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Show THE MIHSIHaiPPI BLOCKADE- I Some tim: ago fti; noti' 1 ti. far' II, at tit.; outl.-U U) tb-,- M --W-ippi ii'..-r w.-i-r iWUA with -aji-tl'ar? tn:H it w.i-. iiiii.-il,l.- f,r v. . N t. pa, in or out. A 'rn-pondfiitul the N-.w Vork Ti -"if given .-rv full p.nti. io lari of thr e.,ndiMoil of nlf.tir- ai.'l Hi e!!.-. t ii,.,n tin- bur-iiu-, , Ni-w Or-l- ai,.-. Ai:ri,rdiiig to hi.s ae.-ouut then- ..re now it I, Ir.d and ti:y L..1.-., ot i olton, in.uiy tholls:ii,il- of ho -lir:i.l of tobai.eo, and iniiiien-e ijnantitii of ;:iaiii and pr',ifioin King idle in tin-n.in-hon-e.. of Ni-w Oil. aim, for whirh read), ea.d, h..- Ih-,-,i piolt. r.il by r.i-t-ei ii ,u id Knr'.jn an merchant, hot none of which c;)n leave the port in , ron-e.ju. lice of ill'- inal-ility of -t.-am-r-r- to ens.,, tin- Kind I in--. Thirt in a K-rril.lr allliclion u thr uiclroiolii of Loui-iana, and not alone to that city ,ti i I the Slate, but to the whole country coun-try north which is aceii-toiiied to depend de-pend upon the Mi-.-H-i,jti river an the go.-at iiigliuay by which its piv-ducr piv-ducr in tj reat.li a inarkut. Tliourands of (piare miles of country from New Orleans, even up to St. Loui, and alum:, have no other mean of bringing forward their cotton, cot-ton, tli ir tobacco, their grain, and all of their crops, rxerpt by this great wat.-r route, niul even now there is pro. luce enough to put millions uf dollars dol-lars into circulation and enliven the trade of the whole Mi-Mippi valley. But thin blockade by sand-bars stagnates stag-nates everything, discourages all bu.i-nehrt, bu.i-nehrt, and in fast growing into the shape of a great national calamity. Various experiments have been made looking to a remedy for this evil, under un-der small appropriations from Congress, Con-gress, the conelurtion being finally reached that continued and constant dmlging is the only way by which anything like u permanent rrniedy ran he secured. But it appears that the commerce of Xew Orleans is controlled by a towing tow-ing monopoly, whose interest it is to keep the outlets to the river in mich condition ns will give their tugs active service in lauding vessels over the bars. A single instance given in the Tribune correspondence, illustrates the power of this monopoly. Major Howell, the engineer, for several years in charge of the river improvement improve-ment works, reported in IStW that he made a got I channel through one of the passes. This the tow lwat company com-pany denied, underdosed to take vessels ves-sels out that way. Finally several steamers from Xew York, unable to cross the bars at other passe, went to the one cleared by Major Howell and got through. The news leaked out, and an indignation meeting was held by captains of delayed vessels, at "which it further transpired that two ships, drawing 17 and 18: feet of water, had also passed out at this pas, and a breeze was raised about the cars of the towing company. The managers pretended to succumb. A ship drawing lti feet of water was towed to the open pa.vt, anchored five miles above the bar until low tide when she grounded, completely blockading block-ading the pass. By this sharp practice prac-tice the monopoly j collected $100,000 during the remainder of tho season. By all manner of devices the labors of engineers to keep clear these outlets have been rendered futile. At the next session of Congress further appropriations will be'asked, and the demand made that proper steps be taken to end the present condition of af lairs, by congressional action wiping out this monopoly. How this is to be done has not yet been decided, but mutters have become so serious, that prompt and decisive action is looked for, and is demanded to meet the emergencies of the situation. The situation to-day is a national disgrace. |