THE PROPOSED
B'BnrWBBN
Í . u{ •! iy of
RANK I- NEALL.
rehilad 'iphia.
Library /c ,
Mr. ERASTUS WIMAN,
Of Kew York.
ACTION OF
THE NEW YORK BOARD OFTRADE AND TRANSPORTATION,
JANUARY 13th, 1892.
PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK,
(Via TRENTON).
ADDRESSES BY
Prof. LEWIS M. HAUPT, C. E.,
Of tho University of Penneylvania,
Mr. THOMAS MARTINDALE,
Of Philadelphia, and
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BETWEEN
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Trenton
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Proposed Crnñl\
F?h¡lrohds
Schle-8/^i/les to J inch.
Total length 33.74 miles. Section 90 ft. at bottom,
150 ft. at top. Draught 20 ft. Summit level 50 ft.
Two Tide locks and four Lift locks. Water Shed
for summit level 301 sq. m. Population along route
over six millions.
THE PROPOSED
SHIIIP CJ^JSTJ^Tj
BKTWEBN
PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK,
(Via TRENTON).
ADDRESSES BY
Prof. LEWIS M. HAUPT, C. E.,
Of the University oí Pennsylvania,
Mr. THOMAS MARTINDALE,
Of Philadelphia, and
Mr. ERASTUS WIMAN,
Of Kew York.
ACTION OF
THE NEW YORK BOARD OF TRADE AND TRANSPORTATION,
JANUARY 13th, 1892.
At the Animal Meeting of the New York Board
of Trade and Transportation, held in New York on
Wednesday, January 13,1892, the subject of a deep-
water canal connecting New York City and Phila¬
delphia was discussed.
The President of the Board, Captain Ambrose
Snow, presided, and there was a large attendance of
directors and members.
By invitation there was also present a delegation
of gentlemen from Philadelphia consisting of Profes¬
sor Lewis M. Haupt, C. E., of the University of
Pennsylvania; Mr. Thomas Martindale, of Thos.
Martindale & Co. ; Mr, W W. Foulkrod, of Hood,
Foulkrod & Co. ; Mr. W. H. Folwell, of Folwell
Bros. & Co. ; Mr. Charles W Schwartz, of Schwartz
& Graff, and Mr. William M. Ayres, of Wm. M.
Ayres & Co.
On motion, duly seconded, the regular order of
business was suspended for the purpose of hearing
the addresses of .\1 r. Martindale and Professor Haupt.
The President then introduced Mr. Thomas Mar¬
tindale.
ADDRESS OF MR. THOMAS MARTINDALE.
Mr. Martindale said that he was extremely
gratified to meet such a large audience of New
York's representative business men, and proud of the
opportunity offered of addressing them. He knew
that it was no easy matter to get a full house at such
3, busy time in the afternoon as three o'clock, and he
4
considered that it showed an appreciative interest in
the subject that was to be discussed, namely: "The
Proposed Ship Canal Between Philadelphia and
Ra ritan Bay "
As an active member of the " Trades League " of
Philadelphia, he hoped the present meeting would be
the opening wedge of a movement diat would not
only result in the building of a ship canal or water¬
way connecting the waters of the lower Xew
York Bav with the Delaware Rivei', but that the
«
completion of the canal would be the tii>t link of a
comprehensive interior waterway, reaching from
New York Bay to Florida, and from the sea-coast
line of Florida over to the gulf coast, thus con¬
necting the Gulf of Mexico with New York,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Savannah and
Jacksonville, making the commerce of the Mis¬
sissippi interchangeable with that of the Atlantic
seaboard and vice-versa. It is very hard to over¬
estimate the importance of such a project, or the
benefits to the nation at large, from a military, as
well as an economic point of view. The opening up
of lands at present totally unproductive and compara¬
tively valueless along the whole of this immense
stretch of navigable waterway would quickly stimu¬
late to growth of factory, village, town and city
development, making practically the "desert to
blossom as the rose," with the pulsating throb of
the steam engine and the tread of thousands upon
thousands of busv artisans who would find their living
O
and their dwelling i)laces along its pathway. From
a military standpoint, the advantages of such a water¬
way are equally important; complete this canal or
system of canals, and the Internal Commerce of our
wonderful and magnificent conntiy could be carried
on safely, expeditiously, and cheaply in time of war
5
as well as in time of peace. All the combined naval
power of the greatest countries of the globe could
make no impression upon our interior seaboard cities
from New York down to Florida, as the mouths of our
harbors could be effectually sealed up by planting
torpedoes, outside of which the most powerful iron¬
clads would be harmless and impotent for evil; at the
same time our ships, laden with the products of North
and South, East and West, would pass to and fro in
safety and security. We desire, therefore, to consider
the ship canal between New York Bay and Phila¬
delphia as the first link in this chain—but what of
the first link;
" 1st. We believe it to be thoroughly practicable.
