The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-09-28
City OF Now YOrk-The Inoompetency
OF Our Munfcipal Government

OF Our Municipal Governments.
While the members of the Joint Commit
tee on Transportation are examining the rela-
tive advantages of rival routes of water CON-
munication between the Great West and the
seaboard, inquiring into alleged railroad
abuses, eating good dinners at other peoples
expense, and seeking to lay up political CAPT
tai with the farmers for future use, it is well
to remember that there are some important
considerations connected with the flow of
commerce to and from the ocean which are
not embraced within the scope of the COM
mittees investigation, but which vitality con-
Germ the city of New York and cannot be
longer overlooked without endangering the
supremacy of the metropolis. It is needless
to discuss the necessity of greater facilities
and cheaper rates of transportation to and
from the Western States. This great public
need is now universally admitted and the
springing into sudden life and vigor
of the farmers oranges affords practi-
cal proof that those most Interested,
the producers, are resolved that the
subject shall no longer be lost sight Of by
the politicians who rule the national Congress
and the Legislatures Of the several States.
With hundreds Of thousands of able-bodied
immigrants pouring into the country year
after year, and lending their aid to settle and
bring into productiveness the broad acres of
the West, the evils of insufficient and costly
transportation will grow in extent with every
passing season, and will become more and
more unbearable We hear of corn which
would feed millions of starving people in the
crowded cities of tho world being fed to ani-
mails or left to rot in the fields because of the
impossbility of getting it to market. We
are told how the farmers are stripped of all
their profits on grain by the greedy avarice
of railroad corporations, by the INSULT
cheney of water transportation, by high
tolls and by exorbitant rates of freight;
the fact that the consumers suffer
equally with the producers from these evils
in the enhanced cost of living. The question
u.s. How are we to supply an effective remedy
How can we, at the same time, give relief to
producer and consumer and swell the CON-
MERGE of the country?
The benefits Of ample water communication
between the lakes, our inland seas and the
ocean have been proved by the experience of
the past. The rapid growth of the West has
the system of canals which found early and
effective champions among the ablest citizens
of the Empire State. The Erie Canal was
opened in 1926. In 1920 the State of Ohio
had population of $751; 900; Indiana had
147, 200 inhabitants; Kentucky, 564, 900; Ten
nessee, 422 900, and Mississippi, rs, 900; while
the population of Michigan was 5000, and of
Illinois, $4,000 In 1880 the population Of
Illinois had risen to 157, 600 and Michigan to
$4,000, while Ohio had advanced to 937, 900
and Indiana to $4,000. Under the
last census we find Illinois with two millions
and half of people, Indiana with nearly one
million and three quarters, Michigan with
million and quarter; and Ohio approaching
two millions and three quarters. We have
now the railroads to aid in moving the i'm
mense commerce which grows out of this
enormous population; but the railroad corpora
tons, soulless as they are, make it their prey
and bleed it to the extent of its endurance.
of dollars of watered stock there are rings to
be satisfied, express companies to be fed, and
margins to be provided for Congressional and
Legislative corruption; and for all these the
producers and consumers are called upon to
pay. Our water communications with the
hoxya
have not been permitted to keep pace
with the rapidly advancing age. When
there was no steam engine in existence
canal boats drawn by horses were available
means of transportation, and the Erie Canal,
as well as the other constructed water chan
nels, aided the development and growth of the
West We now live in an age of steam and
electricity, and our water channels, to be of
any real value, must be capable of being navi-
gated by steam. There is no doubt that the
Erie Canal should be SO enlarged as to admit
of the passage of propellers of six hundred
tons burden, which would make the trip from
Lake Erie to New York in five days and profit
ably carry corn at four cents bushel Con-
gress has already endorsed the necessity and
propriety of such o water channel as a national
work. In 1870 Congressman Benefits bill
providing for an enlargement OF the Erie
Canal by the general government was substi-
tuted for the Niagara Ship Canal bill and
reported favorably by the unanimous voice
of the committees on commerce and
appropriations, although it failed in a house
owned by the railroad lobby. There is no
doubt, also, that the grasping avarice of rail
road corporations should be controlled by
some sort of Congressional legislation. But.
as preliminary to these reforms and as On
immediate necessity, New York should per-
form her own share of the work Of cheapening
and accommodating transportation by sup
plying those conveniences at her ovndoors
which are SO greatly needed, and the absence of