The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-16
The Chesp Traasportatioa Question
Iusersst - New York In ID.


Next to the subject of adjusting the national
finances. 90 as to relieve the necessities of the
government without imposing fresh taxes or
increasing the public debt, there is no other
30 important and urgent az that Of cheap
transportation between the West and Atlantic
seaboard In fact while the first can and
ought to be disposed of promptly. by cutting
down expenditures to meet the actual and
sufficient income Of the government the latter
| requires careful consideration, for the pros
perity of both the country generally and this
great commercial metropolis is involved to
great extent in that. The various PROPOSE
tons submitted to Congress on the subject
the appointment of a special committee of
that body to investigate it, the action OF State
Legislatures and of the chambers of COM
MERGE, boards of trade and other bodies Of
this city and other cities show its importance
and the deep interest it has awakened every
where.
The Committee on Cheap Transportation,
appointed by the last Congress, spent great
deal of time last summer and fall making in
vestigations in New York, St Louis, New
fore long, probably, an exhaustive report from
that body. The New York Chamber of Com
merce has had the matter under consideration
for some time. At o special meeting last
Saturday Mr.. Ruggles submitted series of
resolutions, which were ordered to be printed
and to lay over for future action, showing the
enormous surplus products of the country
ltAh Al II
eign markets. The gist of the subject was
embodied in the resolution: That in the
Judgment of the Chamber Of Commerce the
agricultural commercial and political interests
of the American Union all demand properly
constructed and well managed canals and rail-
ways, of capacity and extent adequate to the
work Of carrying annually to the seaboard the
large portion of this immense product of
cereals required for supplying the States on
the Atlantic and foreign nations in Europe
and elsewhere" Mr.. Ruggles had shown in
previous resolution that the cereal products
of the Western States north of the Ohio River
and west of the mountains amounted, in
round numbers, to twenty -one million tons,
and that eleven million tons at most were
sufficient for the consumption of those States,
thus leaving ten millions for expectation.
There is not anything like adequate trans
portation at present for these surplus prod
ucts to say nothing of the enormous amount
of freightage required for cattle, hogs, cotton,
merchandise and other things. At the
York Cheap Transportation Association, on
Tuesday, the question was considered in its
different aspects, particularly with regard to
narrow gauge railways and the facilities
needed in this city for cheap handling and
storage of produce and merchandise. We
shall refer to this latter subject further
on, as the commercial interests and future
of New York are especially involved. The
National Board Of Trade, in session OF Balti-
more, and the National Cheap Transportation
Convention, now assembled at Washington,
are giving serious attention to the matter of
cheap transportation. Two bills were intro
duced in Congress on Monday with a
view to accomplish the object That by Mr..
Hurlbut, of Illinois, was to charter double
track railway from tide water on the Huds on
or New York Bay to the Missouri River at
Council Bluffs or other convenient point, and
to limit the freights thereon The bill Of Mr..
Woodwork, of Ohio, is for establishing
Bureau of Transportation and to regulate the
management of railroad and transportation
companies employed in interstate commerce.
Both bills were referred to the Committee on
Railways and Canals. There are many other
movements to the same end, which cannot be
mentioned within the limits of this article, all
going to show the pressing necessity of some
thing being done to promote cheap Transport
tation SO that markets may be reached for our
superabundant produce.
This is, however, question not easy to be
solved, and requires careful legislation.
Something must be done, evidently, and that
soon, before the channels of trade be diverted
and the progress of prosperity in the West be
seriously checked. The difficulty is how to
avoid federal expenditure and jobbery such
as were seen in the Pacific Railroad and other
works and schemes, and yet to do what is
necessary to promote the public interests.
Then, the tendency of the public mind, as
we'll as of the national legislature, is, and has
been since the war, to look to the federal gov
eminent for everything. This is tending to
imperialism under the form Of republicanism.
1t is dangerous 1t leads to Casarism. The
several States, of course, accept whatever they
! can get from the federal government without
considering the principle involved or Interior
consequences. But the true policy is to con-
fine the federal government to expenditures of
a strictly national character. Some of the
schemes of improvement proposed belong
properly to the States, and should be executed
by them, though certain national interests
might incidentally be promoted. Let us, for
example, take the projected improvements in
the harbor aud wharves of New York This