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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 

 LEGISLATIVE EESTRICTIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CARRYING TRADE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RAILWAYS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: 
 
 VIEWKD IN CONNECTION WITH OUTSIDE COMPETITION. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE CITIZEIfS OP THE CITY AND 
 STATE OP NEW YORK. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PRINTED BY WM. L. S. HARRISON, 
 
 80 & 82 DUANE STREET. j 
 
 / i 
 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030125342 
 
LEGISLATIVE RESTRICTION 
 
 CARRYING TRADE 
 
 RAILWAYS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK: 
 
 TIEVED IN CONNECTION WITH OUTSIDE COMPETITION. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND STATE OP 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PRINTED BY WM. L. S. HARRISON, 
 
 80 AND 82 DuANE Street. 
 1860. 
 
he: 
 
 /\;7V/55'>^ 
 
LE&ISLATIYE EESTEICTIOIS 
 
 OAEEYINa TEADE OF THE EAILWAYS OF 
 NEW YOEK. 
 
 To the Citizens of the City and State- of New York: 
 
 Feom the memorable struggle wMcli, through the exertions 
 of the indomitable Clinton, resulted in the construction of the 
 Erie Canal, the people of the State of New York have in no 
 instance been called upon to decide a graver question than that 
 presented in the proposition to place legislative restrictions 
 upon the carrying trade of our railways. Those who favor this 
 policy argue that railway competition works a two-fold injury 
 to the State : that it promotes the farming, manufacturing and 
 industrial interests of other States to the detriment of our own, 
 and that it materially lessens the revenues of our canals. To 
 remedy these evils they propose that the Legislature shall 
 enact the "j?ro rato freight bill" of 1858, and reimpose tolls on 
 the railroads. On the other hand it is c&ntended that the pro- 
 posed measures would operate disastrously on the railroads, 
 would increase the burthens of our agricultural and manufac- 
 turing interests by a still further increase of the cost of trans- 
 portation within our own State, would drive a large portion of 
 the through traffic upon rival thoroughfares outside of the 
 State, and hence would fail to benefit the canals. To xmder- 
 stand properly the comprehensiveness and momentousness of 
 the issue, let us, at the outset, survey our present commercial 
 position as a State. ' 
 
 For a time, and up to the period of the completion of the 
 several great railway thoroughfares connecting the Atlantic 
 coast with the region beyond the Alleghanies, the bulk of our 
 inland commerce, between the East and the West, pursued 
 interchangeably one undeviating course over the water lines 
 
traversed by the Hudson, the Erie Canal, the great lakes, and 
 the Western canals and rivers. Within the last few years, 
 however, a silent but mighty revolution has taken place. Iron 
 rails, starting from our principal seaboard ports south of us, 
 may now be seen winding their way through the valleys and 
 along the lateral slopes of the Alleghaniee, climbing over the 
 back of the huge monster, tieing themselves as they pass to 
 numerous intersecting roads, arid to landing-places on the Ohio, 
 the Mississippi and other rivers, and at Pittsburgh, Chicago, 
 Wheeling, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. 
 Louis, Louisville, and places of lesser note, connecting with that 
 vast railway net-work which collects and concentrates to those 
 points the produce of the prairies, the great basin, and the 
 trade of the interior towns. Thousands of untiring locomotives, 
 harnessed to long trains of laden cars, regardless of the dark- 
 ness of night, snow-drift or storm, are hastening to and fro ; 
 some to deliver the merchandise of the East to the West, and 
 others to return the products of the West to the East. North 
 of us the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire yield 
 their patient backs to similar iron bands, which stretch from 
 the seaports of New England to the St. Lawrence, to Lake 
 Ontario, and through the Canadas to the upper lakes, where 
 they interchange commodities with the people of the North- 
 west. In addition to these, the improvements in steam navi- 
 gation, in the construction of steamers and propellers — improve- 
 ments which have kept equal pace with those of the railway — • 
 have brought into active and formidable competition a mam- 
 moth coasting line, which receives freight from all our Atlantic 
 ports, delivers it at New Orleans, and returns with the products 
 of the valley of the Mississippi and the Ohio. Its influence is 
 sensibly felt even as far towards the Northwest as Indiana and 
 Illinois. "We may also remark here that the same improve- 
 ments which enable this line to compete succcessfuUy for our 
 carrying trade, are brought into use by the competing railways, 
 where they connect with the waters of the interior, and also in 
 drawing business to themselves from localities North and South 
 of their termini on the coast of the Atlantic. 
 
 We will now consider more specifically the capacities of 
 these rival routes. First in order. South of us, is the Pennsyl- 
 vania Central Railroad. This, road runs from Philadelphia to 
 
Pittsburgh, and there, in connection with the Fort "Wayne and 
 Chicago Kaih-oads, forms a continuous line to Chicago. It also 
 connects with roads running direct to Cleveland, Columbus, 
 Cincinnati, and all the important points of the "West and South- 
 west. Pittsburgh, having its site at the confluence of the Alle- 
 ghany and Monongahela rivers, which there form the Ohio, is 
 the receiving and distributing point for the commerce of a vast 
 area of country, and has a navigable water communication of 
 many thousand miles. From the Alleghany, during a portion 
 of the year, it receives business by means of small boats from 
 the northward as high up as Olean in our own State. On the 
 Ohio river, which bears southwesterly, passing by "Wheeling, 
 Cincinnati, Louisville, and numerous other enterprising towns 
 on the borders of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, and 
 Illinois, it commands 959 miles of navigation by large class 
 steamers to the Mississippi, and thence to all the prominent 
 places on that great " Father of "Waters," from the highest 
 accessible point to the Gulf of Mexico. Such are the connec- 
 tions of the Pennsylvania Central Poad at the West. At its 
 eastern terminus it connects with New York by means of the 
 New Jersey roads and the Raritan Canal, also with New York, 
 with Boston, and other New England cities, by regular lines of 
 propellers, which it directly controls, and which pour into its 
 depot at Philadelphia immense quantities of freight taken from 
 under our own eyes, and diverted from our own thoroughfares. 
 Nor is this all. Few seerri' to know that the Pennsylvania 
 Eoad places Philadelphia on an average more than 100 miles 
 nearer the commercial cities of the West than is the city of 
 New York. Philadelphia is nearer by the Pennsylvania Poad 
 than New York is by her roads : 
 
 To Oleveland, by 123 miles. 
 
 To Chicago, by 136 miles. 
 
 To St. Louis, by 161 miles. 
 
 To Columbus, by 190 miles. 
 
 • To Cincinnati, by 190 miles. 
 
 More still. New York itself is brought nearer to the West 
 m& the Pennsylvania Road, than md the New York Central or 
 the New York and Erie. New York merchants and Western 
 shippers save in distance by the Pennsylvania Road, as against 
 the New York Central or Erie as-foUows : 
 
6 
 
 To Cleveland, 33 miles. 
 
 To Chicago, 46 miles. 
 
 To St. Louis, Yl miles. 
 
 To Columbus, 100 miles. 
 
 To Cincinnati, 100 miles. 
 
 As an evidence of the capacities of this road we instance the 
 fact that its total tonnage in 1858 exceeded by 281,482 tons 
 that of the ITew York Central. It increased its through freight 
 in 1858, as compared with 1857, nearly 50,000 tons, while that of 
 the New York Central fell off 19,531 tons. "We take these facts 
 from official reports. The cost of the road is over $30,000,000, 
 contributed jointly by individuals, the city of Philadelphia, and 
 the State of Pennsylvania — the latter having loaned^ts credit 
 to the extent of $7,400,000. Combining so many natural and 
 artificial advantages, with the fostering patronage of the State, 
 favored by State pride, and by the strong ties which identify it 
 with the life and prosperity of the second city in the Union, a 
 city of only one-fifth less population than the city of New York, 
 this road now boldly and confidently strives to wrest from our 
 own roads their carrying trade, and from New York State and 
 city their commercial supremacy. Already do its Directors 
 assume, and act upon the assumption, of a certain triumph. 
 In their report fyr 1858 they officially proclaimed it to be their 
 settled policy to effect a transfer of our calTying trade to them- 
 selves, and the subversion of the commercial ascendency of 
 New York city by a like transf^ of its business to Philadel- 
 phia. We speak from the record. 
 
