Show A HUGE the Pro proposed haip canua across now new york state an undertaking that would cost coat many ont of dollare Dol larg ll wt ut would greatly tho Cout country itry r the lucli talked of project for reaching the ocean from the great lakes involves the construction of a canal around niagara falls on the american side and the building of a chip canal across the state of new york from that point to the hudson river so that vessels from the lakes can pass through to lo the ocean the canal says buys a detroit piper paper would be about one hundred and fifty feet wide ar ard and d would have to be t wenty twenty feet deep in order to accommodate the large vessels vessel of the lakes the cost of such a canal would be anywhere from thirty million to fifty million dollars but when the immense amount of money paid out annually for cargoes cardoes from ship to buil i uil and from rail ba back ic to habip again is is vilcen into consideration ration representative chipman says bays that the canal would soon pay toe foe itself the securing esurin g of a access cess to the seaboard for the lake inn minne inc said berre tentative chipman t is still in the stage of inquiry thou though h certain ceitaw to be consummated sum mated by another if not bv this thill ir generation on era tion the marine tonnage ot the great lakes constitutes the chief alart of american shinning shin ping it transports ports to aard ird the sc bc board bourd the production of vie groat great debt aud carries buck back the productions of the eastern and north arn rn states state aswell us well as articles imported irom for foren ern countries the great k fc aps which do this work vork are met metat at 1 I agara pills falls by a barrier barrer which stops tem at buffalo where bull bulk lias has to be brol broken renand and ca goes transferred to rail or the I 1 erie rie cinal canal the ex expense pene of this constitutes a barden on all the states tributary to the lakes as far west as t fie lie rock rocky mountains and as far east as Buff buffalo illo it is enormous and ancl and tend lends to k kep keep ep down the prices of lurn lumber iron ull all tho cereals culs sheep cattle ti nj nd in fact everything the farmers have to sell it is also a great detriment to western manufacturers both in the dorcian and domestic markets already during the life of navi navigation fration in vie the northern waters the competition between marine and rail shipments has had a happy effect in reducing freight tariffs so far as that competition extends what is now demanded is that it shall be extended to every inch of the carriage to the ultimate market at home and abroad that this will benefit the entire country is ib beyond cavil by allowing the products of the west vet ve t and northwest to be landed at atlantic ports certainly just think of a thirty five hundred or four thousand ton lake vessel at the washington docks laden 14 with ith flour from minnesota or lumber from michigan if the canals were so constructed this would be a common sight here it would also be common in all the atlantic ports and those of the gulf arnd would open cheap and reliable avenues of exchange for the products of the continent these canals canal with the proper improvement of the mississippi and deep water on the texas coast would supply the demands for or cheap transportation of tile the entire region between theakle the I 1 linnies and the beyond this the canals would restore the american hag flag to the ocean much more effectively than could any system of bounties thousands of american ships ship would supplement the thousand ul already realy on the lakes and would make voyages to every part of the world the great shipbuilding ship building industries dus tries of the lakes would increase enormously aud and other bindes would crow up on the waters of erie huron michigan and superior would not these in enlind ind canals on american soil have a strategic atrat egic value in case of war most assuredly in case of war with england the most probable of all wars with us if we are arc ever in in earnest in pressing ri for commercial advantages in the trade of the world I 1 we bould have bave canada at an incalculable cn lible disadvantage and certainly with such a system of canals entirely on en our own boil we would create an ob ioco leston lesbon which would cause the canadians to take broader views of commercial intercourse if not of annexation the project is one of the grandest of all time it is worthy df the greatest people who have ever existed we are perfectly capable of executing it and sometime it will be done what steps will lo be 10 taken in this congress toward beginning the project 1 t I shall at the very first opportunity after the reassembling of congress introduce a bill for the appointment of a commission to make surveys and estimate the cost I 1 suppose some people will oppose even this on the ground that future expenses will be incurred indeed I 1 hear that there will be opposition to a liberal river and harbor bill in the con confess giess if there is it will be a mistake the improvement pro of water transportation is only within the power of the general government states or individuals ever if they have the money cannot touch it without the authorization of congress and every such improvement should belong to the people free from tolls and unfettered 11 by bv local regulations berul 1 if there is to be economy it mul must u bo be in home other direction vie cutting oft off of useless official the reduction of salaries 3 and of appropriations eions not of necessity cheap transportation is is a national nit ional necessity a necessity in the highest sense of national ro th and prosperity it is the demand of the aye age and i is the true solvent of every complaint v inch the prod producers aaril nn inid awl oti others lers are making our waterways are arc natures ways designed by providence to carry our rado frade to all the corners of the earth the nt of them is only the institution of a mole moie effective competition with raili railway ay carriage a com petit on infinitely preferable to the duplication of r railroad after railroad and would in the end be less hurtful to railway interests than the multiplication of rail railway ay lines |