THE HENNEPIN CANAE.
IMPORTANCE OF ITS CONSTRUCTION IN THE INTEREST ■
OF COMMERCE.
REMARKS
OP
HON. SHELBY M. CÜLLOM,
IN THE
UNITED STATES SENATE,
JULY 8, 1886.
"The money put into public improvements by which commerce is
encouraged and promoted is a permanent investment, and becomes
a constant and continuing source of wealth to the country, bringing
back returns to the pockets of the people year after year, and adding
to the prosperity of all."
WASHINGTON.
1 886.
The Hennepin Canal.
SPEECH
OP
HON. SHELBY M. OULLOM.
The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having resumed consideration of
the bill (H. R. 7480) making appropriations for the construction, repair, and
preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other pur¬
poses, the following amendment proposed by the committee was read :
The grant of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, its rights of way, and all its ap¬
purtenances, and all right, title, and interest which the State of Illinois may have
in any real estate heretofore ceded to the State of Illinois by the United States
for canal purposes, made to the United States by an act of the General Assem¬
bly of the State of Illinois approved April 28,1882, be, and is hereby, accepted on
the terms and conditions specified in the act of the General Assembly of the
State of Illinois.
For the construction of a canal from the Illinois River, at or near the town of
Hennepin, in the State of Illinois, to the Mississippi River, at the mouth of Rock
River, or between it and the city of Rock Island, in said State, together with such
feeders and other works that may be necessary to supply said canal with water,
$300,000. Said canal shall be known as the Illinois and Mississippi River Canal,
and shall be constructed on such route as may be determined by the Secretary
of War : Provided, That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, in order to
secure the right of way for such canal and feeders, to acquire the title to such
lands as may be necessary by agreement, purchase, or voluntary conveyance
from the owners, if it can be done on reasonable terms ; but if that shall be found
impracticable, then the Secretary of War shall apply at any term of the circuit
or district court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois to be held
thereafter, at any general or special term held in said district, and in the name
of the United States institute and carry on proceedings to condemn such lands
as may be necessary for right of way as aforesaid ; and in such proceedings said
court shall be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, so far as the same
may be applicable to the subject of condemning private property for public use :
Pi^ovided fixrther. That said canal shall be 80 feet wide at the water line and 7 feet
deep, with a capacity for vessels of at least 280 tons burden, with guard-gates,
waste-weirs, locks, lock-houses, basins, bridges, and all other erections and fixt¬
ures that may be necessary for safe and convenient navigation of said canal and
branch as specified in said survev.
Mr. CULLOM. Mr. President, I perhaps ought to apologize to the
Senate for desiring to take any considerable time upon this amend¬
ment; but I think the importance of the subject justifies me in sub¬
mitting some remarks in explanation of the necessity and importance
of adopting the amendment; and 1 shall therefore ask the indulgence
of the Senate to enable me to do so.
Mr. President, the construction of the Hennepin Canal and the en¬
largement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, thereby forming a free
water way from the Mississippi Eiver to Lake Michigan by the most
practicable connection, is in my judgment the most important work
of internal improvement now pressing upon Congress for consideration.
No other public work which the Government is asked to undertake
promises greater material benefits to the country in proportion to the
4
expenditure required. I may be charged with exhibiting more zeal on
behalf of this project than of some others because the entire length of
the proposed canal would be within the borders of the State which I
have the honor in part to represent. While I may have given more at¬
tention to the subject on that account, the fact that the canal would
be wholly within the State of Illinois is not my reason for favoring with
great earnestness its construction by the Gleneral Government. The
demand for this improvement, as I shall hope to show, does not come
from Illinois alone, nor would the canal benetit that State alone, or any
more than it would other Western and Northwestern States. Illinois
does not need this water way as much as does the great region lying west
of the Mississippi River. The line of the canal runs through the north¬
western corner of the State, and of the 55.414 square miles included
within the border's of Illinois not more than one-fifteenth part would be
directly tributary to the canal if built, because the products of most of
the State would have to be carried as far to reach the canal as they
would to reach Chicago. Illinois does not come here as a suppliant
asking the bounty of the Government for it.s own advantage. Illinois,
with more miles of railroad than anj' other State in the Union, with a
free water way from its metropolis to the seaboard, with the Father of
Waters washing the entire length of its western borders and affording
connection with the tiulf with the Ohio River on the South, and with
direct connection with the great railroad S3'stems of the East, South, and
West, is not suffering from the lack of facilities for transportation, and
will continue to maintain its commercial supremacy in the future as in
the past, whether this work of improvement is undertaken by the Gov¬
ernment or not.
No. Mr. President. I do not advocate this improvement simplj' be¬
cause it would be of advantage to Illinois, but on broader grounds and
for the general welfare. He who declines to look beyond the bound¬
aries of his own State in the discharge of his own duties as a legislator
here, fails to comprehend the full scope of the obligations resting upon
him. I hope to show before I sit down that the proposed improve¬
ment is one of national importance, and would prove to be of great
value to the commerce of the whole American people. If I do so, I
hope that Senators will vote the proposed appropriation and let the
work begin.
What is the exact thing that is asked ?
First, the construction of a canal commencing at the Mississippi River
at or near Rock Island and running to the Illinois River at or near the
town of Hennepin.
Second, the acceptance by Congress of the grant already made by the
State of Illinois of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and the enlarge¬
ment of the latter by the National Government to make its proportions
correspond with those of the proposed Hennepin Canal.
The two propositions are intimately connected. They are indeed
component parts of the one proposition that the Government shall un¬
dertake to connect the Mississippi River and its tributaries with the
Great Lakes by canal, thereby opening up a great water route that
would become available for the cheap transportation of the more bulky
products of the West and Northwest to the Eastern markets and to the
seaboard for export, and in the distribution of the merchandise and
manufactured products of the East among the consumers of the West
and Northwest. That such a project is of national importance will not,
I think, be seriously questioned, and that the most feasible and eco-
5
nomical method of carrying it into execution is by the construction of
the Hennepin Canal and the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal must, I think, be conceded by those who will carefully and im¬
partially investigate the subject.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHEAP TRANSPORT.ATION AND THE VALUE OF W.ATER
ROUTES.
I do not believe, Mr. President, that it needs any argument at this
day to demonstrate the immeasurable importance of cheap transpor¬
tation in promoting the commercial prosperity of a country. It is well
nnderstood that, as was truly said by Governor Horatio Seymour, ' ' the
chief element in the prosperity of every State or nation is the economy
of transportation of persons and property. ' '
Nor can the great value of water routes as a means of securing cheap
transportation be questioned. The testimony collected by the Select
Committee on Interstate Commerce of the Senate abundantly demon¬
strates, it appears to me, the great importance of developing and main¬
taining a national system of internal water communication as the most
certain and effective method of regnlating railroad charges and of in¬
suring to the people the advantages of cheap transportation. Thecon-
currence of the views expressed upon these questions in the testimony
taken by that committee is worthy of attention, and indicates a marked
unanimity of public sentiment upon the subject. Without taxing the
patience of the Senate with quotations from the testimony upon these
points, I will simply invite attention to the following paragraphs,
which show the conclusions of the committee as to the value of water
routes and the effect of water competition upon railroad freight charges.
I quote from the report:
The evidence before the committee accords with the experience of all nations
in recognizing: the waterroutes as the most effective cheapeners and regulators
of railway charges. Their influence is not confined within the limits of the ter¬
ritory immediately accessible to water communication, but extends and con¬
trols railroad rates at such remote and interior points as have competing lines
reaching means of transport by water. Competition between railroads sooner
or later leads to combination or consolidation, but neither can prevail to secure
unreasonable rates in the face of direct competition with free natural or artifi¬
cial water routes.
The conclusion of the committee is therefore that natural or artificial chan¬
nels of communication by water when favorably located, adequately improved,
and properly maintained, afford the cheapest method of long-distance trans¬
portation now known, and that they must continue to exercise in the future, as
they have invariably exercised in the past, an absolutely controlling and bene¬
ficially regulating influence upon the charges made upon any and all other
means of transit.
