New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-10-24
cAyADAS COMMERCE AND OURS.

Attention was called In these columns some
time ago to the splendid work Canada was
doing for the Improvement Of her inland water
WAYS Members Of a NeW-YOrk State official
commission thereupon investigated the matter
and reported that what Canada was doing as
announced by The Tribune was startling
revelation to them. To-day II IS possible and it
is fitting to congratulate the Dominion upon the
completion Of It's great undertaking. The en-
terprise Of It's merchants the skill Of its on
gineers and the wise liberality Of its govern
ment have been crowned with superb success.
Last week the Souanges Canal was opened,
ready for use That gives 70 Canada con
tinuous waterway from the western end Of
Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, never at
any point less than fourteen feet deep and gen
orally not less than seventeen feet. The canal
season Il now near the point of closing but
with its reopening next spring that waterway
will he put into regular USE with capacity for
passing not less than twenty million tons Of
freight a year.
II will not Of course. be possible for large
ocean steamers to pass through the canals into
the lakes There will, therefore, still have to
be transfer Of cargoes at Montreal; but II VIII
henceforth be possible for lake steamers and
bnrges drawing fourteen feet Of water TO come
right through the canals from the lakes TO tide
water. from Port Arthur TO Montreal. and at
the latter place to lie right alongside the ocean
liners and transfer the wheat or other freight
directly from one boat TO the other. Contrast
that with our own enterprising system. Our
lake steamers or harges must stop at Buffalo
and transfer their cargoes, by means OF elevat-
ors or otherwise to railroad cars or 10 wretched
little canal scows Of antique design The lat
ter convey the freight 10 New York-some OF it
and here It has to pass through the costly
elevators again or be transferred by lighterage
OF truckage or in some other expensive, slow
and cumbrous fashion. So while freight from the
Northwest gets aboard the liner at Montreal
with only one direct, easy and inexpensive
handling II gets aboard at NewYork only after
two roundabout, cumbrous and costly landings.
What then? Well Montreal has just deep
water as New-York and gives access to just as
big steamships She has the ships, TOO and is
rapidly getting more-fne, swift liners, At to
compete with those that come hither; and Mon
treal Is two hundred miles nearer Liverpool
than New York is If we say that the long trip
up and down the st. Lawrence River must be
made more slowly than in the open ocean, the
difference in distance will still make the route
New York. Let us. then set down ocean con-
dluons as equal In terminal port facilities
Montreal has an advantage over NewY York in
directncss and cheapness Of transfer. And In
facilities for getting goods from the centre OF
the Continent Montreals advantage over New
York IS incidentally great. 1t is reckoned that
the freight rate on wheat from Chicago TO
Montreal by lake and canal will hereafter be
not more than three cents a bushel The rate
from Chicago to New-York by lake and canal
Is about four and half cents, or 50 per cent
more than It will he to Montreal; the rate by
lake to Buffalo and thence by rail is nine and
half cents. and the rate by all rail Is eleven and
a half cents If. therefore, we We're as some adj
wise to abolish the Erie Canal and let the rail
roads do all the carrying from the lakes to
tdewater. wheat coming to NewYork would
have to pay at least three times as heavy tolls
as wheat going 10 Montreal. At that rate II
would not need long range spyglass 10 "see
the finish" ~ NETWORKS export trade in grain.
We have said the Dominion IS 10 be con-
graduated on this achievement. II has spent
S5OO0O0O on the SOulanges Canal and $4,000
900 on the whole system. That money has been
honestly spent and wisely spent. 1t will pay
the Dominion handsome returns on the invest
ment But what are we 10 say of nation that
permits itself thus TO be oustripped by another
Of only one-tenth It's populations Why just
New-York State alone is considerably bigger
IN point Of population than the whole Dominion
Of Canada Is ii conceivable that we are to
settle downfall this State and this Nation
are to settle down content with trade facilities
so vastly inferior to those Of our little neighbor
at the north? What New-York wants and what
this Nation wants and what both urgently
need Il some means by which wheat and all
Western freight can be put aboard ships at this
port AT least as quickly and as cheaply as at any
other port on the Atlantic Coast Anything less