Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-07-28
Burlington's Opportunity.

Tue time has come for Burlington to move
in earnest in the matter of the Caughnawaga
Ship Canal For many years the most far
sighted citizeps Of Vermont, have recognized il
that project an enterprise Of more Importance IL
the State Of Vermont. and to The city Of Burling
ton especially, :han any other that could be pro
posed. After the work of generation in pre-
pairing the way for it, most favorable charter
was at last secured from the Canadian Govern
ment Whether that charter shall be made
available and the canal become an immediate
certainty, depends on the present action of the
citizens Of Burlington. For this all else at pre-
sent waits With proper action on our part,
the managers OF the enterprise do not doubt that
the captSl required to buld the canal, will be
forthcoming Burlington is asked to subscribe
100000 to the capital stock of the Caughnaws-
ca Canal Company, and at 3 meeting represent
ing the lumber, mercantile, forwarding and other
great interests of our place, reported eleWhere,
4 committee Of prominent citizens was appointed
to circulate the stock book, for subscriptions
We cannot doubt that they will meet hearty
response from every property owner in Bnrling-
ton. There can be no question of the immense,
vital, Importance ofthe enterprise, to the ma
terial prosperity of our city. We trust it is not
necessary for our people t. learn by experience,
the lesson Of the dangers Of delay, SO emphsti-
c.lly taught elsewhere. The case of our neigh
bors of Montpelier is che in point Three or
four years ago, they could have brought the
Portland and Ogdensburgh Railrosd to MOntpe-
lier subscription of $4,000 from that town
would have secured the building Of a road from
St Johnsbury to Montpelier. The Montpelier
people hesitatei thought their taxes and bur
dens were already pretty heavy somebody else
would probsbly furnish the money if they did
not They turnel, thus, the cold shoulder to
the project, anl their opportunity passed away
not to return. They find themselves now with
out the impulse to business and the crest adysn-
tages which the Portland and 0gdensburgh con-
neciion would have given them, aud about to
lose, in addition, much Of their existing trade
with the Lsmoille Valley. They are now, in an
effort to in part make good these losses, paying
much more money, to secure road from Mont
peier to Wells River, than would have sec ured
to them the more valuable connection with ST.
Johnsbury /; and they are likely in time, TO pay
roundly sgain, to secure a branch from that
road to St Johnsbury, which after all will never
be anything but side branch, in place of the
link in a trunk line, which was once offered to
them and lost by insction and delay.
There is a pregnant moral in this case for the
people of Burlington. This great cansl enter
prise will not admit Of longer delay. We must
strike nom. Nor will it do for each to give it
encouragement only in lcords, leaving to others
to take the stock The amount asked for is a
pretty large one, and every property owner must
take his share, or it will not be secured. We be-
lieye that the stock, as an investment, will pay
better than most bank, railroad and manufacture
ing stocks for the canal can be cheaply built,
and will cost next to nothing to manage snd
keep it in repair. But if it pays nothing in in
terest on the capital, it will pay richly in other
ways, as has been so often shown. If any man
doubts the soundness Of the opinion expressed by
such calm, shreTd. practical and successful
men as Mr.. Barnes snd Colonel Cannon, that the
canal will treble the population and qusdruple
the value of property in Burlington in ten years,
or the correctness Of the expressed belief of q
leading lumberman Ike Mr.. Rolfe that the lun-
Der trade can be retained at this point only by
the building Of the canal. let him examine the
subject for himself, give to it candid and in
telligent judgment, and we have no fears that
the Importance of the enterprise will not come
fully home to him. Most of our citizens, doubt
less, have already reached perfectly clear con-
illusions on the subject, and the time for action
having come, we trust that they will act with
promptness and wise liberality.