LUUA F MM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
jtjisrs&aD fflorninn, 3nnc 3, 1858.
„ AL£ OF THE STATE CANALS.
3 TO THETPEOPLE
OF THE
0 SENATORIAL I)IST.
Fnxow CITIZENS Ry your suffrages in
,V All of 1850, the undersigned was chosen
-. present you in the high and honorable
of a member of the Pennsylvania
i.i'ite Ever distrusting my ability to serve
1 '■ : n that capacity equal to your expectations
desires. I nevertheless accepted the place
generosity conferred upon me with a
determination to discharge iny duties
yhfillv on all occasions ; meeting every im
• riaut question fairly and openly by giving
iran affirmative or negative vote, as my j
t ';p.;ent dictated after a faithful examina- j
of the question. If in thus endeavoring to ;
what 1 conceive to be right, 1 have failed
•' defend your rights, or to protect your in- |
• when in jeopardy ;orif in any respect,
n.jve been unfaithful to the great interest of j
■ i nmonwealth, then indeed should you
I me to a strict accountability for such
: ' *ion from official duty. But before,
■::ient is pronounced upon my official acts, j
Haira the right to a fair hearing before an j
impartial, and intelligent constituency.
During the time I have been a member of:
• e legislature many important acts have
d and become the laws of the State, ef
;:g the vital interest and welfare of the
I'.mmonvvealth ; and whether right or wrong,
.i far as I am informed, iny course has met i
approbation of my constituents save in a |
Je instance, to wit : in the passage of the 1
ex during the Inst session authorizing the sale
•' the State Canals to the Sunbnry and Erie j
Ihilnnul Company. To what extent my views i
r-re known upon this question 1 have no j
ms of knowing, but one thing is certain, \
v were well known to many of our best aud
t influential citizens, and from none of them j
1 I hear one word of opposition to this inca- i
re. From the first I yielded it the approval '
•' mv judgment, not, it is true, to all its de- .
> !* as it passed, but to its main features : and (
am firmly convinced in my own judgment that
•be whole people will, on reflection, approve]
sale. I have mentioned the fact that 1
■ .ny of my constituents knew and approved !
: ray course : it is not done, however, to '
• .! i myself from the responsibility of my own J
for them 1 alone am responsible to my ;
<t a ut>, and seek not to shirk it for oth- 1
■ to luar. No voice of remonstrance or op- J
-' i ever reached me during the pending j
the measure from either of the two counties '
r'.dag the bulk of my district. You may j
■ refore imagine my surprise ou my return to I
] a few of my political friends uniting with
Rats," who feed upon the public expendi
■ - along our line of canals, in denouncing
•visiire of such great importance to the
, of the State. It was not to be expect
: tho-e who fattened upon the plunder
public treasury, and absorb into their
n; kcts one dollar out of every three ex
ile] on our public work*, would approve of
that destroyed their vocation and
-• il up the public treasure against their
iSHntions, but that the honest tax payers
v the Commonwealth should complain when
plnndcrera are driven off, would indeed lie
'runge. 1 have no fear that they will do so
- >n the matter shall be fully and fairly un
itfstood.
Lis warfare is gotten up by designing men
manufacture public opinion to help the polit
-i i rgunizatioii that lias held the control of
■'public works uninterruptedly for the last
■venty years, and using them all that time to
tain their party, and to reward partizan fa-
Ate.*, making servility to party a qualificn
it ' i for place upon them, instead of fidelity
the Slate. Against this kind of warfare
■ respectfully protest.
It is alleged that the legislature took the!