 On page 3 of their report for 1858, they say : " The city of 
 Philadelphia has expended millions in the completion of inter- 
 nal improvements to draw to her the trade of the West, and 
 her great work, undertaken for that object, is now finished and 
 connected with all its principal avenues ; yet it is without the 
 proper means of transferring from cars to vessels the vastly 
 increasing tonnage anticipated from these connections." On 
 page 4 they continue : " In the opinion of your Board of Direc- 
 tors, a new impetus would be given to the growth of Philadel- 
 phia by the extension of tlie Pennsylvania Eailroad to the 
 Delaware Eiver, tending more to revive our commerce than 
 any other^measure attainable at so small an outlay. The cost 
 of transportation to the Delaware Eiver, with the exemption 
 from city tolls, city teaming, or cartage, would thus be reduced 
 
so much below that to other eastern cities, that vessels would 
 be drawn to our harbor for their freights ; the difference in 
 favor of Philadelphia over New York or Boston, in the cost of 
 transportation between the West and shipboard, or viae versa, 
 would be so apparent that shipowners or foreign merchants 
 would take advantage of circumstances so greatly to their 
 interests. 
 
 A merchant receiving flour at both New York and Philadel- 
 phia from the same western consignor, and selling it at precisely 
 the same rate in each city, returns to the consignor a Id/rger jperr 
 centage on his Philadelphia than on his New York sales — ^arising 
 Solely from the cost of transportation in favor of Philadelphia : 
 consequently, cheap transportation to the river front secures to 
 her a large trade which otherwise she cannot obtain, and no 
 doubt vessels will he Tyrought here for the trade thus created. 
 This advantage will not be left unimproved by those controlling 
 the commercial interests of our city." Again, on page 5, they 
 say : " In conclusion, your Board of Directors are of the opinion 
 that the Pennsylvania Hailroad has ndt accomplished the ohject 
 of its construction until a connection is effected with tide-water 
 on the Delaware, thus opening an avenue by which every vari- 
 ety of mineral and agricultural production can be conveyed to 
 a proper point for shipment, and furnishing facilities for the 
 trade of this city at least equal to those of any location on the 
 Atlantic coast." 
 
 In regard to the advantages enjoyed by New York, furnished 
 by the Erie Canal and Hudson Kiver, they further say, on page 
 16 : " The removal or equalization of these advantages must re- 
 tuni to it (Philadelphia) a large share of this export trade, bring- 
 ing with it a corresponding increase in the importsP The ital- 
 ics in the foregoing extracts are our own. 
 
 After these explicit avowals had been thus officially an-^ 
 nounced, and it was discovered that they had aroused a feeling 
 of marked uneasiness among the citizens and merchants of New 
 York, G. "W". Cass, Esq., one of the most active and energetic of 
 the directors of the road, published in the New YorTt, Times a 
 communication, dated April 25, 1859, designed to allay appre- 
 hension, and to cajole them into the belief that the Pennsylva- 
 nia Koad was as essential to the prosperity of New York as to 
 that of Philadelphia. "We call the particular attention of the 
 
reader to the following language quoted from that commu- 
 nication : 
 
 " That the Pennsylvania Eoad will contribute to the rapid 
 growth and commercial development of Philadelphia we claim ; 
 but such a claim is not inconsistent -with the fact that the Penn- 
 sylvania Eoad carries a very large amount of the business done 
 by both New York and Boston with the West. We cannot 
 state to-day the amount of this tonnage, but of the 263,204,731 , 
 pounds of twelve classes carried to Philadelphia, in 1858, pa- 
 raded so triumphantly by 'New York,' in proof of his position, 
 a large quantity was merely in trcmsitu, when it arrived at 
 Philadelphia, for New York and New England. And herein is 
 the explanation of the great prosperity of the Philadelphia (?) 
 Road ; it not only enjoys most of the interior carrying trade of 
 the city of Philadelphia, but being the shortest and best route 
 from New York City to the greater part of the West, the West- 
 ern merchants (who in fact control the route by which four-fifths 
 of the freights between the East and the West shall be shipped,) 
 prefer to make their shipments to and from New York over this 
 route. During a good portion of every year, goods may be car- 
 ried from New York to Cincinnati and points in that direction, 
 with but 353 miles of rail (portage) transportation, whereas it is 
 double that over the New York Central route. In lineal dis- 
 tance, the Pennsylvania Road has more than 100 miles the ad- 
 vantage in all-rail route to the same portion of the West ; and 
 in directness, few seem to be aware of the, favorable location of 
 the Pennsylvania Road as to the City of New York. The New 
 York Central Road runs on a parallel of latitude about two and 
 a half degrees north of the City of New Yorh ; whereas the 
 Pennsylvania Road preserves a pa/rallel about one-half de- 
 gree south of that City. The Pennsylvania Road, then, being 
 in a geographical position to avail itself, or rather to command, 
 the carrying trade of Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and 
 Boston, to and from the West, by river, and by the new West- 
 ern rail connections lately completed, fully accounts for her in- 
 creased trade in 1858, and is, moreover, a sure promise of still 
 greater increase in the future, without in any way damaging the 
 merchants in New York. Such a state of things is not only con- 
 sistent with, but would be promoted by, the most flattering in- 
 crease of the business of the City of New York its truest friend 
 
could wish. As we have before intimated, it is because the 
 Pennsylvania Koad carries trade to and from New York in le- 
 gitimate and successful competition with the Central, and there- 
 by increases her (Pennsylvania Eoad) receipts, that so much 
 exercises the ITew York Central Managers, and not the lesser rate 
 from Philadelphia to the West." In a letter dated only two 
 days later, and addressed to " the Merchants of Chicago," this 
 same Director reiterated these views as applicable to that city. 
 
 " The trade of Chicago and the business of the Northwestern 
 roads have the advantage of this less rate from Philadelphia, to 
 the same extent that other cities and other roads have it. And 
 we do not believe that there is a single merchant in Chicago or 
 the Northwest, who buys goods in Philadelphia, that will insist, 
 when his freight bill is presented to him, that the Freight 
 Agent has made it out too low, and that he must add to it, to 
 make the rate equal to what he paid on his New York or Boston 
 purchases. Nor do we believe that a packer of provisions in 
 Chicago, who has shipped 1000 barrels of pork to New York 
 at the current rates, will insist, when he goes to ship 1000 kegs 
 of lard to Philadelphia, that the Freight Agent shall charge 
 him the New York rates. When the Freight Agent informs the 
 shipper that the distance to Philadelphia is about 150 miles 
 less than to New York, and that he can carry his lard at $2 per 
 ton less to Philadelphia than his meat was carried to New 
 York for, who supposes he will indignantly refuse the offer on 
 the ground that it will injure the packing business at Chi- 
 cago?"' 
 
 Now, with these premises before us, and the statistical facts 
 we have given, who does not see that we have in the Pennsyl- 
 vania Koad alone a competitor which threatens the ascen- 
 dency of our New York roads ? 
 
 Next in order as a competing route, is the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Eailroad. What the Pennsylvania Eoad is to Philadel- 
 phia, the Baltimore and Ohio Eoad is to Baltimore. It has its 
 principal terminus on the Ohio river at Wheeling, 3T9 miles 
 from Baltimore, and another at Parkersburgh, about 200 miles 
 below Pittsburgh, 96 miles below Wheeling, and 383 miles from 
 Baltimore. Its water connections are the same as those of the 
 Pennsylvania Eoad, which we have described. In conjunction 
 with the Central Ohio Eoad at Wheeling, the Marietta and 
 
10 
 
 Cincinnati at Parkersbnrgh, and their affiliated lines, it places 
 Baltimore in direct rail communication with the valleys of the 
 Ohio and Mississippi. Baltimore has an advantage over the 
 City of 'Hew York, the latter taking her own roads, of a less 
 rail distance 
 
 To Oolum'bns by . . . . • . 250 miles. 
 To Cincinnati by 298 miles. 
 