"2d. We believe it will result in a great saving in
freight both to Philadelphia and New York, but par¬
ticularly to New York.
" 3d. That we believe it is almost a necessity at the
present time and will beeome more so in the future.
" We believe that through the completion of this
canal your supply of anthracite coal (of which you
used in New York and Brooklyn last year over six
million tons) will be delivered to your wharves at
a saving of nearly three million dollars per annum,
making a goodly return on an investment of over four
times the amount required for the completion of the
project. We in Philadelphia will be enabled to get
our merehandise purchased in, or shipped through
your eity, at about one-half the present rates. The
country through which the canal will pass will be
largely benefitted and improved, and in short it is a
project which seems to have everything to encourage,
foster and promote it, exeepting the expeeted jealous¬
ies of existing lines of communication.
" Perhaps a few of you may have some idea of the
enormous progress that the principal cities of our
6
Northern Atlantic seaboard have made during the
past five years. I, myself, had no conception of it
until the editor and proprietor of the Real JEstate
Record, of Philadelphia, commenced a compilation
of the number of buildings erected, and the amount
spent therefor, from 1887 to 1891 inclusive. Permit
me to give you the figures, which I know you will
find interesting and wonderful, and I can vouch for
their thorough correctness. To be brief as possible
there were erected in Philadelphia in the five years
named 42,170 new buildings, costing $140,800,791,
of which 38,591 were homes. Baltimore erected
9,659 buildings at a cost of $11,566,678. Washing¬
ton expended during this period $35,102,367.
Brooklyn erected 20,111 buildings at a cost of $98,-
270,531. Boston, Mass., 9,525 buildings, costing
$62,376,129. New York city erected 17,997
buildings, costing $315,120,030, making a grand
total of over 100,000 new buildings at a cost
of nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars. I
question if such wonderful development of one
industry was ever made before in any one equal
period of the world's history or in any one
country—bearing in mind that this development is
mostly all through private enterprise. Now what
will our condition be in this respect a short ten years
hence—presuming that the growth will be nearly in
the same ratio, and without allowing for natural
increase consequent upon increased population? We
should have a further expenditure in this direction
alone of over one billion of dollars; and if we keep in
mind the fact that in the territory tributary to this
waterway over sixth-tenths of the population of the
United States is clustered—that the existing lines of
communication are taxed to their utmost (although
the Pennsylvania Railroad has completed its four
7
tracks between Philadelphia and New York) it will
be seen how imperatively necessary this ship canal
has become. While we believe that it will be of vast
benefit to yon of New York it will also be vastly
beneficial to us in Philadelphia, as about 81 per
cent, of the foreign merchandise that we use comes
through your hands. Your enterprising citizen,
Mr. Erastus Wiman, handed me a pamphlet a few
days since showing that you have not one single ele¬
vator on your water front, or any great warehouses
either ; all of these being over in Jersey City or
Brooklyn or elsewhere than where they ought to be
—right at the water front. As a consequence I
find from that paper that you have no less than
35,000 trucks in use in New York, al an annual cost
for maintenance of $52,500,000, figuring the cost of
maintaining each truck at $1,500. Of this tax, (exceed¬
ing one million dollars per week), we Philadelphians
have to pay a very large share. You all know that
the cheapest mode of handling freight on land is by
railroads and you all know that canal traffic is very
much less. Let me show you the difference. The
cost of moving a ton of freight one mile by wagon
road is estimated at 150 mills; by railroad, 5 mills; by
canal, 3 mills; by river or lake, 2ro7r; by ocean, tVv-
Taking the ocean rate as a unit of comparison it will
be seen that the cost of movement by rail is 6.6, while
by wagon ratio it is 200 times greater; if, however,
the wagon ratio be accepted as the unit, then it will
appear that the ton may be carried thirty miles by
rail to one by common road or fifty miles to one by
canal, etc. In all probability there never was any
greater attention given to the subject of building ship
canals in all parts of the world than at the present
time. As for instance notice the "Corinth" Canal