•••<■ by surprise in the passage of this mea- 1
that they were not elected with a view |
0 tispose of the State Canals. This allega-j
i must sound somewhat strange to intelli
men who know that soiuc ton years or
siuce the people of this State decided by
c- in favor of selling all the public im
tnents : and in obedience to the will of
people so expressed, some three or four
mve passed by as many different Legisla
's and have been approved by your Go
"tor*, authorizing a sale of the Main Line
m I'hiladelphia to Pittsburg, and yet it was
I until last year, when it was finally
. >i'tl of to the Pennsylvania Railroad
"'''any in accordance with the wishes of the
. " under the provisions of a law pused in
Aer of 1857, and in addition to this, the
' the Alain Line was defended by the en
- I'f -s.s of the party with which 1 have acted,
'/Tglnmt the Stato, and by many of the op
o:i press, and the sale of the balance advo
-1 'everywhere in the last Gubernatorial can-
I! there was any one question upon
D our people were united, it was upon an
f [t *, absolute, and complete separation of
! Mate from all participation or connec
whh anything like public works ; and
permit me to remark, that any jrerson
\ justified or defended the law for the sale
-Main Line, ought not to make writ fares
f -ale to the Sunbury aud Erie Rail
'( eiupany, for I frankly confess 1 gave
1 hill my support with more reluctance,
an y measure I have ever yet supported.
,]i" ' '! n iit of the almost universal expression
" p ople in favor of a sale, there is no
'I I ''- upon which State ownership of pub
i-at) I*, justified, except when absolute
7 o| t the part of the people render it
-:!>le for individual or associated er.ter
'' accomplish great public improvements
1 by the growing business of the conn
■' '!• i' -at: !• at'aincd in
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
no other way ; or when a combination of cir
cumstances such as existed when our own and
neighboring States commenced their system of
internal improvements. There can be no other
reason why a great State like our owu should
make herself a common carrier, entering
into competition with individuals (her own
citizens) in the ordinary business transactions
of life. A government travels outside of her
legitimate duty when she embarks in any such
enterprise.
The people everywhere throughout the
State have long demanded a sale of the public
works. They have, as I have already shown
frequently expressed their wishes upon this
question in terms not to be misunderstood, and
all parties have yielded assent to the pop
ular sentiment. No political organization has
ever dared to brave the people ou an issue of
this kind. Designing men and faithless politi
cians may attempt under the garb of friendship
for the dear people to excite a prejudice against
men who aided to carry out their wishes and
consummate this great measure of reform, by
raising unimportant questions about the terms
of sale, or the yet more trifling opposition
based upon petty quibbles, or unmeaning tech
nicalities ; but the time for such political shuf
fling has passed with the people of this por
tion of the Commonwealth. I deeply regret
that any one has been misled by the represen
tations contained in official reports prepared for
the purpose of defeating a sale, and in which
the real expenditures and receipts on our Ca
nals were carefully concealed.
I do not doubt the wisdom of the policy
which founded our system of public improve
ments. These improvements have made our
State rich beyond measure. Untold mil
lions have been added to the assessed val
ue of the taxable property in all portions of
the State where these channels of trade have
been opened. They have made the sturdy
forest yield up her possession of the soil with
more rapidity to the strong arm of the pioneer
farmer ; and happy homes of independent
freemen can now lie found, where but a few
years since the wild beast of the forest held
uninterrupted and undisturbed possession.—
The genial influence of civilization has spread
over the laud wherever these improvements
have extended, in rich profusion School
house ami Churches dot your vallies and hill
sides more thickly, ami many and vast ure the
advantages we derive from them, and while
we enjoy all these benefits from their erection
aud maiutainance as now occupied and man
aged we shall continue to enjoy them more
fully after, than before the sale, and at the
same time dry up a thousand avenues of fraud
and peculation upon our treasury.
It is complained in the most general terms
that we have sold the canals to an irresponsi
ble and insolvent company, and the most vague
and unfair allegations have been made that
the Sunbnry and Erie Railroad Company is
insolvent, and that a sale to that Company
will involve the loss of the purchase money.
1 admit that this is a grave question, and if
gentlemen would confine themselves to the
proper and legitimate source of inquiry, in
stead of dealing in general and reckless char
ges of insolvency against the Company, they
would, if impartial, long since have come to a
different conclusion. Ido not speak unadvis
edly when I assert that the Sunbnry and Erie
Railroad Company is solvent. The Company
have a mortgage of one million of dollars upon
her 40 miles of finished road, and of the bonds
authorized to be created upon this mortgage
the Company hold unissued over $400,000. —
Her floating debt is small, such merely as is
absolutely necessary in carrying on the busi
ness of the road, and prosecuting their work,
making the whole debt of ti>e company less
than one million of dollars ; their bonds to-day
are worth more in the market than the 5 per
cent, bonds of the Commonwealth. Last year
the 40 miles of completed road from Sunbnry
to Williamsport paid more than the interest
at 5 jx r cent, upon two million of dollars ;
the nett earnings of the road being near sllO,-
000.
