New Market, Virginia

“ Fountain Beattie, Lycurgus Hutchison, John Mosby, and George Turberville.
The markets of Washington were only about nine miles from Green Spring Farm, but on market days it was customary for the farm wagons of the neighborhood to be loaded and on the road well before dawn. The Washington city wholesale market opened at 3 A.M. 25 each weekday, and farmers who came there sold directly from their wagons or from stalls to a milling crowd of brokers, wholesalers, retail grocers, hotelmen, and boardinghouse keepers. ”

“ Food is cheap in Virginia, because the market for it is distant, and most of its value there is swallowed up in the cost of transportation. Bring the consumer close to the door of the farmer, and it will be worth as much there as it now commands in the distant market. Make a demand everywhere around him for all the food that is raised, and its value will everywhere rise, for then we shall cease to press upon the limited market of England, which fixes the price of our crop, and is now borne down by the surplus products of Germany and Russia, Canada and ourselves ”

“ To promote or allow the growth of the manufacturing spirit in the Colony was as dangerous as to refuse to interfere with the exercise on the part of its people of the right of absolute free trade. In time, they might not only meet their own needs as to manufactured goods, but also export such goods to countries where England now enjoyed a profitable market, a market which might soon grow unprofitable to her by rivalry with Virginian competitors, since the latter would possess the advantage of cheaper raw materials as the basis of their manufactures. ”

“ To destroy the profit expected of it by allowing an absolute free commerce was to deprive the Colony, still in a state of infancy, of an animal supply which could be relied on with the fullest confidence. No adventurers would be willing to send out a cargo of goods without assurance of a market, or at best with the prospect only of sales at very low rates. The collapse of the joint stock would inevitably inflict injury upon the people, even though it should give encouragement to persons who desired to trade in Virginia on their own private account. ”

“ The present market-house is a substantial, two-story brick building, with market lot in the rear, market stalls in the basement and work shops for the city water and gas works. It has two wings, which have been at different times used for school rooms and printing offices, but are now used, the south wing for the Council Chamber and the north wing for the commissioner of revenue and city tax collector. ”

“ Having examined every land title from Wellingsley to Cold Spring, and found no mention of a market anywhere except under the town house, I am satisfied that the basement of both the old and new building contained a market from 1722 to the time of its comparatively recent abandonment in 1858. The tradition therefore concerning the change of the entrance to admit of the establishment of a market probably refers, not to the present building, but to the old one in which a change of plan may have been made to admit of the establishment of a market in 1722. ”

“ It was not necessary for the Virginian landowner to transport his crops to the West Indies to secure articles to be disposed of in England for coin to be used in the purchase of English goods, as was the case with the farmer of New England in selling his grain and other provisions. The Magazine set up at Jamestown during the administration of the Company was in later periods practically established upon each estate by an English or native merchant when he exchanged his imported goods for the planter’s tobacco, still without the intervention of a single coin. ”

“ Exclusive of the flour exported from Norfolk, there is drawn from the State, through that and other ports, a great quantity of wheat, which is taken by the merchants of Philadelphia and New York, or the millers of Brandywine, who manufacture it into flour, which they export to Europe. Good mills are not very common in Virginia. The exportation of tobacco from Norfolk has by the diminution of the culture of that article in Virginia, been reduced above one-third within the last five years. The medium rate of house rent at Norfolk is $230. ”

“ Thus, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Green Spring Farm is identified with dairy products and orchard and garden produce—all commodities which had to be marketed the same day they were produced or picked or which could be made into derivative products which could be easily transported to market and sold at prices which reflected value added by processing. Transportation, however, was a key factor. Virginia’s country roads were publicly acknowledged to be in a “lamentable condition,” and over even the best of them travel often was impossible in wet seasons of the year. ”

“ It is apparent, then, that, as regards easy access to the West, the natural advantages of Virginia surpass New York, and with greater facilities for artificial works. How many decades would be required, after emancipation, to bring the superior natural advantages of Virginia into practical operation, is not the question; nor do I believe that the city of New York will ever cease to be the centre of our own trade, and ultimately of the commerce of the world. ”

“ The quantity would be diminished by a subtraction of the produce from the labor of all those who should be diverted from its pursuits to manufacturing industry, and the value of the residue would be enhanced, both by that diminution and the creation of the home market, to the extent supposed. And the honorable gentleman from Virginia may repress any apprehensions which he entertains, that the plough will be abandoned, and our fields remain unsown. ”

“ In judging other possible solutions of this very perplexing problem it is important to consider the experiences of other large cities of the northeast states with the market business.
With only two exceptions all the markets of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington have become less and less profitable during recent years. In some cases the business has fallen off so much that half the stalls are vacant, and in others the markets have had to be abandoned. ”

“ In 1698, a judgment was secured by Major William Wilson of Hampton against Thomas Walton in the sum of fifty-two pounds and ten shillings sterling. In the same year, a vessel from New York ran aground near Hampton, and her cargo was seriously damaged. [143]
There are evidences that the commercial intercourse between Virginia and New England began at an early date. In 1640, the General Court sitting at New Haven laid clown the scale of prices to be used in the purchase of commodities from the Southern Colony. [144] The trade with this community increased in volume with the progress of time. ”