in Greece, which is to be opened this year. It is
«
but four miles long, blasted through volcanic rock,
at a cost of $12,000,000. It will be 26^ feet in
depth, 80 feet surface width, straight and without
locks. This canal saves a detour of 300 miles of
vexatious navigation. Then the "Manchester " Canal
now being built in spite of the active opposition of
railroad and other vested interests as well as the
determined opposition of Liverpool. The "Baltic
Ship Canal" is costing $40,000,000, and will save
237 miles, and is 60 miles long. The ship canal
connecting Lake Erie and Pittsburg is to be • 00
miles long and to cost $26,000,000, and is designed
to bring the rich wealth of iron and copper ores from
the Upper Lakes to Pittsburg, and carry back in
return the manufactured materials, coals and other
merchandise. But all these grand projects, Mr. Chair¬
man and gentlemen, pale and sink into insignificance
when compared with the incalculable advantages and
indescribable possibilities of the project now under
consideration. The mind in contemplating the many
beneficial changes—the stupendous impulse it would
give to the great tracks of unimproved territory—
the change from a defenceless condition of our sea
coast line to one of utter security, seems dazed
and bewildered and shrinks from grasping all that
is possible or even an iota of what is probable.
Gentlemen, I thank you for your kind and serious
attention. (Applause).
9
ADDRESS OF L M. HAUPT, G. E.
In concluding his address Mr. Martindale intro¬
duced Professor Lewis M. Haupt, of the University of
Pennsylvania, as the foremost authority on internal
commerce in the country. Professor Haupt spoke as
follows :
Mr President and Gentlemen of. the New York
Board of Trade and Transportation :
• New York is one of the few great cities of the
world, and the greatest of all cities on the American
continent. It is not necessary at this time to review
the history of her development, but it is of import¬
ance to note that her ascendency over the Western
World sprang from the date of the opening of the
Erie Canal in 1826. In those days a colossal work,
undertaken through the foresight, energy, and in¬
fluence of her public-spirited citizens and pushed
rapidly to completion at her own expense, it remains
an enduring monument to the wisdom of the citizens
of New York, and a blessing to the entire country.
" These same great men sought even at that early
date to inaugurate the grand system of interior
waterways that is now being revived throughout the
country, but the time was not then mature and the
resources were not available.
" It should be remembered that at that date (1812)
the population of the State of New York was less
than 1.000,000 people, and that of the entire United
States did not exeeed about 7,500,000; that the ways
of communication were very defective and the people
were so scattered as to render them difficult of access;
10
yet notwithstanding these obstacles the enterprise of
these earnest men was snch that they raised the
money, skill and labor to complete, in abont twelve
years, an engineering work of great difficnlty at a
cost of $5,700,000.
THE TIMES MATURE.
" Now, however, the conditions are totally changed
and the economic requirements of the country have
reached such a point as to render necessary a still
further reduction in the cost of movement if we
desire to extend our markets and compete snccess-
fully with the other commercial nations of the world.
With a present population, contiguous to this pro¬
posed channel, equal to that of the entire Federal
domain in 1812; with vested interests reaching
untold millions lying within reach of an enemies
gnus; with but a single line of water communication
between our great naval rendezvous and the metro¬
polis of the country, and that line a circuitous, danger¬
ous, and, during a blockade, impracticable one, it
becomes of vital importance to the maintenance of the
safety, prosperity and dignity of this country that
this measure of paramount strategic and commercial
utility should be pushed to completion at the earliest
practieable moment.
" It is said that $100,000,000 are to be lavished
upon a defensive naval armament. In mj^ opinion
the moral effect of this proposed interior land-locked
waterway would be worth more than this entire perish¬
able navy, and it would be a continual source of revenue
and profit to the country in the impetus it would
give to commerce and manufactures and the security
it would afford in times of war. It would prevent a
paralysis of our internal commerce and open up a
direct connection between the Middle and South
11
Atlantic seaboard and the 15,000 miles of river
navigation in the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Lake
Basins.
