 Not necessarily being an issuer of notes, an American banker 

 may confine his business to deposits, discounting bills, and 

 negotiating real estate, and the fools not being all dead yet, a 

 safe lucrative business is set agoing. 



To issue notes some State forms have usually to be observed, 

 and if it is obligatory that the notes should be secured by 

 State bonds, or otherwise the possession of these bonds becomes 

 the first care of intending plunderers, and occasionally the 

 means employed for that end excel every other form of 

 knavery. Usually, or rather invariably, the promoters of a 

 new bank are interested in some others, some thousand miles 

 away, and the notes of these, which stand at par in the 

 note reporters', are employed to buy the stocks. The bank 

 then opens ; scatters its issues as far away as possible, and 

 deposits soon supply suflicient capital to refund advances and 

 furnish funds to make the speculation pay. 



In the west particularly it is a well acknowledged fact that 

 legitimate trade has no assistance and almost no convenience 

 —unless the privilege of depositing money is considered such 

 —the great mission of the banking system being to promote 

 improvements and give value to real estate. Occasions in- 

 numerable could be adduced wherein the arm of productive 

 labour has stayed its functions ; wherein general business has 

 been paralyzed, and hungry thousands turned upon the streets 

 because legitimate banking business would not be done. That 

 and other evils of the system have been noticed in the last 

 and previous messages of the President of the United States ; 

 and until Congress can so far infringe the sovereignty of the 

 individual States as to provide general banking and bankrupt 

 laws, American trade and banking swindlers will remain un- 

 punished. 



From these imputations it is scarcely necessary to relieve 

 the banking classes of New York and other eastern States, as 

 generally these are known to be men of another stamp, not 

 generally inferior in character and business system to the best 



in Europe, But these form a mere fraction of the whole, and 

 their very virtues are a standing condemnation of the other's sin. 

 Canada must also be exempted from the more strictly 

 western censure, as there " shinplaster" notes are at least 

 unknown. There also banking capital is in the main em- 

 ployed in strictly business ways, although there is much to 

 reform in the distribution of banking favours. A man of 

 business, to get on in Canada, is too much under the necessity 

 of being a bank proprietor, if not director, or the friend of 

 either; and so long as that state of things continues, .little 

 comparative progress can be made in the development and 

 building up of provincial trade. 



PRODUCTIONS AND PECULIARITIES OF 

 THE NORTH AMERICAN WATERCOURSES. 

 In the previous communication the great watercourse of the 

 North American continent was divided into two sections — the 

 first embracing the Mississippi river and its tributaries ; the 

 second embracing the lakes and the St. Lawrence river : St. 

 Louis the centre point and shipping port of the one ; and 

 Chicago the centre point and shipping port of the other. It 

 is now proposed to enumerate the productions of both sections, 

 and to speak of some of the peculiarities of the trade in the 

 different articles. 



Beginning with New Orleans, the first consideration is the 

 imports and exports of that city, and these are furnished by 

 the New Orleans Frice Current, under the auspices of the 

 Board of Trade. 



Statement of the principal grain receipts at New Orleans, from 

 the interior, for the years ending 1st September: — 



Wheat. Flour, Corn. 



Barrels and sacks. Barrels. Sacks. 



1858 .,. 401,000 1,538,000 1,289.000 



1857 775,000 1,290,000 1,437,000 



1856 869,000 1,120,000 1,990,000 



Statement of the principal grain exports from New Orleans, 

 September 1, 1857, to July 1, 1858— 



Flour, Corn. 



Barrels, Sacks. 



New York 127,600 73,400 



Boston 230,200 26,400 



Philadelphia — 3,500 



Other United States ports. . 164,500 209,500 



Great Britain 264,000 398,800 



France and continent .... 94,400 — 



Cuba 3,200 90,800 



Other foreign ports 118,500 30,400 



1,002,400 832,800 



The supplies of New Orleans are chiefly furnished by St. 

 Louis and Cincinnati. Cairo and Alton of southern Illinois, 

 and Louisville of Kentucky, are however large contributories. 

 But New Orleans does not receive the whole Ohio river and 

 upper Mississippi river shipments : a considerable portion goes 

 from Memphis by railway to Charleston and Savannah. The 

 total southern grain movement from St. Louis and Cincinnati 

 and the other ports of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers may be 

 summed up thus for 1857 — 



Exported from Flour. Wheat. Corn, 



Barrels. Bushels, Bushels. 



St. Louis 845,600.. 1,331,400.. 859,200 



Cincinnati 416,700.. 394,900.. 162.900 



Otherports 631,100,. 863,100.. 511,000 



Total movement south 1,893,400 2,589,400 1.533,100 

 New York and Montreal form the Atlantic outlets of the 

 eastern section of the watercourse ; and no account being ac- 

 cessible of the railway traffic from Buffalo and other points, 

 the tidewater receipts at Albany represent the eastern move- 

 ment towards New York ; and the movement towards Montreal 

 is borne on the returns of the trade and navigation of the pro- 

 vince. 



Statement of tidewater receipts at Albany, from the opening 

 to the closing of the canal : — 



Flour. Wheat. Corn. 



Barrels. Bushels, Bushels. 



1857.... 835,500 5,763,400 5,515,900 



1856.... 1,130,500 11,776,300 9,587,700 



1855 .... 1,290,100 5,426,200 9,343,700 



