, 1877-12-14
Ihe New York Canals.

session, passed law that three of the.
cahais owned by the State should he
abandoned, and that another sbould ho
sold. The extent of canal which will
thus be disposed of is about two hundred
miles, ana the State will then own about
SIX hundred and fifty miles. OF this
amount, three hundred and fifty miles
constitute the Erie Canal, and the other
three hundred are branches.
The reason for getting rid of these
"lateraI' canals, as they are called. 10
that they are costly, and a burden on the
State treasury. The business done m
them Is very small, and the tolls do NOT
pay the cost of managing them and
Keeping them in repair. Last year, the
Erie Canal was the only line owned bv
the State that paid its expenses.
The canal system of New York was
planned before the invention of railroads
The Erie Canal was begun in 1919, and
the present system was completed
leaving out Of account small amount
afterwards added, about the year 1898
Altogether, the Erie Canal has cost nearly
seventy-tive million dollars. 1t has been
SO successful that it has almost paid for
the entire system, but very few of the
others have afforded any profit at all.
In the early years of canal traffic in
New York, the advantages it gave to the
country through which the canals passed
were very great. Water carriage is
cheaper than any other mode of trans
portation. When the Erie Canal was
built, it was considered the quickest
line of transportation from the grain.
fields Of the west to the seaboard. In
1920, the country west of Ohio was hardly
developed at all. The States of Indiana,
Illinois and Michigan, had not then,
combined, so large population as Rhode
Island has to-day.
The mos! r-sceing statesmen of that
time never dreamed of time when the
country west of the Mississippi river
would send its grain to the sea.Coast for
shipment to Europe. The great point
then to be gained was to connect the
lakes with the Hudson river. 1t wasa
noble enterprise, and but for the inven-
tion of railroads, it would have made
New York, even more than it now is, the
For great many years after a rail-.
road had been laid down by the side of
the canal, by far the larger amount of
business was done in canal boats. 1t all
went to New York City, and increased
the tendency of commerce to center at
that magnificent port.
But as railroad science became.
more perfect and more exact, the
locomotive began to encroach upon
the business of the canal. The canal
was closed nearly half the year; the
freight trains could run all the year
round. The boat-load of grain, which
it took weeks to tow from Buffalo to
Albany by horse power, could be carried
by steam in as many days. BY careful
the cost OF railroad freight
was greatly lessened. To meet this COM
petition, the tolls on the Erie Canal have
been several times lowered, and every
time this was done the railroads also re-
duced their rates. Now, when the tolls
are very low, the traffic ON the canal is
falling of, while that over the railroads
is increasing
Thus, while the canal has been of won
derful service in New York, and has,
added millions upon millions to her
wealth, the day when it can do more than
compel the railroads to do business at
fair rates has passed Possibly it will
not be long before even the Erie Canal
can only be used at loss; and when
that time comes, New York will begin
to think of selling it.
While the New York canals have done
so much for the material prosperity Of
the State, they have been a source of
much evil in politics. TIE history of
their management is long story of cor
rupt jobs and of open stealing. Reform
ers put out one set Of peculators, and
put another set in, more eager for the
spoils than those who had grown rich
upon them. If it were all to be done
over again, it would be very grave
question whether the injury the posses
sion of such vast property brought to
the public morals, could bejustitied even
by the large benefits conferred on the
community.