THE CANALS. The Interstate Commerce Commission in the case of the New York Produce Exchange against the Trunk Line Railroads, involving the railroad discrimination against New York, in their opinion, suggested that: * "The great supremacy of New York in the past has been measurably due to its canals. If it would hold that supremacy in the future, it must give attention to that same water way. If the canal were to be restored to-day to the same position in this carrying trade that it has occupied in the twenty years past, the commerce of the port of New York could not suffer." At the present time the State maintains and operates a system of canals that, including feeders, river improvements, etc., aggregates a total of 638 miles of navigable waterways. These canals are: Erie, Champlain, Black River and Cayuga and Seneca. The Erie is the chief canal, in its length and importance, and connects the Hudson River, at Albany, with Lake Erie, at Buffalo; the Champlain comes next, connecting Lake Champlain, at Whitehall, with the Hudson River, at Waterford. The Oswego Canal connects Lake Ontario, at Oswego, with the Erie Canal, at Syracuse. The other canals are laterals, and in part feeders, and are of minor importance. The construction of the Erie Canal was begun in 1817, and was completed in 1825. As originally constructed, it was 363 miles in length, 40 feet in surface and 28 feet in bottom width, with a depth of 4 feet, accommodating boats 78.62 feet in length, 14.46 feet in width, drawing 3 feet of water, and carrying cargoes of 75 tons. In 1835 the Legislature authorized its enlargement, which was begun in 1836 and completed in 1862. The dimensions of the canal after its enlargement were: Length, 352 miles; sur "A. The proposition is this: Rather than have a rate war they will sacrifice you. "Q. That is what they have said in so many words? "A. They must sacrifice New York and its commerce in favor of the other cities. You are the vicarious offering. "Q. The officials of the railroad to Baltimore, to Philadelphia and to Newport News, have, by correspondence, in substance stated that they would have a rate war before they would allow the differential to be abolished and the officials of the railroads to New York, the New York Central, Lehigh Valley and the Delaware and Lackawanna and the chief officials and the president of the New York Central have on the witness stand under oath stated that they believed in the principle of the differential; that if they attempted to abolish it there would be a rate war which they couldn't stand and wouldn't stand, and they did not propose to abolish it? "A. The only remedy is your canal. "Q. Then Mr. Fairchild put this question, that if New York and the State or city, or both, should, by large expenditures of money, increase the facilities at the port of New York and decrease the expenses at that port, and they then insisted that it would be their duty, and they would increase the differential against New York in order to give their fair share of the business to the competing railroads terminating in Philadelphia and Baltimore? "A. Then your only hope is your canal." While we consider the subject of harbor facilities and port charges an important element in this discussion, we are convinced that adequate improvement of the State canals will be the most potent factor in restoring to the State the commerce it has lost, and of advancing it still further as the Empire State of the Union. Before entering, therefore, upon the consideration of the port charges, we will discuss the subject of the State's waterways. THE CANALS. The Interstate Commerce Commission in the case of the New York Produce Exchange against the Trunk Line Railroads, involving the railroad discrimination against New York, in their opinion, suggested that: # "The great supremacy of New York in the past has been measurably due to its canals. If it would hold that supremacy in the future, it must give attention to that same water way. If the canal were to be restored to-day to the same position in this carrying trade that it has occupied in the twenty years past, the commerce of the port of New York could not suffer." At the present time the State maintains and operates a system of canals that, including feeders, river improvements, etc., ag gregates a total of 638 miles of navigable waterways. These canals are: Erie, Champlain, Black River and Cayuga and Seneca. The Erie is the chief canal, in its length and importance, and connects the Hudson River, at Albany, with Lake Erie, at Buffalo; the Champlain comes next, connecting Lake Champlain, at Whitehall, with the Hudson River, at Waterford. The Oswego Canal connects Lake Ontario, at Oswego, with the Erie Canal, at Syracuse. The other canals are laterals, and in part feeders, and are of minor importance. The construction of the Erie Canal was begun in 1817, and was completed in 1825. As originally constructed, it was 363 miles in length, 40 feet in surface and 28 feet in bottom width, with a depth of 4 feet, accommodating boats 78.62 feet in length, 14.46 feet in width, drawing 3 feet of water, and carrying cargoes of 75 tons. In 1835 the Legislature authorized its enlargement, which was begun in 1836 and completed in 1862. The dimensions of the canal after its enlargement were: Length, 352 miles; sur face width, 70 feet; bottom width, 56 feet; depth, 7 feet; and this canal is now capable of accommodating boats 98 feet in length, 17.5 feet beam, drawing 6 feet of water, and capable of carrying cargoes of between 240 and 250 tons. The locks of this canal are 72 (pairs) in number, 110x18 feet, one tier of which, except at Cohoes, Little Falls, Newark and Lockport, consists of double-length locks, and permit of the passage of two boats at one lockage. An improvement to this canal was authorized in 1895, and was partially completed. This improvement contemplated the lengthening of all of the unlengthened locks, the deepening of the prism of the canals to 9 feet, except over permanent structures, where the depth was to have been 8 feet. The cost of the original construction of the Erie Canal was $7,143,789, the cost of its enlargement was $44,465,414, and under the act of 1895, there was expended upon this canal $6,833,390.37. The construction of the Champlain Canal was begun in 1817 and completed in 1822. It is sixty-six miles in length, and originally its surface width was forty feet, its bottom width was twenty-six feet and its depth was four feet. As enlarged, under authorization of the Legislature of 1860, the surface width is now fifty, the bottom width thirty-five and the depth five feet. The total cost of construction and improvements, up to 1875, was $4,044,000. Under the act of 1895, the depth of this canal was to be increased to seven feet throughout, which would then enable it to accommodate boats of the same size and draft as at preseur navigate the Erie Canal. The locks of this canal are of the same size as those of the Erie and Oswego, but none is lengthened. The sum expended upon the Champlain Canal improvement, under the act of 1895, amounts to $582,700.81. The construction of the Oswego Canal was begun in 1825 and was completed in 1828, at a cost of $565,473. It is 38 miles in length and was originally of the same dimensions as the Erie. Its enlargement was authorized in 1854 and the work completed in 1862. Its dimensions, except as to length, are identica! with those of the Erie, as are its twenty locks, nine of which are yet to be lengthened. The enlargement of the Oswego Canal, completed in 1862, involved an expenditure of $4,427,589, and there was expended under the improvement authorized in 1895, the sum of $451,833.18. This last-named improvement provided for the deepening of the Oswego Canal to conform to the increased depth of the Erie. Statistics fail to show the tonnage and value of the commerce of the canals preceding 1837. Subsequent to and including 1837, and up to and including 1899, the commerce carried over the canals aggregated 264,672,565 tons, of a value of $10,152,473,855. The total cost of constructing, enlarging, improving and maintaining the Erie, Champlain and Oswego Canals, to and inclusive of 1892, was $107,652,032, while their revenue covered into the State treasury, during the same period, was $131,907,634. New York's pre-eminence in commerce is undoubtedly very largely due to the construction, enlargement, improvement and maintenance of its canals. During the eighteenth century, Virginia and Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, each possessed a greater commerce than did New York. With the advent of the present century, however, and the construction of her canals, New York became, and has ever since remained, far in the lead in the value and volume of her commerce. Preceding the opening of the Erie Canal, the cost of moving a ton of freight from Buffalo to Albany was $100, which cost immediately fell to $10 per ton upon the opening of the canal. During the present year the cost of moving freight upon the canal |