The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-11-30
THE CANAL.
We copy elsewhere in to-day's TRADES an
article from Wednesdays Chicago .Tribun,
swim, fsctq and fipures IN sbov tbe firm III

article from Wednesdays Chicago ,Tribun
giving facts and figures to show the formid
able character Of the war the railroads arr
actor in this contest is ostensibly the Rocl
/ Island road, but it Is evident that ali the grea
lines are in it, and that it is but a part of TIT
grand conspiracy of the railroads against al
the water lines of transportation of the country
This conspiracy not only includes our Illinois
and the Erie canal, but daringly aims to drive
the shippngand with it western produce from
all our inland rivers and the great lakes. Tn,
war is by no means new. 1t has been going
on in New YORK for years and has already
dried up her lateral canals, leaving only tn,
one great central artery, the Erie, open, and
there Is no certainty Of even that surviving
the contest 1t has been waged against the
lakes so that the earnings ana tonnage Of our
lake marine have in tire last five years been
reduced onehalf If has reduced the tonnage
on our great rivers more than half, and is wag
ing "A merclcss war against the jettics at the
outlets of the Mississippi and even dares to
oAllhI it lliN iuiI AiS idb' VI wv yum aiiN'
west Atlantic coast,
| In this mighty contest more than half the
victory depends on the success of the con
spracy against our Illinois canal and river.
This is the first strong oupost-the Khyber
pass-that must be taken. Without it no vic
tory would be complete With the connecting
link between the great rivers Of the north and
and northwest and the northern lakes I'm
broken, the enormous drain on the profits of
the railroads to keep up the contest would be
too heavy to be always kept up. With the
Illinois river and canal open produce can be
carried from any point on the rivers north of
canal to New York at rates which will crush
any railroad monopoly that undertakes to keep
up permanent competition. But dry up our
river and canal and the great northwest is at
the mercy of the monopolists. The big fight,
therefore, must be made right here.
The article we copy from the Tribune gives
some intlmaton Of what is at stake in that
contest One-thlrd of the farmers of Illinois
diN NV" quiz 'ociip tii'll gram, Dtti Iuu pDlh
to market, and receive their lumber and other
heavy supplies, ut rates which make their corn,
wheat and pork worth at least = cents per-
hundred more than they would be worth if the
producers were at the mercy of the railrotd
monopolists. Taking into account the I'M
mcnse annual shipments of produce from the
vast region interested to the east it can easily
be shown that our canal, river and the lakes
are worth millions year to the western pro.
ducers of which thay Will be robbed from the
day they are placed at the feet of the monopo-
lists.
What can be done to avert this robbery? The
Tribune article shows that the cunning of the
monopolists has already so manipulated our
state constitution that the canal is helpless theI
moment its own revenues cease to maintain iii
in running order. The point to aim at, there.
fore, is to secure such Legislation as will keep
up the revenues OF the canal to the point at
least of selfmaintenancc. We believe thel
courts have decided that the legislature has
powerful fix uniform maximum and minimum
rates of fare and freight on our railroads AS
no railroad freights that successfully compete
with the canal and river can be legitimate orr
honest, or such as can possibly be uniform all
over the state the legislature can compel the
Rock Island and other roads competing with
the canal and river to charge such rates as will
enable the canal to maintain living business.
We believe there is no constitutional or legal
impeachment in the way OF at least this much
But doubtless by the time the Legislature meets
o.hcr methods may occur to save our canal and
river. The great point to ann at now is TO get
the people sufficiently aroused on the subject
by the time the legislature meets to insist that
their representatives shall act honestly on the
subject, and not permit themselves to be BAN
boozlcd or bribed by the monopoIists