The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-03-17
The New York Canals.
What the Canals OF that State have Cost, and
what they have Earned.
From the New York Times, 22d.


canals were the mainstay of the State,
the chiefest source OF it's prosperity, and
the strongest support of the commercial
supremacy of the State of New York Elk
Governor Seymour presided, and the
prominent names in the Convention were
those of long known and successful men.
Their action is embodied in the first prop
ositiJn-to make the canals what they
pretend to be, and ought to be, as wa
terways; and, secondly, to relieve them
from an unnecessarily sharp burden OF
levies upon their income in order to pay
their small remaining debt, at whatever
cost to the public welfare.
Many Causes have combined to depre-
ciate the credit Of the State canal system,
the principal one being that, while good
in its conception, it has been bad, and
worse than bad, in its management. A
trunk canal like the Erie, following the
only available continuous waterway, be-
tween the upper lakes and the ocean.
hardly needed al argument in its favor,
It's immediate and ultimate cost. and the
ability the State to meet both, was the
only consideration. All these contingent
cies were foreseen and provided for by
Dewitt Clinton and his cnmpeers, who
looked upon taxation as something bet
ter than mere makeshift to cover the
annual wear and tear of the common
Notwithstanding in time which should
become capitaI, and yield fair return
The fault in the canals lay not so much
in the canals themselves rs in the build
ing Of "laterals and needless feeders,
the votes of whose advocates in the Legis-
lature were wanted in order to accom-
plish the purposes of the trunk lines
No one who has investigated the subject
does or can doubt that the Erie, the
Oswego and Chsmplain Canals have paid
their way, their cost Of maintenance and
construction, and have also develop
ed resources of wealth and capacity to
endure taxation such as the State had
seemingly small reason to anticipate.
The original canal was "Clintonss Ditch"
the enlarged work was Ruggles Folly"
but every promise and prophecy of those
two Statesmen has been fulfilled. Ruggles
dreamed dreams, but every vision has be- |
come a fact. He only failed in making
the proper allowance for stupidity and
knaVery. He, like Clinton, reasoned |
upon system of trunk canals-the Erie |
to open up the West, the Oswego to gar
ner tn ., harvests Of Lake Ontario, and |
the Champlain to bring into the others
the products of Canada and the North. |
Fastened to these-as in later times to |
all trunk railroads-are series of "lat- |
erals, the costly and worthless Genesee,
the Crooked Lake, Chemung, Cayuga,
Chenango, ONEIDA Improvement, Black |
river aud others. Some of these may
have their use as feeders of water, others
may add indirectly to the volume OF ca
nal commerce, yet how much has been
gained, allowing much for the inevitable
plumber and waste attending public i'm.
provenents is no matter of guess work
We cannot conveniently segregate as
we ought the Erie from the other trunk |
canals, each in its lesser Importance being |
equally entitled to consideration. Both |
the Oswego and the Champlain have
paid their way, and, dollar for dollar, in
spite of fruad and political mismanage-
ment, have refunded to the State all they
have cost, without reference to the i'm
pulse they may have given to the devel-
Opment of the regions they traverse, and,
consequently, to the taxable capacity of
the people whom they benefit. Accord |
ing to the report of the State Engineer
for 1868, Erie Canal has cost the State for
interest on construction account over $685. |
100000, and for cost Of maintenance and
interest on maintenance over $31 100000, |
m liking the whole cost of the Erie Canal, |
its total capital interest and expense &C. |
count, from beginning t. end, no less than
to be accurate-$l40,430,9 534 This |
IS assuredly a large sum for single pub
lie work, nearly all of it's construction in
times OF profound peace and cheap la
bor
But there is an offset. The Erie Canal
and we count interest on this side as
we'll as the otner-has paid in tolls over
$8700O,00 and in interest on the same
over $94O0O,O0O, giving total income
of $18l,828, 603,83. Deduct from this an
allowance which is certainly liberal
enough for tolls and the interest thereon,
from frieghts contributed by the lateral
canals, and we have a net profit on the
Erie Canal, covering all costs of invest
ment and maintenance, of $21 10000. IA
Few public works can show as clean al
record, and this with the admission that,
except the trunk lines, no canals should
have been built after it became evident
that railroads are fully competen til
the transaction of the immediate local
business of we'll settled and productive
agricultural regions. The three trunks
are saddled with the in olvency of the
four or five tributaries, yet, grouping the
whole together, the careful Buffalo Ad0er
tiser, usually accurate and pains taking
in these matters, has shown by official
figures that the total cost, including con-
struction, interest, repairs and swindling,
of all the canals, good, bad and indiffer-
ent, has been only $40 1923, 50235; while
the offset to that in tolls and interest has