THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION
OF TIHE
AMERICAN BOARD
o0 
tranlt     ortatiot    anlld    )olnmwere
IIELI) AT  THE
GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL,
DECEMBER irth, i6th, 17th, r875.
C H IC-AG O:
EVIENING JOURNAL, BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE, 159 AND 161 DEARBORN ST.
1876
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THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION
OF TIHE
AMERICAN BOARD
OF
mpoprtporaioto and,omnmerce,
ELD AT THE
GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL,
DECEMBER rith, i6th, 17th, r875.
CHICAGO:
EVENING JOURNAL, BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE, 159 AND 161 DEARBORN ST.
1876



With these proceedings, my official connection with the Association
closes; but I trust I shall ever be found upon the right side of the cause of
humanity, fighting against corporate oppression in whatever shape and
wherever found. Our Proceedings are necessarily brief, but I hope our
next meeting will see us prepared to present a full and more complete
report than this one. After adjournment at Chicago, the Executive Conmmittee decided to have the Proceedings printed in Chicago under the
supervision of Mr. FRANK GILBERT, the new Secretary. This has been
done; and, so far as possible, I have corrected part of the proofs, but not
having my notes, have had to do it entirely from memory. One paper
plresented has not been noticed except briefly, owing to what was claimed
to be some misstatements it contained. This was omitted by direction
of a part of the Eiecutive Committee, and with my protest, as I considered
it entitled to as full a synopsis as it was possible to give it.
R. H. FERGUSON,
SECRETARY, 1875.
The document referred to, as omitted, was brought to the attention of
the Executive Committee, all the members being present except one.
The omission was recommended by the President, and no protest was
made until the report was in type. This Third Annual Report being somewhat briefer than its two predecessors, a much larger edition will be struck
off.  It is believed that the facts and suggestions embodied in this
pamphlet are of very great value, and that their general dissemination
among those who have to do with the problem of cheap transportation can
not fail to aid materially in its right solution. Copies will be sent to legislators, State and National, and to the leading journals of the country, as
well as to the Delegates who attended the Convention and left their
addresses. Any member failing to receive a copy of the report, will he
promptly supplied on sending his address to
FRANK GILBERT,
161 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill.




THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION
-OF THEgkmuTitt n     p4         % o     iranspprtatim and ~$^tmt4,
HELD AT THE
GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL,
December 16, 16, 17, 1878.
FIRST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
The Convention was called to order at 11 A. M., Wednesday, by JOHN
F. HENRY, ESQ., of New York, First Vice-President of the Association, in
the following words:
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION OF'THE AMERICAN BOARD OF TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE:-It becomes my duty now to call you to order.
I hold in my hand, a letter from the Honorable Josiah Quincy, received
this morning, which I will read:
BOSTON, December 11, 1875.
JOIN F. HENRY, ESQ.,
Vice-President of the American Board of Transportation and Commerce.
MY DEAR SIR:-Will you do me the favor, to express to the Convention
my great regret, that my age, my engagements and the great unwillingness
of my friends that I should expose myself to the uncertainties of a winter
journey, must prevent my attending the meeting of the Board. It would
have given me the greatest pleasure to have met and co-operated with so
many distinguished men from all sections, in deliberating on one of the
most important questions now before our nation. Please express to them
my thanks for the honor they have conferred upon me, and my regret that
my age must prevent my again being the Candidate for their suffrages.
I am truly and respectfully,
JOSIAH QUINCY.




