igos] HAUPT— EMANCIPATION OF THE WATERWAYS. 47 



trol of the general Government and 2,264.6 is under State or cor- 

 porate control. This does not include the 1,078 miles of slack- 

 water river improvement, making in all only about 3,400 miles for 

 the entire internal water-borne commerce of the United States. 



What this indifference to the earning capacity of canals means 

 in the cost of wear and tear, for maintenance, may be well exem- 

 plified by a comparison of the reports of the United Railroads of 

 New Jersey for the best year of the canal traffic before it was 

 leased by the railroad, and when its traffic reached nearly 4,000,- 

 000 tons per annum. 



In the reports of the company for the year 1866 it is stated : 



The cost of the Camden and Amboy R. R. and its equipment $10,099,000 



The cost of the canal and appurtenances 4,381,251 



The cost of operating the railroad for the year was 3,801,732 



The cost of operating the canal for the same period 360,513 



The net revenues from the railroad were 511,162 



The net revenues from the canal were 933,642 



So that the railroad returned a little more than five per cent, while 

 the canal earned nearly twenty-three and the operating expenses 

 were less than one tenth of the former. This financial statement is 

 independent of the general benefit conferred upon the public at 

 large by the lower charge for freight carried. 



From the above statements as to the great economic advantages 

 of canals, the neglected condition of our own and the activity shown 

 in foreign countries which are thoroughly alive to their importance, 

 it would seem incredible that this government has failed so fre- 

 quently to act upon or authorize others to engage in most laudable 

 projects, which call for no appropriations from the general treasury 

 for construction, and that petitions of influential communities and 

 large industrial centers are set aside on the score of economy or for 

 other pretexts so that these most important economies in interstate 

 traffic are prevented from securing legislation for periods varying 

 from ten to twenty or more years. Some of the most worthy 

 projects have been before Congress for nearly a half century and do 

 not appear to be much nearer fruition than when they were first 

 proposed. 



THE OHIO RIVER. 



The largest manufacturing district in the world, that at Pitts- 

 burgh, has been praying Congress for a charter to construct a ship 