RAILROADS VS. CANALS.
" It is feared by some that such an artery would
be injurious to the railroads, and it is to correct, what I
believe to be, a popular prejudice that I beg leave to
direct your attention for a moment to the relation of
these two systems of transportation to each other.
In 1825 the railroad system was in embryo. It has
since been born and has developed so rapidly that
there are now over 171,000 miles of such roads in
operation, and, strange as. it may seem, they have
stretched forth their iron sinews to throttle their
defenceless sisters, the waterways, until to-day the
canal mileage of the United States is no greater than
that of a half century ago.
" There is, in general, a hostile attitude and popu¬
lar prejudice against waterways by railroad mana¬
gers, which has led them to buy up the canals and
abandon them, hauling their freights by the more
expensive railroad at greater cost and less profit,
simply because they could not compete with the
canal. When asked why this most valuable adjunct
to their property is not utilized, the reply is, ' Canals
are obsolete.' If no more satisfactory reply can be
made than this it must be taken as a confession of
weakness.
"If it be indeed true that the cheaper waterway
be injurious to the railways bordering its banks, we
may well inquire why the New York Central and
Hudson River Road was located along the Erie
Canal and Hudson River, and why its business and
profits are so much larger than the shorter New
York, Lake Erie and Western between the same ter-
12
minais ? How floes it happen thnt the Lake Shore is
able to declare a 6 per cent, dividend, and to expend
large sums in addition for betterments when the half
of her tributary territory is covered by Lake Erie,
where there is the cheapest kind of water competition?
Why is the New York, New Haven and Hartford
Railroad so crowded with business when it has numer¬
ous magnificent steam and freight boat lines com¬
peting with it for the Sound traffic ? In short, why
do we find the railroads seeking the banks of navig¬
able rivers and the thriving towns and -^ullages created
by commercial waterways, but for the business fur¬
nished by the increased facilities and competition
created by these waterways ?
" England, Germany, Belgium, and France furnish
abundant proof of the fallacy of this antagonism.
Thus France, which is 60,000 square miles smaller
than Texas, has over 5,000 miles of canals and canal¬
ized rivers, most of which are free. There have been
expended upon these works in the seventy years
ending December 31, 1887, as follows : Rivers,
$188,333,300 ; canals, $199,097,300. Total, $387,-
430,600, and the justification for such liberality is
found in the statement by French economists that the
' canals, even though free, pay 5 per centum per
annum iu economizing the national wealth.' Their
canals are capable of passing boats of 300 tons, while
the old canals in this country can only pass 240-
ton boats. The small draught canals which have
remained in the hands of private parties, or even of
railroad companies who have operated them, have
not only continued to exist, but have earned for their
owners handsome revenues, I need only refer you
to the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and the
Delaware and Hudson Company for an example.
Two of the oldest canals in this section of the country.
13
WATERWAYS ARE PUBLIC CONSERVATORS.
" The waterways are the lines of least resistance
and therefore the most potent factors in developing
commerce and its allied industries, and I believe it to
be a fact that they are the best friends of the rail¬
road. The canal rates in New York have preserved
a remarkably .constant ratio to those by rail, and from
the ' statistical abstract' for 1887 it appears that the
average canal rate was only about one-third of that
by rail for the period from 1868 to 1882.
"Thus the source of the great prosperity of this
istate becomes at once apparent, and, as the cost of
movement on water varies inversely as the draught
of the channel, it is evident that the deeper the canals
be made, and hence the greater the capacity of the
boats, the greater will be the resulting benefits to all
parties.
'■ The move for a 20-foot canal around Niagara
and through to New York, indorsed by the recent
Waterway Convention held at Detroit, would be of
great benefit to this ciK" as well as to the United States,
and sh uld receive the hearty co-operation of the
Atlantic States. The increase of tonnage in iron
vessels on the lakes during the past year was greater
than that for the entire Atlantic and Gulf States.
This tonnage can be made tributary to New York by
enlarging the waterway to Lake Ontario. Other¬
wise it will go through Canada.
COMMERCE IS RECIPROCAL.
