Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1874-01-22

|
ing their lumber from the eastern OF
tawa district,in New York and the New
England States.
1t is difficalt to obtain perfectly dis
interested opinion concerning the mer-
its and demerits of the Champlain route
The cities west Of Albany oppose it
probably for fear lest it should take
away the traffic of the Erie Canal and
render the elevators of Buffalo of little
use. The scheme also finds strong op-
position among the commercial men of
New York, while in the northern part
of the State the undertaking is regarded
with the greatest favor. 1t will proba-
bly, be found easier to get an appropria-
ton of SIS, 600, 900 from the State Leg
islature, as at present constituted to en-
large the Erie Canal than one of $780,
900 to build the Champlain ship canal.
Only by logerolling could either pass,
and the fact illustrates, as the needless
feeders with which the Erie trunk ca
nal was encountered illustrated the pri-
m ary wire of the State undertaking ell
terpises which shoHld be left to private
citizens. Let no man say they are too
great. Private capital has gridironed
the continent with railroads and through
the Empire State there are two great
routes either of which has far exceeded
in cost the much mismanaged canal
For mismanagement in the latter case
all taxpayers have had to pay. In the
former case those who owned the pro-
perty have paid for its mismanage-
ment.
THE ERIE CANAL, ITS ENLARGEMENT, ETC.
In 1917, when the authority to build
the Erie Canal was first given, the West
was comparatively unknown. The great
Northwest was wilderness, and the
population of all the Western or grain
growing States was not so large as the
population of the City of Chicago to-
day. The population of the whole Uni
ted States was less than 1900, 600, and
that of the State of Illinois about 40, 900.
The first shipments of grain from
Chicago were made in 1898, forty years
after the Erie Canal was begun, when
they amounted to 7S bushels Of wheat.
The receipts OF grain at Buffalo in 1886,
thirty-nine years after the Erie Csaal
was begun, amounted to ,239 ,35l BUSH
els, and it was not until 1S46 that the
receipts at that port amounted to 10, ,000,-
600 bushels per annum. During the
past ten years they have exceeded 50,-
900, 900 bushels per annum. The first
cargo of grain received from the upper
lakes at Buffalo was from Grand Haven,
Michigan, in the year 1896. There were
no railroads until many years after it
was finished, and it cost only about
$6,OOO,0O0. 1t was only 40 feet wide on
the surface, IS on the bottom, only 4 feet
deep, aud could not float boat of more
than seventy-six tons. For twenty-one
years after the Erie Canal was opened
the traffic furnished it by New York
State was more than that furnished from
all the Western States. 1t never fur
nished from all the Western States. 1t
never carried 100000 tons of grain to
tide water in one year until 1916, after
it had been enlarged. The most it has
ever carried to tide-water in one year
was 2,917 ,04 tons in 1862. By efficient
management and clean prism the ca
pacity of the Erie Canal can be inereas-
ed to 100000 tons per annum. The
net earnings of the Erie Canal since its
opening in 1925 amount to over $780,
600, 900.
From 1926 to 1856 the Erie Canal was
the only route for commerce between
the Atlantic sea-board and the West
and Northwest. In 1866, according to
a report of the State Auditor to the
Constitutional Convention, the total
earnings of the canal had been 1884,
S57, ,9l5.s7, and its total expenses had
been sl4l ,42l, ,425.23, leaving credit
balance of s41 .436, 1904. There was at
the same date a debit balance against
the lateral canals of $4s.496, ,s70.os. Du-
ring the period from 1886 to 1872 inelu-
sive the value of the property trans
ported on the New York canals to and
from tide-water amounted to about 81
600, ,00O, 900. The people, although the
nf ha
costly and in many indirect ways most
demoralizing, have had the benefits re-
sulting from this vast inland commerce,
including the building every ten years
of 10, 900 eanal-boats and their equip
ment at cost of about $40, ,000, 900, the
employment of 100000 of the popula-
ten Of the State, the profits Of bankers,
insurance companies, warehouse-men,
and the commissions on sales, as well
as the development of a large ocean
commerce.
FROM 1860 to 1869 inclusive the Erie
and other canals moved 49, per cent.of
all the freight transported in the
State, doing nearly as much in the sew.
en- and half months that they were
open as the $500 miles of railroads did
in the whole year. But since the year
1860 the average yearly business on the
canals has been only 10 PEI cent. great
er than for that year, whereas the husi-
ness of the railroads has been 50 per
cent. greater. The State Of New York,
and especially the Erie canal, is loosing
Its former proportion Of the commerce
of the West, such is its quantity and its
overflow into other, new, and needed
The movement via the st.
Lawrence was commenced in 1856, and
at about the same time the five great
lines of railway terminatingon
the seaboard at Baltimore, Philadelphia
New York, Boston, Portland, and Mon
treal were put in active operation for
freight from the West. The
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway has re-
Gently been completed, adding another,
with shorter line from Chicago, st.
Louis, Louisville and Cincinnati, than
any of the other five. The rate of in-
receipts of cereals at the psin-
cipal parts for several years has been as
follows: Montreal, from 1856 to 1872,
s63 per cent; Philadelphia, from 1866 to
1872, 30 per cent; New York, from
1856 to 1872, &c per cent.
Concluded in our Nert.)