Tlfus yon see that the Company is solvent,
and is not in that bankrupt and worthless con
dition that interested and reckless opposition
have represented her to be ; the evidence in
regard to her solvency is within the reach of
every man who may desire to know its condi
tion. Again it is alleged that the company
will Ire unable to complete their road with the
proceeds of the bonds they are authorized to
issue under the provisions of the law making
the sale. Tae Company have 228 miles of
road to finish ; there has been a re-survev of
some parts of the unfinished portion of the
road, and the cost of structure greatly lessen
ed ; twelve thousand feet of tunnelling has
been avoided, second class masonry has been
adopted in the new plan, and single track
bridges have been agreed upon, and the cost
j of completing a single track estimated at s•'>,
500,000, by reliable and competent engineers.
A large portion of the grading is done from
1 Williamsport to Farrandsville, 33 miles, and
the iron paid for and delivered to lay the track
with ; thus enabling the company to put sev
enty-three miles of their road in operation dur
ing the present season, in connection with what
is already done, the outside cost of which from
Williamsport to Farrandsville will be less than
four hundred thousand dollars. From Farrands-.
ville to the mouth of Sinemahouing, so much
of the grading has been done that it is confi
dently asserted that $350,000 will complete
; it, and thus the Company for $750,000, will
i have over one hundred miles of their road
completed, from Sunbnry to tlie mouth of
. Sinemahouing ; and $500,000, with the libc
j ral local aud county subscriptions in tbenorth
western counties through which it passes, will
complete the road from Erie to Warren. Tak
ing then the 108 miles from Sunbnry to the
mouth of the Sinemahoning, and the 04 miles
from the harbor of Erie to Warren, and you
have completed 172 miles of the road for sl,
250,000, leaving only 00 miles to build, and
| $ 4,250,000 of tbc estimate to finish it with,
and $1,500,000 of the $7,000,000 of bonds
besides. I have also reliable information that
i they have made other arrangements by which
I a otbei million is at ihefr cotiiflrcniU It tdß
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
therefore be seen that this company is solvent
and are able to complete their road with the
means placed in their hands.
But it is objected that we did not so frame
the law as to sell the canals to the highest
bidder ; to this objection the history of the
law passed to sell the Main Line is a sufficient
answer, besides the Legislature desired to aid
the completion of this road : not by giving
her bounty or loaning her credit as she had
done in almost all other portions of the Com
monwealth, this they did not ask ; but by a
wise and liberal policy on the part of the
State ; and there is a provision in the bill
that obviates this objection, by providing that
the company shall pay over to the State sev
enty-five per centum of any excess the Com
pany may realize above the price named in
the act ; besides had the canals been put up
at an auction sale fo the highest bidder, it
would have led to combination among capi
talists and companies for their purchase at a
lower price than the one named in the bill ;
or the valuable and paying portions would
have been sold and the worthless and unpay
ing parts remained in the hands of the State,
thereby continuing the expense of the Canal
board and other officers. I know of no bet- i
tor rule to govern business transactions than (
this : when you have anything to sell aud a
fair offer is made you, to accept it. Had
other parties than the Sunbnry and Erie Rail
road Company desired to purchase, why did
they not come forward and make their offers,
if any was willing to pay more ? none was
vi nlc, and therefore the Legislature were of
necessity compelled to sell on the terms offer
ed. or postpone the sale until other parties
should offer to buy.
The importance of the completion of the I
Sunbury and Erie Railroad to the State, in a
financial point of view, is Very clearly set forth j
by tbe following extract from the report of
the Committee of Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives, to which was re
ferred the bill for the sale of the canals ; the ;
facts set forth by this Committee derive force
and consequence from the fact of their inti-,
mate knowledge and careful consideration of j
the whole question, besides, eight of the nine
members composing that committee signed the ;
report ; a significant and unusual unanimity
in so large a committee, ou so important a
measure. The committee say :
"The undeveloped and neglected wealth of
more than fourteen thousand square miles of
our territory, awaits in the silence almost of
an Arabian desert, a highway to the markets I
of the world. Between the Pennsylvania !