And in concluding this branch of its investigation the committee
say:
The cheapest mode of transportation known is by water. The railroads have
accomplished wonders, but no railroad can successfully compete with a free and
unobstructed water route, so far as the cost of carriage is concerned. Therefore,
to secure the ble-^^sings of cheap transportation, and to hold our place among the
nations of the earth, we must develop our natural water ways to their fullest
capacity, and give the benefits of lake, river, and canal communication to the
people of all the States as far as practicable.
The distribution of land and water throughout the United States is admirably
adapted to the successful accomplishment of this purpose. The chief defects of
the present water routes of the country,as a whole,are that they are too long
for successful competition with the railroads, and that they are too isolated and
disconnected for successful co-operation.
The obvious and only possible remedy for thesedefeets is to shorten them and
to unite them.
This can be done by means of such improvements as the construction of a ship-
canal across the peninsula of Florida, the enlargement of the Erie Canal, the
building of the Hennepin Canal, and the continued improvement of the Missis-
6
sippi River. By thus shortening: the existing lines of ^vater communicíition and
rendering them navigable for steam-vessels of hu'ge carrying capacity, the cost
of freight service con)d be reduced to the lowest possible minimum, not only
between a few great centers of trade, as now, but between interior points in
almost everj* part of the country which are now practically without competing
lines of transportation.
A comprehensive system of internal improvement such as has been here briefly
outlined would develop to their utmost extent the inexhaustible resources of the
United States, would give new life and healthy activity to trade throughout the
length and breadth of the land, would put bread in the mouths of thousands of
men now seeking employment without success, would avert the dangers to be
apprehended from railroad combinations to control the commerce of the country,
and would secure rates of transportation that would always enable the surplus
products of the nation to find a profitable market.
During the present session we labored for weeks in this Senate in the
interest of cheaper transportation to pass a hill to regnlate interstate
commerce, or, more specificalh' stated, to regulate the conduct of rail¬
roads engaged in interstate business. Why ? Our purpose was to do
what we could in that way to prevent extortion and unjust discrimi¬
nation in railroad charges and to secure to the people reasonable and
equitable rates for the transportation oí' freight by rail to the markets
of the conntiy. In this effort our progress was resisted at every step—
on the one hand by those who do not believe in regulation by legisla¬
tion, hut prefer to leave the whole matter to be adjitsted by the laws
of trade and by the competition between the railroads; and on the
other hand by extremists who are willing to engage in a general ci'usade
against the railroads of the countiy, with little regard to the effect
upon commerce and business.
Now, sir, wlien we come to this other means of securing cheaper
transportation for the iieople we are met with the cry of unfairness to
the railroads and of expense to the Government, and we are told that
this project is simply the construction of a water way wholly within
one State; that it is not the improvement of an existing water way;
that the whole scheme is nnconstitutioual, and that Congress has no
right to embark in the enterprise.
the constitctioxal qtje.stiox.
Mr. President, the Constitution, thanks to the wisdom and foresight
of our fathers who framed it, is broad enough in its provisions and
scope to authorize works of national importance like this.
That great chart, by which statesmen are guided, or should be, in na¬
tional legislation, and by which Presidents and Cabinets and courts
and citizens should alike be controlled, has scope and breadth enough
to allow the people for who.se benefit it was formed to adopt such meas¬
ures through their governing power as may i'rom time to time become
necessary in the interest of business and proaress. It w.ts for this pur¬
pose that the power to regulate comniei-ce was expressly given to Con¬
gress, and it was for this purpose that the ' ' general-welfare clause ' ' and
other provisions looking to the needs of the people as conditions change
were inserted.
In the celebrated case of Gibbons vs. Ogden (9 Wheaton, 1) Chief-
Justice Marshall forcibly said:
The genius and character of the whole Government seem to be, that its action
is to be applied to all the general concerns of the nation, and to those internal
concerns which affect the States generally; but not to those which are com¬
pletely within a particular State which do not affect other States and with which
it is not necessary to ii\terfere for the purpose of executing some of the general
powers of the Government.
And in construing the power to regulate commerce he said:
It is the power to regulate, that is, to prescribe the rule by which commerce
7
is to be governed. This power, like all others vested in Congress, is complete
in itself; may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limita¬
tions other than are prescribed in the Constitution. * * * if, as has always
been understood, the sovereignty of Congress, though limited to specific objects,
is plenary as to those objects, the power over commerce with foreign nations
and among the several States is vested in Congress as absolutely as it would be
in a single government having in its constitution the same restrictions on the
exercise of the power as are found in the Constitution of the United States.
The wisdom and discretion of Congress, their identity with the people, and
the influence wliich their constituents possess at elections, are in this, as in many
other instances, as that, for example, of declaring war, tlie sole restraints upon
which they have relied to secure them from its abuse.
Judge Story, in his work on the Constitution, section 1067, says:
The power to regulate commerce is general and unlimited in its terms.
The full power to regulate a particular subject implies the whole power, and
leaves no residuum. A grant of the whole is incompatible with the existence
of a right in another to any part of it. A grant of power to regulate necessarily
excludes the action of all others who would perform the same operation on the
same thing.
The settled doctrine of the United States Supreme Court upon the
question is laid down in Mobile vs. Kimball (102 U. S., 691), in which
case, referring to the power to regulate commerce, it is declared:
That poweris indeed without limitation. It authorizes Congress to prescribe
the conditions upon which commerce in all its forms shall be conducted between
our citizens and tiie citizensor subjectsof other countries, and between theciti-
zens of the several States, and to adopt measures to promote its growth and to
insure its safety.
And in a late decision, rendered in April, 1885, in the case of Glouces¬
ter Ferry Company Pennsylvania (114 U. S., 196), the same tribunal
declared, speaking of commerce among the States:
The power to regulate that commerce, as well as commerce with foreign na¬
tions, vested in Congress, is the power to prescribe the rules by which it shall
be governed, that is, the conditions upon wiiich it shall be conducted ; to deter¬
mine when it shall be free and when it shall be subject to duties or other ex¬
actions. The power also embraces within its control all the instrumentalities
by which that commerce may be carried on, and the means by which it may be
aided and encouraged.
The construction of a canal that would cheapen transportation through-
out the country would certainly be the means of aiding and encouraging
commerce among the States. Nor are numerous precedents lacking to
justify Congress in undertaking the improvement now proposed. Canals
to overcome natural obstacles to the navigation of important water ways
have frequently been constructed by the General Government. In earlier
days the method adopted was to grant public lands to the States for
their use in the construction of canals, but in recent years Congress has
not hesitated to make direct appropriations for the same purposes.
Grants of land for canal purposes were made to Indiana and Illinois in
1827, to Ohio in 1828, to Florida in 1831, and to Michigan in 1852,
while as early as 1826 Congress appropriated |150,000 to the Dismal
Swamp Canal Company. These grants, like the millions of acres granted
to aid in the construction of railroads, were all made for the purpose of
improving the facilities for transportation and of promoting commerce,
under the same power which Cougre.ss is asked to exercise for the same
purpose in building the Hennepin Canal.
Within our own recollection. Congress has expended millions of dol¬
lars for the same purposes and in the exercise of the same power in the
improvement of the Saint Clair Flats and in the construction of the
canal around the Des Moines Rapids, of the Ohio Canal at Louisville
and Portland, and of the Muscle Shoals Canal on the Tennessee River.
Lake Michigan and the Mississippi can be connected by means of the
8
Hennepin Canal for about the same amount that was expended by the
Government In overcoming the obstacles to the navigation of the Mis¬
sissippi between Montrose and Keokuk. For commercial purposes as
a water way the two parts of the Mississippi were as effectively sepa¬
rated by the Des Sloiues Rapids as if the State of Illinois had laid be¬
tween them, as it does between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi, and
the construction of the canal in the State of Iowa around the Des Moines
Rapids connected what were virtually two separate water ways, al¬
though they were parts of the same river.
The Saint Clair Flats originally prevented free navigation between
Lakes Huron and Erie. These flats were within the territorial j uris-
diction of the State of Michigan, and the question involved in their im¬
provement was the same that is now presented in the proposed con¬
struction of the Hennepin Canal. Michigan was not more deeply in¬
terested in the removal of these obstructions to the navigation of the
Great Lakes than were several other States, and there was no more
reason why that State should incur the heavy expense necessary to their
removal for the benefit of other States equally with itself than there is
that Illinois should be asked to build this canal for the benefit of the
West and Northwest.