"It is of little use to improve any port of de¬
parture to a greater depth than that existing at its
corresponding port of entry, as otherwise the deep
draught vessels must lighter their cargoes at great
expense, risk and delay. It is of importance to this
14
city that all the harbors with which she trades should
have an equally deep entrance. It follows, there¬
fore, that New York is interested in securing appro¬
priations for the South Atlantic and Gulf coast, as
well as in pushing the Nicaragua and other ship
canals to an early completion. But appropriations
should only be made for projects based upon sound
engineering principles and giving promise of success
and not, as has recently been done, for those which
after three decades of experiments are in a worse
condition than when in a state of nature, and which
must result in a wasteful as well as injurious expen¬
diture of a large sum of money to no purpose, ex¬
cept it be for an unnecessary experience.
THE SOUTHERN WATERWAY.
" The geographical position of this city is peculiarly
favorable for commerce, as it has waterways extend¬
ing North, Kast, South and West for many miles, but
some of these are not utilized to advantage. The
most important of them, that to the South containing
some of the largest cities of the Atlantic States, is at
present cut off to a great extent by physical features,
which have diverted the traffic of these cities largely
into other channels. These large cities are not
situated immediately upon the coast, but they are
100 miles and upward within, and upon waters that
open to the southward—thus making a detour neces¬
sary to obtain their trade.
" By the construction of a ship canal across New
Jersey, and by enlarging the link between the Dela¬
ware and Chesapeake Bays, the present non-productive
and dangerous outer coast line of 400 miles to Cape
Lookout would be more than trebled by the addition
of the 800 miles and over of productive and safe shore
line on the interior rivers and bays, with their dense
15
population and extensive local trade. The commerce
of the Delaware and Chesapeake, with their tribu¬
taries—the cities of Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilming¬
ton, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and Norfolk,
and many places of lesser importance—would become
tributary to New York, and would aid in promoting
her supremacy, while they would be reciprocally
benefited by the exchanges which such traffic would
stimulate.
THE COMMERCE "iN SIGHT."
■'A map issued recently by the Government
Engineers shows the commerce of the tributaries to
Long Island Sound from Providence west to be
3,313,110 tons; that of the Hudson River, 7,642,1182:
that of the rivers of New Jersey tributary to Raritan
Bay, 3,101,176; that of the Delaware and its branches,
9,439,918, and of the Chesapeake Bay and
tributaries, 6,619,424 tons. If these be relatively
correct they show the magnitude of the commercial
interests of the Delaware and Chesapeake waters,
which exceed those of the Hudson, North Jersey,
and the Sound (excepting the 75,000,000 of New
York Cit}') by about 2,000,000 tons. Of this aggre¬
gate of over 30,000,000 tons, which is believed to be
far below the actual amount, a large percentage
would use the proposed canal.
" Such a canal would also reduce the distance by
water to the coal fields, and under a proper policy
should have the effect of lessening the cost of trans¬
portation on that article by about 50 cents a ton. As
there arc over 6,000,000 tons consumed in New York
City alone, the saving in this single item should not
be less than $3,000,000, which is the interest on
$50,000,000—or about four times the estimated cost
of the work.
16
ITS STKATEftIC FEATURES.
" The strategic value of such an inner line in case
of war cannot be overestimated. A hostile fleet off
Sandy Hook eould control the New York entrance
and the Sound and do incalculable damage to the
entire country by destroying its commercial and
financial centre. The existence of the canal would
place these waters in direct communication with the
principal naval depot of the Government at League
Island and enable her cruisers to reach this harbor
in a few hours. The protection of our extensive coast
line must depend more upon a floating armament than
upon permanent forts. While this contingency is
remote, the magnitude of the interests at stake render
the relative cost of such a canal insignificant. The
existence of the waterway would still further remove
the possibility of such an emergency. The depth
suggested for the channel (20 feet) would enable all
the flotilla recently built to pass through by this
interior line. One cruiser, the U. S. S. New York,
drawing feet, and the two battle ships, Indiana
and Massachusetts, 24 feet, could not pass through
without slightly enlarging the canal prism The dis¬
tance from League Island to Raritan Lay would be
only about 70 miles as compared with, say, 230 by
the outside route, thus saving about 70 per cent, of
the distance.
