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Bauxite tonnage was 277,547. Tank- load lots of creosote oil rose to the total of 32,289,068 gallons. A chemi- cal fertilizer, sodium nitrate, totaled 106,559 tons. The somewhat grisly named product, dried blood, filled out the list of firsts with 2300 tons. Value of Average Year’s Imports An average year’s imports are valued as follows by authoritative sources: coffee, $90,000,000; sugar and molasses, $50,000,000; petroleum and petroleum products, $25,000,000, jute and manufactures, $15,000,000; bananas, $12,000,000; sisal, $10,000,- 000; vegetable oil seeds and_ oils, $7,000,000; fertilizers, $5,000,000; dead or creosote oil, $5,000,000; lum- ber or manufactures, $38,000,000; and local tonnage is practically on a fifty-fifty basis, due to complete fig- ures of 708,531 tons local and 727,029 tons interline. Some 150 products or classifications are included in the tonnage figures of the barge service. Prominent among the larger ocean going move- ments included in this list were wheat, with a total of 100,102 tons. The wheat was shipped to many countries, for some of which new records were set in shipment orders. Cotton, reaching the port via the barge service showed more than 75,- 000 tons for transportation to widely scattered ports. Corn was a little more than 72,000 tons, and _ barley was high with 55,000 tons. Rye was over 25,000 tons and tobacco was only FEDERAL BARGE TOW—SOMETIMES CONTAIN 17 BARGES WITH 400 CARS OF MER- CHANDISE. LEAVE NEW ORLEANS FOR ST. LOUIS AND UPPER RIVER EVERY 5 DAYS. IN 1928 CARRIED NEARLY 2,000,000 TONS BETWEEN THESE CITIES printing paper, $2,000,000; and mis- cellaneous, including all others, $20,- 000,000. The grand total is $244,000,- 000, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. Much of the cargo handled at the port of New Orleans comes down by way of the Mississippi-Warrior barge line service. The service has main- tained a steadily increasing tonnage gain for some time, as it is evi- denced by figures recently released by its officials. In 1928, the grand total in tons handled by the barge line was 1,435,560, about 200,000 more than was handled in 1927, which in turn was 200,000 more than was handled in 1926. Of the 1928 figures, divisions are as follows: southbound traffic, local, tons, 243,671; interline, tons, 402,305; total, 645,976; northbound traffic, local, tons, 464,860; interline, tons, 324,724; total, 789,584. The ratio of interline 46 a little further down the list with 23,106. These were the chief items in products of the farms and planta- tions. Among other outbound articles a large amount of metal, in one form or another, was included. And, inclosed in what must have been a large quan- tity of one particular metal, tin, were various prepared or semi-prepared foodstuffs, namely 31,449 tons of canned goods. As to metals and manufacturers thereof, there was 12,- 258 tons of ore concentrates; 17,051 tons of wrought iron pipe; 11,026 tons of unwoven wire and nails; al- most 25,000 tons of bar sheet and structural steel; well over 14,000 tons of agricultural implements; and_ sev- eral thousand tons distributed among ores, rails, railway tracks and mate- rials, fittings, tin and terne plate, copper, lead, boilers and machinery, automobiles and parts, tractors and MARINE REVIEW—July, 1929 accessories, metalware, radiators, roofing material, and miscellaneous manufactures of iron and steel. About 15,000 tons of edible syrup passed through the hands of the barge line, destined for foreign lands. Books and medicines and electrical supplies, fireworks, paper and burlap bags, paint and prepared roofing, soap and soap powders, baking powder and matches, ink, lime and lye, glass and glassware, and even 6 tons of cork, a sizable cargo despite its very low sum, also showed good totals. Gen- eral merchandise to the extent of al- most 25,000 tons rounded out the cargo coming into the port. Northbound, the chief item of ship- ment was bauxite, whose 343,598 tons represents the largest single item tonnage in either north or southbound traffic. Next in northbound and also in complete figures was sugar, with 274,480 tons. These two. articles were 23.938 and 19.12 per cent, re- spectively, of the entire amount of goods handled by the barge line at the port. Cargo Going Upstream Also Coffee shipped northward amounted to 26,061 tons. Sisal’ ran its total to 34,311 tons. Not less than 17,850 tons of bar sheet and structural steel left the port for up-river points. The widely diverse articles, listed as “bagging and bags, burlap, jute and gunny,” and “canned goods” both showed totals of nearly 14,000 tons. General shipments of various commo- dities and varying amounts filled out the tonnage total. The railroads that enter New Or- leans include the Southern Pacific, the Missouri Pacific, the Texas and Pacific, the Illinois Central, the Louis- ville and Nashville, the Southern railway, the New Orleans Great North- ern, the Yazoo and Mississippi Val- ley, the Gulf Coast lines, the Louisi- ana Railway and Navigation Co., and others. Between 40,000 and _ 50,000 miles are represented in the combined trunk mileage of the roads having termini in New Orleans. This is about 25 per cent of the class 1 railroad mileage of the United States. Many years have gone by since the first settlement on the Gulf coast was established. Out of what was once wilderness and swamps now rise flourishing cities and thriving ports. During the last twenty-five years re- markable growth and expansion has taken place. These ports are destined to play an important role in the busi-« ness life of the country due to rapidly increasing exports and the steadily growing development of Central and South America.