The courts construe the Constitution liberally as they should do.
While there is perhaps no decision exactly in point to prove beyond
controversy that it is within the purview of the Constitution for Con¬
gress to construct such a canal as is proposed wholly within one State,
I am unable to see any difference in principle between the construction
of a canal to connect the two most important systems of internal water
communication in the country, though it may happen to he located
wholly within a single State, and the construction of canals within the
States for the purpose of connecting the navigable portions of a great
river or of affording free communication between two great lakes. The
only question to be determined in either case, it seems to me, is whether
the proposed improvement is of national importance and will promote
the public welfare to an extent sufficient to j ustify the expenditure req¬
uisite being made from the funds belonging to the people of all the
States.
The proposal on the part of the State of Illinois to make over to the
Government its now completed Illinois and Michigan Canal is of com¬
paratively recent date, and has not to any great extent heretofore en¬
gaged the attention of Congress. The Hennepin Canal project has been
before Congress for some years, and while Congress has not gone further
than to authorize surveys to be made, public sentiment has been grow¬
ing in favor of the Government undertaking this great work. In order
that the two propositions involved in the project maybe better under¬
stood, I desire to review the history of the present Illinois and Michi¬
gan Canal now offered to the Government, and to call attention to the
history of the movement in favor of the construction of the Hennepin
Canal, and to some of the indorsements which this undertaking has re¬
ceived. In doing this I will be as brief as I can consistently with the
importance of the subject.
THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL.
A survey was authorized by Congress in 1822 for a canal to connect
Lake Michigan with the Illinois River, but nothing seems to have been
done until 1827, when by act of Congress approved March 2 of that
year a grant of public lands was made to the State of Illinois to aid in
9
the construction of the canal. This act granted "a quantity of land
equal to one-half of five sections in width on each side of said canal
and reserving each alternate section to the United .States, to be selected
by the Commissioner of the Land OfiSce under the direction of the Pres¬
ident of the United States, from one end of said canal to the other."
(Volume 4, Statutes at Large, 234.) This grant of land amounted to
290,915 acres, and is the only aid ever given by the Government to the
State in the construction of the canal.
There does not appear to have been much discussion in Congi e.ss upon
the act making this grant, probably because it followed along with the
act to grant lands to the State of Indiana to aid in the construction of
a canal to connect the Wabash River with Lake Erie. In the discus¬
sion of the latter measure it was argued that that canal would be of
great benefit to the country generally, and the West particularly, in
furnishing a water route for the transportation of the agricultural prod¬
ucts of the West to Eastern markets. It was also argued that the lands
it was proposed to grant had been obtained from the Indians at a cost
of less than 1 cent an acre, and, while they were being disposed of to
settlers at $1.25 per acre, the construction of the proposed canal would
cause a ready market for the lands reserved at not less than $5 per acre.
Hence the Government could well afford to grant one-half of a strip of
land along the line of the canal, since its construction would enhance
the value of the other half at least fourfold.
The Indiana grant was passed, and immediately afterward the grant
to Illinois was passed, being the same in terms as the Indiana grant,
though much smaller in the number of acres included.
Several surveys were made of the proposed Illinois and Michigan
Canal, but none were adopted until 1836, when an estimate and de¬
tailed plan then made was determined upon. The State of Illinois
carried on the work upon this plan until 1841, when work was suspended
for want of funds. In 1845 the State effected an arrangement with her
canal creditors whereby they advanced additional funds, and the work
again went on. The canal was completed in 1848 at a cost to the State
of about $6,500,000. This expenditure left the State very largely in
debt, but that indebtedness was long since paid, partly from the pro¬
ceeds of the sales of canal lands and partly from other revenues of the
State.
The canal as thus constructed was 100 miles in length, 60 feet wide
in earth, 48 feet wide in rock, and 6 feet deep. Since the construction
of the canal the State of Illinois has expended nearly $1,000,000 in im¬
provement of the navigation of the Illinois River by constructing dams
and locks at Henry and Copperas Creek. This was made necessary in
order to keep up navigation in the Illinois River, and thus make the
canal useful in furnishing a water route from Lake Michigan to the
Mississippi River at the mouth of the Illinois River.
In addition to these expenditures the State of Illinois has reim¬
bursed the city of Chicago for deepening the canal, which was done by
that city at a cost of about $3,000,000. It will thus be seen that the
present water route from the lake to the Mississippi River through the
Illinois River represents a total outlay on the part of the State of about
$10,000,000.
1 have always believed that the improvement of this water way is a
work of national importance, which should not devolve upon one State
alone. In January, 1881, while governor of Illinois, if 1 maybe per-
10
mitted to quote what I then said upon the subject, in a message to the
Legislature I said:
The demand for the enlargement of the canal and the completion of the
Illinois River improvement grows more urgent every year, and it is a matter
which by no means interests Illinois alone, but is of equal importance to all
the States which border on the Rlississippi River, and to all those which de¬
pend upon the great valley for their food supplies. While this water way
happens to be wholly within the territory of Illinois, its improvement is not a
question of local or State interest.
* The advantage to the nation resulting from connecting the lakes
with the Mississippi River, the North and East with the West and South, by a
water way through which can pass the bulky products of the Mississippi Val¬
ley will be inñnitely more than the cost of such improvement.
Agaiu, in 1882, when the Legislature was convened in special ses¬
sion, in calling its attention to this subject, I said:
1 regard this as a most important matter, and one in which the people of the
whole country are interested. The time has come, in myjudgment, wlieii it is
clearly the part of statesmanship to make this canal, now belonging to our
State, a great water way, free to the commerce oí the people of the nation and
adequate to its requirements. It should be made wide and deep enough to con¬
tain a volume of water flowing constantly from the lakes to the Mississippi
River of sulflcient size to fully answer the demands of trade for years to come.
Ill connection with this canal and the improvement of the Illinois River the
proposed canal from Hennepin, on the Illinois River, to the Mississippi River,
at or near Rock Inland, should be constructed of such capacity as will meet the
needs of the commerce of the great West. The work is national in character
and importance, and should not be done by Jlliiiois alone. While both canals
and the river are entirely within the territorial limits of our Commonwealth,
yet the benefits to be deriveil from their construction and improvement would
be coextensive with the nation. North, South, East, and West.
In accordance with my recommendation the Legislature passed "an
act ceding the Illinois and Michigan Canal to the United States,-' which
act was approved April 28,1882. Section 1 of that act provides—
That the Illinois and Michigan Canal, its right of way and all its appurte¬
nances, and all right, title, and interest which the State may now have in any
real estate ceded to the State by the Llnited States for canal purposes, be, and
are hereby, ceded to the United States, for the purpose of making and maintain¬
ing an enlarged canal and water way from Lake Michigan to the Illinois and
IMis.sissippi Rivers ; and this cession is made upon the condition that the United
States shall, within Ave years from the time this act takes effect, accept this
grant, and thereafter maintain the said canal and water way for the purpose
aforesaid. In case the United State-« shall accept this grant, it is upon the ex-
)ness condition that the canal shall be enlarged in such manner as Congress
shall determine, and be maintained as a national water waj' for commercial pur¬
poses, to be used by all persons, without discrimination, under such rules and
regulations as Congress may prescribe.
This act was submitted to a vote of the people of Illinois at the gen¬
eral election in November, 1882, and was ratified by a very large ma¬
jority, and its ratification was announced by proclamation of the gov¬
ernor the same mouth. .
In the following November the governor of Illin(jjs forwarded to the
President of the United States a certified copy of said law and of the
proclamation of the governor announcing the ratification of the act by
the voters of the State. The communication from the governor of Illi¬
nois. with its accompanying papers, was referred by the President to
the Secretary of War, who returned it December 11, 1883, with a report
thereon by the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, in which
he submitted estimates of the cost of constructing the Hennepin Canal.