4
Gentlemen, I now have the honor of introducing to you a distinguished
citizen of Chicago, Hon. S. S. HAYES, who will welcome vo.u in behalf of
the great City and State, and to whom you will now have the pleasure of
listening.
MIR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION:-It has become
my pleasant duty, on behalf of the citizens of Chicago, to bid you welcome,
and to offer vou the hospitalities of the city.
You have assembled here from the different States of the Union by
appointment of the Governors of the States and various organized bodies
of citizens, to consult together and take some action upon subjects of
transcendant importan ce.
I find among you many gentlemen of distinguished abilities, of great
experience in business affiirs and of national reputation. The whole
country will look with interest to your (leliberations. They will expect, if
not a comlplete solution of the questions which you have imet to consider,
at least many valuable suggestions, perhaps a plan for future action, looking
both to private enterprise, lawful combinations for mutual protection, and
to legislation )by the different States and by Congress.
It would not be proper for me upon this occasion to enlarge upon
these subjects, or to enter into any of their details.
I may say briefly, however, that the transportation of commodities
from  the place of production to the place of consumption, with the
kindred question of the medium of exchange, embrace almost everything
of a material character affecting the welfare and prosperity of our country.
It may be assumed that production will go on, if producers are allowed
access to their proper markets, free from unjust exactions, and oppressive
combinations, and if the value of their property is secured against arbitrary
and unwise changes in the value of the medium of exchange.
Among the dangers of modern civilization is the vast consolidation of
power in the hands of great corporations, and the artificial system of
finance, by w-hici the volume and value of the currency are subject to the
control of Legislative bodies and of the influences bv wlhich they may, from
time to time, be governed.
These dangers are unavoidable. The great inventions of recent times
for economizing labor, and facilitating the operations of commerce, cannot
be abandoned. AWe will never return to turnpike roads and flat boats, or
to a currency of toblacco, of wheat, or of metals exclusively.
Our railroads, telegraphs and banks, are the creations of capital, of
capital combined and made secure by laws of incorporation.    These
corporations, powerful as they are, dangerous even to the highest degree
when their powers are abused, are entitled to justice. The probleml of the
day is not confiscation of the property of corporations by the people, or of
that of the people by corporations, but how to avoid both, how to protect
all interests, how to secure all from abuses of power on either side, how to
obtain untrammeled freedomn for the laws of production and exchange, of
demand and supply.
It is not the purpose of this Convention, representing the producing
and commercial people of this country, to oppress or injure any of these
great corporations. It is their purpose themselves to resist oppression and
injury; to break down monopoly; to secure by fair means free and cheap
access to internal and foreign markets.
This is not a time when the trade and business of the country can
bear any new burdens. Our people, for a year past, have been kept in a
state of apprehension of a great future calamity, the total destruction of
our present financial system by the forced withdrawal of the greater part
of our currency, amounting, in all to nearly eight hundred millions. I
trust you will pardon me for saying that the Government, in my opinion,




5
has no moral right to withdraw this currency, or to contract it to any
serious extent, until the indebtedness created under the present laws has
been paid. I believe such a measure to be unnecessary and ruinous. I
believe the apprehension of it is now costing our people more than the
amount of the national debt every year. I believe our financial situation
is otherwise not at all embarrassing, and that the remedy for the depreciation of the currency is perfectly simple, and within reach, and, if resorted
to at once, it will restore confidence and prosperity everywhere. That
remedy is to leave the legal tender and banking laws as they are, to
redeem  the Government notes in long-gold bonds, as proposed by
President Grant, but in bonds that will be worth par in coin, and to
re-issue the Government notes in the purchase of bonds bearing a higher
rate of interest, until our entire debt is funded. We will thus come at
once to a specie basis, and settle our finances upon a solid and enduring
foundation, without danger or injury, but with the promise of immediate
and lasting prosperity.
The importance of this subject will, I hope, lbe a sufficient excuse for
this digression.
Mr. President and gentlemen of the Convention, the people of Chicago
are under the deepest obligations to those whom you represent. Only four
years ago our city was laid in ashes. Two hundred million dollars' worth
of property was destroyed in a day. The universal sympathy and aid
which we received from all parts of the United States and from other
countries can never be forgotten by us, or by our children, or our children's
children. We are bound to you all byI the ties of gratitude, which only
become stronger with the lapse of time.
We receive you to-day with pleasure, and while you remain among
us, we will endeavor to show how highly we appreciate your presence, and
how gladly we extend to you a sincere and cordial welcome.
This address was listened to with close attention. The Chair responded
in behalf of the Convention in the following appropriate remarks:
I thank the gentlemen from Chicago, and from Illinois, on behalf of the
Convention, and feel assured that we will endeavor to (ldo our duty in the
future, as we have striven to do it in the past. We meet here, gentlemen,
in answer to the summons of the American Board of Transportation and
Commerce to consult together upon what is popularly known as the transportation problem. The immense importance of the question, and the
complexity of interest that will be affected by its discussion may well
inspire us with modesty and caution; but when we reflect that the people
of the United States now pay seven or eight hundred millions of dollars
each year for internal transportation, and a quarter of a century hence, if
the past rate of increase is continued, the aggregate amount will have
increased to $2,000,000,000, we cannot but be impressed with the magnitude of the subject, and the necessity of having such an enormous distributing machinery so regulated that it will bear equitably upon all classes in
the community. It is the defects and inequalities in the present system
which are the cause of bringing us together to-day. Highways were
formerly constructed and owned by the people through the machinery of
Government, but with the advent of steam camne a change in this service.
Corporations were created to perform the duties which heretofore, in a
slightly different form, had devolved upon governments, and the evils
under which we are now suffering are the result of conferring powers without proper restrictions and safeguards.
The nature of a railroad is such that it may easily become a monopoly,
not subject to the same rules which control and regulate other kinds of
business. Competition cannot readily be obtained in great organizations,
and when combinations and consolidations are permitted, as they have




