Charles City intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa) 1864-1866, 1865-02-16

4
ton to take any money out of TIT
Treasury of the United States. no
b will the effect of the proposition b.
: such, if it is adopted.
We. only propose to use the credi
Of the Government for the purpose o
l. building these canals, and the toll,
: that are to be received by the Govern
, ment itself will be amply sufficient, al
l believe, to pay the interest upon that
! loan, and also pay the principal at ma
! turity. .a
;. We have an example in the Ohio
, river which is sufficient to give us
: very reliable data as to what the effec,
: of the improvement of the Mississippi
river would be- The Louisville and
) Portland canal, which is in the dis
} trict of the distinguished gentleman
from Kentucky, Mr.. Mallory, has
proved to be paying investment to
that company. That canal company
: was organized by the Legislature of
Kentucky as early as 1926, and the
canal was competed in 1881. During
the period of twelve years, from 1881
to 1912, that canal paid dividends to
the stockholders 1.-THE Government be-
ing large stakeholder in the canal)
varying from six to ten per cent. per
annum. The profits Of the company
were SO large that the Legislature of
the State of Kentucky at that time
passed bill amending the charter of
the company, and authorizing the
individual stockholders to sell their
stock at $3.50 for every 500 subscrib-
ed, and within twelve years from the
time that that bill was passed by the
Legislature of Kentucky and was ac-
cepted by the company, every dollar
of the stock, excepting that owned by
the Government of the United States
and few shares to preserve the or
ganization, was redeemed at one dol
lar and fifty cents for every dollar.
The tolls received by the company
were then reduced to twenty-five cents
per ton, and since that time the net
tolls on that canal have been about
one hundred thousand dollars per an
mum. They are now charging it, and
for that purpose have obtained loan
for 81 ,6O0, 900, and hold in my hand
a letter from Hon. James Guthrie, of
Louisville, in which he says that they
expect that the tolls on the canal, at
the rate of twenty-five cents per ton,
will pay, within a period of twenty
years, that entire loan, and also pay for
the repairs necessary to keep up the ca
nal. We had requested him to fur
nish us information with reference to
the Louisville and Portland canal, and
in this same letter he states that he be-
lieyes canals built around the Lower
and Upper rapids Of the Mississippi
river would prove not only profitable
to the Government, but to any compa-
ny that might organize for the purpose
of constructing them.
Now, the object of these two canals
around those rapids Of the Mississippi
, is, first, to enable us to reach the ca.
nal passing through the State of Him
OILS from Alton and ST. Louis to Chica-
60. can say to the gentleman from
Illinois who has presented this ques-
ton to the House, that his proposition
will be of no value whatever to the
Northwest unless he accompanies it
with project to improve the rapids
of the Mississippi. The great States
! of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and a
portion of Illinois, will virtually be
deprived of any benefit from this Ca
nal unless you also enable them to
reach the canal at St. Louis by improv-
ing the rapids, which cannot now be
navigated by vessels of any class for
four months Of the season of naviga-
ton. Not only that, but an improve
ment of the rapids of the Mississippi
will enable vessels to leave Pittsburg
and pass around to the city Of st.
Paul, nine hundred miles above st.
Louis, without changing bulk. They
cannot do it now, because during five
months of the eight months of the
season of navigation the navigation of
the river above Keokuk is almost use.
less.
i Now, I ask gentlemen who repre-.
sent the great eastern States to aid us
in reaching the great railroads which
. lead to the East by means of these
water communications extending from
, st. Paul to st. Louis, and thence by
Cairo and the Ohio river to Pittsburg
.. By so doing the people of the States
of Minnesota, and Iowa, and Wiscon.
: sin, and of large portion of Illinois,
may receive some advantages from
|, the main proposition now before the
. House should it become law. But
without that the Illinois canal will be
of no practical benefit whatever to the
people of those great northwestern
| States.
i will not, during the ten minutes
allotted to me by the courtesy of the
honorable member from Illinois, (Mr.
. Arnold, undertake to argue the neces-
sity of the adoption of this amend
mcnt to the uninterrupted navigation
of this great national highway from
st. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico when
}, trade with the southern States is re-
sumed, and when western produce
will again seek southern market.
! have no desire to detain the House
further. trust my amendment will
be adopted and made part of the
bill.
i The amendment offered by Mr.. ALI
son was adopted by handsome ma
jority, and the bill finally passed by a
! vote of-Yeas, II Nays, Gs. 1t is
thought by many that the bill will
pass the Senate. The terms of con-
struction are such as to remove the
chief objections. The canal has to be
completed by Illinois before the Gene
raj Government has any thing to pay,
and it has then to pay but s., O00, 900.
1t is proper to say that Mr.. Wilson
. of the LIST (Iowa) District labored in