THE PHYSICAL PEATORES.
"The topography presents no exceptional nor
difficult features, nor are the obstructions nearly so
numerous nor so great as those existing on the line
of the Manchester Ship Canal in Kngland. Starting
at Bordentown, on the Delaware, the proposed line
follows the bed of the present canal for a mile and a
half, then, deflecting to the eastward of Chambers-
burg and Trenton, it rejoins the old canal at a point
17
ten and a half miles out and follows it to the twen¬
tieth mile-post. Here .it leaves the old trunk and
runs parallel to the Rock}^ Hill Railroad to Law¬
rence Brook, near Monmouth Junction ; thence fol¬
lowing the meanders of that brook to the Raritan
River, east of New Brunswick, making a total length
of 33.74 miles. The greatest elevation on this line,
as shown by the topographic maps, is only 7 6 feet
above tide, and for a large portion of the route it fol¬
lows the 50-foot contour, suggesting that elevation
for the summit level, with two locks at either end of
25 feet lift each, and two tide locks, making six in all.
THE ENGINEERING PROJECT.
" The cross section used in the estimate is 90 feet
wide at the bottom and 20 feet deep, which is about
the size of the Amsterdam Ship Canal. This gives
26,327,614 cubic yards as the volume of material to
be removed. In addition to this the dredging at the
approaches will embrace about 350,000 yards more.
" The locks should be not less than 500 by 60 feet.
Upon this basis the estimated cost of the entire
work, exclusive of right of way, would be $12,552,-
900. The area of the watershed tributary to the
summit level is over 300 square miles. This would
require to be utilized by one or more feeders and
reservoirs, but there is an ample supply for a trafhc
of at least 30,000,000 tons.
" Such projects do not promote themselves. It is
necessary that public-spirited and patriotic bodies,
alive to the great importance of such works and the
benefits to accrue to the entire country from their ex¬
ecution, should take the initiative. Hence it has given
me great pleasure to present this summary of this
much-needed waterway to your intelligent considera¬
tion, believing that it will engage your serious attention,
and, I trust, also your earnest support." (Applause.)
18
ADDRESS OF MR. ERASTUS WIMAN.
Mr. Erastus Wiman then addressed the Board
as follows :
"The members may well be grateful to the highly
respectable delegation from Philadelphia that has
presented to the Board a project for a ship canal
between New York and Philadelphia. Rarely, if
ever, in the history of this organization has a project
of greater importance been presented to it - a project
that seems at once feasible, reasonable and profitable.
Rarely, too, has there been a better presentation
than in the clear-cut, concise, and business-like state¬
ments which have been submitted at this meeting.
The members present cannot but be deeply grateful
for having heard what to them is, in a certain sense,
a revelation of the practicability and the reasonable
cost of an undertaking so full oí advantage to the two
first cities of the land. If it were po.ssible to bring
these two great aggregations of humanity so closely
together as to have a ship canal between them, no
greater event, in the whole category of events pos¬
sible to both of them, could occur. The means of
communication between two such aggregations of
humanity is the measure of the extent of their com¬
merce—the indication of their progress in civilization.
At present even there is an hourly train, by two
great arteries, between these two cities. But at
present these great avenues of communication are
crowded to the utmost extent. The cost of the canal
is estimated to be about $12,000,000. The Penn¬
sylvania Railroad, before it completes its improve¬
ments, will have spent over $12,000,000 between
19
Rahway and the City of New York. The Lehigh
Valley Railway is credited with having spent from
$5,000,000 to $10,000,000 to get into Jersey City
alone ; while the Baltimore & Ohio is known to have
spent no less than $16,000,000 to construct a line
from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Modesty forbids
me from revealing the meagreness of the amount
required to bring them into New York and place
them in possession of the finest terminal the world
afibrds. If the Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley
and the Baltimore & Ohio are justified in expend¬
ing these large sums, and with the result of only
four piei es of iron, the limitations of which were ex¬
ceedingly small in proportion to the possible busi¬
ness, is there not a perfect justification for the hope
that this great ship canal, costing onh' $12,000,000,
could be created and pay most handsomely The
trade of this country is but in its infancy. The
extent and magnitude of its internal commerce, vast
as are the figures now, are but an indication of what
they will be hereafter. There are children now living
who will see the population of the United States
170,000,000 of souls. There are sons of members of
this Board, residents of New York, who will see an
aggregation of humanity in the metropolitan district
of 10,000,000 of people. Philadelphia will grow in
even greater proportion because she is the city of
homes, and a city the extent of whose manufactures
are only limited by the growth of the country.