In concluding his report the Chief of Engineers said:
Inaisniuch as Congress has made provision for a survey and estimate for en"
larging the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and as the State of Illinois has taken
steps toward traiisforring the canal to the United States, and as there apjiiears to
be no q\iesti<)n as to the henetit which would result to commerce and navigation
11
by the proposed enlargement in case the Hennepin Canal project is adopted, it
is recommended that the subject be submitted to Congress, in accordance with
the wishes of the governor of Illinois.
On the 9th of January, 1884, President Arthur transmitted all these
papers to Congress, commending the subject to its consideration as one
of great importance.
Notwithstanding the active competition encountered from numerous
railway lines the canal has for years more than held its o^vn in the
amount of traffic transported, as is shown by the following official state¬
ment of the number of canal-boats running, of the clearances issued,
of the miles run, and of the tons transported on the Illinois and Mich¬
igan Canal during the past twenty-six years, from 1860 to 1885, inclu¬
sive:
Year.
'S Ö
0
1860 3,926 201 235,6^ 357,437
1861 6,399 194 415,599 547,295
1862 7,044 211 474,976 673,590
1863 5,810 240 418,713 619,599
1864 4,527 228 300,340 510.286
1865 3,907 228 360,614 616,140
1866 5,488 230 406,784 746,815
1867 4,183 209 357,623 746,954
1868 4,128 218 345,169 737,827
1869 : 4,521 219 385,050 871,738
1870 2,903 179 242,650 585,870
1871 3,523 186 278,948 629,975
1872 *5.018 173 3^1 320 783,041
1873 *4,743 172 328,174 849,533
1874 *4,296 152 288,075 712,020
1875 *3,554 142 259,878 676,025
1876 *4,049 145 302,024 691,943
1877 *4,008 145 272,788 605,912
1878 *4,299 140 293,335 598,792
1879 *4,458 136 304,191 669,559
1880 *4,536 133 320,009 751,360
1881 *4,459 133 316,435 826,133
1882 *4,a55 132 335,710 1,011,287
1883 *3,789 132 306,618 925,575
1884 *4,204 tl34 325,431 956,721
1885 3,990 135 304,664 827,355
* Includes clearances at Henry and Copperas Creek,
t Of this number 27 are steam canal-boats and 8 are tugs.
The State of Illinois offers to grant this canal to the United States,
not because it desires to get rid of an unprofitable investment but be¬
cause it stands ready to do its full share toward providing the connec¬
tion between the Mississippi and the lakes, which the commerce of the
country requires. This canal, including the improvement of the Illi¬
nois River, represents an expenditure on the part of the State of about
$10,000,000; and the projterty included in the grant is worth manymiii-
ions. It has never been the policy of the State to oirerate this canal as
a source of revenue, and yet with the low tolls that have been Imposed
the receipts from the canal during the past thirty-eight years—1848 to
1885, inciu-sive—.show a balance of $1,614,005 over the expenditures for
ordinary and extraordinary repairs, renewals, and operating expenses.
12
Under the terms of the grant made by the State it must be accepted
by the United States before November 22, 1887.
HI.STORY OF THE HENNEPIN' C.VN'AL MOVESIEN'T.
The question of constructing some kind of a water way through which
vessels of large tonnage might pass back and forth between the Missis¬
sippi Eiver and Lake Michigan is not a new one. For many years the
subject has been agitated, and many plans have been suggested and dis¬
cussed. River improvement conventions, State Legislatures, and boards
of trade have from time to time urged the importance of such a con¬
nection between the country's two greatest systems of internal commu¬
nication by water, and I do not believe that any public improvement
ever received so strong an indorsement as this has.
As far back as 1845 a convention was held in Memphis, Tenn., con¬
sisting of five hundred and eighty-three delegates from the States of
Pennsylvania, Virginia, the two Carolinas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana,
Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, and the then Territory of Iowa, the object of which was
"to confer on measures which should be adopted for the development
of the resources of the valley of the Mississippi and adjacent States on
the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast." That convention ap¬
pointed a committee to memorialize Congress upon the subjects referred
to in the resolutions adopted bj' the convention, among which was this
one:
That the project of connecting: the Mississippi River with the lakes of the
North by a ship-canal, and thus with the Atlantic Ocean, is a measure worthy of
the enlig:htened consideration of Congress.
The memorialists of that convention, being representatives from South
Carolina, Kentuckj-, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Missouri, urged upon
Congress the importance of such an improvement from a military as
well as commercial point of view. The memorial of that convention,
when presented to Congress, was referred to a select committee of the
Senate, of which Hon. John C. Calhoun was chairman. That com¬
mittee made an exhaustive report thereon, and upon the subject of a
ship-canal between the Mississippi River and the great lakes said:
In reference to that portion of the memorial which relates to the connection
of the Mississippi and the lakes by a canal which would admit ships of the
largest class navigating either to pa.ss from one to the other, your committee
fully concur in all which it states in reference to its importance: but they are of
the opinion that Congress has no power under the Constitution to construct
such a work.
These tacts are referred to as showing that even at that early day
the importance of the connection it is now proposed to make between
the great river and the great lakes was realized by citizens and states¬
men. If it was important then, how much more importautnow ! The
vast regions of country in the West and Northwest, then a wilderness,
have now become populous States and Territories, producing a large
proportion of the food supply of the East as well as of foreign countries.
The opinioms then prevailing as to the limited power of Congress to
make internal improvements have given place to later and more en¬
lightened constructions of the Constitution. Vast sums of money are
expended by the Government every year on the improvement of rivers
and harbors and in digging canals in the interest of commerce which,
under the views prevailing in the days of Calhoun, could not be appro¬
priated without positive outrage to the Constitution.
I am satisfied that, had the views that have of late years prevailed
13
among the wisest of our statesmen concerning the power of Congress to
appropriate money for internal improvements prevailed more generally
in an earlier day, we would not now be engaged in the consideration of
this project, for this canal would long since have become an accom¬
plished fact.
All the conventions held in recent years in the interest of Western
water ways have indorsed this project, among which may be mentioned
those held at Saint Louis in 1880, at Davenport in 1881, at New Or¬
leans in 1885, and at Saint Paul last September. These conventions
were composed of hundreds of delegates representing the States in the
Missiiäsippi and Missouri Valleys, North and South.
The Northwestern water ways convention, held in Saint Paul last
September, was attended by nearly a thousand delegates from Illinois,
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota, and
Montana. These delegates represented 744,808 square miles of terri¬
tory, and not less than thirteen million people. The annual products
of the region represented are valued at $3,000,000,000. At that con¬
vention the following resolution was adopted :
Resolrcd, That in the opinion of this convention the eniargement of the liii-
nois and Michigan Canai.and the extension of the same by the construction of
the canai from tiie liiinois River at Hennepin to the Mississippi River at Rock
Isiand, thereby connecting the great iakes vnth the Upper Mississippi and giving
a continuous iine of water transportation from the Mississippi Vailey to the -A.t-
iantic seaboard, is demanded in the interest of clieap transportation and the
now immense and growing commerce of the Northwest, and we call ttpon our
Senators and Representatives in Congress to urge the construction of such canal
and the enlargement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal by the General Govern¬
ment.
The Legislatures of New York, Iowa, and Illinois have memorialized
Congress in behalf of this improvement. It has been indorsed several
times by the National Board of Trade and by the commercial organiza¬
tions of Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Saint Louis, La Crosse, Du-
luth, Davenport, Muscatine, Rock Island, Buffalo, Syracuse, and New
York city. It has been twice recommended by the New York Board
of Trade and Transportation, and the New York Produce Exchange
made the first exception to its general rule on these questions by unan¬
imously indorsing this canal, saying in substance:
That this was the first time since their organization that they had recom¬
mended the General Government to aid or construct internal improvements, or
had asked or advised their Representatives in Congress to vote appropriations
for any internal improvement of any kind ; that this was an exception, and if
they were not firmly convinced that it had merit they would not depart from
their universal rule.