R lilroad and the New York State line, taking j
Ridgway as the centre, there is an area at ,
least equal to 120 miles square, within which !
not one mile of railroad has been laid ; and a
very large proportion of this immense region !
is underlaid with butuminous coal and iron ore, ;
its surface covered with vast forests of valuable j
timber, and the soil when cleared, susceptible !
of a high degree of cultivation.
" Here then is presented an area of 9,21(1,
000 acres comprising about one third of the
entire State, and abounding in wealth beyond
computation, to be improved and developed by
the Sunbury and Erie R lilfoad and its tribu-1
tarics.
" By the last report of the Revenue Cora-j
missiouers, the assessed value of all the real
estate in the Commonwealth, taxable for state ,
purposes is $488,275,000.
"About $30,000,000 of that amount is
charged to the 9,210,000 of acres above men
tioned, of which the average assessed "value
is about three dollars and thirty three one
hundredths per acre.
" The section of eonntry in the State of New
York, through which the New Y'ork and Erie
railroad passes, may be referred to as an il
lustration of the effect of such improvements
on the value of adjacent lands. Refore that
road was constructed the price of wild lands in
the Southern pari of that State did not ex
ceed three dollars per acre. On its completion
and almost immediately after the first train of
cars had passed over it, the minimum price
at which the same lands were sold, for a wide
range on either side of the road, was ten dol
lars per acre : and they continue to increase
in value, as the country fills up with new set
tlers. In various parts of our own Stato the
prices of mineral aud timber lands have been
increased, through similar ageucies, in a much
greater ratio.
" Instance the coal lands of Schuylkill, Car
bon, Northumberland and Luzerne counties,
and the timber, and coal lands Clinton county
which five years ago were sold for one dollar,
and within the past year have been sold for
ten dollars and upwards per acre, in anticipa
tion of the construction of the Sunbury and
Erie railroad. It may fairly be assumed, that
within a few years after that road shall have
been finished to the harbor of Erie, thcMiiiueral
lands which now average in the State assess
ment but three dollars and thirty-three hun
drcths per acre, will average at least ten times
that sum. Allowing one-third only of the 9,
210,000 acres above mentioned, to consist of
mineral lands, tbe result will be that 3,072,-
000 will be worth on an average $33 per acre
or $111,370,000
The remaining 6.114,000, increasing
iu no greater ratio than the New
York lands, will he worth ten dot
lars jrer acre, or $61,440,000
172,8204)00
Peduct the present u-tnesscd \alue.
as above stated, 1W.000.000
And the net gain in the assessed
value will be 112,820.000
Which, at the present rate of tnxn
tion, for State purposes, would
give an increased annual revenue
to the Commonwealth of $357,000
" This is by no means an improbable or ex
travagant estimate. It covers an extent or
countrv larger than the State of Massachusetts
and of infinitely greater intrinsic value, and
which at present is so sparsely populated that
it is entitled to three representatives only in the
National Congress, while Massachusetts has
a representation of eleven members in that
body. As soon ns the contemplated improve
ment brings it into communication with the
trade of the lakes and the Atlantic coast i,-
extraordinary resources, mineral aud agricul
tural, will attract an enterprising and indus
trious population, and mills, furnaces, manufac
tories and thriving towns aud villages will be
scattered over its whole extent."