6
been in this country, it is rendered almost impossible, except through the
machinery of Government, either by direct construction and ownership, or
by issuing its own bonds or guaranteeing the bonds of a private corporation
and assuming, in consideration thereof, a proper supervision and control.
When our iron highways were first introduced, if some far-seeing man had
asserted that they should be wholly or in part constructed, managed, or
controlled by the State, he might have been thought as unpracticable as
one who should now ask the Government to provide us with clothing and
provision; but the developments of the last twenty-five years have shown
that new laws for the regulation of our highways are an absolute necessity.
No doubt there is a wide-spread feeling among the people of the United
States against concentrating more power in the hands of governments than
is absolutely necessary, but it is equally certain that this feeling is carefully
fostered and magnified by all who are interested in taxing the people to
perpetuate the defects of our present transportation system. We have
experienced the certain and ever-increasing evils of the private management of public highways, and are now seeking for relief from a centralization of power in the hands of a few individuals, who act in concert for
personal and corporate aggrandizement.
In the report of the United States Senate Committee on transportation
routes we find the following: " In the matter of taxation there are to-day
four men representing the four great trunk lines between Chicago and New
York, who possess, and who not unfrequently exercise powers which the
Congress of the United States would not venture to exert. With the rapid
and inevitable progress of combination and consolidation these colossal
organizations are daily becoming stronger and more imperious. The day
is not distant, if it has not already arrived, when it will be the duty of the
statesman to inquire, whether there is less danger in leaving the property
and industrial interests of the people, thus wholly at the mercy of a few
men, who recognize no responsibility but to their stockholders and no
principle of action but personal and corporate aggrandizement, than in
adding somewhat to the power and patronage of a Government directly
responsible to the people and entirely under their control."
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this problem. The
future of the nation is largely dependent upon its right solution. It is
not alone for the present we must lay our plans, for the future development of this country will undoubtedly equal, if not exceed, the past. I
firmly believe that the united will of the people, inspired with justice and
executed with moderation, will find a solution of this great problem, which,
without injuring those who have honestly invested their capital in the
present transportation system, will insure for the future relief from evils
under which our country is suffering. May your deliberations, gentlemen, do something toward hastening this much-to-be-desired consummation.
These addresses were listened to with close attention and cordially
applauded.
On motion of Mr. UTLEY, of Illinois, a Committee of five was named
by the Chair on Credentials, namely: B. R. Hampton, of Illinois; G. G.
Benedict, of Vermont; C. Watrous, of New York; J. H. Osborne, of
Wisconsin, and J. N. Harris, of Kentucky.
The Convention then took a recess of fifteen minutes. On re-assembling,
the ordinary Parliamentary rules were adopted for the government of the
Convention.
Mr. CLAFLIN, of Illinois, moved that a Committee of three be
appointed by the Chair, who should arrange a programme for each day.




7
This was objected to, and voted down as savoring too imuch of the Star
Chamber mode of procedure.
Mr. THURBER stated that in the two former Conventions of this body,
the Executive Committee was simply composed of the officers, who shaped
the order of business, and it worked all right, although that might not be
acceptable to this Convention.
The Chair explained that one year ago four or five leading Committees
were appointed, one on Railroads, one on Terminal Facilities, one on
Natural Water Ways, one on Artificial Water Ways; each Cominittee composed of five gentlemen, posted in their several lines. These
gentlemen will report, and if we follow the custom of two years ago in
Washington and one year ago in Richmond, we shall appoint these
Standing Committees after we get nearly through the business of the
Convention, for the ensuing year. We also shall have a report, I presume,
from our Treasurer, and from the Secretary, and I think there may be two
or three Special Committees. These reports, together with the information
we hope to get from the members of the Convention, will occupy our full
time. Therefore, I.do not see as we need prescribe at this moment any
special order of business, certainly not until organized as a Convention,
and know who the members are.
The Convention concurred in this view. It was agreed, on motion,
that the sessions of the Convention should be opened with prayer by a
clergyman.
The report of the Secretary, R. H. FERGUSON, of Troy, New York, was
then called for, submitted, and adopted. It reads as follows:
Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:-The question of cheap transportation now demands the attention of all our agricultural, commercial, and
manufacturing interests, North and South, East and West. The people
are awakened to its important bearing-to the great mutuality of interests
which it controls. The statesman of to-day and the future cannot claim
his laurels until he has fully investigated this question, so important to our
individual and national prosperity. The value of one cent. per bushel may
oftentimes determine whether corn shall be transported or burned, and
also decide the employment of all those who might be engaged in
producing it, of others who would transport it, and others who might
traffic in it, and also those who were to consume it. Republican
Governments are instituted to protect the people who form them
from outside enemies and inside sharks, in the shape of corporate
monopolies.  Then that Government or people who secures for its
subjects the best and cheapest routes of transportation (be they water
or rail), so regulated and controlled that they shall always be managed
for the public interest instead of corporate power and personal wealth,
that Government is binding its people together with the bands of
prosperity, which shall prove a coat of mail to all outside foes, and the
bond of mutual good feeling and brotherly love to all of its citizens. This