 Even ITew York merchants can ship goods by rail to Balti- 
 more, and thence' to Cincinnati, vid the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Koad, and save 100 miles in distance, as between that and the 
 ITew York Central Koad. Alluding to the recent completion 
 of the Louisville and Nashville E.oad, the Directors of the Bal- 
 timore and Ohio Company, in their annual report just pub- 
 lished, say : " The operation of this and other Southern and 
 Western lines, combined with the superior advantages of Par- 
 kersbnrgh as a port for the great river traffic, and the excellent 
 location of Baltimore, will enable this company to outflank 
 their Northern competitors in the contest for the Southwestern 
 trade." Coasting steamers are also used by this Company, to 
 draw trade from New York and New Englond. Our New 
 York roads, in consequence of these new facilities afflarded to 
 Eastern and Western shippers for transporting merchandise and 
 produce over the Baltimore and Ohio road, at reduced rates, 
 have lost largely of the" Southwestern trade already, and are, 
 therefore, forced to conform to the same low rates in order to 
 retain the business they now have. To show the powerful 
 agency of these coasting steamers as a means of diverting our 
 freight over that route, we again quote from the report of the 
 Directors of that Company. On this point they say : " Since 
 the opening of the Baltimore and Ohio road to the Ohio 
 Eiver, and the completion of its Western rail connections, the 
 large supplies of agricultural products over the route have fur- 
 nished bases for the profitable employment of numerous steam- 
 ers ^hich regularly ply between Baltimore and the principal 
 Northern .and Southern cities on the seaboard. 
 
 During the contest for the freighting business last Spring, 
 the New York Central Company demanded from the Southern 
 lines an equality of rates to common points at the West. To 
 -this, John W. Garrett, Esq., President of the Baltimore and 
 
11 
 
 Ohio Eoad, responded as follows: "The New York Central 
 Company demands that the rates from New York, Boston, 
 Philadelphia, and Baltimore to the common centres of the 
 West and Southwest shall be the same. The illustration of the 
 case, in connection with the city of Baltimore, will exhibit the 
 error and absurdity of the principle announced. Cincinnati, 
 as the leading city, of the Ohio valley, has commanded the 
 most attention in the discussions of the conventions of the four 
 lines. "What are Ihe relative positions of New York and the 
 New York Central Company, and Baltimore and the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Company, to that city ? The distance from New 
 York via the New York Central Eoad and the shortest railway 
 line to Cincinnati, is 880 miles. The distance from Baltimore 
 and the shortest railway line to Cincinnati, is 582 miles ; leav- 
 ing the difference in favor of Baltimore, 298 miles. It there- 
 fore qlearly follows that, unless the New York Central Eoad 
 concludes to render the service for its entire length without any 
 remuneration whatever, if the connecting roads of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Company in Ohio can work at the same rates 
 as the connections of the New York Central, it must abandon 
 this demand. 
 
 " It has claimed great relative advantages during the season of 
 river and lake navigation, and economy of working, arising 
 from low grades, &c. What are the facts ? Assume the use of 
 the Hudson Eiver to Albany, and of the lake from Buffalo to 
 Cleveland, yet the actual transportation is, viz : 
 
 Miles. 
 
 On New York Central Railroad, . . . .298 
 
 And from Cleveland to Cincinnati, . '. . ■ . 255 
 
 Total, 558 
 
 Whilst from Baltimore to Parkersbnrg, on the Ohio 
 River, 200 miles below Pittsbnrg, the distance is 
 
 bat 383 
 
 Exhibiting the transportation by rail from the City of 
 New York to be (miles) ITO 
 
 in favor of the Baltimore route, using canal or sea from New 
 York to Baltimore, making the Baltimore and Ohio line the 
 cheapest from the City of New York, and proving conclusively 
 the absolute advantages of the location of Baltimore." Mr. 
 
12 
 
 Garrett then goes on to show that the use of bituminous coal 
 for fuel, which is supplied in inexhaustible quantities on the 
 line of the road at a cost of about $1 per ton, enables that 
 Company to work their motive machinery at an expense ma- 
 terially less per annum than the cost of fuel on the New York 
 Central. If his statement (which he supports by comparative 
 figures) be true, then this difference may be annually appro- 
 priated to the purposes of competition. While candor requires 
 us to regard the amount stated by Mr. Garrett as somewhat 
 exaggerated, there can be no doubt that the advantage derived 
 from this source constitutes a most formidable element in the 
 competing capacities of that road. It is, moreover, a perma- 
 nent and increasing advantage. For as wood becomes more 
 and more scarce every year, and advances in price, in the same 
 proportion will the contrast be more marked, g,nd the margin 
 in favor of the Baltimore and Ohio Company be enlarged. 
 Ifow, without lessening their own relative expenditure, they 
 can use the entire amount they save in this respect to the 
 injury of the business of their rivals. On the supposition that 
 their cheap fuel lessens the cost of transportation one or two 
 dollars per ton, they can then offer a premium to that extent to 
 Eastern and Western shippers. The Directors, as the pre- 
 viously quoted extract indicates, fully appreciate this element 
 in the competing capacities of their road, and will, beyond 
 question, make the most of it. 
 
 In 1858, this road increased its through tonr^age to within a 
 fraction of 50,000 tons, which, added to a similar increase on 
 the Pennsylvania road, equals about one-third of the total 
 through tonnage on the ISTew York Central for the same year. 
 ISTo road in the country has a better system of agencies, or a 
 more active, vigilant, and persevering corps of agents. They 
 are established in New York, Boston, and other New England 
 cities, circulate handbills, mingle with our merchants, and bid 
 temptingly for every pound of freight. An equally efficient, 
 but more extensive organization, co-operates with them in the 
 Western States. 
 
 It is proper also to remark that the State of Maryland and 
 the City of Baltimore have contributed nearly ten of the 
 
 ),000,000 which the road has cost. 
 
 With all these circumstances, alliances, and appliances in its 
 
13 
 
 favor, it must take a prominent and energetic part for the 
 future, as it has taken for the past, in the great struggle for the 
 carrying trade between the East and the West. 
 
 A third railway route runs from ISTorfolk and Kichmond to 
 Louisville, on the Ohio river, to various places on the Tennes- 
 see, and to Memphis on the Mississippi. 
 
 A fourth route runs from Charleston to all the points last 
 Aamed. 
 
 K. fifth route runs from Savannah to the same points. 
 All these lines have steamers plying regularly to and from 
 our ISTorthern ports, and they connect with other steamers on 
 the Ohio and Mississippi at their western termini. Many local 
 advantages contribute to their capacities of competition. Their 
 original cost does not exceed an average of over $30,000 per 
 mile ; and a propitious clima|;e materially lessens their opera- 
 ting expenses, repairs of roadway, &c., compared with our 
 Northern roads. They are likewise fostered and strengthened 
 in every possible manner by the legislation of the States 
 through which they pass. Georgia has even conferred banking 
 privileges on the Central Georgia Koad, which forms a part of 
 one of these lines. It is authorized to create and issue three 
 dollars of paper-money to one of its capital. 
 
 A sixth line is nearly completed across the Peninsula of 
 Florida, designed to open a shorter and cheaper communica- 
 tion between the Gulf ports and our Atlantic cities. This 
 route, by means of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, will 
 draw freight from as high a point as Columbus in the State of 
 Mississippi. Gulf steamers plying in connection with it will 
 tap the immense commerce of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers 
 at New Orleans. Eail communication from ISTew Orleans is 
 also open to the mouth of the Ohio, 540 miles, where, by means 
 of the Illinois Central, it forms a connection with the whole 
 system of Western and JSTorth-western Kail ways — reaching into 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The Mobile and Ohio Rail- 
 way will soon be finished to the mouth of the Ohio, which will 
 place Mobile in a relation similar to that of New Orleans. Here 
 then is another combination which is exerting, and must con- 
 tinue to exert, a powerful influence on the traffic between the 
 Atlantic and the South-western interior. 
 A seventh great competitor is the steamship line between' 
 
14 
 
 New York and New Orleans. At New York it gathers freight, 
 by means of confederated lines, from all the New England 
 States, and at New Orleans from steamers on the Mississippi. 
 As we have already stated, the improvements in steam-naviga. 
 tion tend every year to cheapen this mode of transportation 
 That it is effective in the diversion of trade is evident, from the 
 bare fact that it thrives and remunerates its proprietors. 
 
 An eighth competing element is seen in the numerous sail- 
 vessels which interchange commodities between our Northern 
 and Southern cities. In order to complete their cargoes, they 
 frequently take freight at prices scarcely above the cost of 
 handling. Yet to that extent they feed the Southern competing 
 roads. 
 
