it is guarded on the sides by parapets, which fulfil the double office of pro-. tecting the passengers and reducing the oscillations to which the structure is liable. The preceeding remarks apply to the plan of the bridge as it was presented and approved; but since its adoption by the commissioners a change of the location has caused certain modifications to be made to adapt it to the new site. For the American Railroad Journal and Mechanics' Magazine. NO. 4. We have shown in the preceeding numbers that, by lengthening the locks of the Erie canal, and constructing duplicate ones at certain points, its capacity for the transportation of freight will be doubled, and by an improvement in its channel, in raising the surface 1 to 14 feet, and adding to the width 16 feet, its capacity will be fully quadruple what it now is, and such proportions obtained in respect to the size of the boats and the canal, as will render the cost of transportation with animal power a minimum. All this may be accomplished at an expense not exceeding six millions of dollars, or about the one seventh part of the cost of the enlargement on the plan contemplated. The State will save by this plan nearly $30,000,000— the canal will be abundantly large enough to accommodate any prospective increase in the trade upon it for years to come, and the great desideratum of cheap transportation, effected to a degree as perfect, when all the attendant circumstances are considered, as can be attained by the proposed enlargement. Although the arguments advanced, are believed to be quite sufficient to justify the conclusions to which we have arrived, we will give some further reasons in confirmation of their correctness. Supposing the Erie canal to be enlarged the whole distance from Albany to Buffalo, it is easy to perceive that a similar improvement of the Oswego canal will speedily follow. The limited extent of the Oswego canal only 38 miles, half of which is natural navigation, and being, as it is, the channel of communication with lake Ontario, its importance is such as leaves no reason to doubt that its enlargement will follow that of the Erie canal, as certainly as its construction followed that of the Erie canal in the first instance. The Cayuga and Seneca canal connecting with the Cayuga and Seneca lakes, and communicating with a fertile and populous portion of the State will also present claims for an enlargement which will be irresistable, and hence we may reasonably expect that if the plan of the enlargement is persevered in, the State in order to perfect the system will be forced into the expenditure of some seven or eight millions more than has been estimated. The advocates of the Erie Canal enlargement, although they must have seen the necessity of adding also to the size of these canals, have been silent on the subject. They have advocated the enlargement on the ground that the large boats would be better adapted to the navigation of the Hudson river and the lakes mentioned in the interior of the State, but have been silent as to the whole expense necessary to be incurred in carrying this plan into effect. As to the other canals to which the enlightened internal improvement policy of the State has given birth, viz. the Chemung, Crooked Lake, Chenango, and the two less hopeful ones yet in embryo, the Black river and the Genessee valley, there is no danger of their acquiring an importance sufficient to render their enlargement in the least degree probable. These canals, however, in connection with the two first named, until such time as they shall be enlarged, must labor under the very serious inconvenience of a transhipment of freight to and from the boats of the Erie canal at the several points of junction, owing to the different dimensions of the boats and character of the navigation upon each. The delay, expense and embarrassment of this transhipment has not been fully realised. It has been shown from published reports, that of the 640,000 tons which came to tide water on the Erie canal in the year 1838, two-thirds was lumber or the product of the forest. It is well known that most of this is brought to the Erie canal from the lateral canals and is transported the most of it in boats. Flour, also, and other articles, are furnished in large quantities from the lateral canals, particularly the Oswego and Cayuga and Seneca. The expense of transhipment must of course depend very much upon the nature of the lading, and will embrace the following items. 1. The interest on the cost, and depreciation of the boats during the time occupied in making the transfer. 2. Wages of boat hands for the same time. 3. Interest upon the cost, depreciation and feed of horses. 4. Dock rents and fixtures, and occasional warehousing expenses. 5. Such additional hands as may be necessary. By giving to these several items their proper value, it will be found, we believe, that the average cost of transhipment, independent of the embarrassment consequent upon the delay, and the injury upon the articles transhiped, will be not much less than fifty cents per ton, or equal to the present average cost of transportation of down freight, independent of tolls on fifty miles of the canal. Supposing, therefore, as is asserted, that the saving in the cost of transportation on the enlarged canal will be 50 per cent of the present rates, freight from the branch canals must be carried 100 miles on the Erie canal to make the expense what it now is. Putting the saving at 25 per cent instead of 50, which is undoubtedly nearer the truth, and the distance at which the expense will be the same as at present, is 200 miles. That is, if the distance at which freight from the lateral canals is carried in the Erie canal, is less than 200 miles, the total cost of transportation will be greater than it now is. This certainly does not show any very great advantage, to be derived by the sections of country in the vicinity of the branch canals from the enlargement, unless the circumstance of paying as high or higher than they now do for transportation, and bearing, at the same time, their portion of the burden of the debt to be contracted, can be esteemed an advantage. Again, those who are conversant with the mode in which the transportation is conducted on the Erie canal, are aware that the business is almost wholly in the hands of companies acting in concert and wielding an immense capital, and hence are able to defy all ordinary competition, monopolising the business, and becoming carriers at their own prices. The power and extent of this combination, although its influence was then but partially developed, were manifested when in 1833 the Canal Board reduced the tolls to near the constitutional limit, with a view of bringing in the trade of the country west of Buffalo. Instead of producing the effect anticipated, the forwarding companies immediately raised their charges, thus converting a measure of great public benefit into a source of private emolument. If the Erie canal is improved so as to admit of any material reduction in the cost of transportation, what guarantee have the public that the same scenes will not be re-enacted, and that instead of deriving any benefit themselves from so great an expenditure they are not putting money into the coffers of a monopoly which has already rendered itself odious by its unreasonable exactions? Certain it is, that however great is the evil of this