New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-26
CANAL TOLLS.

CANAL TOLLS.
| There is one point in the Governors Canal
| Message which is in danger of being lost sight
of in the absorbing interest everywhere eX-
cited by his and THE TRIDUNE'S revelations
of fraud. That point relates to the question
of tolls. 1t is doubtless true that if We had
more honest and efficient canal management
the tolls might DO reduced, and equally true
| it is that if we had a more honest efficient,
| and economical administration of the General
| Government the last Congress might have re-
duced taxes instead of increasing them. In the
case of the canals, Mr.. Greene, the engineer who
reported on the performance of the steam canal
boats, gives it as his opinion that with good
clean canal, "honest seven feet" in depth,
with steam navigation, the cost of bringing a
bushel of wheat or corn from Buffalo to New
York City might be reduced four or five cents.
| The toll at present levied by the State on a
bushel of wheat from Buffalo to the Hudson
River is only three cents, so that it Is plain
that the present system of canal management
leves much higher tax on transportation
than that which is visible on the toll sheet.
The Canal Board, we understand, favors a
reduction in tolls of about One-thiId, which
would amount, in the case of wheat, TO one
cent a bushel on the through business. Gov.
Tilden's message is an unanswerable argument
against such reduction of tolls or any re-
duction whatever. Diyested of all the COM
plCitOns of ordinary and extraordinary
repairs sinking funds and surplus earnings
falsely so called, the Governor shows that for
the Last five years the people of this State
have been taxed two million dollars year on
account of the canals, exclusive of the sums
raised by tax and devoted to the payment OF
indebtedness. This fact alone is conclusive,
but this is not all.
The Governor also gives comparative
monthly statement of the tolls collected in the
seven months during which the canals were
open in 1878 and 1874. The total amount col
lected in 1873 was S9,97G,7lS 81, and in 1874
S?,G3707O 02, showing a falling off of $780,
Gi7 IS. 1t is extremely improbable that the
coming season will show any improvement.
The price of wheat is now at low point,
and the demand for expectation weak. We
observe that the quantity of wheat I'M
ported from the United States into Great
Britan-our only important foreign GUS
tomer-shows a falling off from 4,4G,9R cwts.
for January and February, 1874, to 2,S2S,743
cwts. in 1875, and as the English harvest last
wear was extraordinarily good and the greater
norton of it is yet to be marketed. it is quite
certain that the same rate of decline will be
maintained for several months to come. 1t is,
therefore, beyond question, as the Governor
concisely sums it up, that, under the present
system of canal management the people VIII
"not be relieved from taxation or the boat
"men from high tolls"
The fact is that the importance of n rcduc-
ton of tolls is greatly exaggerated. The pro-
posed reduction is one cent on blshel OF
wheat, and something less than one cent on
bushel of corn. A good canal, with the pres
ont improvements in steam canal-bOats, as Mr..
Greene informs us, would reduce the cost of
carriage four or five cents on each bushel.
The present low market price of bushel of
wheat is about 81 20 at this port. The
proposed reduction of one cent per bushel,
while it would deprive the State OF One-thrd
Of its revenue, throwing the charge on the
tax-payers, would diminish the price of wheat
tn the consumer less than one per cent, diff
ference altogether too trivial to have any i'm
portant effect one way or the other.
We beg leave to refer the ultra advocates
article in THE TRIBUNE ALMANAC for the cur
rent year for a compilation of the laws which
govern at once the price of wheat the guam
tity exported to foreign countries, and the
total movement by canal and railroad from
the West to the seaboard. In March, 1873 the
second grade of Milwaukee wheat was selling
in this market for 81 60 per bushel; in March,
1874, for 81 50, and in March, 1879, for 81 20 !;
and there is a corresponding fall in the value
of wheat In every seaport in Europe and
America. We respectfully submit that it
is absurd to attribute tho present dull
| ness in the wheat market either to
any deficiency in the currency or to the charge
of three cents q bushel collected by the State
of New-York for the use of $50 miles of her
canals. At the same time we fully admit that
the higher the tolls, and the greater the rev.
enue of the canals, the more costly will be the
services rendered by Mr.. JARVIS Lord and his
fellow contractors. But if such exposures as
we have laid before our readers and an annual
tax of two or three millions dollars a year are
not sufficient to arouse the people to look a
little more sharply into the conduct of their
Senators and Assemblymen, their Engineers
and Commissioners their Appraisers and SuDor-