 It is not generally known, but it is nevertheless true, that 
 the item of insurance determines the course of freight to a large 
 extent, and this item operates to the injury of our New York 
 routes, when shipments are made by rail and water. Lake 
 insurance is much higher at all seasons than on the Atlantic 
 coast. Mr. Moran, late President of the New York and Erie 
 Railroad Company, who has carefully studied the subject in 
 its bearings on our railway traflSc, in a correspondence with 
 Mr. Garrett, President of the Baltimore and Ohio Company, 
 an extract from which we take the liberty to copy, states the 
 case as follows : " Insurance on the Lakes is never less than J 
 of 1 per cent, in summer, and rises to 1 in September ; 1|- in 
 October, If on 1st November, and 2f after 16th of November ; 
 whereas, on the Atlantic Ocean the insurance is only 4 of 1 per 
 cent, in summer, and f to ^ in winter." According to this, a 
 ton of goods delivered at Buffalo after 15th of November, and 
 worth $1,000, if it be sent from there by water to- Chicago, 
 would pay $25 insurance in addition to cost of portage ; 
 whereas the Pennsylvania Poad would transport it from New 
 York to Chicago at less than the simple Lake insurance. 
 When the shipper determines to send by rail and water, he 
 first ascertains the relative cost of insurance, and, if our 
 Northern roads get the freight, they must make the margin on 
 their rates of transportation equal to the difference in insurance 
 — which is equivalent to paying that difference. They are 
 compelled to meet this difficulty every hour of their daily 
 transactions during the season of navigation. 
 
16 
 
 This brings lis to anotlier important advantage possessed by 
 the Southern routes. After navigation closes with us it is the 
 best with them, and so continues till spring. They have both 
 their short-rail distance, and their rail and water with a light 
 rate of insurance on the Atlantic. They can, therefore, use 
 either, as may suit their purpose, while our roads are limited 
 to an all-rail price. "We observe this feature of the subject, 
 because a change of the current of traffic during the winter 
 months induces a permanent tendency in the same direction, 
 and, if you impose legislative restrictions on our carrying 
 trade, that tendency will be confirmed and strengthened. 
 
 Would that we could stop here ! But, unfortunately, we 
 are assailed with equal vigor by rival thoroughfares on the 
 north. Boston, the metropolis of New England, in order to carry 
 on a successful competition against New York, by a m'ore 
 direct trade with the "West, has formed a railroad connection 
 with Lake Ontario, at Ogdensburgh, and with Montreal on the 
 St. Lawrence. Over this route are transported the manufac- 
 tm'es and merchandise of the Eastern States, and in return they 
 receive flour and other produce, to feed the operatives employed 
 in their factories, and to afford supplies for their shipping. 
 Not long since, the Boston Railroad Journal stated that this 
 route makes the rates as low from Boston to the West as from 
 the city of New York ; and then adds, that " goods shipped 
 by this line arrive at Ogdensburgh in forty-five hours, are 
 immediately put on the Lake propellers, -and in three hours 
 more are on their way to ports on the great Western Lakes. 
 Property is transhipped only at Ogdensburgh, and there under 
 great advantages for careful handling and protection." 
 
 Further north is that immense thoroughfare known as the 
 Grand Trunk Kailway. With $60,000,000 invested in it by 
 English capitalists, including the $16,000,000 loaned by the 
 Canadian Government — virtually without interest; with the 
 patronage and wealth of Great Britain and her provinces in its 
 favor; with a continuous track of nearly 1,000 miles from 
 Portland through the Canadas to the "CTpper Lakes ; with a 
 solidity and durability of structure unsurpassed ; with an exten- 
 sive range of docks at Portland, on which its cars are brought 
 alongside of ocean steamers ; with an equipage corresponding 
 to its length and magnitude ; with exemption jfrom taxation the 
 
16 
 
 entire distance, from its Eastern to its Western terminus ; with 
 abundance of cheap fuel at all its stations ; and with a system' 
 of rail and water connections at the West leading to all points 
 of the interior, it presents a capacity for competition unequal- 
 led by any other road on the American continent. 
 
 As an illustration of its actual operations, we have the fact 
 that it has carried heavy merchandise the past season from 
 Boston to Chicago at 22 cents per 100 pounds, and flour from 
 Chicago to Portland at 60 cents per barrel. The Boston Tran- 
 script of Nov. 8 informs us that, for several weeks previous, 
 the boats of the Grand Trunk Company had delivered at wharf 
 in that city alone, 1,400 barrels of flour daily, and that its busi- 
 ness was rapidly increasing. How many barrels in addition it 
 may have distributed by railway to other parts of New Eng- 
 land, or sent in vessels to Old England, is not stated. It has 
 even sought the cotton trade, and has transported that staple 
 from the Mississippi to Boston for $4 per bale. "We learn from 
 the Montreal Herald that it passed over the Victoria Bridge, 
 eastward, for five days, at the rate of 2,334: ban-els of flour 
 daily. At the same rate for the year, it would move 855,560 
 barrels, or 20,014 barrels more than the total number trans- 
 ported by the Erie Canal to tidewater in 1857. 
 
 As a part of the same great Canadian system is the water 
 communication with the interior Western States, vixL the river 
 St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals. Yes- 
 sels of 600 tons burthen pass through the St. Lawrence Canal, 
 and will soon pass through the Welland Canal. The capacity 
 of the latter is already sufiicient to permit vessels loaded at 
 Chicago to sail to Liverpool without breaking bulk. But it is 
 found more profitable to reship at Montreal or Quebec, by 
 means of iron sail vessels and propellers, which now make regu- 
 lar trips to and from. England. These have been adopted 
 because grain transported in them is less liable to damage from 
 heat. They are supplied with cargoes by sail vessels from the 
 Great Lakes, by the Collingwood rail route, which runs from 
 Georgian Bay, on Lake Huron, to Toronto, and the Grand 
 Trunk Eail^ay, from the latter place, to Montreal. The navi- 
 gable water line, extending from the Atlantic through Canada 
 to the very heart of our Continent, is not less than 2,500 miles. 
 Montreal receives at her docks vessels of 2,000 tons burthen 
 
ir 
 
 laden with goods for the interior. Toi-onto, 333 miles west of 
 Montreal, and on a longitude west of Buffalo, is nearer to Liver- 
 pool than is the City of New York ! Possessing these enor- 
 mous water and rail facilities, ^nd measuring distance by the 
 cost of transportation, the merchants of Great Britain are prac- , 
 tically as near to the great West as our New York raercliants. 
 "We have good authority for the statement that flour has been . 
 taken from Chicago throxigh the Canadas to Liverpool at a less 
 price per barrel than is exacted by our own thoroughfares from 
 Chicago to New York. 
 
 At the present writing the tariff of the Grand Trunk Eailway 
 affords lower rates on shipments from Liverpool to our "Western 
 cities than the New York Central tariff does from the City of 
 New York to the same points ! 
 
 The following is a verbatim copy of one of the public hand- 
 bills issued by the Grand Trunk Company, and will tell its own 
 story : 
 
 " Geaito Teunk Railway of Caitada and Monteeal Ocean 
 Steamship Company. — New carrying route from England to the 
 "CTnited States ! Only two transhipments between Liverpool 
 and Chicago, Cincinnati, or St. Louis. One contract through- 
 out. The Grand Trunk Hallway will be open from Portland, 
 in Maine, to Detroit, in Michigan, in November next ; which, 
 in connection with the Montreal Ocean Line of steamships to 
 Quebec, in Summer, and Portland, in Winter, will form the 
 cheapest, most direct, and expeditious route from Liverpool to 
 the Western States of America. The Agents in Liverpool are 
 prepared to grant through contracts upon the terms, and to the 
 places- named below ; which include wharfage, customs, bond- 
 ing, and all charges except marine insurance. 
 
 Goods to the above places will go through in Bond. 
 
 To prevent delay, merchants are particularly requested to 
 forward bills of lading and invoices of value by mail, prepaid, 
 direct to the Agent of the Grand Trunk Eailway, Portland, 
 Maine ; in order that the Customs' regulations may be complied 
 with immediately on arrival of the goods. 
 
 Early notice of Summer rates of freight will be given. 
 
