The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-03-25
NEW YORK HERALD THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1858.

Arr the Canals - DO COmpaetoo. and Aovv
Statistical returns of the trade and shipping
of the lake ports and of the ports of Quebec and
Montreal, In Canada, for the past year, exhibit
q very striking falling OF In the receipts Of Ca
madam produce at the lake ports OF the United
States and q corresponding increase In the busl-
ness Of the Canadian porta Nor Is this all
Other tables, equally authentic, reveal the fact
that while the Canadian farmers and millers
are Withdrawing from our canals and railways
the traffic they used to afford them, large
number Of our western merchants In Illinois,
Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan arc importing
their supplies from Europe by way of the st.
Lawrence and the Canadian railways instead
Of deriving them, ~ they used 10 do, from New
York or Philadelphia, by our internal lines Of
communication. In word, the present ten
dency Of trs0ac is, for some reason or other, to
desert the great channels which connect the
West with the seaboard through the State Of
New York and to seek those new channels
which Canadian enterprise has lately opened,
in the shape Of the Grand Trunk railway, and
the line Of Canadian steamers to Europe.
In answer to inquiries as to the cause of the
change, persons who should be we'll informed
on the subject, state that the Canadians are
straining every nerve to get the trade; that
they are carrying produce for even less than it
costs them to do it; and that many favors, such
as an exemption from tolls, duties and vexatious
exactions of every kind. are offered to mer-
chants and shippers as an inducement to pa.
tronize the Canadian highway between the
ocean and the West.
The fact, its probable causes, and its obvious
results demand attentive study from US in this
State at the present time. Tho canals of New
York have again reached one of those periodi
cal crises which are 80 familiar to those &C
quainted with their history. As was foreseen at
the time the last loan was voted, the sum then
obi aimed has proved most inefficient for the pur-
pose required; now, it seems, TOUR millions more
are needed to complete the enlargement of the
canals on the scale on which the work is now
progressing. And the question has been raised
in our State Legislature: is this money to be
granted, and howY
There seem to be but few persons who serious
enlarged canals rather than spend four more
millions. Common sense is too prevalent for
that. The vast advantages which New York
has derived from her canals, aud the great value
which they cannot but prove in the future, espe-
ciaily after they have been enlarged on the
scale at present adopted so far outweigh the
comparatively small sum which it is supposed
it will cost to complete the work, that no per-
sons Of any character are likely to oppose the
additional outlay. 1t may be taken for granted
that every one is in favor Of spending four mil
lions more to flnish the enlargement. The next
question is, where is the money to come from
Various projects for raising the sum required
have been ventilated 10 the Legislature. Most
of them arc of the Robin Hood and Frisr Tuck
order. One proposes to squeeze the banks;
another to flch the unclaimed deposits in
savings banks; another to lay tolls on the
Central and Erie railways. This last appears
to command the approval of few politicians
and newspapers throughout the State. They
argue that as these railways compete with the
canals they should be taxed 80 as to give the
advantage to the latter. In other words, the
people of the State having one line of traffic
the canals-and the Central Company a rival
line-the railroad-the people, having the
power, propose to cripple the railway by taxing
it so that it cannot carry on a rivalry with the
canals 1t is expected that this liberal and
sagacious arrangement will enable the canals to
support themselves, and will provide fund out
of the railway tolls for the canal enlargement
So completely has the fable of the goose that
laid golden eggs been forgotten at Albany.
If any more tolls are laid upon the railways
Of this State, New York has seen its best days
The greatness, the wealth, the prosperity, the
power, and the influence Of New York have been
built up by the trade which has flowed through
the State between the ocean and the great
West What this State is, we owe to the happy
continuance of natural channels of COM
nunication which our forefathers found
here when they came, and which they and their
descendants have ever since perseveringly la
bored to improve and extend. The policy of
this State, ever since il has had a policy, has
been to invite and encourage trade from all
parts by liberal and favorable laws, by low
freight charges, and by holding out to mer-
chants and shippers in the interior and abroad
a sure prospect that their business could be
done here more chcaply and better than IL could
be done elsewhere. The consequences of this
policy we see in the proud pre-eminence which
New York occupies as the Empire State of the
Union. The consequence Of the opposite policy
we see in the backward and Insignificant posi-
ton of New Jersey, whose laws have all been
framed with view of making the most out of
the merchandise and traffic which happened to
find its way into that State. And the prospect
before us, IL we now begin to lay taxes on pro-
duce and merchandise on our great lines of in
ternal communication, is that we shall certainly
drive trade into Pennsylvania and Canada
that we shall give the Canadians O mighty help