The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-27
Here's Work for the Inter-S State Conn
MERGE Commission.

| In Buffalo and New York have long
stood watch and watch over the Erie
canal and levied tribute upon the grain
| products of the Northwest on their pas
sage over this American highway to
| the sea.
And now goes up the cry that New
i York is fast losing her commerce, and
what shall be done to restore her old
time prestige to the metropolis, for
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Newport
News have arisen to contest her SUI
premacy as the chief shipping port to
the grain markets of the world.
New York's governor urged the legis-
lature to authorize a commission Of
able men to investigate the loss of the
great city's commerce and report rene
dies for its revival. A New York city
senator named Pavey, by no means a
disinterested party. as realized by those
who know his pedigree, has proposed
! an amendment to the state coustitu-
ton to transfer the canals to the fed
eral government. A United States en-
Sfneer, Maj. Thomas W. Symons, has
/ proposed to make 1,500-ton barge
canal out of the big state ditch" at
cost of not less than fifty million dol
lars,
The first of these three propositions
was unnecessary. The reason for the
loss of the canal shipments, which for
nearly three-quarters of a century con-
trtbuted nightly to the commerce of
New York. is already we'll known by
intelligent men.
The second is absurd The taxpayers
! of the Empire state have never hesitat-
ed to vote the necessary sums for canal
improvement, and it Is not their fault
that the canal moneys have been lily
expended or diverted to the Golfers of
| Tom Platts Republican machine.
The third is a dream suggestive of
the pipe and tho Lotophagi fifty
million appropriation would be a mere
drop in the bucket. Quite as competent
authorities as the major doubt whether
the western levels of the canal could
! be filled for that sum for floating
! l,OGO-ton barge, or even an S0O-ton
! barge, let alone 1,5O0-ton barge.
| No. The ills of the city at tide
water are due to none of the causes
| which either of these propositions will
! III W. IisOy are Il dC6dDlG uIGGClly 10
eXtortonate elevator charges at Buff
falo and terminal charges at the port
| of New York
This species of highway robbery has
! for years been levied upon the agri-
/ cultural interests of the states of the
! Northwest. Look at the figures: Two
! hundred million bushels of grain pass
! ed last year through Buffalo from the
! Northwest. The cost Of transferring
! grain at Buffalo ranged from seven
! elghths of cent to one and one-quarter
! cents per buShel. An average reduc-
| ton or One-half a cent a bushel would
! nave meant saving of a million dol
| lars to the NOrthWest-a tidy sum, rep
resenting 2 per cent interest on the
majors $5O0OO,O0O project Even the
major comedies in his report to the
| government that a one-half cent rate is
sound commercial proposition. SO
! much for Buffalo
| At New York the arbitrary terminal
| charges on grain amount to one and
! elght-tenths cents per bushel. A re-
| ductlon in this rate of one-half a cent
| per bushel-another sound commercial
| proposition-and a saving of 81, 500 900
! TO the Northwest would have been Sc
cured last year on the amount of grain
| passing through Buffalo, assuming it
all reached the seaboard at New York
through the Erie canal, it's natural
channel
In other words these reductions
would have represented a total saving
of $50 900 to the Northwestern states
On grain 9lOnP-9 fn
| interest charge of per cent on a $780,
coo.CO0 canal job, and nearly twice that
| figure on the ma jor's $50 900 900 i'm
| pr'oveInents.
Here then is a situation demanding
! governmental attention. The states Of
the Northwest, through their railroad
| commissions, might do much if they
acted III concert. The interstate COM
| nerce commission could do more.
| Busi,d with the affairs of the public.
as it is assumed to be, what greater
| boon could it confer than the investiga-
| ton of an evil which robs the farmers
| Of the Northwest and ruins the COM
Me ""ial supremacy of New York?
Let tie commission supplement- its
| labors in this vicinity with an exami-
nation of the impositions practiced in
| Ruffalo and New York
| Are there any influences which would
| deter the commission from taking n
step that would prove SO popular in
| this part of the Union? At least one Of
! it's members is a New York man. What
| is he willing to door is he so tied up,
| politically and otherwise, that he will
! do nothing?