New-York tribune., 1873-03-22
SEHERAL MILLIONs SQUANDERED.

SEVERAL MILLIONS SQUANDERED.
Among the enormous official delinquencies
whereby the public treasury has been robbed,
there are none of greater Importance to our
citizens than the State Canal frauds exposed
at some length in an address, elsewhere
printed, of the Hon. Thomas Raines, State
Treasurer. 1t has long been in a general way
matter Of popular belief that there Is more
OF less dishonesty In the management OF the
canals; but curiously manipulated figures nave
hitherto somewhat concealed the facts. Ihe
State Treasurer has at length pulled up
corner of the vail, and we are enabled to see
how some of these frauds are perpetrated ana
to form a notion of their amount
The Constitutional Convention OF 1857 inves-
tieated to some extent the system of canal
contracts, and denounced many OF them as
evidently fraudulent. Similar denunciatlons
from one of the Canal Commissioners brought
this condition of affairs so palpably before the
Legislature in succeeding sessions, that t"o
years ago the Commissioners obtained power
to cancel these contracts by recommendation
to the Canal Board. The law also permitted
the contractors to surrender voluntarily. And
upon this basis of an intended reform, the
State was swindled more impudently than be-
fore. Every contract at low rates was surreAr
dered; every one at high rates was keptM
force. OF course the expenditure grew enor-
mously. Misrepresentation as to the cOndl-
ton of the canals, absurd in their contradlc-
tions, kept pace with the needs OF contractors
and politicians and, according to the descrlp-
tions promulgated from Albany, the canals
yibrated at sudden intervals from desolate
decay to perfect repair. 1t would be ludl-
crous, were it not Infamous.
But after all, the figures themselves, so far
as we have them, are the most appalling part
Of this history of fraud. Taking three series
of four years each. between 1860 and 1872, we
find the tonnage increasing by but fourth
while the expenditure for repairs trebled.
The revenue from tolls has been, with slight
exception, continually decreasing in the face
of enormously increased expenditure. The
cost of repairs and collection IL 1868 was 10
per cent of the receipts in four years follow
ing it exceeded SO per cent; in 1870 and II
it was nearly Sj per cent; last year IL
was more than 92. What jugglery
of accounts concealed these facts, the
Treasurer explains. The appropriations
of each year are exhausted within the first
six months and the remainder of the year is
covered by floating debt requiring
deficiency tax, year after year. What will be
that deficiency now that 90 per cent Of the
S3.OOO,OOO receipts is swept away by nominal
repairs it is impossible to foresee. We say
nominal" because the Commissioner OF the
Eastern Division, whose statement embraces
nearly half this immense expenditure, is cry
ing for more" and declaring that repairs
which prudence and necessity dictate are left
unperformed. Repairs, indeed! No break III
the Erie Canal ever let out its contents more
readily than these sluices deplete the treasury
of the State. The Committee on Canals tells
us also of wasteful and yalueless lateral
canals, of which only two pay expenses. One
of these, producing about S25,OOO, costs usually
from $4,000 to S15O.OO0 per annum; and
million and half of money have been thrown
away upon it within the last ten years. On
the other hand, there are no known means by.
which the tonnage of the canals can be
materially increased.
The Treasurer charges this condition of af-
fairs directly to the Canal Commissioners and
the State Engineer. The Canal Board, he
saws, is poweress in these matters This is
not mere partisan accusation. Each party
at Albany has dipped deeply into the cOrrup
ton of the canals and used it for the further
ance of its schemes. We were pleased to see
that an effort to stem this tide was made by
Attorney General Barlow in suits just decided
in favor of the State by Judge Learned, null
hfying legislation made to cover contracts
that were really fraudulent-cOntracts taken
by undertaking at impossible prices, with
the expectation OF such legislative relief, pre-
sumably to be obtained by bribery. But in
general about all this canal business there
seems to be something infinitely degrading to
official morals In former years this journal
has discussed the advisability of taking out
of State control this fountain of corruption.
1t remains to be seen whether these new ex-
posures afford arguments to such conclusion.
But the voters Of the State must determine
whether the fostering mass can again be COW
cred by the much stretched cloak of party
fealty.