 During Winter the steamships will sail from Liverpool and 
 Portland not less than once a fortnight. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 Rates of freight for consignments, of not less than twenty 
 cubic feet, or lOUO pounds, vid Portland, from November, 
 1859, to April, 1860 : 
 
 From Liverpool to 
 
 Detroit, Mich 
 
 Chicago, 111 
 
 Quiney, 111 
 
 Galena, 111 
 
 Milwaukie, Wis.. 
 Burlington, Iowa 
 Dubuque, Iowa.. 
 Cincinnati, Ohio., 
 St. Louis, Mo. . . 
 
 Dry Goods, 
 per 40 cubic 
 feet. 
 
 Stg. 
 
 100s. 
 
 1158 
 
 120s 
 105s. 
 115s. 
 1203 
 100s. 
 110s. 
 
 Hardware in 
 casks and 
 eases, per 
 2,000 lbs. 
 
 Btg. 
 
 110s. 
 120s 
 140s 
 14os. 
 125s 
 140s 
 145s. 
 120s 
 1353. 
 
 Tin, Zinc, 
 Steel and 
 
 Chain, per 
 2,000 lbs. 
 
 753. 
 
 100s. 
 110s. 
 
 90s. 
 1 00s. 
 llOs. 
 
 853. 
 
 9Ss. 
 
 Crockery, 
 
 Iron, in bars, 
 sheets, and. 
 plates, per 
 2,000 lbs. 
 
 Btg. 
 
 89s. 
 
 953. 
 1053. 
 
 853. 
 
 95s 
 105s. 
 
 803 
 
 90s. 
 
 47 
 12 
 55 
 69 
 12 
 55 
 47 
 90 
 
 Produce conveyed to Liverpool on very reasonable terms. 
 For rates and other information, apply to 
 
 GEAND TRUNK RAILWAY COMPAJNY, 
 
 Office, Wo. 21 Old Broad street, London. 
 MONTGOMEEIE & GEEENHORNE, 
 Montreal Ocean Steamship Company's Office, London. 
 ALI^AN BROTHERS & CO., 
 
 Weaver Buildings, Brunswick street, Liverpool. 
 JAMES & ALEXANDER ALLAN, 
 , No. 54 8t. Enoch square, Glasgow. 
 
 • J. S. MILLAR, 
 
 Agent Grand Trunk Railway, Portland, Maine. 
 T. D. HALL, 
 
 Agent Grand Trunk Railway, Detroit, Michigan. 
 JAS. WARRACK, Western Agent, 
 
 No. 74 Dearborn street, Chicago, Illinois. 
 C. R. .CHRISTIE, 
 Superintendent of Western Division, Toronto, C. W. 
 EDMONDSTONE, ALLAN & CO., Agents, 
 Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, 
 
 Portland, Maine, and Montreal, C. E. 
 M. PENNINGTON, Freight Manager, 
 Grand Trunk Railway Company, Montreal, C. E, 
 OoT. T, 1859. 
 
19 
 
 By comparing the above tariff of the Grand Trunk Company 
 ■with the tariff of the New York Central, it will be seen that 
 the rates fro& Liverpool are less per ton of 2,000 lbs. than 
 from 
 
 New York City to Detroit by . . . . $2 10 per ton 
 
 I'o Chicago by 7 67 " 
 
 To Quincey by 7 02 " 
 
 To Galena by 10 00 " 
 
 To Milwaukee by 6 45^ " 
 
 To Dubuque by 11 00 " 
 
 To Cincinnati by . - 5 67 " 
 
 To St. Louis by 9 24 •' 
 
 Though these low rates may appear unremunerative, our 
 roads are, nevertheless, compelled to contend against them, and, 
 in the judgment of the writer, the contest must continue. 
 Those who have carefully studied the commercial policy of 
 England well know her far-reaching grasp. She procured the 
 construction of this road not simply nor primarily for the profit 
 which it was expected to yield to its stockholders, but with a 
 view to open a direct trade with our Western interior cities, 
 and thus to turn into the pockets of her own manufacturers, 
 merchants, a-nd bankers the profits .and commissions now 
 received by the factors of our Atlantic cities. Our people 
 will ere long awake to a realization of the fact that, in one 
 vastly important sense, the Grand Trunk Line does not termi- 
 nate, nor was it intended to terminate, at Portland, but roaches 
 across the ocean, to Liverpool, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, 
 Birmingham, and London. Contracts for the transportation of 
 British manufactures and merchandise will include the Ocean 
 and the Grand Trunk Railway, with its Western connections, 
 and a return of the products of the West by the same line. 
 This is the English idea of that mammoth undertaking. When 
 that idea shall be more extensively developed in practice, 
 orders for goods from Western wholesale merchants will go 
 directly to England instead of New Tork, and consignments 
 will be made by English merchants to their Western agents. 
 If by this means Great Britain can make a wider margin of 
 profit in faTor of her own manufacturers as against those of 
 ours, in favor of the merchandise she buys of other nations to 
 sell to us, apd in favor of her own purchasers of our produce, 
 
20 
 
 of which she is the chief foreign consumer, then the prize will 
 amply compensate for the expenditure. 
 
 We are therefore destined to grapple with this' giant compe- 
 titor in a struggle from which there is no escape. Possibly the 
 interposition of Congress might aid us, but in the absence of 
 such interposition, and with our own Legislature against us, it 
 requires no prophet to predict the result. Our internal traffic, 
 too, is seriously menaced. Southwestern and "Western New 
 York have been tapped by the Williamsport and Elmira 
 Eoad, which places Elmira only two miles further from Phila- 
 delphia than it is to N'ew York, over the New York and Erie, 
 and twenty-one miles nearer to Baltimore. Binghamton, vid 
 the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and the New Jersey 
 Central Roads, is seven miles nearer to New York than vid the 
 New York and Erie, and commands by railway a favorable 
 position with respect to Philadelphia and Baltimore. On the 
 north, all that portion of the State bordering on Lake Ontario, 
 on the St. Lawrence, Lake Champlain, and east of the Hudson 
 River, is likewise contested by the routes leading to Boston and 
 Portland. 
 
 Already a number of our railroads, after struggling against 
 the influences of adverse competition, have been driven to 
 bankruptcy. When the New York and Erie was built the 
 then position of affairs more than justified the wisdom of its 
 projectors. It was no fault of theirs that they were not gifted 
 with foreknowledge. If the same state of things had continued 
 which then existed, and no other antagonistic thoroughfares 
 had sprung up outside of our State, who does not believe that 
 the New York and Erie would have been to-day a prosperous 
 and paying road ? It shows how the rapidity of progress 
 baffles the calculations and forecast of our wisest men. Rip 
 Yan Winkle, after awaking from his twenty years' sleep, and 
 noting the changes which had occurred, exclaimed, "Every- 
 thing is changed, and I am changed ; I can't tell what's my 
 name or who I am !" We are equally bewildered by the 
 events of a single year. A map of our country made to-day 
 becomes obsolete to-morrow. No less remarkable are the ten- 
 dencies of commerce.- Enterprise waves her magic wand over 
 other States besides the State of New York, and every touch 
 of that wand, like the rod which smote the rock, opens a new 
 current of trade. 
 
21 
 
 What have been the effects upon us? In what position com- 
 mercially are we placed ? South of us, as we have shown, no 
 less than eight great rivals have tapped and are diverting the 
 flow of our commerce. All the Atlantic States from New Jer- 
 sey to Florida bring to bear their legislation, the sympathies 
 and patronage of their people, the energies of their cities, the 
 wealth of their capitalists and every other possible influence to 
 attain the same end, and the States of the southwest co-operate. 
 The Lake States, and even those of the northwest, have become 
 neutral. Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont join with the 
 great Northern lines, while Massachusetts, E.hode Island, and 
 Connecticut are neutral. The Canadas, aided by the mother 
 country, are hostile. From the moment we step across our 
 own boundaries every inch of ground east, west, north, and 
 south is contested. We have no allies outside of our boun- 
 daries, and are obliged to contend for even our internal 
 traffic. 
 
 Tet, in these circumstances, our own Legislature are called 
 upon to turn against us. In the face of the plain, palpable, 
 stuUborn facts presented, it is demanded that our assembled- 
 representatives shall erect an immense toll-gate across the 
 breadth of the Empire State, or what is worse, enact the "Pro 
 Bala Freight bill," either of which measures would effectually 
 exclude from us and throw into the hands of our rivals, the 
 benefits of our railway traiSc. Should they do an act so suici- 
 dal, let no more be said of the great imperial wall which 
 encircles China, or the policy which dictated its erec- 
 tion. 
 
