Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-12-07
IN DEFENSE OF CANAL
Chicago Papers Reply to Engi-
neering News Hennepin
Attack.
THE REGULATION OF RATES.

II cid That the Connecting Waterway Be
ween the Lakes and River Will Prove Adj
vantageous Even II 1t Does Not Pay-A
Companion as Between Illinois and New
York.
The Chicago Chronicle has come to
| the defense of the Hennepin canal in
view of the attack recently made on
the project by the Engineering News.
This is the Chronicles editorial re
| ioinder to the News sudden awaken
ing: The Engineering News pre-
| tends to think it will be news to most
people in the United States that the
general government is actually dig
ging a canal known as the Hennepin
canal, to connect the waters of the
upper Illinois river with those of the
upper Mississippi There is no rea-
son why this should be news to any
reader of the papers in this last
month of the year of grace 1898.
Legislation regarding the Hennepin
canal has not been done in a corner.
From the first the subject has been
given n fair degree of prominence in
the news columns of the daily press
throughout the east as well as the
Mississippi valley, and it has not been
neglected in the editorial columns.
The work was begun some wears ago
and the sum of about $4,000, 600 has
already been expended. There is
nothing new about it, and there Is
much less reason to complain of Sc
crecy than there is in the case of
many other continuing expenditures
of public money for purposes of more
or less doubtful utility. The
Engineering News does not err
when it says that the principal reason
stated for undertaking the work in the
report on the strength of which it
was begun was that railroad freights
west of Lake Michigan were eXorbi-
tant. The main purpose of construct
ing the waterway is to secure some
thing like honest and fair competition
in freight carriage. 1t does not follow.
as the News seems to suppose, that
the money expended for this purpose
is wasted because the average charge
for hauling a ton of freight one mile
has been reduced from II cent to less
than l cent on the Rock Island road
and even more on lines against which
the canal will not be SO direct a COM
petitor since the work was begun.
been a deliberate attempt to induce
congress to abandon the work by pro-
ducing an impression that COMPETE |
ton among railroads will reduce
freight rates to n minimum, and that
it is not necessary to bring any pres |
sure to bear by constructing COM |
peting waterways. 1t is quite posi-
BILE that the public is thus getting the |
| Il
vance, and that what the News offers !
as an argument against the eXpendi- |
ture is really an argument in its |
favor The News may he right in its
conjecture that by the time the canal |
is completed there will be no freight
that it can carry at n profit. But it |
might have been century before |
rates would have been so far reduced |
As to bring about such a result had |
the canal not been constructed.
As Comparison.
The Erie canal has not been oper-
ated al 4 profit on Il commercial basis !
for long time. Tolls were wholly |
abolished years ago, and ever since |
the costs of maintenance have been Il !
charge upon the taxpayers of the |
state. And the state has lately as
sumed additional burdens in order TO |
keep active competition alive. Yet !
no party has proposed to abandon the |
canal, though it is now admitted that
the state must eXpend $4,000, 900 or
$l2, 900, 900 more in order to make it |
possible for the canal boatmen to !
carry freight at profit in COMPETE |
ton with the railroads.
When any one proposes to stop