New-York tribune., 1908-01-20
STEVENS ON THE CANAL
Superintendent of Public Works
SAYS Haste Has Made Waste.


Albany, Jan. lathe annual report of F. g
Stevens, Superintendent q Public Works. which
Will be transmitted 10 the Legislature Tomorrow.
forth that there was total Of 3.a07.914
carried all the canals for the year just passed
against 354o.9o7 carried the previous year
The tonnage however, somewhat hea-fer than
that for either the years is .ls2 1901 1850 There
was detention navigation excepting that
caused by the break in the culvert Syracuse
The value OF the tonnage s53 s03.97o. There was
an actual increase in shipments on the Erie Canal
Of 5000 tons OF these shipments 2.5sss5 tons were
way freight, leaving sSs.25s representing the
other shipments.
Superintendent Stevens deals with many new
topics connected with the canals and reiterates
recommendations or his predecessors. One Of
/ these latter the abandonment OF that portion Of
the Black River Canal north Of Boonville He calls
attention 10 the efforts he has made enforce
provisions of the Penal Code against the pollution
OF the canal and TO the despoing Of its banks and
structures in the villages and cities and announces
that with the cooperation of police and health
authorities all along the canal he purposes TO carry
this until the abuses. which have nearly
always existed, shall be done away with He an
ticipates the resolution introduced by Assembly
Foley calling for statement as 70 the causes
for the coIIao ose of the cuIvert over Onondaga
Creek Syracuse last summer. and as to the cost
of making repairs
The most important portion OF Mr.. Stevenss re-
port relates the barge canal as in dealing with
this subject the superintendent not Only re1ers 10
the slow progress that has been made. but points
10 what he believes to be the reasons this. after
which he proceeds question the wisdom OF me
methods which adopted a. the inception OF
the canal improvements. and, further, TO thfo"
doubt on the validity Of the existing contracts for
barge canal work, since they do not include com
pleton OF all the work contemplated, is provided
shall be done in all public contracts by the finance
law.
A further mistake has been made, the superin-
tendent believes dividing the work in such small
divisions parts and hnaliy superintendent
Stevens goes SO far as to recommend that the
Legislature shall renoralize the federal congress
to take up in conjunction with the state, anu
carry through completion. and make that por-
ton Of the barge canal between the Hudson RIVER
and Lake Ontario d twenty -one-foot canal or deep
waterway along the lines of the federal deep
waterway survey OF 1slo. thus giving canal "nch
would accommodate barges of S4O0 tons instead oi
only 1oO0-ton craft. This latter recommendation Is
without prejudice the continuance OF WorK ana
completion Of the barge canal between the west
erlv end of Oneida Lake and Buffalo, or the com
pletion OF the Champain canal between Troy anu
Lake Champlain at Whitehall
In speaking Of the barge canal work, the Su-
perintendent refers the fact that the actual
nrogress on some Of this work is going necessarily
10 interfere with navigation on the pressnt canals
particularly the Erie and Oswego, and further'
that since the barge canal makes no provision
for a towing path this difficulty must continue as
q handicap 20 present style navigation untli the
barge canal is completed. He recommends tha'
the Legislature take up the subject with We"
OF providing some method for assisting DoaIIllel
and shippers during this tTansiticn perlod' lIlAI
otherwise much damage must result to boalnen'
and that traffic might be lost TO the canal Wnich
--,u ba hard To REGAIN. He says the cost 10 the
hoatmen for furnishing these faciIiues at 'Iei
own expense would be such as 70 make naNlsat10n
unprontabe and the point Of being pTohloi'iVe'
He even suggests that the state should go so tar
tho prasent towing path is destroyed or obstruc'eu
or TO provide tugs for towing on such portions oi
the canal as shall be robbed OF towing pain ia0lii
ties The contractors required 10 render such
ossistance during the progress OF their "OIh o-t
after the same is completed other methoos VIII
have to be devised
Mr. Stevens calls attention 70 the fact that "he
ac+ra1 work has been under three years oIliS
500 242 277 o. worth of work is under contract WHICH
is in round numbers 20 per cent OF the Whoie' anu
-, oo ,.r cent of the work covered bF these
contracts has actually been done ne pleSeH's
tables showing the progress of WORK on each I
tract the progress necessary TO De rhai'aii4eu ~
con,,Ie1a the work within the contract perI'o anu
49, 3,rg,, of time which must eiapse 10 complete
+pe work unless a better progress shall De 1'-
tanned. 60 r,i,..-
while the law provides that the State Engineer
a,d surveyor shall take the initiative IN case
nronar nrogress is being made ne suggests
-, oos=;brv some better progress might Dc
brought about if the canal board were 10 nave IT'S
attention called TO the renlssness oi ooi'
,.t q ,iav q; the cancellation OF contracts or
a,so bsstsning the work with state forces. as Is
o,,;dad bv the contracts. though, he says TINS
- question which is only capable OF dehlohS'IA-
ton by actual trial
Snnerintendeut Stevens says there are three Fea-
sons for this slow progress as toilO"s'
First lack of sufficient capital by the contrac-
TORS. second (and this in some cases ma oe
allied the nIst causel employ - j.,
Totally inadequate the dolnS OF lhe VIZ n Ii4
Eand: and third. u knowledge Oh the part OF con
fracti,rs that since about only 20 per cent Vi tHS
vvhCle. is under contract no 6oOu IeaSoH ~
ists for connning them to their contract peIiods;
Sine even if completed the portions OF the canal
ain their contracts could not be utl-
1irrIj until he completion of the whole WOrk
completion OF this linpToN eIleilt j
so indefinitely postponed and that the tifne Whte4'
under the most hopeiul Cohu.iotiS, Coit o.s+jt,,re q
sIInled in bringing IL TO completion cohsut a
distinct and deep disappointment 10 canaI ana
commercial interests is fuliy appi eciatt1 anu 'iis
regr and disappointment are ShaISu IN pS i'le
To NV mind. the trutsm that haste ma Nes
waste was never more apty applied than II nlSnt
be in this Had the rule Make haste sl9"Ly
been applied al the inception of the work he
iieve more satisfactory results. from every siad-
point. would have been secured
without assuming TO criticse any of the officials
connected with the work, Superintendent Stevens
saws that he believes the problems connected Win
the canal construction work not properly
studied before the actual construction work was
ber,u and he says this not only unwise, out
is contrary TO iaw He quotes section OF Chaptet
,47 OF the Laws Of 1903 to prove this point. and
adds
Aside from the OF plant by multiplicity OF
ASIDE from very many Disadvantages which might
he cited the 10 the state IN the matter ~
engineering and other supervision must ne eFeauy
increased as a result q any iHCIeds" III 'iIV N"N-
zion