Among the many petitions and memorials presented to Congress from
time to time in favor of this work, none I think are more significant
than those which during this ses.sion have been coming in from differ¬
ent assemblies of the Knights of Labor all over the country praying
Congress to construct the Hennepin Canal. Each of these assemblies
represents a separate constituency of men who earn their bread by la¬
bor and who form an important part of the Goveinment whose agents
we are. These men ask and have a right to ask that Congress shall do
whateverit can to lessen the price of the food they consume by reducing
as much as possible the cost of its transportation, and they also urge
the propriety of constructing this canal at this time when thousands of
hone.st men are unable to obtain employment and are suffering for the
Beces-saries of life.
In the light of the facts cited and the indorsements mentioned I dis-
14
claim for these projects any purely local character. The canal it is
proposed to build, as well as the one already built and now offered to
the United States are, it is true, entirely within the territorial limits
of Illinois, hut other States are much more directly to be benetited by
the improvement than Illinois. The object of the proposed connection
between the lakes and the Mississippi is to provide cheaper carriage
for heavy freights passing between the East and the West. The freight
seeking a water route from the West to the East or from the East to
the West must pass through Chicago, and the much higher charges of
transportation now prevailing between the West and Chicago than be¬
tween Chicago and the East give rise to the necessity of and demand
for this canal.
Congress has a number of times authorized surveys of routes for this
canal to be made by Government engineers at Government expense. In
authorizing these surveys Congress could have had no other thought
than the possibility if not probability that it would sooner or later au¬
thorize the construction of the canal ; and such action was certainly an
expression of belief in the power of Congress under the Constitution to
construct such a canal, and that the commerce of the country would,
sooner or later, demand that it should be built. In the Forty-seventh
Congress the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate reported an
amendment to the river and harbor bill making an appropriation to
commence the construction of the Illinois and Mississippi, or Hennepin
Canal. This was not adopted bj' the Senate, but provision was made
for a new survey, the results of which have been presented to Congress
this session.
WHAT IS PROPOSED.
The river and harbor act of 1882 directed a survey to be made for a
canal from a point on the Illinois River at or near Hennepin by the most
practicable route to the Mississippi River at or above Rock Island,
to be not less that 70 feet wide at the water line and not less than 7
feet in depth of water, and with capacity for vessels at least 280 tons
burden. The act also provided for a survey of the Illinois and Michi¬
gan Canal, and for estimates of the cost of enlarging it to the dimensions
of the proposed Hennepin Canal, These surveys and estimates were
made and transmitted by the President to the last Congress at its first
session. (Senate Executive Document No. 38.) A supplemental sur¬
vey has since been made and transmitted to Congress the present session,
(House Executive Document No, 117. ) Reference is made to these sur¬
veys and reports for detailed information as to the route, practicability,
and cost of this improvement.
None of the engineers engaged in these surveys raise any question or
express any doubts in their reports as to the practicability of construct¬
ing the proposed water way, and Maj. W. H. H. Benyuard, of the En¬
gineer Corps, who had charge of the surveys, says:
The surveys demonstrate that a perfectly feasible route exists fora canal from
the Illinois River, near Hennepin, to the Mississippi, at or above Rock Island.
The dimensions of the canal as agreed upon by the engineers and
on the basis of which the estimates were made provide for a width of
80 feet at the surface and a depth of 7 feet of water, with locks 170
feet long and 30 feet wide, which would give a capacity sufficient at
the most unfavorable stage of the main river for the passage of barges
of 300 tons, although with deep water such barges could, with the
box-top, carry 600 tons.
15
To makethedimeusionsof the Illinois and Michigan Canal correspond
with the size of the proposed Hennepin Canal would require an enlarge¬
ment of 30 feet in width, an increased depth of 1 foot, and the adding
of 60 feet to the length and of 12 feet to width of the locks, no change
in the number or location of the locks being necessary. The estimated
cost of this enlargement is $2,298,919.15, which would increase the size
of the canal about 25 per cent. The present canal offered to the United
States is 96 miles long, and with the Illinois River has extended water
communication from Lake Michigan two-thirds of the distance to the
Mississippi.
The length of the proposed Hennepin Canal is 74.5 miles by one of
the routes surveyed to Rock Island and 77 miles by the other. Six
routes in all have been surveyed, which Ibllow different lines at the
western end, and the estimated cost of each is as follows:
Eock Island route, via Green River SC. 709,536
Rock Island route, via Penney's Slough and Rock River 6,554,052
Watertown route, via Green River 7,207,646
Watertown route, via Penney's Slough 6,306,552
Marais d'Osier route 5,811,367
The difference in cost between the most northern and the Rock Island
route, via Penney's Slough, is $542,685, and between the northern
route and the other Rock Island route is $698,169. The difference in
cost between the Penney's Slough Watertown route and the two Rock
Island routes is very slight. General Newton, the Chief of Engineers,
in view of the commercial importance of the cities of Rock Island, Da¬
venport, and Moline, all close together, favors a route having its ter¬
minus at Rock Island, and 1 am of the opinion that if the canal is built
it should make that city its western terminus, as is proposed in the
amendment reported by the committee.
WHY THIS IMPROVEMENT SHOULD BE MADE.
The States and Territories lying in the vast expanse of the Upper
Mississippi and Missouri River Valleys produce more than one-third of
the food supplies necessary for the general consumption of the nations
and they are as well consumers of the products of other sections of the
Union to the extent of the purchasing capacity of our own surplus prod¬
ucts. The great markets are reached with more difficulty and at greater
expense from this productive region than from any other portion of our
country, and hence it is that the thirteen millions of people inhabiting this
fertile domain bear a heavier burden in the shape of transportation
charges than the remainder of our population because of the long dis¬
tances and expensive routes over which their products and purchases are
necessarily carried to and I'rom the Eastern States and Europe. What¬
ever improvements can he made that will reduce the cost of carriage
will tend to reduce the cost to consumers everywhere of one-third of our
entire food supply. Even should the entire saving go only into the
pockets of the producers of this great empire and add only to their
wealth the General Government would be justified in making liberal ex¬
penditures ibr their benefit. But it must be plain that the millions thus
saved would be expended in making purchases of the products of other
sections which would reap like profits from the increased demand for
their products and the reduced cost of their distribution. Therefore in
either point of view it is clear that whatever saving can be effected in
16
the transportation tax will prove materially advantageous to West and
East alike, and will add to the wealth and prosperity of the entire Union.
We are all familiar with the inarveloits development and unexcelled
resources of this great productive area, which is capable of furnishing
the food supplies of the continent. Its productive capacity seems almost
unlimited, but in consequence of the recently increased and more suc-
cessiitl foreign competition a point has been reached where it is a ques¬
tion whether this vast domain shall continue to prosper unless it can
be relieved of some portion of the onerous burden now imposed upon it
for transportation. The numerous lines ol' railway constructed through
this Territory have failed to relieve this burden upon the staple prod¬
ucts of the people to a sufficient extent to enable them to compete suc¬
cessfully with other countries and other sections of the United States,
and they are therefore compelled to look to the developmentof the water
ways with which nature has bountifully supplied them as the only avail¬
able means of relief. They have T.OOO miles of rivers which are or can
be made navigable and 1.000 miles of lake coast, and they ask that these
natural highw ays be improved and connected, not only for tbeir own
relief but for the benetit of the whole people; not only to increase the re¬
turns from their own labor but their capacity to purchase the fruits of
the labor of others: not only to reduce the cost of food iu all parts of
the Union, birt to increase the earnings of the wage-worker and the
profits of the manulacturers everywhere by increasing the demand for
the products of every industry.
To show what can be done iu this direction by improvement of the
water ways I need only to call attention to what has been done toward
reducing the cost of carriage by water between (Jhicago and New York.
The improvement of the Saint Clair flats by the Government revolu¬
tionized grain transportation on the great lakes by making possible the
use of steam-ves-sels capable of carrying cargoes three times as large as
those carried before, and of towing at the same time barges carrying as
ranch more. Before these improvements were made the movement of
'25,000 bushels of grain by a single vessel was an unusual feat, but since
that time a single steamboat with its barges has transported 260,000
bushels on one trip. There can be no doubt that the millions expended
by Congre.ss upon the Saint Clair flats, in connection with the abolition
of tolls on the Erie Canal, have saved many millions annually to the
people and for a time gave the United States control of the grain markets
of the world. The immense saving eflected by these improvements is
indicated by the fact that a permanent reduction of 12 cents a bushel
has been made in the cost of transporting grain from Chicago to the At¬
lantic seaboard. It the old rates should be restored we would not export
any cereals at all; and unless the rates from the West and Northwest
can be reduced by extending to that region the benefits of water car¬
riage the production and exportation of cereals, which in 1880 comprised
almost one-third of the entire exports of the United States, must con¬
tinue to be limited.