The importance of this improvement does
not end with the increased valuation of prop
erty along the line of the road itself, or in
proximity to it ; nor will its beneficial influ
ences be circumscribed by the boundary
lines of the several comities through which ii
passes. Its branches will extend to the north
and the south penetrating the rich coal fields
and iron ore beds of all that portion of the
Stale, by lateral roads, some of which are al
ready constructed ; while oue of its arms will
leach down the valley of the Allegheny river,
and reaching Pittsburg, the Iron City of the
west by equated distance, by a shorter and
better route than by the Pennsylvania Central
Road from the Metropolis of your State. Thus
will the IRON HORSE, while gathering the local
trade of the country, reach the commerce of the
great South-west, and make it pay tribute to
northern interest and northern enterprise ; and
from natural advantages the position of the
road is unrivaled. In the west it forms a di
rect link in the chain of roads which traverses
the \yhole width of the States of Ohio, Michi
gan, ludiiniaaml lllinios, to St. LouD, an 1
forms a continuous route, giving us in the fu
ture t he control of the trade and travel over an
unbroken gauge on a Hue twelve hundred miles
in length. Ju the east besides the connection
with Philadelphia by the way of Cattawissa
and Reading, it forms a connection with the
Northern Central Road to Baltimore and also
two other routes to Philadelphia byway of
the Pennsylvania Central and the Lebanon
Valley road, and with New York city by the
Lehigh Valley and New Jersey Central lload.
Resides all these valuable connections, in its
westward march this Road has not reached the
great point of accumulating wealth, the Lakes.
The commerce of the Lakes will be tapped
by this road at the harbor of Erie,and is a very
important matter of consideration in connec
tion with this subject. The history of its
rapid growth is one of the most astounding
events in the history of the commercial world.
Writers disagree as to the amount this trade ;
but all agree as to its rapid increase. A writer
in Hunt's Magazine gives the whole amount
for the year 18 41 at $65,825,000, and for
the year 1856, the same writer puts it at $123,-
487,000. De Row in his work on the statis
tics of tiie United States gives it for the year
1851 at $283,187,000. Andrews in his report
for the same year published by authority of the
U. S. Senate gives it at $326,593,000. Hunts
Magazine for January 1857 states that during
the la.-,t 15 years it has increased from sixty-live
millions to $608,000,000.
This vast amount of commerce upon our
lakes, as exhibited en the best authority, is
greater than ail our commerce on the Atlantic
Ocean, and with the rapid growth and settle
ment of tlie rich and fertile west, this com
merce, vast as it now is, must continue to in
crease greatly for years to eoiue. Much the
largest portion of this trade is seeking an out
let ou the Atlantic sea-board, and greatly to
the injury of our owu Commonwealth it finds
its way to market over the rail-ways and Ca
nals passing through other States, in conse
quence of the illiberal and restrictive policy of
our own. It should be our pride as
it is our interest to draw as much of this trade
ns possible within and through our own bor
ders. We have the best natural harbor on the
lakes, with a line therefrom shorter and more
favorably located than any rail road in any
other State to the Atlantic seaboard. For
these reasons 1 was in favor of selling the Ca
nais to the Sunbnry A Erie Railroad Compa
ny ; others I would introduce were it not for
extending this communication to an unreason
able length.
Having conclusively established the import
ance to the State of completing the Sunbury A
Erie Road as well as its solvency, I propose
to examine the value of the Canals sold. Tak
ing the statement of partizan officials biased
and unfair as many of them are j since the Ca
nals sold have been iu operation, their average
yearly income has been $123,924,00. In this
calculation many important items for many years
are entirely excluded, among which are the ex
penses of the Canal Commissioner-, lock keep
ers, weigh-masters, claims paid, and damages
sustained by transporters, printing,patent-right,
and other innumerable incidental expenditures.
Claims seldom if ever find their way into the
Canal reports, as they are mostly paid by laws
niakiug specific appropriations for their pay
ment. It would be a low estimate to put
them down at $25,000, per annum, deducting
this amount from the above figure and it will
bring the revenue of your Canals at less than
SIOO,OOO, annually. It may be said that they
have been paying better for the last few years;
if this be true, what guarantee have we that
they will continue to do so ; rival works are
growing up around all of them. The Delaware
Division cannot be sold to-day for as much
by one million of dollars as it could three years
since. The Lower North Branch has a com
coiupeting railroad running along by its side,
with a level or desccudinggrade with favorable
curves to a connection with the Cataivissa
A Williamsport road at Rupert, and will lie
completed to Northumberland at no distant
day, making a connection with the Sunburv A
Erie, aud the Northern Central, which will be
completed to Sunbury bv the first of July next,
forming a continuous rail-rood to the mties of
Philadelphia and Baltimore, coming in direct
conflict and competition with the entire length
of your finished Canals from Pittston south
ward. The Wist Branch Canal I.as long been
acknowledged to be worthless, mil it also has a
I competing rail-road for the trade of that valley.