monopoly at the present time, it will be much augmented should the project of the enlargement be accomplished. This follows from the fact of the business being conducted on a larger scale, the boats being larger and more expensive to build and to navigate will prevent many from engaging in the business of transportation, and drive therefrom also many who are now engaged, but whose capital and means although adequate to prevent exigencies are too limited for the purchase and navigation of boats upon the large canal. There are still other reasons why the cost of transportation will not probably be reduced to the degree anticipated. The line of railway alluded to in a previous number, extending from Albany to Buffalo, will soon be completed. The restrictions imposed by the State upon the railway, as it regards the conveyance of freight, opposed, as it is, to the enlightened principles of political economy, and the true interests of the people of the State, will ere long be removed, and when so removed, the railway will carry a very large proportion of the merchandize, which now pays, for both tolls and transportation, more than double the charges upon other descriptions of freight. This change will not only make considerable inroads upon the tolls from the canal, but the forwarders loosing, as they will, their very great profits on merchandize will be compelled to charge higher on other freight. This, although it may not cause any in. crease in charges over present prices, will prevent their being reduced as low as they otherwise would be. That the railway will carry merchandize to a very considerable extent, when the restrictions alluded to are removed, is obvious from the experience on the lakes, where the steamboats take most of the freight of this description at much higher rates than sail vessels, principally on account of the saving in time by that mode of conveyance. Rapidity and certainty of conveyance are very important to the merchant located in the distant interior. It gives him a more speedy return on capital invested, and with the convenience which a winter conveyance upon a railway will afford, he will not be obliged to purchase so largely when procuring his fall supplies, and thus derive a double advantage in the constant receipt of fresh supplies, according as his necessities may require, and in the less amount of capital needful for the transaction of his business. That the transportation of merchandize upon the railway will take place, to a very great extent is obvious for another reason. If but a single merchant in a village or city in the interior should obtain his supplies by the more speedy conveyance of the railway, others will be compelled to do the same, and that such will be the natural course which business will take, appears to us to be too obvious to need further comment. As to the effect of a reduction in the charges of transportation upon the canal in drawing to it a greater amount of business by pushing further to the south and west the dividing line which separates the portions of the valley of the St. Lawrence and upper Mississippi doing business respectively with New York and the cities south, we cannot but believe the anticipations of the friends of the enlargement have been too sanguine. The tide of emigration to the States and Territories west, is yet strong and will undoubtedly so continue for many years to come, the consequence of which is a consumption within their own borders, of their surplus products, leaving comparatively little for the Atlantic marts. That the influence of a reduction of tolls in inviting business to the canal from the sections of country mentioned, must for some time be limited, appears probable from the fact that the business of the canal thus far has been mainly from within the limits of N. York, notwithstanding in the last six or seven years there has been a general reduction of 25 per ct. upon the tolls and a further reduction of full 30 per ct, arrising out of the extraordinary advance in prices, which for the last five years has taken place under the benign influence of the credit system. The country having began to realize the bitter fruits of making that which is a mere evidence of debt a standard of value, or in other words, of giving to paper which possesses no intrinsic value, the properties of coin, there is every reason to believe that prices will recede until they shall reach a point at which they can be permanently maintained. The tolls of the canal being based not upon the value but upon the weight or dimensions of the several commodities, this reduction in prices is practically equivalent to an increase in tolls. The business of the canal must, to a considerable extent, experience the injurious effect of this change in prices, or relative increase in tolls, the remedy, supposing it expedient to apply any, which is doubtful, being be yond the reach of the State authorities, since the tolls are now down to the limit fixed by the constitution. There is another view of the subject of the probable effect of the enlarge ment in reducing the charges for transportation which merits the most se rious attention. In the report of the comptroller for the year 1838, from which we quote, not having the last report at hand to refer to, the nett revenue of the the State canals is thus given. Surplus of the revenues of the canals from tolls over and above the cost of their maintenance, If the interest paid for the year on the debt of the lateral canals which are finished, be deducted, It leaves a surplus of $841,888,09 170,000,00 $671,888,09 The revenue from the Erie and Champlain canals, being the only canals which more than pay expenses, has not varied much for the last seven years. During the whole of this time it has ranged between $1,300,000 and $1,400,000. This being the fact, there is no good reason to believe that the increase will be very rapid for several years to come. If it remains the same, the only available means of the State, derived from the canals, for paying off the debt of the enlargement, is the surplus above stated of $671,-. 888,09. This it must be remarked, is the surplus after paying interest, without reducing the principal of the debt of the lateral canals which are finished. It does not therefore include the two last of the pauper progeny of the State, viz., the Black River and the Genessee Valley. The interest on these being deducted, amounting to $600,000, it being doubtful whether they will ever pay the cost of maintenance, and there remains but a precious small sum for defraying the interest on the cost of the enlargement, amounting, at 6 per cent., to $2,400,000 per annum. That the revenue of the Erie canal will continue to mcrease, we firmly believe-but the expenses also will increase; and it should be borne in mind that the most liberal estimate of the revenue for many years, will not be sufficient to keep down the interest, if the plan of the enlargement is persevered in, and a resort to taxation will become necessary to preserve the faith of the State, and obtain means for defraying the current expenses of the government. If the enlargement of the Erie canal is accomplished on the scale proposed its probable cost for reasons given in our first number will amount to Debt of the lateral canals in operation, about Cost of the Genessee Valley canal, $40,000,000 2,500,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 |
