The New York herald., 1870-02-21
The Erie Canal ~ n Pablo Highway
Important Bill in Congress.


Important Bill In Congross.
We publish this morning bill introduced in
the House of Representatives the other day
by Mr.. Bennett, of New York, entitled ga bill
to provide for the better protection of the
Northern and Northwestern frontier, and to
facilitate commerce and diminish the expense
of exchanges between Slates'-a bill which
we regard as embracing q measure Of canal
reform Of the highest importance to the great
grain-producing States of the Northwest and to
the East including the State and the city of
New York.
The bill proposes, on the part of the United
States, with the consent of our State Legisla-
tllre, an issue of bonds to the extent OF fifteen
millions of dollars for the immediate liquida-
ton of our Erie Canal debt, &C., and that
thereafter no tolls or tax of any description
shall be levied or collected by the State upon
any property transported through or upon any
of our State canals, except uniform charge
not exceeding one-half mill per thousand
pounds per mile, to be collected for the pur-
pose of defraying the annual cost of the MAIN
tenance of said canals, and that any excess Of
appropriation or tonnage dues shall be applied
to the enlargement of the Erie and Oswego
canals &c. The bill next provides further
securities for the performance of the proposed
contract on the part of the State, and for the
appointment by the President of three COM
missioners of the United States, whose duty it
ahou ho tO hot uti uIofiopu nf this
agreement, when made, are carried out by the
State.
The main object Of this bill-the reduction
of the expense of the transportation of the
grain crops of the great Northwest to this port
and of the goods returned In exchange--is the
question for the consideration of Congress.
Under our present system our State canals are
costly political machine, and the tolls ex-
acted under 1t so seriously affect the profits of
tho Western farmers in their exchanges with
the city of New York that they are actively
casting about for cheaper outlets. Meantime
the various railway lines tapping the valley of
the Ohio from the seaboard are enabled, from
the costs and delsys of our canal transporta-
tioh w oPPAOPeA"VO AuA 6O 0AoAO Va eAio w Cot-
ern trade at figures which eat up the farmers
crops; and the strongest inducement held out
for subscriptions to the Chesapeake and Ohio
road, already completed half way between Nor
folk and the Ohio river, is not the rich re-
sources in minerals and timber along the line
through West Virginia, but the grain trade of
the great West.
The demands Of this Western grain trade
are annually increasing with the increasing
productions of Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin,
braska and Dacotah. To save the costs
and wastages of elevators and transhipments
en- route to New York the producers near the
river have entered into the scheme for begin
ming of direct shipments without breaking
bulk, by way Of the Mississippi.to the West
India islands, Central and South America.
And why not? The prosperity of Chicago
from the lines east and west, and of other
cities, is drawn from their grain
elevators and railway profits; and if only two
or three per cent of these drippings by the
way can be saved by the Western grain pro-
ducer he will be handsomely rewarded. We
do not know why cargo of -four may not be
sent in seagOing steamer or sailing ship
direct from St. Louis to Liverpool at less cost
than by way of Chicago eastward by rail or by
water. We expect that before the lapse Of
many years (with the annexation Of the New
Dominion) the great water line Of the lakes and
the st. Lawrence, from the first day of May to
the last of November, will be made equal to all
The demands Of the contiguous States and Ter
ritories on both sides.
We do not suppose, however, that the pro-
ducers Of the present heavy and still increasing
surplus products Of provisions in the North
west will for many years be compelled
to seek foreign market. AS popula-
tion increases in the mining States and Ter
ritories, and in the wheat, corn, beef, pork,
wool and whiskey producing States themselves,
manufactures will be introduced and the mar
ket of the producer will be brought nearer and
nearer his own door. 1t is, indeed, possible
that within the next ten years such will be the
enlargement in the Southwestern States of the
Atlantic section of the cotton culture, and
such the increase of cotton mills, furnaces,
foundries, &C., therein, that the whole of the
reduced surplus of the great wheat-producing
States will be consumed in the cotton States of
the Mississippi valley, to say nothing of the
mining States to the west side of the Rocky
Mountains In this view Chicago has nearly
reached the height Of her prosperity, and she
will have to substitute factories for her grain
elevators, or within short period she will
begin to decline.
Meanwhile the nearer we bring lie Erie
Canal to free public highway the better it
will be for Western producers and Eastern con-
sumers and New York shippers of wheat,
-four, corn, beef, pork and whiskey, and the
better it will be as check upon these grasp
ing and unscrupulous railway monopolies
Hence we approve the Erie Canal scheme Of