New Orleans And St. Louis

For soiue timo past tno sugar traüe ot the Mississippi valley lias been incliuing to St. Louis instead of going to New ürleans. Planters havo found that the sugar con8igned to the lattor market was really sold in St. Louis, and that they could save the heavy charges on sugr consigned to New ürleans by sending it direct to the place of actual sale. Partly to this may be attributed tho decadence of New Orleans and the rise and growth of St. Louis as a sugar market. In two years the forrner bas lost .'0,000 of its population, andhundreds of sugar warehouses are vacant, whilo the latter now supplies the States to the West of the Mississippi with native sugar, and very little other is consuuied there. It is true that small lots of Cuba and Porto Rico and even Demarara sugar come into tho market, but the bulk of tho sugar consumed is the native or New Orleans. The value of this trade to New Orleans was immense, and was secondary in iinportance only to the cotton trade. Now the levee looks a blank. The loss of this trade is therefore severely feit by all classes, from the first hand up to the jobber. On the other hand, St. Louis derives the adrantages which its rival has lost, and which, added to those of the tobáceo and flour trades, have given wealth and iufluence to her mercantile classes. The decadence of New Orleans must go on unless somo new source of wealth and employment shall arise, for the advantages of the cotton trade alone cannot sustain a city of its size or prevent its depopulation. Mobile also draws away some of its trade. Cargoes of Rio cofi'ee are landed there and carried by rail up to St. Louis which at one time were laid down in New Orleans and thence carried by water into the interior. The new line of steamers recently established between Liverpool and New Orleans brings a certain amount of shipping business to the latter, but the bar at the mouth of the river will always limit the shippitig intercourse. To dredge this bar is useless, for it has been found that the soft mud of the Mississippi soon replacos that dug out. All things considered, New Orleans has seen its best days, and can never bo the entrepot it once was. For St. Louis the prospect is bright. lts position on the Mississippi renders it the natural point of supply for the States contiguous to Missouri and northwest of it. while its wealth