360 



HUDSON RIVEE. 



HUMAN FREEDOM LEAGUE, THE 



it will be navigable for vessels drawing 20 feet 

 of water, was strongly recommended. Other 

 resolutions were offered, one of which proposed 

 a ship canal to connect Lake Erie with the upper 

 Ohio. The eastern and western links of the chain 

 of improvement are thus agreed upon ; and the 

 construction of them only awaits aid from the 

 United States Government ; but the middle link, 

 from Lake Erie to Hudson river, is the cause of 

 much difference of opinion. Three plans are of- 

 fered : 1. The enlargement of the whole 300 miles 

 of the Erie Canal to a 20-foot ship canal. 2'. The 

 use of tho Welland Canal, in Canada, from Lake 

 Erie to Lake Ontario, Lake Ontario to Oswego, 

 and the enlargement of the Oswego and Erie Ca- 

 nals from Oswego to Albany. 8. The building 

 of a ship canal around Niagara Falls, on Ameri- 

 can soil, and the use of Lake Ontario and the ca- 

 nals beyond as in the second plan. A bill is now 

 in the United States Senate providing for a ca- 

 nal around Niagara Falls, the estimated cost be- 

 ing $50,000,000. The advantages of an all-water 

 route from the Great Lakes to the seaboard are 

 many. During the past twenty years the all-rail 

 rate in grain has fallen from 42' -6" cents to 14 cents 

 a bushel, while the all-water rate has dropped 

 from 25-3 cents to 4-55 cents a bushel. That is 

 to say, freight rates by rail have been reduced in 

 the period covered by the table until the last 

 price named is only one third that first men- 

 tioned, but during the same time the all-water 

 rate has been reduced to less than one fifth of the 

 rate first named. The water rate has always been 

 below the rail rate by a percentage ranging from 

 25 to 67'5. From careful records kept at the St. 

 Mary's Falls Canal (see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 

 1889, page 754), it appears that the average price 

 per ton per mile received by vessels engaged in 

 the carrying trade of Lake Superior in 1889 was 

 0*15 cent; the total amount moved was 7,516,022 

 tons, and it was carried an average distance of 

 790'4 miles. The average rate on all the railways 

 in the United States in the same year was 0-976 

 cent, or more than 6 times as much. In other 

 words, to move the same amount of freight the 

 same distance by rail would have cost in round 

 mimbers $50,000,000 more than it cost to move 

 it by water. Wheat has been carried from Chi- 

 cago to Buffalo for 1 cent a bushel, or 0-04 cent 

 per ton per mile, and thousands of tons ,of coal 

 have been carried from Buffalo to Duluth at 25 

 cents a ton, or 0'025 cent per ton per mile. Dur- 

 ing the season of navigation in 1891 there was 

 sent east from Buffalo by canal but 33,574,945 

 bushels of grain, and only 9,922| barrels of flour, 

 leaving nearly 74 per cent, of the grain and near- 

 ly all the flour to be transported by rail. Owing 

 to the grain blockade at Buffalo in the latter part 

 of November, 1891, there was afloat in the harbor 

 at the close of lake and canal navigation at least 

 5,000,000 bushels of wheat, and at least 5,000,000 

 bushels more had been stored in the elevators. 

 This left, at the close of navigation, 10,000,- 

 000 bushels to be forwarded by rail. The aver- 

 age freight rate on grain from Buffalo to New 

 York by canal during the season of navigation 

 was 4f cents a bushel, and just before the close . 

 it was but 3 cents. Within a day after the last 

 canal boat had cleared, the rail rate was advanced 

 to 7^ cents a bushel. So the Eastern consumers 

 of flour paid $400,000 more than would have been 



charged them had the grain been sent all the way 

 to New York by water. 

 HUMAN FREEDOM LEAGUE, THE, 



an organization effected in Independence Hall, 

 Philadelphia, Oct. 12, 1891, the day after the 

 four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of 

 America. The objects of the league are to bring 

 about united action by all the fraternal societies 

 in the world for the support of liberty and for 

 the development of free institutions. In detail, 

 the objects are these : 



1. To bring about, as a permanent factor and influ- 

 ence in the affairs of the world, a pan-republican 

 congress, with its work at this time defined in the 

 report adopted April 10, 1891, at Washington, D. C., on 

 recommendation of the Committee on Plan and Scope. 

 This congress is to meet regularly once infive years, 

 and is to be so organized that it can be called together 

 in extra session on extraordinary occasions. 



2. To organize into a force or influence all believers 

 in constitutional government, in liberty regulated by 

 law, in the voice of the people being the voice of 

 God, in government of the people, by the people, and 

 for the people. 



3. To taKe up the work outlined by George Wash- 

 ington in his will, whereby he left a large share of 

 his property for the purpose of endowing a university 

 where youth might be educated in statecraft, and 

 push it to a successful conclusion. Such a university 

 should be national, and yet have its doors always 

 open to youth from every land. 



4. To exert what influence it can upon all educa- 

 tional methods and institutions, so that the opportu- 

 nity of the citizens for better preparation for the du- 

 ties of citizenship, as they exist in a republic, may be 

 at its best 



5. To secure the establishment of an international 

 court, with the same relationship t<j nations that the 

 United States Supreme Court bears to the States, 

 with jurisdiction ; the acceptance by all nations of 

 judicial principles rather than the doctrine of military 

 force as the method for the settlement of international 

 questions ; and to accept a flag of peace, such as may 

 be adopted by the Human Freedom League for its 

 emblem, as representative- of these ideas. 



6. To do such other work in line with the foregoing 

 declared objects, and in harmony with what is natu- 

 rally suggested by the name of the organization, as 

 shall be recommended by the committee appointed 

 under these resolutions: provided, however, that 

 nothing shall be undertaken except for the promo- 

 tion and advancement of the cause of universal liberty 

 and free institutions among the peoples of the earth. 



Every fraternal society that believes in these 

 principles will send delegates to the first meet- 

 ing of the League, to be held at Omaha, Neb., 

 April 10, 1892. This meeting will be prelimi- 

 nary to a much larger congress to be held during 

 the time of the World's Fair, probably at Chi- 

 cago, and to be known as the Pan-Republic 

 Congress. This congress will consist of a senate 

 and a house. The senators will be appointed 

 by the presidents of all the republics in the 

 world 1 delegate at large and 1 delegate for 

 every 5,000,000 citizens. This will give the 

 United States about 12 senators. The house 

 will be composed of delegates from the great 

 patriotic, civil, commercial, educational, and in- 

 dustrial organizations. Each of these, omitting 

 religious organizations, shall be entitled to 1 

 delegate-at-large, and 1 delegate for each 100,000 

 members in good standing. All monarchies may 

 be represented in the house by 1 delegate-at- 

 large each, and 1 delegate for every 5,000,000 

 citizens. The League makes no distinction 



