The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-09
The Canals and the Two Regcncfes-
Bankruptcy Of tho Empire State.

Bankruptcy OF the Empire State. !.
In another page VIC publish controversy
between the two organs of the two Albany
Regencies, each most success iully showing how
the opposite faction has misman ,ged the canals,
plundered the people, and plunged tate
into debt and bankruptcy cit Isl ,lcrry quar-
rel "a II stands" and remind 20. he ola
adage, that "when rogucs fall out, honest peo-
| ple come by the TRUTH" If they do not always
succeed in getting back their own.
The aGrand Canal measuring sos miles, and
uniting Lake Erie, at Buffalo, with the Hudson
at Albany, and By that river communicating
| with the Atlantic ocean at New York, was re-
carded as one Of the greatest achievements of the
| age when II was set on foot by De Witt Clin-
ton. II has ever since proved as much source
of plumber to the politicians as q benefit to the
! State. II has served them constantly for an
election issue and for election machinery and
| its spoils have filled their empty pockets with
s.rocks," not only the legitimate spoils, but the
| peculation and the public frauds connected
1 with the Erie Canal and its branches. The
| consequence ia that the canals have been sadly
mismanaged, worse than even the Erie Rail-
road, and so far from paying even the interest
| of the cost of their construction, they have
saddled the State with debt of forty millions,
| which lies as an incubus upon it, and which
must be got rid of either by taxation
or the sale of the canals, or by both. As
| for the plan of borrowing more money to pay
| the interest, and thus creating compound in
.terest, SO far from that disposing of the debt,
\ ..a,,ld 5o,y1a II IN fav vaare
The Ercing Journal, the organ of the quon-
dam whig (now black republican, Regency,
and the Argus, the organ of the democratic Re-
gency, who have both fattened on the plumber
and corruption of the canals, now repudiate
/ the policy which entailed so heavy debt ON
the people, like pair of rats running from a
falling house or deserving sinking ship in
which they long found excellent fare.
When Clinton started the canals, and was sup
ported by the wings, the democracy opposed
the measure at first; but, finding it popular,
afterwards adopted it, and when they got into
power carried it out as zealously as if they had
been its originators Then the wings succeed
ed to power on the question Of the enlarge
ment of the canals, which the democrats resist
ed in the beginning, but afterwards took very
kindly to- and turned to good practical ac-
count for themselves. The revenues however,
were insufficient to pay for the enlargement,
and the wings proposed to borrow money,
ostensibly for this purpose, the real object,
however, not being the improvement of the
canals, but to have the handling of vast sums
Of money, which might be used for elections
and other political purposes. The democrats,
when out opposed the borrowing policy and
advocated the doctrine Of ''pay as you go:'
but when they got into power, they adopted
the policy of their political antagonists. Be-
tween them debt of some forty millions of
dollars has been placed on the back of the
people. and though both participated so large
ly in this plumber both are very anxious to
shirk the responsibility Of having incurred the
debt.
The Argass-AHas shows by table Of figures
that if the wing borrowing plan had not been
adopted the whole liability would have been
cleared of by this time, except about sS5 900
The Journal retorts by showing that the demo-
Gratis outdid the wings IN their advocacy of bor-
rowing, and that they are the real authors of the
orty million debt From the year 1856 to
1858, both inclusive, the net proceeds of the
canals, after deducting all expenses, amounted
to nearly forty millions, which ought to have
paid off the same amount of debt now due. In
stead of that, the forty millions Of net earnings
of the canals have been squandercd, and the
debt is left unpaid, and to accumulate by COM
pound interest in eighteen years TO one hum
dred millions, unless the Legislature adopts
some speedy means Of extinguishng il. In
1886 the old debt had all been paid except
$2,700,000 but new liabilities were incurred,
and money was borrowed to pay the interest.
the proceeds of the canals failing to pay even
the interest much less the principal of the
constantly accommodating debt.
The rapid growth of railroads since the
canals were constructed has diminished their
business In the year 1853 the net proceeds
were S2,o63,7l3; in the year 1853 only $685.
325-not quite million, or less than half the
proceeds Of 1853.
We observe that some of the papers calcu-
late that this year the receipts will be tremen-
dous. But if we take the third week of the
month that has just gone by as a criterion or
If we compare the whole of that part Of the
present year which has elapsed with the same
period during the last twelve years, il will be
found that the business is continuing steadily
to fall off, and that in the present year it will
be lower than il has been yet
Year. 2d Week in Auo T,soi 10 4yo o.
lS4I..........,.....,...Sl Ol GIG 2,Os0,50y
1S4S. 82,1Sl l533575
ls49. SS,438 1851 sls
1850. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 1851 1,5l2,20S
i lS5l.................... 107,278 1SO9399
lS5I. .................. 800 1,607,760
1852. 1o5,771 es3 $50
1894. ...............,.,. 8I,0S9 1,500,370