It will be seen that the State has no guarantee
whatever that they will pay any better iu the
future than they have in the past. I have not
a doubt that the people will realize more for
them under the law of last scs-ion authorizing
the sale than tlwv would at any future day had
the sale been postponed until a later period.
The Legislature has been grant
ing charters for building rail-roads alt over
tJiP I*.°. yv;^V '>*] * ■n? * * "* r *l^
effect the State Canals, and why ? Becuuse
public opiuiou and the business interest of cer
tain localities demanded it,and nouc lias been so
bold as to denounce this polity, fatal as it has
proved to the business and revenue of our Ca
nals. These roads are now and will continue
to depreciate the value of the Canals, until
they would have become worthless under the
control and management of .State agents. —
No denunciation for all this, but when by ibis
system of indiscriminate granting of charters
the fate of your public works arc scaled, and
the legislature prompted by an honorable de
sire to obtain something for them before it was
too late, disposed of theui, then it is that no
denuueiationis too base, no vulgarism oo mean
with which to clothe the language of complaint
against those who had the independence to
to stand up in defence of the over-burthened
tax payers of the Commonwealth. The histo
ry of State management of public works has
not only proved a failure iu Pennsylvania, but
is premonitory of failure in some of our neigh
boring States. The Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal is said to be hopelessly bankrupt ; its
tolls last year were $58,248,99 less than iu
1856, while its current expenses were $130,-
787,77 greater than in 1856. It is undoubt
edly true that a series of unavoidable misfor
tunes has done much to make an unfavorable
exhibit, but its whole history has been one of
loss and trouble.
The New York Canals also m ike a very un
favorable exhibit, so great has been tbe falling
off in the receipts that a proposition was in
troduced into their Legislature last winter to
impose an odious tonnage tax upon the com
merce of their rail-roads to make up the defi
cit, and the question of a sale of their Canals
is being agitated in that State for the s une
reasons that our own State has disposed of her
Canals. The tolls on the. Canals of that State
have gone down from $3,204,718 in 1553, to
$2,031,967, in 1857 aud have increased o i
competing rail-roads iu the same time from
$4,376,044 in 1853, to $8,873,823, in
Thus we find the Canal tolls in the short space
of five years have sunk $1,172,751, while the
rail-road tolls have increased iu fo ir years $4,-
497,779, and in 1853 the, rail-road receipts
only exceeded the receipts from the Canals
$1,171,326. Iu 1857 it was $6,125,611, aud
for the first time iu twelve ye ;r faifc 1 to pay
the interest ou the funded debt by $350,000.
This shows the X. Y. Cauuls t > be constantly
growing worse & steadily depreciating in value.
The Auditor of that slate gives in his last report
some facts calculated to impress the close ob
server of things still more unfavorably with
Canals. He informs us that since ISSI the
number of barrels of flour carried over the Ca
nals has diminished from 3,343,472 in tin*
year to 350,000 in 1357, and the tolls have of
course fallen off in the same proportion. While
these figures make a very disastrous show for
the New York and Maryland Canals, similar
statements of the trade upon tne Virginia and
Ohio Canals might be made.
It will not do to say that nnusual depression
has caused all this falling oft'of the trade upon
canals; other channels of trade have been op m
ed in many eases, and cheapened in others, all
managed by the shrewdest and best business
men in the country, who having a direct and
personal interest in the good management of
them, give them their personal attention. One
moment's reflection must satisfy any man ho,\v
much more efficient must be the management
under such circumstances, than with political
State corporations where the works become
a part of partizan machinery: where officers
are selected not for their fitness, but as the
reward of partizan fidelity ; and purchased by
activity rather than earned by merits, and in
order to distribute the favors to as many of
the faithful as possible, rotation in office lie- j
comes necessary and good a* well as bad NN U
fall under th<* arbitrary rule of partizan tyranny. ;
Thus the certainty of removal, and the proba
ble short tenure of place takes away much of ]
the inducement to fidelby, and pleads for 1
promptness in plundering, which ?ocm* to have !
been heretofore as good, if not a better recom
mendation for ro appointment than honesty.- |
Strong and influential parti/, ins clamorous for ,
place have been the means of creating new j
and unnecessary officers, thereby giving un- ]
steadiness to the Canal department, and ren- .
deritig system in their management impossible.
