New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-02-04
COMMITTEE ross without reporting tts bill, snd the
House htjozHed.
OUR CANAL POLICY.

the careful attention Of every business mao 10 this
cty. and of the owners Of t,1.be property through
out the State. No ore can arise from its perussl
without CONVICTION Of the truth that the scheme
of our internal water highways between tie great
lskes ard TIE Atlsntc was eminently wise-ths,
the Erie Cacal has been q source Of public wealth,
far more abundant than It's projectors AID builders
dreamed Of that It is the bes. and most reliable
source Of revenue the State can have; that il is
our true policy to foster i. as carefully as Literally!
and that hostility to it should be deemed to be
epmity 10 the Commonwealth.
The prophecies made in l833 Of the increase Of
commerce from IL, West to be efe,ted by the en-
largement Of the Erie Canal have long since been
fulfilled. Part of the fal6llment is the marselo1s
growth Of this city in population and wealth, aud
rs objectionable and uncbaugesble rank Of enPo-
rum smopg all the msIts Of the continent. Whose
will regard the Great West" upon the outspresd
nap Of North America, and will comprehend its
possession By free lsborers, and appreciate the
combined resUlts OF the industry Of an intelligent
ardent people snd the fultfulness of virgin
soil, will feel tina. the new prediction made BY
Mr. Rugsles will also surely be fulfilled" That
within the next twenty years Improperly to be
"csrried through ttis State to and from the wes.
"wi amount hi least to twenty five hundred mil
"lions Of dollars" OF the almost engrossing in
terest which we of the city of New York have 10
this continental commerce, il surely is unnecessary
for US to speak.
TIE Canals Of this State have for while been
suppEants to the Legislature for the means to com
plete their enlargement. 1t is not the attitude
becoming their true relations TO our treasury They
are credltOrs-inyolnntary creditors, made so by
robben-and if put in possession Of their own,
would have nothing to ask of the people or from
party For period extending from 1885 to 1858,
diversions of the Canal revenues to the general
uses of the State h.ye annually been made till the
aggregate has attained the sum of eight millions of
dollars The set which authorized the Erie En-
lsrgemest provided for yearly abstraction of
$500, 900 from its earnings. This sum was in
creased TO 100000 in the subsequent year by
another Legislature. The unwise and unjust pol
icy thus inaugurated was weakly continued, with
but two interruptions, down to the time of the
adoption Of the Constitution Of 1916. The Con-
yenton which framed that instrument not only
sanctioned the robbery of the revenues of our
uncompleted Canals, but made It the imperative
duty Of future Legislatures to continue the prac.
tee. W0rse-it increased the amount which it
ordered them to divert. 1t not only directed tlem
to tale annually $500 900 for the ordinary expenses
Of the Slate, but the further annual sum of
o. Aan r. tlal On
eral Fund Debt.
We have said that the aggregate of the Canal
revenues thus diverted was eight millions. The
amount taken for the General Fund was 81, l37 COZ
principal money, exclusive Of interest. L. has
gone to official persons fer salarie,-gone TO hospi
tails, asy lums, prisons, academies, cOlleges-been
paid TO judges legislators, and special commits
sioners-been scattered widely through the State
BY all the nultifarious expenses Of civil govern
ment. When the Legislature instituted the ICON.
"veyins' of it in 1886, they deeently called their
act ga loan" and sacredy pledged the faith of the
State to repay the whole amount taken, whenever
the Canal Fund should need it. If this covenant
were kept, and if that loan" were repaid with
the honest incident of interest upon principal, the
Canals would to-day be in possession of sum
which would fully complete them, and pay of all
contractors and claimants who have demands upon
them.
The history of our Canal policy is full Of error,
which We have no disposition at this moment to
charge to its just politic. account Regarding the
Erie AID Osaego lines as sources of public reve.
hue, or the instruments Of State commerce and Of
general wealth, the means which they had earned
to keep their capacity for transporting property
fully equal TO the increase of the movement of
property TO the sesboard, should never have been
taken away from them, without q sure fund, as
well IS a sure will, from which to replace the
amount Oh demand. But these revenue paying
routes, Of what WAS almost entirely foreign com.
nerce seeking our emporium, were burdened
with the cost Of constructing the lateral ca
nsl.-works which have undoubtedly benefited
the portions Of the State through which
they run, but which have impoverished the
Treasury, while they have crippled the enlargement
Of the water highway, which has given TO New York
her imperial place ard name in the confederacy
This tax upon the surplus revenues Of the Erie and
other paying routes now amounts, with interest at
FIVE per cent, 10 the enormous gum Of over twenty
Elk millions Of dollars The Canal Revenues for the
period Of twenty-tbree years, between 1896 and
ISIS, both inclusive, have been $50, 7O90i3. The
amount taken aud diverted 10 p,ying tie expenses
Of the State Government and the interest on its
debt, and the cost OF constructing the lateral
canals, has been $50, 81 ,23i. The sum left
therefore, for the enlargement. Of the Erie Canal,
the principal source Of all those revenues, aud
applied to tha, purpose, has been only 1906, sIi
But The Pal n hsinnd trnnn Tie Gntnra n.n.l