PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



713 



government than can the thousands of claim* against 



ruinont be included u a portion of 



tin- national -1.-I. i. Hut the aggregate HUIU thus stated 



knoludociometnlng more than tbcronded debtohMM> 



District of Columbia. The 



< ..n/roH.i of June 20, 1874, contemplates an ap- 

 l>.irti.iiiin,-nt I >ct ween the United States Government 

 and the] mil.m, in respect of the puv- 



nii-nt oi'tlie principal aiul interest of the 3.05 bonus. 

 Then-tore, in computing with precision the bonded 



: the l>i-ti-ict, the aggregate sums above stated 

 as respects .'.''"> l-onds now is.sued, the outstanding 



ate* of tin- Hoard of Audit, and the unn<i 

 pending In-fore that board, should be reduced 



extent ..f tho amount to bo apportioned to the 

 -s Government in thu manner in 



act of Congress of June 20, 1874. 



. ially inviti- your attention to the recommen- 

 dations of the commissioners of the tinkiog-Amd r.-l- 



1.1 tlu- ambiguity of the act of Juno 20, 1874; 

 the interest on the Di.-^triet 1-oniN, and tlio ConsoHda- 



the indebtedness of tho District. 

 1 leel miieh indebted to the gentlemen who con- 

 to leave their private affaire and come from a 



e to attend to the business of this District, and 

 f.<r tho able and satisfactory manner in which it has 



conducted. I am sure their services will bo 

 equally appreciated by the entire country. 



It will DO soon from the accompanying full report 

 of the Board of Health that tho sanitary condition of 

 the District is very satisfactory. 



In my opinion the District of Columbia should bo 

 regarded as the grounds of the national capital, in 

 A hi eh the entire people are interested. I do not 

 allude to this to urge generous appropriations to tho 

 District, but to draw tho attention of Congress, in 

 framing a law for the government of the District, to 

 the magnificent scale on which the city was planned 

 by the founders of the Government : the manner in 

 which, for ornamental purposes, the reservations, 

 streets, and avenues were laid out ; and the proportior 

 of the property actually possessed by the General 

 Government. I think the proportion of the expenses 

 of the government and improvements to be borne by 

 the General Government, the cities of Washington 

 and Georgetown and tho county, should be carelully 

 and equitably denned. 



In accordance with section 3, act approved June 23, 

 1874, 1 appointed a board to make a survey of tho 

 mouth oi the Mississippi River with a view to deter- 

 mine the best method of obtaining and maintaining a 

 depth of water sufficient for the purposes of commerce, 

 etc. ; and in accordance with an act entitled " An act 

 to provide for the appointment of a commission of 

 engineers to investigate and report a permanent plan 

 for the reclamation of the alluvial basin of the Missis- 

 sippi Kivor subject to inundation," I appointed a com- 

 mission of engineers. Neither boara has yet com- 

 pleted its labors. When their reports are received 

 they will be forwarded to Congress without delav. 



U. S. GRANT. 



The Transportation Question. 



In tho Senate, on December 4, 1873, the fol- 

 lowing select Committee on Transportation 

 Routes to the Seaboard was appointed : Messrs. 

 Windom, Sherman, Conkling, West, Conover, 

 Mitchel, Norwood, Davis, and Johnston. 



On April 24th, Mr. Windom said : 



I ask the consent of tho Senate to present the re- 

 port of the Select Committee on Transportation Routes 

 to the Seaboard. 



The President pro lempore : The report will be re- 

 ceived. 



Mr. Windom : Mr. President, in submitting this 

 report, I deem it my duty to state, as briefly as the 

 nature of the subject will permit, the conclusions and 



recommendations of the committee, and tome of the 

 leading fact* and consideration* upon which they are 

 baaed. Whenever convenient I shall take the liberty 

 of employing without further aekoowledgiMat the 

 language of the report. It is perhaps unnecessary to 

 aay that an Investigation covering a field *o broad, 

 embracing interests no vast and complex, and involv- 

 ing an examination of details almost infinite in variety 

 an. 1 number, requires more than a single vacation, and 



tance of the questions involved. The committee do 

 not pretend to nave treated the subject exhaustively. 



In Great Britain parliamentary committees and 

 commissions have been engaged upon the same sub- 

 ject* for more than thirty years, and yet even in 

 that country, comparatively so small in geographical 

 extent, with only 15,000 miles of railway, and with a 

 Parliament of unlimited powers, the problems of 

 cheap transportation and governmental regulation of 

 railwavs are still unsolved. 



In the State of Massachusetts a most able and 

 untiring commission, headed by Mr. Charles Francis 

 Adams, Jr., have devoted five or six years to a similar 

 investigation, and yet they by no means consider the 

 subject exhausted. 



It was hardly to be expected, therefore, that a com- 

 mittee who were charged with tho duty of investigat- 

 ing and reporting upon a transportation system em- 

 bracing 70,000 miles of railway and more tnan 80 t OOO 

 miles of water-routes could, within the limited time 

 at their command, do full justice to all of the impor- 

 tant questions involved. 



The following is a brief resumi of the principal 

 subjects which nave especially commanded the atten- 

 tion of the committee, and which with others are em- 

 braced in their report : 



1. Tho annual average price of wheat and corn dur- 

 ing the five years 1868 to 1872, inclusive, at Chicago 

 and Milwaukee and at points west of these cities ; at 

 Buffalo, Montreal, New York, St. Louis, New Orleans, 

 and Liverpool. 



2. The quantity of grain recived and shipped from 

 all the lake-ports and ports on the Ohio and Mississip- 

 pi Rivers, and ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 



3. The total shipments of grain to the States on the 

 Atlantic seaboard ; the quantity distributed between 

 the western and eastern borders of these States ; tho 

 total quantity consumed in the New England States ; 

 the Atlantic States south of New England ; and the 

 total quantity exported; also the quantity of grain 

 shipped to the Gulf States, and the quantity exported 

 from these States : the quantity exported to Canada 

 and also from the Pacific coast to foreign countries. 



4. The shipments of grain from the West by tho 

 lakes and St. Lawrence River; by the Lakes, Eric 

 Canal, and Hudson River ; bv the lakes to the east 

 end of Lake Erie ; thence DV rail toward the sea- 

 board; and by the " all-rail )f lines from lake-ports 

 and interior points in the West ; to the East and to 

 the South ; and the quantity shipped southward by 

 the Mississippi River. 



6. The average annual freight-charges from point 

 to point are presented as follows : From points on tho 

 Mississippi River to Chicago and Milwaukee ; Chica- 

 go to Buffalo ; Chicago to Montreal by bake and St. 

 Lawrence River, anabv rail; Chicago to New York 

 by lake and canal, by lake and rail, and by all rail ; 

 St. Louis to New Orleans ; Now Orleans to Liverpool, 

 New York to Liverpool, and Montreal to Liverpool. 

 These averages have been deduced from computations 

 based upon the quantity shipped and the average 

 rates which prevailed each month. 



6. Great Britain being the principal grain-import- 

 ing country, very full information in regard to the 

 sources of her supply, the quantity received from each 

 country for thirteen years, tho rates of freight from 

 each country to England for a period of ten years, and 

 the average prices in the English markets of wheat and 