We all know that the water rates between Chicago and New Y'ork
effectively regulate and control all railroad rates between points to the
east of the Mississippi River. This regulation is potential upon five-
sixths of the line traversed by the immense traffic passing between the
Atlantic coast and the region beyond the Upper Mississippi, but it
ceases at Chicago, and it costs more for transportation over the one-sixth
of the distance which lies beyond the reach of this regulative influence
17
than it does over the remaining flve-sixths. And the farther any of
this territory is removed from a water route the more oppressive and
burdensome do the charges for transportation become.
This is shown by a few examples cited in the memorial presented to
the Committee on Interstate Commerce, in which the following state¬
ments will be found:
Water transit for freigtits is proved to be the cheapest possible. As an exam-
pie, coal was carried at an average charge for the season of 1884, from Erie and
Buffalo to Chicago, about 1,000 miles, for 64 cents per ton ; thence to the Mis¬
sissippi River, 200 miles, the charge was $2; for the next 100 miles it mounts up
to $4 per ton from Chicago ; and in Western Iowa and Minnesota it runs upward
to a much higher figure.
« 4: « Ot 4: 4t «
Take another example. The freight on a bushel of wheat between Northern
Iowa and Chicago, some 400 miles, is and has been for the season of 1884,10.8 to
16.8. From points in Nebraska and Southern Minnesota 16.8 to 21 cents; the
highest figure being more than the cost of transporting a bushel of wheat in
June, 1884, from Chicago to Liverpool, about 4,500 miles—showing at least 4,000
miles, for the same price, in favor of water transit. So oppressive have been the
enormous freight charges for some time past, that wheat was sold west of the
Missouri River for 30 cents per bushel, and corn for 12, making its value by the
ton less than that of coal, so that producers have actually burned it for fuel. It
is therefore plain that if Congress does not want the vast fertile West—the Up¬
per Mississippi Valley—to go back to its primitive desolation they must pro¬
vide cheaper water transit for its cereal and other products.
The water lines from New York by canal and lake now end at Chicago. With
the Hennepin Canal they would be extended to Saint Paul. Instead of the
freight on a bushel of wheat between Minnesota and Northern Iowa and Chicago
being from 16 to 21 cents per bushel, Major Benyaurd has shown that by river
and canal it would be only 6 cents. This would reduce the cost of the bread on
every table of the people of the seaboard States from 12 to 20 per cent, for every
day in the year. It would also leave millions of money among the people of
the Upper Mississippi States. Again, it is asked, is not the' Hennepin Canal a
most important national work ?
This is the situation; and the purpose in constructing the Hennepin
Canal is to extend the beneficial influence of the most effective regula¬
tion known over a vast expanse of the most productive territory of the
United States by connecting the great lakes and the Mississippi by the
cheapest and most practicaje method that has been suggested. This
canal could be and would be used by an immense traffic, but its regulative
influence would affect an immensely greater traffic than could or would
seek its line. It is estimated that between Saint Paul and Saint Louis
12,000,000 tons of freight annually cross the Mississippi, all of which
would be affected by providing water communication between the river
and the lakes, and a small saving in the freight charges on these ship¬
ments would equal every year the entire cost of this proposed improve¬
ment.
The vast empire lying within the Upper Mississippi and Missouri
Kiver Valleys, comprising the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa,
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, and the Territories of Dakota
and Montana, contains one-fourth of the area of the United States, not
including Alaska, and has a population of at least 13,000,000, ornearly
one-fourth that of the United States. The wonderful productive capac¬
ity of this territory is indicated by the following statement, compiled
by Col. P. B. Walker, of the Minnesota River Commission, showing the
CUL 2
18
extent of its productions last year, in vS pite of the heavy charges for
transportation with which it is burdened and the low prices prevailing :
Articles.
Quantity.
"Wheat
Corn
Oats
Barley
Rye
Buckwheat.
Hav
Wool..
do..
do
do
do
tons..
..pounds..
Horses number..
Cattle do
Hogs do
Sheep do
Gold.
..bushels... 339,551,000
..do , 1,049,374,000
349,432,000
19,437,974
10,674,865
986,272
19,099, OOS
38,610,721
5,895.765
15,792,042
26,052.487
7,024,720
Silver
Lumber feet... 5,175,000,000
Value.
8310,
524,
87,
12,
5,
133,
4,
589,
432,
000.000
687.000
358,000
524,663
337,432
493,136
693,046
633, 286
576,500
201,969
419, 808
074,160
100,000
370,000
000,000
2,409,469,000
The natural outlet for a large proportion of these products is through
the great lakes to the East, the trend and tendency of this commerce
being eastward. The traffic now carried on upon the Upper Missis¬
sippi River and its tributaries is much more extensive than is com¬
monly supposed, as persistent efforts are made presumably in the rail¬
road interest to create the impression that the river has virtually gone
ont of use. Between the month of the Chippewa and Saint Louis
there are eighty mills on the main river, with an annual day-sawing
capacity of 800,000,000 feet of lumber, employing some sixteen thou¬
sand men, and representing about S'20,000,000 of capital. On the Up¬
per Mississippi and its tributaries, the Saint Croix, Chippewa, Wiscon¬
sin, and Black, there are about two hundred mills engaged in the
manufacture of lumber, the greater part of their product being floated
into the Mississippi.
The statement of the traffic that has passed through the Des Moines
Rapids Canal since it was opened in 1877 to June 30, 188-1, shows that
itincluded 6,059 steamboats and 3,323 barges, 59.079 passengers, 368,-
572 tons of merchandise, 8,263,189 bushels of grain, 219,697,812 feet
of lumber, 47,175,134 feet of logs, 82,838,561 lath, and 95,604,150
shingles.
In 1883 the number of steamboats, barges, and rafts passing the
bridges over the Mississippi at the points named was as follows:
Bridge at— ■= «
S Sa
«'S ff
S S S
^ n pî
4,893
828 i
1,352
4,316
509
1,663
3,585
867
1,422
2,454
594
2,083
3,006
592
499
2,561
142
972
1,943
291
379
1,856
400
287
19
In the steamboat districts extending from Saint Louis to Sioux City
on the Missouri and to Saint Paul on the Mississippi there are employed
more than 300 steamboats, with an aggregate tonnage of 65,000, as
against 122 in 1860, and the reports show that more than three and a
quarter million passengers were carried on those steamboats last year,
notwithstanding the popular belief that, so far as passenger travel is
concerned, the great river has gone into what the Executive would call
a state of "innocuous desuetude."
These figures, though incomplete, suggest almost unlimited possibil¬
ities in the way of cheap water carriage throughout the Northwest when
its natural highways have been properly improved and their free navi¬
gation secured. Let us now glance at the commerce of the great lakes
which the Hennepin Canal would connect with this traffic on the Mis¬
sissippi and its tributaries. In 1885 nearly 31,000,000 tons of freight
passed through the Sault Sainte Marie Canal during the short season of
navigation. Although the number of miles of railway leading into
Chicago from the West is 23,401 by main lines and 47,931 including
branches, the trade of that city is by no means confined to shipments
by rail. The reports of the Treasury Department show that during the
year ending June 30,1885, the number of vessels, foreign and coastwise,
that arrived and cleared from the principal ports of the United States
and from Chicago was as follows:
New York
Boston
Baltimore
Philadelphia
San Francisco
New Orleans
Portland and Falmouth..
Total
Chicago
Arrived.
Cleared.
Total.
