PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



727 



coat of each route And to enable the Government to 

 enter at once upon the work, if the same stutll be 



ticuble and expedient, alU-r sueh 

 Khali huvo been i-oinjil. 



In presenting this tfunerul plan of improvement*, 



the committee wish it to In- JUtiiu-;!\ uu.l.T-t I that 



iinury annual appropriations fr< tln-r important 

 works in aid of commerce should not be omit; 



AGGREGATE COST. 



The cost of the entire Improvement will depend 

 upon the decision to be hereafter miido between the 

 canals un<l tin- : . i^ht-ruihvny portages on the Central 

 and Southern routes. If the canals bo constructed, 

 the total cost will be about $155,000,000. If the rail- 

 ways be chosen, the total cost will be about $120,000,- 

 000. 



An expenditure of from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 

 per annum will bo required for six years, when the 

 whole work can bo completed. The resulting bone- 

 tits will lor all time annually pay more than the entire 



In view of tho fact that private companies inva- 

 riably combine with each other against the public, it 

 is recommended that no aid bo given to any route to 

 be owned or controlled by private corporations, but 

 that tho four great channels of commerce suggested 

 shall be improved, created, and owned by the Gov- 

 ernment, and stand as permanent and effective com- 

 pi-tit'irs with each other and with all the railways 

 which may be within the range of their influence. 



The committee believe that the water-routes sug- 

 gested should constitute free highways of commerce, 

 subject only to such tolls as may be necessary for 

 maintenance and repairs. If, however, Congress 

 shall deem it expedient to require them to provide 

 interest on the cost of construction, and tho means 

 for ultimate redemption of tho principal, the whole 

 improvements will involve only a loan of Government 

 credit. 



RATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE WORK. 



By reference to the map of the United States it will 

 be seen that the completion of the system of improve- 

 ments proposed will provide four great competing 

 commercial lines from the centre of the continent to 

 the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. It 

 will also be observed by reference to the crop-maps, 

 ropublished with the report, that all of these routes 

 lead directly from or through the greatest areas of 

 production to those sections which constitute the 

 greatest areas of consumption, thus dividing their 

 benefits equitably between producers and consumers, 

 and contributing to the development and prosperity 

 of the whole country. The Great Architect of the 

 continent seems to have located its rivers and lakes 

 with express reference to the commercial necessities 

 of the industrious millions who now and hereafter 

 shall occupy it. The plan of improvements suggest- 

 ed by the committee merely follows tho lines so 

 clearly indicated by his hand. 



The proposed improvements are so located as to 

 distribute their benefits with great equality among 

 all the States east of the Rocky Mountains. Twenty- 

 one of those States are situated directly on one or 

 more of said routes ; two States, Kansas and Nebras- 

 ka, are so situated as to enjoy the full benefits of re- 

 duced cost of transportation from the Mississippi 

 Biver by all of the proposed lines. Eleven States, 

 namely, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Con- 

 necticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland, New 

 Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, and Texas, nearly 

 all of which consume largely the food of the West, 

 and most of which are to a great extent dependent 

 upon tho \Vest for a market for their manufactures 

 and other products, are directly connected by the 

 waters of the ocean with their several termini. The 

 proposed improvements will, therefore, connect by 

 the cheapest Known means of transport every one of 

 the thirty-four States east of the nookj Mountains 

 with all the others, and but one State in the Union 



will be without water connection with the whole 

 world. The acoompluthment of BO great ft result, by 

 an expenditure of money comparatively o mall, 

 illustrate* the wonderful provision* of Nature for 

 cheap commercial facilities on thin continent. 



These four great channels of commerce under pub- 

 Ho control, and hence unable to coml-in- with each 

 other or with existing lines of transport, will, bv the 

 poworof competition, hold in chock all the railway* 

 radiating from the interior to the seaboard, and l>y 

 affording cheap and ample means of communication 

 will solve tho problem of cheap transportation. It' 

 local railways discriminate against them, it will be in 

 the power of the States whose boundaries they touch 

 to prescribe regulations for the correction of such 

 discriminations. A law of Congress prohibiting dis- 

 criminations against river or lake ports will enable 

 the other States not directly upon any of said lines to 

 reach them at reasonable rates. The committee sub- 

 mit that no plan of public improvement could be more 

 eminently national in its character, nor diffuse its 

 benefits more generally and equitably, than the one 

 proposed, and tney believe that the entire system of 

 improvements indicated should be considered and 

 acted upon as a whole. 



1 will now state more specifically, ai.d as concisely 

 as possible, the benefits and advantages anticipated 

 from each route, and from the combined effects of the 

 whole system when completed. 



BENEFITS AND ADVANTAGES ANTICIPATED TBOM THE 

 NORTHERN ROUTE. 



In the section of the report devoted to the Fox 

 and Wisconsin River improvement and the Hennepin 

 Canal, the committee have shown that by these im- 

 provements the cost of transport between the Missis- 

 sippi River and the hikes can certainly be reduced an 

 average of 10 cents per bushel, from all points west 

 of the river, north of the parallel of Quincy, Illinois 

 This will include the whole of Minnesota, Iowa, and 

 Nebraska, and a largo part of Dakota, Kansas, and 

 Missouri. 



The following table, based upon the actual average 

 railway charges in 1872, and upon tin assumed charge 

 of 6 mills per ton per mile down the Mississippi River 

 and through the Fox and Wisconsin River improve- 

 ment and 8 mills per ton per mile up the Mississippi, 

 shows the saving that may be effected by the contem- 

 plated improvement from Prairie du Cfiien to Green 

 Bay. 



Table showing the actual cost of transportation by rail 

 to Chicago, and the estimated cost (upon the above 



basis) by tit* Fox and Wisconsin improvement from 



the river-ports named to Green Bay. 



' The rates estimated are higher than those which 

 ^usually prevail upon similar water-routes nearly 

 double the average rates from Cincinnati and Louis- 

 ville to New Orleans ; and yet the average saving 

 shown from all tho ports named is 9.7 cents per 

 .bushel; from all of Minnesota and Northern Iowa 

 ports the saving will amount to 12 cents per busheL 



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