The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1862-03-01

H.. II
exposed t" NOR" than ordinary damage from nundati'n.
OF course. as long the Of the Canal will not TO
n"ir than pay ts ordinary repair and tn" interest due To
the state, all extraordinary injury practically 10 be
Is,id for ont e the State Treasury
But tue structure in question not demanded ly the
necessities Of the public. and will benefit hut the
few cners.;nG gentlemen W, seek permission to
build it. Saw-miS aud factories give cmplu yucnt
very few people and add but lit, to the population
or prosperity II he county in which they situated.
The question tlrn is respectfully submitted to the
Legislature, whether at til" sanic time. at which it
becomes necessary 10 increase taNato ii is wise pro-
mote measure which must inhic, deep injury upon
the revenue Of the state.
We think the above protest from
the Susquchanna and Tide Water Canal
Companies contains some of the most novel
reasoning that was ever presented to Leois.
lative body. The Remonstrance starts out
with statement of the poverty of these cor
porations, showing their arrearages to the
State, and declaring their inability to pay
even the annual interest on the State Bonds
issued for their benefit. This is the ground
work Of the n'odest request they make of
the Maryland Legislature, which is that the
people, living in the timber regions of Penn
sylvania and New York, be prevented from
floating their logs down the Susquchanna
river free Of all TOLL by refusing charter to
Il company to place booms in the stream
near its mouth in order to stop the logs from
floating of into the Chesapeake Bay, after
having been thus transported by the free
agency Of the river to tide water. The rca
son given l.y these professionals why the pco
pie in the lumber regions should be thus
prevented from using the free current of the
Susquchanna in preference to those canals,
to get their sylvan products to market, is,
that it would be cheaper, and subject them
to less risk to use the channel of the river
than said canals. The protest states the
amount of toll on sawed lumber in 1860 was
&l5,0SS; which sum would be saved to the
owners, it, by the construction of booms at
Port Deposit, the channel of the river could
be used. And the State of Maryland is
threatened with the loss of $40, 900 annual
interest, if she doesn't prevent the opening
up of other channels of trade, by which mil
lions of capital may be drawn from other
States and concentrated on her soil She is
asked by these miserable bankrupt concerns
lumber which the canal boats carry, to her
own soil, and thus increase the value of
Maryland property on the lower Susque-
hanna ten-fold which increase of property
would not fail to add sum to the pcrma-
nent taxes of the State greatly exceeding
the interest due her by the Canal Com
panies, and which, with all their present
monopoly, by their own showing they are
unable to pay.
TO say nothing of the cheapcning of lum-
Der, by saving to the owners the canal toll
and the multitudinons risks that sawed lum-
Der is exposed to in its transportation from
the head waters of the Susquehanna. the
fact of the extensive manufacture of lumber
in Cecil and Hartford counties, would build
llSn the towns of Port Deposit and Havre de
Grace to fivetold their present importance.
This would invite capital from abroad to be
employed in other pursuits, and other
branches of manufacturing industry, which
would add by their constantly accommodating
wealth to the permanent revenue of the
State, in lieu of the prccarious $4,000 from
these beggarly demonstrating corporations.
But we are told by this Rcmonstrancc that
the structure of these booms is not demanded
by public necessity, and will benefit no one
but the few enterprising gentlemen who seek
permission to build them. The words OF
the Remonstrance disprove this assertion,
for it says the lumbermcn will save the canal
toll, which as matter Of course, would
enable them to dispose of it at a lower rate,
which strikes us is benefit to the whole
community. This would benefit others than
those enterprising gentlemen And as
to public interest, the Protest tells us that
saw-mills and factories give employment
to very few people, and add but very little
to the population or prosperity of the coun.
try in which they are situated"
In reply to this bootless falsehood, let
the lumber towns on the upper Susquehanna
answer, and the manufacturing State OF
Massachusetts answer through the census
reports, by a comparison with South Caro-,