Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-30
4 Raid ON rHE rRrAsuRY.

The Chicago Tribune has been interview
ing the several Republican candidates for
Congressional honors in the three districts
embraced in that city. There are a score or
30 of ambitious statesmen, all of whom have
given reasons, good, bad and Indifferent, why
they should be chosen as the representatives
of their respective districts in Congress The
reporter asked each and every one of them
what legislative schemes they were particu-,
larly in favor of, and each of them placed as
the chief one the enlargement of the Illinois
and Michigan canal 80 as to admit of the
passage of ships and steamers from Lake
Michigan to the Mississippi riv-
er, and they all laid par
ticular stress upon the necessity of this i'm
provement to the commerce of the Northwest.
Those unfamiliar with the enterprise in
question will be apt to pay but little heed to
the talk of these men who are principally
anxious to curry favor with their constitu-
ents by processing to favor local scheme of
no particular moment to the rest of the
past history and present condition of the
matter, it will be apparent that the people of
Chicago are contemplating a gigantic raid
on the treasury, involving the expenditure of
many millions of dollars, for which outlay
there will be benefit whatever to commerce,
for the simple reason that the schsme is ut
terly impracticable.
The Illinois and Michigan canal had its
inception nearly forty years ago, when it
was thought practicable to connect the waters
of Lake Michigan with those of the Illinois
river. 1t was started as State enterprise,
and over two millions of dollars were ex.
pended in digging ditch about twenty
feet wide through the hard clay and lime
stone as far as Joliet. A portion of the State
revenues was set apart for many years, and
little by little the ditch progressed, until it
eventually reached the Illinois. But when
thus far completed, it was found to be USE
less, save for the transportation of stone from
the quarries at Lemont and Joliet, to Chi
cago. Occasionally canal boat loaded with
grain reached the metropolis, but single
train on a railroad could transport more than
the combined feet of canal boats. Not
more than three feet of water could be main
tanned throughout the season, and of late
years, it has served only as a sewer, through
which the filth of the Chicago streets could
be scattered along its banks. A good athlete
can leap across it at any point. 1t has al
ready cost the State about four million dol
lars, and the general government an equal
amount.
The proposition to make ship canal out
of this dirty ditch is preposterous. AT the
lowest computation the improvement would
cost thirty millions of dollars, and when
completed it would be practically useless.
No steam vessel could ply its waters because
of the washing of the banks caused by the
swell from the paddles. No ship of respec-
table dimensions would desire to pass
through it for the very obvious reason that
its progress would necessarily be slow, and
such transportation of produce could not be
made profitable. 1t might be widened and
deepened at cost of about ten million dol
lars, so that it would be a fair canal for light
draught medium sized boats, but that
would be the limit of its capacity. The
plan that is mooted, the advoca-
cry of which is deemed an essential to can
didate for Congress in Chicago, is simply a
downright, unblushing scheme of robbery
which will benefit few Chicago contractors
and improve the sewerage of that city, but
prove of no possible advantage to any other
persons or section of the country. 1t will
be we'll for the representatives from other
parts of the country to be on the lookout
| for this scheme to plumber the treasury, and
to thwart it in lis incipiency.