“ What would be the condition of the largest portion of our people, and of the territory, if this home market were annihilated? How could they be supplied with objects of prime necessity? What would not be the certain and inevitable decline in the price of all these articles, but for the home market? And allow me, Mr. President, to say, that of all the agricultural parts of the United States which are benefited by the operation of this system, none are equally so with those which border the Chesapeake bay, the lower parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and the two shores of Maryland. ”

“ All this led to a demand, first, for ships, then for sailors, and then for provisions and lumber—to the benefit of every part of the country except the South. New England was the lumber, fishing, shipbuilding, and commercial section. New York and Pennsylvania produced grain, flour, lumber, and carried on a great commerce as well. So profitable was it to raise wheat, that in many parts of Virginia the people stopped raising tobacco and began to make flour, and soon made Virginia the second flour-producing state in the Union. ”

“ Thirty years previous to the composition of this remarkable paper, a number of the citizens of the Western counties had entered a petition with the Lord High Admiral for permission to adventure themselves and their merchandise in a scheme looking to the discovery of new trades, which, in addition to enlarging the bounds of the Christian religion, would promote the beneficial utterance of the commodities of England, increase and maintain seamen, and give a vent to the overflowing population at home. ”

“ Fairport probably takes the lead in forwarding, but Richmond is fast on the increase, and has several extensive stores which afford most kinds of merchandise consumed in the country, very cheap. Farmers generally find a certain market for their produce, and a large extent of country south receive their eastern merchandise at the two places. ”

“ In 1709 the first slave market was erected at the foot of this street, on the site of the Half Moon Battery and block house of the Dutch era, and for many years continued to be the established place where slaves were offered for sale and “stood for hire.” A market house had been built, and in January, 1726-7, it was ordained by the common council of the city of New York that the market house at the lower end of Wall Street be appointed a public market for the sale of all sorts of corn, grain and meal, and a penalty was fixed for selling such in any public market elsewhere. ”

“ The manufacturer and merchant have nothing to fear from hidden destructive agencies. During the past two or three years several threatening commercial evils have arisen only to disappear by a self-correcting agency which seems to develop itself at the right time. The merchants and manufacturers of the New England and Middle States will find, this year, a much more valuable market west of the Mississippi than last year. The increasing demand for all kinds of raw material there during the past few months is a sure indication of the growth of a great market for the shop-products. ”

“ The establishment of the American settlements was the first step on the part of the English people towards a successful competition with the Dutch merchant marine. That the English authorities should have shown so much opposition to the commerce that sprang up between Virginia and Holland at an early period, was precisely what was to have been anticipated, that Colony having been founded to be a market where English wares were to be exchanged for Virginian commodities ”

“ The city has almost quadrupled its population in a generation, but the markets remain about as they were. Many other cities in the United States not only testify to the value of municipal markets as a means for lowering prices to the consumer, but so guard their interests as to provide a very different balance sheet. ”

“ Watchmen are about the markets at all hours of the day and night, and in some markets an extra fee is paid by the sellers to secure attention to their stalls. At two o'clock in the morning, Washington market is fully lighted, and the farmers begin to arrive to sell to grocers. The grocers usually buy from four to five in summer, and from four to six in winter. Boarding-house keepers mostly buy from [Pg 160] seven to nine o'clock. Families buy during any of these hours, or later. All the markets are open by half past three. ”

“ Virginia agriculture grew to new levels of prosperity, aided by the introduction of new labor-saving machinery through inventions and the opening up of new markets for farm produce through improvements in transportation. ”

“ Agriculture and Manufactures.—The natural fertility of the soil of Virginia far exceeded that of New York, with a more genial sun, and much more favorable seasons for agricultural products, as well as for stock. The number of acres of land in Virginia susceptible of profitable culture, is nearly double that of New York, but much of it has been impoverished by slave labor, scratching and exhausting the soil, without manure or rotation of crops. The Census shows that Virginia has all the products of New York, and cotton in addition. ”

“ At this time the trade of the town was chiefly of a local character, except the products of the country extending even beyond the Blue Ridge mountains, as from the early years of the town, were brought to market in wagons, and it was no uncommon sight to see daily as many as fifty or sixty four and six-horse teams here at one time from that part of the country. The merchants were men of exalted character and fine business capacity, and the amount of business transacted was, considering the times and circumstances, simply enormous. ”

“ While railroad and water transportation were available from Alexandria to major metropolitan markets for farm products, the farmer faced the obstacles of traversing Virginia’s notoriously poor farm-to-market roads. ”

“ The manufacture of cotton goods, although still small, is a growing industry. The abundant water power of the Piedmont district is being utilized in this connection. Between 1890 and 1900 there was a large increase in the railroad car and shop construction business. Since the Civil War the manufacture of fertilizers has become a leading industry. Richmond is the principal manufacturing centre, but Norfolk is the most rapidly growing centre. The following table shows the relative importance of the leading industries ”

“ Some women regulate their sales to have a percentage, but many sell for what they can get, without regard to the amount of profit. I find those selling vegetables, buy of farmers who come early, and leave a supply for each seller in case she is not there. Any vegetables they may have left are locked up in boxes, or barrels, or covered over and left on the bench. The gates of the market house are closed and locked up at one o'clock every day except Saturday, with the exception of Washington and Fulton markets, which are open all day, and the first mentioned all night. ”