How is it to be expected that in the absence '
of anything like system or integrity, prosper!- '
ty or profit is to accrue to the Commonwealth ?
Although these serious and important draw
backs have always operated against our ca
nal s \ stem, continually producing their corrupt
and demoralizing influences upon the people, '
and would of themselves be sufficient cause for
disposing of them at any price that could be
obtained, and I repeat we had no off-r except
the one made by the Sunbury k Erie It til
road Company ; the trade from the Wyoming
Coal fields that has parsed down the canals
and cleared at Reach Haven, has been increas- j
1 ing until iu 185(1, it ran up to 510,631 tons, i
In 1857 it dropped down to 405,827 tons,
showing a falling off of 105 804 tons iu a .
single year. Here again do we see the effects
upon the canal trade consequent upon the com
pietion of competing railroads. The Northern ,
Central Railroad reached the Likens Valley j
Coal fields in 1850,. and was completed to
Treverton iu 1857, am' will make a complete
connection with the Sunbury and Erie road
by the first of July next. This road has car
ried a large quantity < f coal to the same mar
kets where the Wyoming coal has been sold
heretofore, and being .Oinc fifty to sixty miles
nearer uiaikel has an advantage iu its compe
tition for the Southern trade, seriously as 1
have shown, effecting the tonnage upon the
canals.
There is, however, a more forcible illuslratio i
1 of the effect of rail-road competition as against
the Delaware Division ; upon this canal there
has been no increase of coal shipments since
7 852, and for the lust three years has been
decreasing. In U55 it was 755,265 tons, in
1556 it was 698,315 tcnis, and in 18 >7 it was
! 530,91 I tons. While during the same time
the entire ecal tonnage from the Lehigh coat
region was in 1855, 1,275,051 tons, in 1300,
i fi'K t .11< ' f' "f Tvi - ! 18 °"0
VOL.. XVIII. —NO. 30.
tons. It will be observed here that the en
tire yield of this region in 1857, was 43,499
tons greater than in 1855, and yet it will he
seen that the coal tonnage on the Delaware
Division was 221,353 tons !e-s than in J boo.
1 know it is asserted over and over again,
that rail-roads cannot carry coal or other heavy
tonnage as < heap as it can be transported upon
canals. If this tie trite, how are we to account
for the sternly decrease in tonnage upon the
Canals, and the rapid increase of freights upon
the railroads ? The ennuis in onr own State
have no competition except railroads, and a
larger quantity of coal is going to market
every year, and the coal tonnage npon jour
canals steadily and surely growing less, and
inerea-ing uj on railroads. The conclusion is
irresistable, a d can be proved by mathematic
al demons'ra'ion ; that railroads with favora
ble curves and grades can carry coal or
other freights as cheap, if not cheaper, than
any canal that cannot carry more than a seven
ty ton boat.
It would have been unwise on the part of
our legislature to shut their eyes to the nuked
fact, that the business upon our canals, not
from transitory, but permanent ennses is di
minishing. New routes are continually being
opened, and some of thorn shorter than the ca
nals ; new and improved machinery and strict
economy in management, all aiding to eheu
pen coal to the consumer, must and will con
tinue to operate against t.hc old and in favor
of new modes of transportation. I have shown
that the average yearly nett revenues of the
canals sold, from their opening up to the pres
ent time, by the one sided reports of olfi'ials,
does not equal the amount by over $75,000,
the interest at 5 per cent, on $3,500,000, the
price named in the law fur the sale ; nor do
1 believe that if an honest and faithful exhibit
could be had yearly, anvthiuglike this amount
would bo found to be the true figures. In the
report of the Committee of Ways and Means
1 lind the following amount put down as the
uett revenues for 1857 : " Put out of view en
tirely, the interest on the cost of these works,
and the apparent nett income of the year was
$07,701 29 only ; at which rate their real
value to the State would be $1,335,226." .As
they do not give a detailed statemeut for this
year, of course I cannot till how they arrive
at this conclusion. Prom other detailed state
ments, however, which I have had occasion
to examine, and which I found in the mniii
correct, 1 am inclined to the opinion it is too
high.
