Year: 1870




Of freeing the trade on our State canals from
the burdens now imposed, and, as conse-
| quence, to promote the commercial interests
Of this city and the State, was the beginning of
an important movement. The Commercial
Union has bcen organized, we understand, for


this object mainly. 1t embraces men Of all


parties and the leading public men Of the
| State as well as the various commercial bodies
| in this and other cities II has no political
purpose in view and looks only to promoting


tho commerce Of the city and State Of New


York. and of tho country generally. Mr..
Israeli. Hatch of Buffalo, who has taken an
active part in the movement, has prepared an
elaborate paper on the subject Of the canals,
which will he published shortly, and no man,
probably, understands the matter better or is


more capable of performing such work.


The resolutions adopted at the meeting
referred to approve of the acts that have been
passed in the Legislature and signed by the
Governor TO abolish the Contracting Board
and the system OF repairing the canals
by contract, and also the acts to abolish the
Office of Canal Appraisers, and to establish
in lieu thereof court Of claims, with COM
petent judges, and to reduce the tolls on
the canals They recommend, too, the fund
| ing of the canal debt, 50 as to relieve the


canals from paying such debt, and thus finally
| to make transportation free There may be
difference Of opinion as to the mode OF reach
ing the object Of making transportation on the
fn E.a. araf.u
pose a gradual process by which the tolls
would be abolished after few years, and this
seems to be the policy Of the Commercial
Union; but the conviction is general that some
thing should be done at once, and that
the canals in the end should be
free. The bill which Mr.. David T.. Bennett,
Of Buffalo, introduced in the House Of Repre-
scntatives at Washington on the 18th Of last
| month, ''to provide for the better protection of
| the northern and northwestern frontier, and to
| facilitate commerce and diminish the expense
of exchanges between the States" has in view
States shall do what tho Commercial Union
wants the State to do itself.


Without going into the question of the right
or policy of the United States undertaking to
extinguish the debt and to make the canals of
| this State fres TO the commerce of the
! country or rs TO the propriety Of the State
doing ii, we are convinced the time has come
when IL should be done one way or the other.
The statesmen who originated and provided
for making our canals were far-seeing. They
contemplated making them in the end free
public highway for commerce. They saw that
the city and State Of New York would obtain
benefits far greater than the cost of the


canals amounted to by such a liberal policy.
Thc argument in favor Of such course is


much stronger now. In fact there is an


urgent necessity 70 make the canals free at the


present time in order to preserve the CONNER


cial interests Of this city and the State. An


intense rivalry has commenced among the
great trunk lines Of railroads and canals from
the Atlantic seaboard 10 the West for the trade
Of the interior. The Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road and canal, the railroads and canals OF
Pennsylvania, the projects to make Norfolk,
Va, the outlet Of Western commerce, the


various schemes in New England to tap and


draw of the vast and growing trade of the


West, and the efforts of the British to draw


the commerce Of the great lakes and surround


ing country by the ST. Lawrence and the canals


and railroads of Canada, oil show the struggle


going on to secure the rich prize of Western


commerce. In this race New York may be


left behind or at least may lose large
portion OF the trade, Notwithstanding her
natural and present advantages, unless broad
aud liberal policy be pursued with regard to
our canal system. If the present burdensome
tolls and nsuanagement of the canals con-
tinue this commercial metropolis and the State
must lose the proud pre-eminence now held.
Then there ia hundreds of millions worth of
produce peri,hing in the West for the want of


cheap transportation to the Atlantic seaboard.,


1t viii not pay TO remove this produce such


vast distance under the present high rates and


burdens of transportation. Production, in fact,


is hindered to great extent. Bat if the


losses to the farmers, merchants and to trade


generally arc 30 great now, what will they be


when the West doubles or trebles her population


and resourcesr The amount Of ten or twenty


millions OF dollars to this great State or to the
city OF New York is bagateIle compared
with the value Of the trade that would
come by our canals ii they were FREQ. The
interest on the funded canal debt would be
trife to the profits on the enormous trade that
must soon be developed. II is the produce Of
the West, too, which we must rely upon in q
| great measure to make up the balance Of
! foreign trade and hold ON to specie payments
whenever we reach them. But we cannot
foreign markets with agricultural products
| unless we have cheap transportation. We


commend, therefore, the movement Of the
! Commercial Union to abolish tolls on the
| canals and to make them free highway for
L Il rrcd.nn Of ihc Wast and tla tradn of tl.o