 Here let us contemplate the bearings of this outside compe-i 
 tition on the City of New York. Hitherto that City has been 
 the chief factor both of our foreign and internal trade. For a 
 long time she monopolized the only avenue of cheap transpor- 
 tation to and from the West. Before the completion of the 
 Erie Canal, Philadelphia took the precedence. After the open- 
 ing of the Canal a new impetus was given to the growth of 
 New York, and she became what she is. But now Philadel- 
 phia possesses facilities of communication with the interior in 
 some respects superior to New York. By the Pennsylvania 
 road, as previously shown, she is nearer than New York is vid 
 the Central. 
 
22 
 
 To Cleveland, by 123 miles. 
 
 To Chicago, by 136 « 
 
 To St. Louis, by 161 " 
 
 To Columbus, by 189 " 
 
 To Cincinnati, by 189 
 
 By rail and water her relations with the interior commercial 
 centres are no less favorable. "Within thirty hours from the 
 soundhig of the signal whistle in her depot, steamers on the 
 Ohio Eiver receive and bear away the goods of her merchants. 
 It will be seen that the Pennsylvania Eoad can carry freight 
 by rail from Philadelphia to Cincinnati at a rate lelow that 
 from New York by the 'Se^ York roads, which will equal the 
 cost of transportation on 189 miles. So to Cleveland, Colum- 
 bus, Chicago, St. Louis, and other points, according to their 
 relative proximity. "Who i-eap the benefits ? Chiefly the Phi- 
 ladelphia merchants. To prevent this, and to maintain an 
 equality for New York City, the only course left for the New 
 York lines is to lose the transportation on the excess of distance. 
 Now if, in addition to the loss of 189 miles of transportation to 
 
 • Cincinnati, the same to Columbus, 123 to Cleveland, 136 to 
 Chicago, and 161 to St. Louis, you force our roads to adopt a 
 still higher scale of rates, how is it possible for them to retain 
 the business or preserve the ascendency of New York? Un- 
 less, therefore, they be left untrammelled and free, New York 
 must submit to a serious diversion of her trade. Can that 
 great heart of commerce continue its vigorous pulsations while 
 the veins and arteries which lead to it are tapped and drained? 
 Will not the entire Empire State participate in the loss ? Her 
 
 ■ supremacy is essential even to the canals, but it cannot be 
 secured so long as her merchants have to contend against lesser 
 rates to Philadelphia. It may be said that she is not in danger 
 because the Southern routes place her also much nearer to the 
 West than she is by her own routes. Yery well ; in that case 
 her commerce will pass over those routes instead of ours. They 
 gain it; we lose it. But, should New York transact her busi- 
 ness with the Western centres through Philadelphia, then, too, 
 she must lose on every shipment to or received from them, the 
 cost of transportation over the 90 miles between the two cities. 
 Besides, will it add to the prosperity of New York to subject 
 her to the necessity and humiliation of paying tribute to her 
 
23 
 
 great rival as the carrier of her commerce ? "Would she be 
 likely to receive justice from a State whose legislation is 
 adverse, and from a city whose interests are really and avow- 
 edly antagonistic to hers ? to a city which aspires to supplant 
 her as the commercial metropolis ? a city whose continual 
 policy is to wrest from her her importing and exporting, as 
 well as her inland trade ? Baltimore, the next great Southern 
 rival of New York, is 298 miles nearer to Cincinnati by rail, 
 and possesses numerous advantages in competing to that point. 
 We have shown that the policy of England in building her 
 canals from Lake Erie to the St. Lawrence, and the Grand Trunk 
 - K lilway from Detroit to Portland, aims a fatal blow at the 
 cummerce of New York. Is it of no account that these 
 thoroughfares transport freight from Liverpool to the Western 
 cities at an average of $7 per top less than the cost from New 
 Yorlc to the same mints ! Is it of no consequence to the citi- 
 zens of New York that Great Britain has opened the contest 
 for a direct trade with the West by the active employment of 
 seven monster steamers to run in connection with the Grand 
 Trunk Railway at Portland and her inland water routes at 
 Quebec? When she offers to tlie farmers and merchants of the 
 West a cheaper transportation to and from Liverpool than they 
 have to and from the City of New York, is it possible for the 
 latter to retain her trade unless her own railways come to her 
 i-escue ? New York, therefore, the moment her own roads are 
 compelled by legislative restrictions to relinquish their through 
 traffic, has tremendous odds against her. Will our Legislature 
 subject her to the unequal contest? Commerce is the life of 
 cities, the soul of their prosperity. God forbid that ill-advised 
 legislation should stifle that life in the Empire City of the Em- 
 pire State. 
 
 We should not overlook the fact that railroads everywhere 
 are developing an astonishing ability to move freight. Senator 
 Prosser, of Buffalo, one of the staunchest advocates of the 
 " Pro Rata bill," and an old canal forwarder, expressed the 
 opinion before the Utica Convention, that the railroads have 
 the ability to transport freight at lower rates than the Canal. 
 We quote from his speech on that occasion the following 
 remarkable words : — 
 
 " It is the ability of the railroads to work cheap which I fear. 
 
24 
 
 Not bnt that they have often taken property at less than cost ; 
 that is "undoubtedly so ; but they have the ability to do the 
 work extremely low in warm weather. The calculation that so 
 great a loss accrues to railroads on the transportation of flour, 
 &c., is a mistake. Those who are conversant with this business, 
 who come to different conclusions, do so because they take the 
 whole number of tons carried, and estimate the cost of all 
 through freight the same. This is wrong. The stock trade 
 being only one way, is more expensive than that in which the 
 cars are loaded both ways. Freight of the latter class in Sum- 
 mer can be carried very cheaply on a well-balanced rail. K 
 we make the estimate correctly, we shall find that the cost 
 comes down to prices startlingly low. Deduct from these prices 
 the cost of the Winter amount, and we arrive, in my judgment, 
 at an ability to move enormous quantities at a cost of not over 
 $3, from Buffalo to Ifew York. 'Now, sir, I come to inquire if 
 we have this ability in our public works ? Have we got the 
 ability to move property from Buffalo to New York at the low 
 rate of $3 per ton ? JVo, sir, we have not got it." 
 
 Assuming that gentleman's opinion to be correct, we desire 
 to ask him a few simple questions. Have not the railroads out 
 of the State — some of them' having much shorter distances and 
 cheaper fuel in their favor — the same ability to carry freight at 
 low rates as those within the State ? And if, by your legisla- 
 tion, you force high rates upon our railroads, pray tell us is 
 there any earthly reason to doubt that our carrying trade will 
 be transferred to these thoroughfares ? 
 
 Those who advocate these legislative restrictions are not 
 agreed, as to the plan to be adopted. A large party insist on 
 the enactment of the "Pro-Eata" freight bill of 1858. They 
 allege, in support of this measure, that our railroads make 
 exorbitant discriminations against the citizens of our own State ; 
 that the rates on local being much higher than they ars on 
 through freights, have the effect to depreciate the value of our 
 farming lands, and to cTihaiice the value of Western lands. 
 Suppose they do charge higher on local than on through , 
 freights? What then ? Will the remedy proposed relieve our 
 farmers from Western competition ? Were the Legislature to 
 enact a prohibitory law — a law absolutely restraining our roads 
 from carrying through freights, it would not change the relative 
 
25 
 
 positions of the farmers of the State of New York with respect 
 to those of the West, except to the still greater injury of the 
 former. "Western produce would still find the same cheap and 
 rapid transit to the seaboard by other outlets. No law what- 
 ever, unless it were to bring within its scope the railways of 
 the South and North, the Canadian canals, the Ohio and Mis- 
 sissippi rivers, and the Atlantic, could by any possibility bene- 
 fit our farmers or relieve them from competition with the cheap 
 lands of the West. Our relative conditions in this respect are 
 fixed and governed by a " higher law " than any the Legisla- 
 ture can enact. 
 