Between these two vast aggregations of humanity
within a lifetime there will be a necessity for an inter¬
communication which this ship canal will alone
afford. New York, of all cities in the world, needs
a revolution in her commercial methods. Her
terminal arrangements are disgraceful to her and
destructive of her future. The cost of handling
20
products within her borders is a tribute heavier than
that of any other city in the world. .More money
was paid out for terminal charges on the coffee
which was drank for breakfast this morning by the
members, than for any other thing since it left the
place of growth. The whole country is taxed by the
bad methods which prevail in this city. It is time
that a revolution took place, and that revolution could
not be better inaugurated than by the encouragement
of a great ship canal which would put New York and
Philadelphia side by side, so that they would be of
enormous advantage to each other. Between New
York and Brooklyn the coal consumed was 6,000,000
tons. It was within sight of New York emptied out
of cars into canal boats, and from canal boats elevated,
at the bottom of each street, by buckets into carts at
an enormous cost and waste. If it could be brought
direct from the mines through this ship canal, a saving
of at least fifty cents a ton could be effected, so that
from i?j!,000,000 to $3,000,000 a year would be
saved—an econom}' that would alone pay the interest
on the proposed improvement.
"A proposal to spend $25,000 by the general
government to survey and report u})on the possibility
of this great enterprise was a reasonable one, because
it could then be seen whether or not it was as feasible
and as reasonable as it now seemed to be."
Mr. Wiman said he had, therefore, great j)leasure
in proposing the following resolutions :
Whereas, In the opinion of the New York Board
of Trade and Transportation, it is of national impor¬
tance that the Atlantic and Gulf coast waterway
should be developed to its fullest extent as a strate¬
gic and defensive measure, and for commercial pur-
21
[joses, of which the first link is the proposed canal
between Delaware River andRaritan Bay, therefore
be it
Resolved, That the members of Congress from this
State be requested to urge the introduction of an
item in the River and Harbor Bill making an ap¬
propriation of a Slim not less than $25,000 for an
examination, survey and report upon a twenty-foot
navigable channel between Raritan Bav and the
O •/
Delaware River ; said appropriation to be expended
by a commission to be composed of one citizen from
each of the States of New York, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, to be appointed by the Governor
thereof, one officer of the U. S. Corps of Engineers,
one from the Navy and one from the Coast Survey.
Resolved, That a committee of three members of
the Board be appointed with power to carry the
above resolution into effect.
Mr. John F. Henry seconded the resolutions and
spoke briefly in lavor of their adoption.
Mr. Orlando B. Potter spoke of the importance of
the project outlined in the several addresses he had
been pleased to listen to, but said he thought this
Board should not act finally upon this matter until
it had been considered and investigated by some
committee of this Board, and moved reference of the
subject.
Mr. Wiman said he would second the motion to
refer if it was thought best, and inquired of Prof.
Haupt if the delay of reference would be objection¬
able.
22
THE POLICY OP THE GOVERNMENT.
Prof. Haupt explained that it was not contemplated
to ask the Government at present to undertake the
work of construction, but merely to investigate, by
means of surveys conducted by Government officers,
into the feasibility of the proposed route, and report
upon the same, and for this purpose it was desired to
secure the insertion of the item of $25,000 in the
River and Harbor bill now being prepared by Con¬
gress. That the Government did make these exami¬
nations, in precisely the manner suggested, the Sault
Ste. Harie Canal was an instance in point. That
canal had accjuired a traffic far exceeding that of the
famous Suez Canal, carrying over 9,000,000 tons of
freight in seven months of the year, as against a
mnch smaller amount on the part of the latter in the
course of a full year of twelve months, with traffic in
progress night and day.
On this representation the resolutions were adopted
without a dissenting voice.
Pursuant to the resolutions, the President ap¬
pointed the following committee, Messrs.. Erastus
Wiman, Francis B. Thurber and Orlando H. Potter.
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