7,789
8,470
16,259
3,190
3,230
6,420
2,241
2,480
4, 720
1,991
2,295
4,286
1,035
1,268
998
2,303
1,034
2,032
704
711
1,415
17,984
19,452
37,436
10,437
10,546
20,983
From this statement it will be seen that the total number of arrivals
and clearances at Chicago during the year lacked but 6,453 of being
equal to the combined arrivals and clearances at all the other leading
parts above named, and lacked but 1,696 of being equal to the total
number at New York and Boston, the two ports next highest on the
list in this respect. It also appears that the total arrivals and clear¬
ances at Chicago were larger in number than those at Baltimore, Bos¬
ton, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco combined, which
aggregated 19,762; that they were equal to the combined arrivals and
clearances from New York and Baltimore, numbering 20,980; that they
exceeded those from New York and Philadelphia, which numbered
20,545; that they exceeded those from New York, New Orleans, and
San Francisco combined, which aggregated 20,594; and that they were
larger than the total number at New York, Portland, Falmouth, and
San Francisco combined, which was 19,977.
Do not these suggestive statistics demonstrate the expediency and
importance of connecting the great lakes with the Mississippi by a free
water way, thus uniting the vast commerce of the lakes with that of
the great river and extending the benefits of each to an immensely en¬
larged area at a comparatively small cost?
20
In considering the propriety of making the expenditures required to
perfect the system of water ways with which nature has endowed the
Northwest Congress may properly take account of the fact that the en¬
tire expenditure necessary for this purpose would he far less than the
value of the 35,546,207 acres of land which have been donated to rail¬
ways within these nine Statesand Territories, and that the Upper Mis¬
sissippi States contributed to the national Treasury in 1885 on account
of internal revenue the sum of $34,228,292,72, as appears from the fol¬
lowing statement of the amount of internal-revenue taxes collected
from States whose cereal products would be afforded cheap transporta¬
tion by the construction of this canal:
Illinois 823,075,864 61
Iowa 2,222,059 15
Kansas 170, 202 02
Nebraska 1,971,296 12
Minnesota 492,704 97
Missouri 6,276,165 85
Total 34,228,292 72
This statement shows that a small percentage of the amount annu¬
ally contributed to the national Treasury by these States would defray
the cost of the proposed improvement.
In seeking the cause of the recent depressed condition of our agricult¬
ural and manufacturing interests, the decrease in our cereal exports
within recent years is a fact which prominently claims attention. In
1880 our cereal exports amounted to 284,000,000 bushels, reducing flour
to bushels, and including corn and corn-meal, their estimated value be¬
ing 8-88,000,000, and constituted nearly one-third of the entire exports
of the United States. In 18S3 the amount was reduced to 176,000,000
bushels, and in 1884 to 151,000,000 bushels of an estimated value of
$162,000,000, showing a reduction of $126,000,000 in the value of our
cereal exports witniu four years.
To account for this decrease it is only necessary to observe what is
being done by other nations which are competing with ours in supply¬
ing the markets of the world with bread. The vast expenditures being
made by the leading European nations for public improvements de¬
signed to secure cheaper trausportation are concisely stated in a docu¬
ment published last March by Hon. Horatio Seymour, jr., of New
York, who says:
Experience has taught the nations of Europe the value of cheap transporta¬
tion, and they have made every effort to improve their water ways.
Austria, Germany, Holland, France, and Italy have 18,446 miles of inland
navigation. Austria is building a canal between the Danube and the Elbe, 138
miles long at an expense of 129,000,000, and is improving the Danube.
Germany is expending $86,000,000 on her water routes and has commenced a
oanal, with the help of Russia, from the Baltic to the North Sea that will cost
$50,000,000. Holland has just completed a ship-canal fr«m Amsterdam to the
sea, and France is engaged on four great water routes, for which she has appro¬
priated $200,000,000, which will cost much more than that to ftnish. Russia has
a system of canals connecting the Baltic and the Black Seas, the Volga and the
Caspian Seas, and the Baltic and the White Seas. She has just completed a
canal 22 feet deep from St. Petersburg to Cronstadt, at a cost of $9,000,000.
Englaml has 2,360 miles of canal, ami is making preparations to build a canal
from Manche.ster to Liverpool 26 feet deep, which will cost $40,000,000: also one
from London to Bristol and another from London to làverpool. Two ship-canals
are proposed in Ireland. England has spent large sums in cutting canals for
irrigation and transportation combined in India. She proposes to cut through
the Siam Peninsula, a distance of 60 miles, at a cost of $20,000,000. Greece has
nearly completed a siiii>-canal at a cost of $>,500,000.
In our country, Canada, whose canal system cost $42,(X)0,000, is spending $1,000,-
00© to deepen the Welland Canal to 14 feet. Three otlver canal schemes are pro-
21
posed by the officials at Ottawa, the most important of which is from Montreal
to Lake Huron, by way of the Ottawa and French Rivers.
* * * This has been called the " canal age," because of the magnitude and
extent of the canal operations all over the world. This revival of the water
routes has been brought about by the growing opinion expressed by an eminent
engineer that "in any country it is highly important, alike for agricultural and
other industries, that there should be a network of canals running somewhat
parallel to that of the railroads."
The United States has not kept pace with Europe; there are but 2,500 miles of
canal in this country, which is a small amount when we consider the extent of
our territorv.
It was also stated by Hod. John C. Dore, of Chicago, before the
House Committee on Rivers and Harbors in January last, that the mile¬
age of the French canals and rivers completed was 7,069, and of those
projected and to be completed 1,813, making a total of 8,882 miles;
that the total cost of those completed was Ï218,000,000, and the esti¬
mated cost of those to he completed is $200,000,000 more. And in
quoting from the "administration report of the railways in India for
1884'-85," Mr. Dore called attention to the fact that the expenditure
for canals alone in India up to the end of the fiscal year 1882-'83 had
been $103,800,000; "as much within about $2,000,000 have they spent
there on canals for transport and irrigation as this entire country has
expended on all its internal improvements from the foundation of the
Government until now. ' ' He also showed from the oflBcial reports that
the government from 1859 to 1883 had expended $156.800,000 in that
country in sul)sidizing railroads in the interest of cheap transportation,
and that the loss to the government on these railroad investments dur¬
ing these twenty-four years had been $124,750,000.
The enterprise and liberality of these nations in making public im¬
provements in the interest of cheaper transportation is in striking con¬
trast with the policy pursued by this Government, especially when we
consider the heavy burdens of taxation under which those nations la¬
bor on account of standing armies, navies, public debts, &c. Think of
France maintaining her army and navy at an annual expense greater
than the entire amount this Government has expended on account of
public improvements since its foundation !
There are no other expenditures, Mr. President, that are as profita¬
ble to the whole people as those made for public works. Whatever of
the public revenue is devoted to the construction and improvement of
great highways of commerce, to opening up harbors on the ocean or the
lakes, to removing obstructions from the channel of rivers, or to aiding
in the building of railroads where water routes can not be constructed,
yields a larger return to the whole people than any other expenditures
that are made by the Government. And the benefits are not tempo¬
rary, but lasting; they come back to producer and consumer alike in a
reduced transportation tax. What is there to show at the end of each
fiscal year for the millions annually expended in maintaining the va¬
rious departments of the Government ? These expenditures are nec¬
essary and proper, but they are simply the living expenses of the Gov¬
ernment. On the other hand, the money put info public improvements
by which commerce is encouraged and promoted is a permanent in¬
vestment and becomes a constant and continuing source of wealth to
the country, bringing hack returns to the pockets of the people year
after year and adding to the prosperity of all.
I know, sir, that it has of late years become the fashion in some
quarters to fiercely denounce appropriations of this character as im¬
mense jobs, as part of a "grab game," in which each Representative
22
and Senator is interested only for the purpose of securing votes by ob¬
taining for his district or State more than its share of what is called the
"swag," and it is freely alleged that such appropriations are divided
up more with relereuce to these personal interests than to the propriety
or necessity of the expenditures made. It is far easier for these critics
to make such charges than to investigate the facts, and they are uot
made by those who are most familiar with the wants and needs of the
country. But Congress can not justify itself in declining to provide
for public improvements demanded by the necessities of commerce from
fear of an unfounded public outcry of this character any more than it
can in making expenditures which are not shown to be necessary and
advantageous. And the history of our country will show that Congress
is just as apt to err in the direction of a mistaken economy with refer¬
ence to needed and important public improvements as in the direction
of unwise or extravagant expenditures.