 But what are the facts in regard to the alleged discrimina- 
 tions ? The record will show that our people pay to our rail- 
 roads less per ton, per mile, on rail transportation within their 
 own State than the people of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan or Illi- 
 nois pay their railroads for the same service. Our local tarifis 
 will exhibit a favorable comparison with those of any State in 
 the Union. Whenever this statement shall be contradicted by 
 the leading advocates of restrictive measures, it will be time to 
 furnish the data for a just comparison. For tiie present we 
 shall move one step further, and affirm and prove that the rail- 
 roads of the West have established as wide, if not wider, dis- 
 criminations between their local and through tariffs. 
 
 Take the following examples : 
 
 OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI EAILBOAD. 
 
 From Cincinnati to St. Louis, 342 miles, the local tariff is 
 higher than the through — 
 
 By $4 80 p'er ton on first class. 
 
 By $5 40 per ton on second class. 
 
 By $6 00 per ton on third class. 
 
 By $4 80 per ton on fourth class. 
 
 This gives an average of $5 25 per ton more on local for the 
 same number of miles. 
 
 From Cincinnati to Trenton, though the distance is 31 miles 
 less, the average local is $5 Y5 per ton more than the through 
 rate. 
 
 CLEVELAND, COLUMBUS AND Cll^CINNATI EAILEOAD. 
 
 From Cleveland to Columbus, 135 miles, the average local is 
 $2 32 above the through rate. 
 
26 
 
 From Qleveland to Delaware, 113 miles, the average local is 
 $1 60 above the through rate. 
 
 SANDUSKY, DAYTON AND CINCINNATI EAILEOAD. 
 
 From jSandusky to Dayton, 154 miles, the local is $2 25 above 
 the through rate. 
 
 MICHIGAN SOUTHEEN AND NOETHERN INDIANA EAILEOAD. 
 
 Froiu Toledo to Chicago, 243 miles, the average local is $2 90 
 per ton above the through rate. 
 
 From Toledo to White Pigeon the average local, though the 
 distance is 119 miles sJiorter, is $2 50 per ton above the through 
 rate. 
 
 MICHiaAN CENTEAL EAILEOAD. 
 
 From Detroit to Kalamazoo, 143 miles, the average local is 
 $2 65 per ton above the through price on 283 miles. 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTEAL EAILEOAD. 
 
 From Chicago to Mattoon, 172 miles, the local average is 55 
 cents per ton greater than the through rate to Cairo, 365 miles. 
 
 The Pennsylvania road, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Grand 
 Trunk Eailway, and other competitors, discriminate far more 
 against their local than our New York roads do. We might 
 multiply illustrations to any extent, showing similar results. 
 Now, while like discriminations exist in the Western States, 
 and while the farmers on the lines of those roads are subject to 
 them in sending their produce to the central points where it is 
 collected for shipment to the sea-board, how can it be shown 
 that they possess in this respect any relative advantage ? Do 
 the Western farmers all live in Cincinnati, or Chicago, or 
 Detroit ? Then do not the discriminations to which they are 
 subject fairly offset similar discriminations in the State of New 
 York. Carry out the principle of the pro rata scheme, and 
 relieve the Western farmers also by applying it to their roads as 
 well ? Will that improve the condition of the farmers of New 
 York ? Have they contemplated the retroactive consequences 
 they will bring upon themselves by a practical application of 
 this doctrine to the Railroads of the Great West? ' 
 
 Nor is it a sufficient answer to our reasoning to say that the 
 
27 
 
 rates from the central points to the seaboard are disproportion- 
 ately low. It proves too much. For the Erie Canal holds the 
 same relation that our railroads do to those central points. Canal 
 forwarders enjoy precisely the same advantages on the Lakes, 
 and form the same alliances with the canals and railroads lead- 
 ing westward from the Lakes. In 1858 they had better con- 
 tracts with the two Michigan roads than the IST.ew York Central 
 had. Hence, if the low through rates on our railroads damage 
 our farmers, much more are they injured by the canals. Besides, 
 the canal forwarders have always adopted large discriminations 
 against local and in favor of through freights. They carry from 
 Buffalo to New Toi^ cheaper than from Brockport or Medina, 
 and from ISTew York to Buffalo clieaper than from New York 
 to Utica. Every locality on the line pays as large differences 
 to the canal forwarders as are paid to the railroads. If, there- 
 fore, the argument be sound that the low through rates depre- 
 ciate the value of our farming propert}'^, all of three-fourths of 
 the depreciation must be attributed to the canals ; for, accord- 
 ing to a statement of Canal Commissioner Buggies, they carry 
 more than three-fourths of the total tonnage ! "Will the advo- 
 cates of the "pro rata measure apply its provisions likewise to 
 the transportation companies on the canals? Why not? Unless 
 they do so, how are our farmers to be relieved from the alleged 
 oppressive inequality ? What do they gain ? We need go no 
 further for the causes which operate to the disadvantage of our 
 farmers than the cheapness, easiness of culture, and superior 
 fertility of the Western lands. 
 
 The process of equalization is at work, and no legislation 
 under Heaven can arrest it, least of all the pro rata scheme. 
 At the several so-called " Canal Conventions " held within the 
 past 3'ear, a mass of statistics was presented to show that the 
 New York and Erie and Central Roads had made ruinous dis- 
 criminations against our own people, and in favor of the farmers 
 of the West. To those who are familiar witli the railroad 
 freighting business the absurdity of these statistics will be at 
 once apparent. To those who are not familiar with the details 
 of such matters we would say that the pretended facts are not 
 correctly given, and also that two radical fallacies underlie them 
 all. First — Instead of comparing the actual proportions on 
 through freights received by our roads with their local tariffs, 
 
28 
 
 these skilful reasoners take the entire through rates to the West, 
 and compare them with tlie local. "Whereas most of the alleged 
 discriminations were caused, not by our roads, bnt by other con- 
 necting lines. Its second fallacy is seen in the fact that the 
 through rates by rail and water are compared with our local 
 all-rail rates, as if both rates were all-rail. The two fallacies 
 here exposed are fatal to the correctness of their assumed pre- 
 mises, and equally so to their conclusions. IsTo comparison can be 
 just or trustwortliy which rests on bases so glaringly fallacious. 
 
 It is simply idle to suppose that our railways would volun- 
 tarily adopt the present rates were it possible to obtain higher. 
 Self-interest precludes the idea. They are forced to submit or 
 abandon the business. The obvious design of the "j?ro rata" 
 scheme is to place the roads in a position where, in order to 
 preserve their local prices, they will be forced to adopt a pro- 
 portionate scale on through freights. Its projectors hope by 
 this course to transfer the through business to the canals. They 
 'know perfectly well that with the new scale of high rates the 
 roads cannot possibly retain it. 
 
 "We agree with them that the effect would inevitably be to 
 deprive our roads of the business. But then comes the question, 
 and a question, too, of momentous significance to the people of 
 the State of New -York, where and to what channels of trans- 
 port will it be transferred? To the New York canals? or to 
 rival thoroughfares outside of the State ? To the latter beyond 
 the possibility of doubt. Has it ever occurred to the advocates 
 of the proposed law that all perishable articles, all the lighter 
 and more costly goods, which require rapidity of transit, and 
 which constitute what are denominated first and second class, 
 and also the entire live-stock trade, never seek the canalsl 
 The livestock trade and the trade in dressed hogs pay to the 
 New York roads over $2,000,000 per annum. Competing 
 roads desire all these classes of freight, and it is simply a ques- 
 tion whether they shall have them or we. "While the canals 
 will not gain them our roads will lose them. Other roads will 
 transfer this trafiic to themselves, other cities will reap the 
 profits, and the people of other States will receive the contin- 
 gent disbursements pertaining to the process of transportation. 
 
 His Excellency Gov. Morgan, with a significant silence, 
 ignores the pro rata scheme in his recent Message, but endorses 
 and recommends the policy of imposing tolls.' 
 
29 
 
 "We have watched the Governor's course too closely to ques- 
 tion his patriotism, or to doubt for an instant the purity of his 
 intentions ; but, with all due respect, we express the belief that, 
 should this hazardous experiment be tried, it will bring upon 
 our noble State a series of calamities from which neither lie nor 
 we will ever live to witness a recovery. Commerce, likp per- 
 sons, will bear burdens which it cannot shirk ; but at no period 
 of the world's history has it ever voluntarily submitted itself to 
 any burden whatever. It is the only thing in America which 
 ■really knows no North, no South, no East, and no West. It 
 goes where it finds the cheapest pathways, without regard to 
 latitudes and longitudes or the boundaries of States. Toll-gates 
 are institutions from which it instinctively recoils, and it will 
 never patronize where it is possible to elude them. Does the 
 existing situation of our carrying trade warrant the erection of 
 these gates across the railways of the State of New York? 
 "Will they invite outside commerce ? "Will they preserve our 
 internal commerce? 
 
