True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-03-29
sVOLUMEI.--NUMBER. l3.

per cent. interest, secured by evidences Of
debt called State Stocks. When these
were completed the debt of the State was
IS, ,49O,S ,SO9 80.
They have yielded an average annual
net income frott 1883 to 1851, of about
Al per cent. on their cost. Their inAu-
ence in promoting the settlement Of the
interior Of tho State, and developing its
resources, was very great. This success
stimulated to farther and less prudent ex-
ertions. In the winter Of 1856, the
Board of Public Works (whose members
opposed further undertakings at that tinfe)
was changed, and the Mama extension
canal, from near Piqua to Lake Erie, the
Wabash and Erie canal, the Warren coun-
ty cahal, the Hooking canal, the Walhon-
ding canal, the Muskingum Improvement,
and the Western Reserve and Maumee
Road were all authorized to be undertaken
or so many of them as the Board should
be Of opinion would yield net annual in
come of six per cent. on their cost. In
April, 1886, the Board, by single reso-
luton, undertook the construction Of all
these works They were finally completed
in 1874, after great financial embarrass-
mehts. In the mean time, whilst matters
seemed prosperous, the State subscribed
Stock in the Ohio & Pennsylvania, the
White Water and Milan canals, and in .
great number of rail roads and turnpikes.
To aid the State in these undertakings,
the United States who still held the title
to large part Of the lands, gave large
bodies of lands from which the State real
lied over $l,500,000. The investments
in rail road and turnpike stocks, and in
the Ohio & Pennsylvania canal, the
Whitewater canal, and the Milan canal,
was, from the best data in my reach
S2,954,512 II. On the 18th of Noyem-
Der, 1847, when, as ascertain, it reached
its highest point, the State debt amounted
to SIS, ,492,895 21. The annual interest
for that year, was sl,179,073 10. Some
small loans had been effected at five per
cent, for others seven per cent. had been
contracted and paid. a -e..s. 90
This would leave for the cost of the
works above enumerated, undertaken in
1886, about 81, 100000. They did not
however, cost this sum, as at least 81
100000 of the funds included in the above
estimates was applied, during periods Of
financial embarrassment, to the payment
of interest. ........ ...... ~
The Wabash & Erie canal l.......
| ost..........."........... S3,009,9 1923 20
Miami Exten canal COST. 2,634,757 08
The Muskingum Imp. cost 100000 90
I have not at hand the means of ascer-
tanning the separate cost of the other
works. Their aggregate cost was about
"a, ,155,O0. t.
In 1S47, as stated above,
the debt was............ S19, ,492, 1896 21
On the LIST Of Jan. 1854,
it was.".............. 15,21S,129 40
Reduction in six years s4,274,765 81
The annual int. in AZ was 1,179,073 70
In 1854 it was......s... 9O1, ,19l IA
-------------------g
Reduction in six years s277,sS2 So
Net income Of public ah i .iaaa
works in 1847....... .I 512,4 Al
" .r. ID. 4.' .ar -----------------
! Raised by tax in 1847, ts.asg R.,
to pay interest. S666,6O0 70
: Netin Of public works cd. alov sl.s,j,
in '54, estimated, there a7rs, "a ,,;a
being no report......-. 100000 90
Deficiency to pay interest SOl, ,l9l "A
, Increase of tax to pay int. slS4, ,5Sl S5
AN OBSERVER.