714 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



corn imported from each country during the period 

 of thirteen years. This information has been ob- 

 tained from the British reports on trade and naviga- 

 tion, and from data furnished especially for the com- 

 mittee by the British Board of Trade through the 

 United States consuls at London and Liverpool. 



7. Some general facts are presented in regard to 

 the commerce of the Pacific coast. 



One of the most important branches of the work 

 commanding the attention of the committee has been 

 that of the improvement and construction of water 

 lines of transport. The lines which the committee 

 have personally examined and most carefully investi- 

 gated are : 



1. The proposed Caughnawaga and Lake Champlain 

 route, from the river St. Lawrence to New York. 



2. The Oswego & Oneida Canal route, from Oswego 

 to New York. 



3. The Erie Canal route, from Buffalo to New 

 York. 



4. The James Eiver & Kanawha Canal, or central 

 water-line, from Eichmond to the Ohio Eiver. 



5. The Atlantic & Great Western Canal, from the 

 Tennessee Eiver to Savannah, Georgia. 



6. The proposed ship-canal across the peninsula of 

 Florida. 



7. The improvement of the Ohio Eiver. 



8. The improvement of the Mississippi above the 

 Falls of St. Anthony; between St. Paul and St. 

 Louis; and between St. Louis and New Orleans. 



9. The Fort St. Philip Canal, and other plans for 

 improving the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver. 



10. The Wisconsin and Fox Eivers improvement. 



11. The Illinois & Hennepin Canal. 



12. The Niagara Ship-canal. 



In addition to these routes the committee have ob- 

 tained information in regard to the canals of Pennsyl- 

 vania, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. 



The inquiries of the committee in regard to rail- 

 roads have embraced among other subjects the fol- 

 lowing : 



Combinations between different lines ; the consoli- 

 dation or amalgamation of lines ; fast freight-lines ; 

 the issuing of stocks not representing money paid in 

 for construction, a device commonly known as ''stock- 

 watering" or capitalization of net earnings ; competi- 

 tion between railroads and water-lines ; the relative 

 cheapness of the various methods of transportation ; 

 the regulation or control of existing railroads by States 

 and by the national Government, involving the ques- 

 tions as to the limitation of the powers of Congress 

 under the commercial clause of the Constitution ; the 

 construction of one or more double-track freight-rail- 

 roads by the Government, to be operated by the 

 Government, or leased to parties who shall operate 

 such road or roads, subject to Government control ; 

 and the chartering of freight-railroads to be construct- 

 ed and managed by private corporations, such roads to 

 receive aid from the Government and to submit to 

 governmental regulation with regard to their rates of 

 freight and the facilities which they shall afford. 



A thorough elucidation of these topics involves a 

 study of railway abuses in all their various phases, and 

 the whole question of the economy of transport by 

 rail and by water. 



In entering upon the investigation directed by the 

 resolution of the Senate, the committee were fully im- 

 pressed with the importance and difficulties of their 

 work, and they have assiduously devoted themselves 

 to its discharge. The absence of official information 

 concerning the transportation interests of the coun- 

 try has added to their embarrassments. Perhaps the 

 most extraordinary feature of our governmental poli- 

 cy, touching the vast internal commerce of the nation, 

 is the apparent indifference and. neglect with which 

 it has been treated. Careful statistics have been pre- 

 pared of our foreign commerce, while those apper- 

 taining to the much greater interests of internal trade 

 seem to have been almost wholly, and in some cases 

 intentionally,' ignored. No officer of the Government 



has ever been charged with the duty of collecting in- 

 formation on this subject, and the legislator who 

 would inform himself concerning the nature, extent, 

 value, or necessities of our internal commerce, or of 

 its relations to our foreign trade, must patiently grope 

 his way through the statistics of individual Boards of 

 Trade, Chambers of Commerce, and transportation 

 companies. Even the census reports, which purport 

 to contain an inventory of the property and business 

 of the people, and which in some matters descend to 

 the minutest details, are silent with regard to the bill- 

 ions of dollars represented by railways, ships, and 

 other instruments of internal transportation, and to 

 the much greater values of commodities annually 

 moved by them. 



We have no means of estimating accurately the 

 magnitude of our internal trade ; but its colossal pro- 

 portions may be inferred from two or three known 

 tacts. The value of commodities moved by the rail- 

 roads in 1872 is estimated at over $10,000,000,000, and 

 their gross receipts reached the enormous sum of 

 $473,241,055. The commerce of the cities of the 

 Ohio Eiver alone has been carefully estimated at over 

 $1,600,000,000 per annum. Some conception of the 

 immense trade carried on upon the Northern lakes 

 may be formed from the fact that during the entire 

 season of navigation, in 1872, an average of one ves- 

 sel every nine minutes, day and night, passed Fort 

 Gratiot light-house, near Port Huron. It is probably 

 safe to say that the value of our internal commerce is 

 ten times greater than our trade with all foreign na- 

 tions, and that the amount annually paid for trans- 

 portation is more than double the entire revenues of 

 the Government. 



The indifference which has hitherto prevailed on 

 this subject may be partially accounted for by the 

 fact that great moral questions, exciting political is- 

 sues, and a terrible struggle for the maintenance of 

 national unity, have engrossed the public mind. All 

 of these questions being now happily settled or in 

 process of speedy adjustment, other issues, relating 

 to the material welfare of the people, and the en- 

 hancement of national wealth and power, force them- 

 selves into recognition. Among those questions none 

 are more important, and none more thoroughly ab- 

 sorb public attention, than that which it has been the 

 duty of the committee to consider. 



Cheap and ample facilities for the interchange of 

 commodities between the widely separated sections 

 of our country, and with foreign nations, constitute 

 the prime conditions of national progress and pros- 

 perity. By reason of the failure of existing systems 

 of transportation to fully meet these conditions, com- 

 merce is impeded, agriculture languishes, labor is in- 

 adequately rewarded, food is unnecessarily taxed, 

 exportations are diminished, and nearly all the most 

 important business interests of the country are de- 

 pressed. Hence the most important problem now 

 pressing for solution is, " How shall cheaper and better 

 facilities for transportation be provided ?'' 



PBQPOSED REMEDIES. 



For the accomplishment of this object various meas- 

 ures have been suggested, all of which are embraced 

 in one or more of the following general propositions, 

 namely : 



1. Competition between railways and its promotion, 

 by additional lines without regulation. 



2. Direct congressional regulation of railway trans- 

 portation, under the power to regulate commerce 

 among the several States. 



< 3. Indirect regulation, and promotion of competi- 

 tion through the agency of one or more lines of rail- 

 way, to be owned or controlled by the Government. 



4. The improvement of natural water-ways, and the 

 construction of artificial channels of water communi- 

 cation. 



Earnestly endeavoring 1 to solve the problem in- 

 trusted to them, the committee have given to each of 

 these propositions the most careful attention. At the 



