The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-12-28
THE CANAL AGAIN,

| Mr. Mike Haley of Morris, somewhat noted
,iclc in the Morris Rctormer in regard to the
war of the railroads against water transpor,a
ton, and notably against our Illinois canal
The value OF the article suffers from Mr.. iIa.
ley's apparent inability To forget that hc Is not
urling on the fiat money question and that it
would be better to stick a little closer to facts
and figure, He says truly:
Experience has demonstrated that we cannot
successfully rely upon railroads for transpOrta.
ton oi the commerce between the east and
west or between the north and south II il
we're not for the cham OF our great lakes and
The St Lawrence river with the New York ca.
nails on the one hand, and the Mississippi and
VI lssOuri and Illinois rivers on the other, the
products OF the farms oi the west and south
would scarcely pay for gathering and market
NJ. While the cost to the consumers at the
east and abroad would be quite us great If not
greater, than it is now 1t is manlt,stlv the
pHrpoSc of the owners and managers of rall.
roads to control and manipulate the commerce
II the country. To successfully carry out
heir object they have formed combinations,
pooled ircights and aided each other to crush
Ill water lines of transportation They have
managed 10 take The trade from and close up
Glany of the canals Of PENNSYLVANIA, Ohio and
indiana. They have been working To take
ne trade OF the Illinois and Michigan canal
md tue Illinois RIVER and with the aid OF in
Competent or corrupt State officials the rail
Otus are about TO succeed and CLOSE up the Ct.
al. The Knapp and Thaycr canal house at
MnOuka has been closed all summer The
, T. It. l.. T. L. has made it an object fOrI
i,,,, ia, all tInir ,rruin Ia l,,,I
lhIt rail Dad Preparations are being made b
ne G. L. |. u T. IA X To handle All Tue gram
Dvcrturcs have been made to many Of the ca.
nil and river shippers to transfer their patron
,.r To The railroad. The railroads are offering
Cbatc OF four cents on ghl at six 10 cighto
> ibushcl.
we may ad that the railroad company has
: warehouse al Ottawa and It's buyers are over
dding the canal buyers here to-day on corn,
~. and the same doubtless is true ut Utica
iiar>eiIlcs &c. As four firhs of the tolls col
lccted on the canal are from grain, Of course
this shows pretty tout determination on the
pert of the railroads to make thorough work
Of it, 1t may also be mentioned, in this con
necliOn, that although the Rock Island road
carries corn to Chicago Tor six cents when ca
nal navigation is open and then allows the
shipper rebate Of four cents, so that it really
carries corn Tor two cents, the rebate is under |
stood to be paid by the combination, all the
roads being partners in this unholy war
But Mr.. Haley Is only half correct in saying |
that the charter OF the Rock Island railroad |
contains provision requiring it to pay to the
anal tho same toll- on its trcights that the
rannl changes ON like articles of freight. lei
ne had read along little farther in the char
err lac would have seen that the clause is clog
scd with conditions intentionally inserted To
make 1t a sham and that it never was any
thing else. The railroad never paid dollar
to the canal and it was never intended that
it should
Mr.. Haley also overstates the expense of
the canal, putting 1t so high that
he thinks with proper economy the expense
could be reduced to $4,000 per annum. The
entire receipts of the canal for tie past year
were $lOS,S0t2l and the expenses $9O379S2
These expenses, however included the follow
ing extraordinary items;
New lock al Narcotics 90 ooo