 Our respected Auditor of the Canal Department, in his An- 
 nual Report for 1858, argues that " the imposition of canal 
 rates of toll on the New York lines would not cause any diver- 
 sion of trade from our own lines of railroads, or from our own 
 commercial metropolis." To support his position he gives the 
 following as the comparative rates of transportation from three 
 of the seaboard cities to the "West in 1858 : 
 
 COST PER TON FEOM 
 
 Baltimore to Chicago $23 07 
 
 Philadelpliia to Chicago 20 16 
 
 New York' to Chicago, by New York and Erie Railroad 13 38 
 New York to Chicago, by New York Central Bailroad 10 82 
 New York to Chicago, by Canals, &c. . • . 7 12 
 
 Because the costs per ton, as he alleges, were higher in 1858 
 from Baltimoi-e and Philadelphia to Chicago, than he says they 
 were from New York, he argues that the imposition of tolls will 
 not divert our trade. 
 
 Mr. Benton is extremely unfortunate in his statementof facts. 
 Take the first item above as an example. "We have in our pos- 
 session, and can show to Mr. Benton, one of the original handbills 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, which were gene- 
 rally posted about New York in August, 1868, wherein they soli- 
 
30 
 
 cited freight from New TorJc to Chicago bj steamer and railroad, 
 and offered to carry, first class, $10 per ton ; second class, $8 
 per ton. Here, then, the fact turns out to be that the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Railroad Company actually took freight from New- 
 York to Chicago at' an average of more than $1 per ton less 
 than the price Mr. Benton gives as the rate on the New York 
 Central, and at $14 per ton less than the rate given by him from 
 Baltimore to Chicago? Had Mr. Benton taken the trouble, 
 he could easily have ascertained that it has been and still is 
 the settled policy of the Baltimore and Ohio Company to make 
 much lower rates from Baltimore to common points of the West 
 than from New York. By the terms of the notorious St. Nicho- 
 las Compact, the comparative rates were, by all rail : 
 
 FEOM BALTIMOBB TO 
 
 Cincinnati . 
 
 . . 30 
 
 25- 
 
 IT 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 Ooluinbus . 
 
 . SO 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 Clevelaod . 
 
 . 5 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Less than from 
 
 Indianapolis . 
 
 . 30 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 New York. 
 
 Oliicago . . . 
 
 . 20 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 . 80 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 A similar scale existed in favor of Baltimore by rail and wa- 
 ter. So with the Pennsylvania road. Tlie New York mer- 
 chants were alarmed by these low rates from Baltimore and 
 Philadeljjhia, and appealed by earnest memorials to the Presi- 
 sidents of the New York Central and New York and Erie 
 Companies to afford them relief. What relief could they 
 afford? There was but one remedy, and that was to meet 
 their antagonists by a corresponding reduction. It became 
 with our roads a matter of necessity. They had to abandon 
 the merchants of our great City to the mercy of their oppo- 
 nents, to a continued drain ui)on their trade, and suffer an equal 
 loss to their own traffic and that of the State, or else equalize 
 the cost of transportation by placing New York on a par with 
 her rivals. This state of affairs still exists, and must exist. 
 The operations of the Grand Trunk Railway, which the Audi- 
 tor does not notice in his report, add immensely to the anta- 
 gonism brought to bear against our New York roads,^ and 
 against our commercial metropolis. Mr. Benton has been led 
 into similar errors respecting the rates from Philadelphia. Yet 
 it is from such fallacious statistics the advocates of restrictive 
 
31 
 
 measures deduce the conclusion that, if enacted, they would 
 not operate inj uriously upon our general trade. 
 
 But why did not Mr. Benton allude to the practical work- 
 ings of this measure on our internal traffic ? He does not ex- 
 plain to us how he expects property will go from Elmira to 
 New York, over the New York and Erie, and pay tolls on 273 
 miles of railway, while it can reach Philadelphia, which is only 
 two miles further, and Baltimore, which is twenty one miles 
 nearer, and pay no tolls at all. He does not allude to the 
 fact that produce from Suspension Bridge to Philadelphia, 
 via the "Williamsport and Elmira road, would pay tolls on 
 171 miles in the State of New York ; whereas, if it took our 
 own roads from Buffalo, it would pay on 300 miles ; nor does he 
 tell us whether it would naturally choose the more costly or less 
 costly route. He does not inform the people that from Buffalo 
 to Philadelphia, vid the "Williamsport and Elmira road, it 
 would save over 150 miles of tolls, which it would be compelled 
 to pay if it were to take our own roads. Indeed, every town 
 in the southern tier of counties, most of the towns in the cen- 
 tral counties, and all of the northern towns and counties, will 
 lind it to their interests, in order to save tolls, to ship to rival 
 seaboard cities rather than to New York, whenever the markets 
 are equal, and even when they ship to New York, they will take 
 the outside routes tha^ intersect the southern part of the State. 
 
 For similar reasons a large portion of Western produce 
 would avoid Buffalo and Rochester, and strike the State at 
 Oswego or Cape Vincent, and shipments from New York to 
 the West would turn off at the same points. We believe that 
 practical experience will demonstrate that the effect of tolling 
 our roads will be to materially diminish the traffic of the State 
 both in local and through freights. Were it not for the perma- 
 nent loss which must result to the City and State, we would 
 not say a word against a trial of this experiment. We know 
 that the clamor for repeal, within twelve months, would be a 
 thousandfold more loud and potent than that which now calls 
 for restriction. But we also know that when trade once passes 
 under the control of rival iTiterests, rival localities, and rival asso- 
 ciations, all act upon it like so many magnets, and it cannot 
 again be recovered except at a vast sacrifice-and at avast expense. 
 
 One of the last acts of that quiet, unassuming, noble man, 
 
32 
 
 the late Isaac Newton — a man who was thoroughly conversant 
 with these matters, was to appear before a Committee of the 
 Senate, and utter his solemn protest against this ruinous policy. 
 
 More than eighteen hundred years ago, He who compre- 
 hended the blindness of mankind proclaimed that though one 
 were to rise from the dead and bear witness to the truth, yet it 
 would not be believed. It may be so in the case before us ; but, 
 nevertheless, that voice from the dead shall be heard, and its 
 eloquent warnings be repeated, though they may not be heeded. 
 Said Mr. ISTewton ; " I affirm that instead of the New York 
 and Erie and New York Central Eailroad taking business from, 
 they give business to the canals, by keeping tlie traffic of the- 
 West in this channel, by opening and cheapening the modes of 
 transportation between the Lakes and the City of New York. 
 * * * * * * But, Mr. Chairman, I feel an 
 interest in this subject beyond dollars and cents. If you im- 
 pose these tolls one of two things must take place. The rail- 
 roads must either, in order to retain the trade, carry freight at 
 prices that will ruin them, or charging a price that will enable 
 them to live, the property will seek other routes. Every hoof, 
 horn, and bushel must go by other routes if tolls are imposed 
 upon the goods of this State. By so doing you may get a few 
 dollars out of commerce, but the effects — the throwing of trade 
 out of the State — will not be arrested in years. Your people 
 will be impoverished and your treasury without funds. The 
 world is not asleep. The railroads we have now are but a 
 moiety of the railroads we will have in a few years. The object 
 is to keep the control of the commerce until the great work, in 
 which we all have so just a pride — the canals— are finished." 
 
 If the people of the City and State of New York could 
 appreciate all the facts and considerations which bear upon 
 this great issue, we would not fear the result. They would see, 
 what must be evident to every reflecting mind, that this is not 
 a question between our canals and railroads, but between all 
 the thoroughfares of our State and those of other States. With 
 the watchwords, " Freedom to our railroads and an enlarged 
 canal,'^ and the adoption of a corresponding policy, we may 
 still retain our position as the Empire State, and our City will 
 continue to be the Empire City. Herein is our only hope and 
 our only safety. 
 
 NEW YOEK. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HE2771.N5 L51 
 
 Legislative restriction on tlie carryini 
 
 3 1924 030 125 342 
 
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