The following exhibit was made by a gen
tlcmin of high character, and great intelli
gence, whose experience in the management of
these work- entitles hi< statemeuts to the ful
lest to fid nee, approximating nearer the truth
than anything 1 have yet seen, so far as I
have been enabled to reach the proper docu
ments to investigate them. I therefore iutro
dil.'e it here :
The t itat receipts fur 15.77 from nil the canals to'< 3to
the Suubury ami Erie lUil-iioaU tuiupauy, a put down
by the Auditor (ieneral
Kxi icuilitur.-- on tne Upper
and l.ovver X. liranch for
the sjni ? year i- $134,379,54
Susqiuhmuaanti West 11.
T'ivi.-i ins. 132,501,911
1 H;le\varc I>ivision, 104,418,12
Collectors en all the diri
ai ms, and ii idcntals of
their office, damages.pay 81,920,19
of Canal It >ard, State en
gineer, etc.
Total expenditures,
Total receipts over expenditures for 16.7 j4S,4us in
There is no way of the amount
that should be deducted for the through freight
cleared t the upper offices for the 46 miles
of the Main Line sold last year ; tint it. will
lie a low estimate to call it $15,000. Taking
this amount from the balance as exhibited
above, ($48,208 19) and it leaves as the nett
earnings ot your canals tor 1857, $33,208 19
Tt tnnv be said that if is unjust to charge in
this account, the amount expended upon the
North Branch division of $134,880 59. Bur
if yon add this amount to the nett income, and
thereby run up the receipts to $168,094 7K,
you still Imve an amount less than the interest
upon $3,500,000 at 5 percent, which is $175.
000, with the advantage of a certain instead
of an uncertain revenue.
Again it mty alleged that when the North
Branch Division comes into successful operation
cs revenues will be large. Tnis is to a great ex
tent a matter of speculation in which nothing
but experience will determine ; and while 1
can appreciate tie 1 advantages of this Improve
ment to our portion of the State, in giving us
the advantages of nu easy communication with
the coil fields in the Wyoming valley, extend
ing to our farmers and pi icing within their
reach the markets of that region, ami opening
a line of communication for the out let of our
coal northward. I am not among that class
of citizens, who have indulged in such extrav
agant anticipations in regard to the amount of
revenue that would accrue to I lie Common
wealth from this D vision of oar public works
It is riot nor do 1 believe it will lie in success
ful operation for m mi lis to rami- if it is during
the season, witln ut freqm tit interruption*, re
quiring heavy expenditures for repairs. It hi*
not yet been tested, it i- now. nod the expen
ses mut be heavy each year for some time to
come ; breaks will occur, as is always the case
with new Canals. Then what security had the
Commouwcahh, that under her corrupt and
\ ciio! -y.-tein ot nianaginent the revenues would
much exceed the expenditures ? There is nu
other item of expenditure from which the Stale
is released by the sale. The damages along
the lines of the Ciuai. which are estimated to
amount to tr m $150,690 to $200.00>, arc all
to be paid by the pnrclias ug Company.
In addition, however, to what lias been al
ready shown, it can be shown by the official
reports of the Canal board, that while the
working expenses have largely increased for
the last few years ; the revenues have very
largely decreased. 'Hie revenues for I $55
were $791,903,90 In 1856 they were $785,•
607,H, and in 1K57, $512,01*.29. Thus it
will l>e seen that in three years the revenues
have diminished $'282,iJ3.">,41, while the work
ing expenses have increased in the same tiiuu
$68,8.45,18. When official documents and
.. .. ,4. v.-'ftr c r *cd 'i-r-i' 1) cm..5 • ,->f