The doctrine of internal improvements has had the sanction and ap¬
proval of some of our ablest statesmen, as was conclusively shown by
the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Hoae] in his re¬
marks in this body on Julyl, 1884, upon the relation of national gov¬
ernment to domestic commerce. The Senator at that time called atten¬
tion to the first report of Albert Gallatin, then Secretary of the Treasury,
upon the subject of internal improvements, made to the Senate April
4, 1808, in which a comprehensive and costly system of internal im¬
provements was advocated as the best and surest means of increasing
the national wealth and prosperity, and in which it was urged that good
roads and canals were the chief strengtheners of the Union. After show¬
ing that Mr. Gallatin proposed for these purposes an expenditure of
5520,000,000, the Senator from Massachusetts said:
It will be seen, therefore, that he proposes an expenditure for internal im-
provemeuts alone, not reckoning any «um devoted to harbors either on the ocean
or the lakes, equal to 14 per cent, of the entire national income, and equal to
about 25 per cent, of the sum expended by the nation for all other purposes, ex-
chisive of the public debt. * ♦ If ^ye were to expend the .same proportion
of our revenue on this object to-day as was proposed by Gallatin in 1808, we
should have devoted fifty-six and a half millions in 1882 to internal Improve¬
ments alone.
As a nation we are growing in population and business and wealth.
The settlements of our population extend from ocean to ocean and from
the lakes to the Gulf. Commerce is increasing yearly in volume and
value. Railroads and civilization are pushing out in every direction,
and the world is looking toward America as the nation of progress.
Shall we as legislators, looking over the field of duty, sit here and say
that we would like to remove all obstacles in the way of the natural
movement of commerce; that we would like to cheapen transportation,
so that farmers in the West and Northwest may be able to ship their
products to a paying market; that we would like to provide a means
by which our people"might successfully compete in foreign markets, and
thus profitably dispose of our surplus corn and wheat and beef and
pork and butter and cheese and manufactures; but the Constitution
does not in express terms authorize such legislation, and therefore we
can not support the proposed measure of relief?
Mr. President, in my j udgment we have the power to build this canal,
this waterway, and I trust we shall use the power for the public good.
Can any man doubt that such a free water route as is proposed from the
Mississippi to Bake Michigan would be a great public benefit? The
nations to-day are engaged in a peaceful struggle for commercial suprem-
23
acy on the seas, and for the trade of the world. Production seems to
be in excess of consumption. The cry is hard times here and elsewhere
in other lands. Men are idle for want of work and families are hungry
for want of bread. What shall be done? It is our duty to consider
the situation of aifairsand do what we can to improve it. Shall we as
a nation drop back and say to other nations engaged with us in the
struggle for trade that we are out of the race? Shall we let the prod¬
ucts of the American farmer and manufacturer rot and rust in the field
and shop?
We can not afford to occupy such a position. The Constitution is
not in the way, and our duty is clearly pointed out. It is to go for¬
ward and to do all that lies within our power to aid in developing the
means of carrying on the trade and business of the people on the land
and on the sea, so that we may be able at all times to find profitable
markets for the surplus of our productions either at home or abroad.
Mr. President, a nation can not stand still. It is bound to go for¬
ward or to fall back. If we undertake to stand still and say we are
doing well enough, let well enough alone, we make a serious mistake.
While we are neglecting our opportunities other nations, full of ambi¬
tion and enterprise, their statesmen looking carefully to the future and
reaching out in every direction to promote the interests of their nations,
will secure advantages which millions of money and generations of
time may not suffice to overcome. It is our duty to adopt a policy
which will open up new avenues of trade, cheapen the means of trans¬
portation, and enable our people to get out of the rut which results in
overproduction. Business needs stimulation so that the people may
feel that they can consume more. The South American trade should
be secured to this country; the trade of Mexico should be secured to give
additional markets for our wares. Our policy has too long been penny
wise and pound foolish, and even to-day men are opposed to the pro¬
posed canal between the Mississippi and the lakes, our two great sys¬
tems of internal water communication, though it is evident that this
connection would give the Western farmer a better price for the prod¬
ucts of his farm and would cheapen the food of the Eastern consumer.
Mr. President, too much has already been said on the floors of Con¬
gress and by the press of the country, by Legislatures and by conven¬
tions, by men of business, not politicians (who are generally charged
jvith talking for votes if they say a word in behalf of the people), by
men who know better than we do here what is needed, showing the
merits of tliis proposed canal, to justify me in talking much longer in
favor of the measure. The necessities of commerce demand this canal,
and we should not hesitate to meet the demand by making an appro¬
priation for the work.
What a grand country we have ! Our coast line bounded by the
two great oceans, the chain of lakes and the Gulf nearly surrounding
us with water; with the mighty Father of Waters sweeping from north
to south through the center of the continent, and bounded on both sides
by the fertile lands of the Mississippi Valley, the most productive soil
known to mortal man, stretching far and wide on each side. Mr. Pres¬
ident, the system mapped out by nature in this country has left little
for man to do to add to the opportunities for happiness and prosperity.
It is an old saying that man made the city but God made the country.
And, sir, in looking over this country and considering how it is laid out,
with its variety of soil and climate and productions, with its lakes and
rivers, I can but feel that it is the greatest country on earth as an abode
24
for civilized man. A little work on the coast and the margins of the
rivers and lakes, a few short canals, and the people of this country in
every part are in position to take advantage of whatever may occur
abroad to make a demand for their products, and are also assured of
cheap transportation at home.
The United States has a great variety of climate, soil, and production,
and the people therefore have diversity of labor and interests. The
East has its manutactures of every kind, the South is rich in cotton, to¬
bacco, and sugar, the Northern and Middle States in wheat and corn
and hay and oats and stock, the West in minerals and stock and fruits
and wine; in short, every section possesses the elements of wealth in
productions peculiar to itself, some of which can not be profitably pro¬
duced in any other section.
Our advanced civilization and tastes demand the productions of all
sections to satisfy our needs and desires. Hence exchange is the busi¬
ness of millions of our people, every section sending its products to every
other, and this makes up what is called the internal commerce of the
country. This is the index to the life and prosperity and growth of the
nation, and should he stimulated by every proper effort on our part.
Mr. President, there is another important view of this subject. To¬
day we are defenseless on our lake borders. We have, I believe, one
little vessel retained upon the lakes as a warning to tbreign nations
that they must not encroach upon our rights. We have no protection
for our cities upon the lakes, and very little anywhere upon our sea-
coast or upon the Gulf. Should not Congress provide for any needed
defense? We have a Government arsenal at Rock Island, where every
preparation is made for the manufacture of guns. Should not this
arsenal be used in the construction of guns and of gunboats as well, to
be used on the lakes or Gulf as necessity may require? And the con¬
struction of the Hennepin Canal, if of sufficient size, would enable such
vessels, fully armed and equipped, to pass down the Mississippi to the
Gulf coast, or through the canal to the lakes, and would make such
means of defense always available to answer the calls of the nation
wherever needed.
Mr. President, I despise the policy which controls this Government
now and has controlled it in the past, and which has resulted in our
almost helpless condition in so far as preparation for defense is con¬
cerned. We here in Congress do not agree upon the exact thing to do,
and therefore do nothing. We drift along with no coast defenses, no
flag upon the seas, no preparation to meet emergencies of war on land,
or lake, or sea, that may at any time arise, with no assertion of a posi¬
tive national foreign policy, and with an apparent sense of self-security
that can only be likened to a strong man asleep unconscious of impend¬
ing danger.
"In times of peace prepare for war." Lotus construct these canals
in the interest of national defense as well as of national prosperty.
All these considerations call upon Congress to enter upon the work.
Other nations are alert on the question of adopting every means for
securing to the peuple cheap transportation. Germany, France, and
England, all older in dealing with the subject of transportation than
our country, have given attention to the construction of railroads and
to the best method of regulating them, and are also giving attention
to the importance of canals and are doing much in aid of their con¬
struction. Let us not close our eyes to the importance of such means
of improvement.
O