8
continent of ours, which rises like a wall between two vast oceans (whose
combined waters wash every nation of the globe) is, so to speak, the great
highway athwart which nearly all the commerce of the world may be
induced to come, if we, with intelligent statesmanship, only prepare
suitable routes for it. Is not this subject of the first importance to us
as individuals and as a nation?
Let us have no North, no South, no East or West in our deliberations.
But casting aside all sectional jealousies and local selfishness, let us
consider our needs as a mighty nation, preparing great avenues of transportation for an inland commerce of gigantic proportions, and a foreign
trade that shall include all the nations of the world as our patrons. For
the benefit of those who have never met with us before, I will briefly
review what has been done during the past three years. In the fall of
1872 and the winter of 1873, the question of forming an association of
producers and consumers (for the purpose of combining to protect the
people from the terrible extortions of the railroad corporation), was
agitated in the East and West. After considerable correspondence it was
decided to call a meeting on the 6th of May, 1873, at the Astor House,
in New York City. At that meeting "The American Cheap Transportation
Association " was duly organized.. Its objects were briefly stated in Article
2 of the Constitution, as follows: "Its object shall be to secure the
transportation of persons and property at cheap, fixed, and, so far as
possible, uniform rates between all parts of the Union and adjacent
countries. Its members shall consist of persons favoring the purposes for
which it is formed, whose names may be forwarded to and approved by the
association or national council. When that meeting adjourned, it did so to
meet in Washington, D. C., the following January. Following this meeting in September, the New York Cheap Transportation Association was
formed, which is now a chartered institution, having a membership of
upwards of a thousand of the best merchants of New York. At the
Washington meeting in January, 1874, a large delegation was present.
Some very able and valuable essays were delivered at this meeting, and its
conclusions and recommendations were laid before the United States
Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard," who very
kindly held an evening session to accommodate for us, and who done us
the honor subsequently to report favorably upon the larger portion of our
recommendations.
At our second annual meeting, held at Richmond, these routes were
again indorsed.
On April 5, 1875, the first train, consisting of twenty-two cars of grain,
passed through the Hoosac Tunnel, thus opening a new competing route to
Boston from the West for the five months of December, January, February
March and April. In 1868, fourth-class freight averaged from Chicago to
New York, $14.80 per ton; 1869, $10.40 per ton; in 1870, $11.20; in 1871,
$11; in 1872, $9.40. From 1872 until the present year they have varied
somewhat, gradually declining so that the past year we have had the lowest




9
rail rates ever known in this country on standarl -gauge roads. They have
been as low as $4 per ton from Chicago to Troy, N.., on fourth-class
freight. The same rate was obtained from Peoria, 1ll. While from Toledo,
Ohio,'grain was carried for $3.60 per ton to Troy and New York, and to
Boston, via Tunnel, for $5 per ton. And the New York Central and Hudson
River Railroad carried grain from Buffalo to Troy at $2.40 per ton, 6 7-10
cents per bushel of fifty-six pounds. The cause of these low rates may be
partially attributed to the strong competition and rivalry between the
different trunk lines. Also to the moral effect produced by the friends
of cheap transportation, and the efforts of our association to awaken the
people to a proper appreciation and understanding of the question. Since
July last, the principal trunk lines have advanced rates 12.5 per cent., that
is, rates that were $4 per ton, in July, from Peoria, are now $9 from that
place to the same points. This is equal to 14 cents per bushel on grain of
fifty-six pounds to the bushel. The grain crop, according to the Agricultural Report of 1872, was, in round numbers 1,700,000,000 bushels. Ten
cents per bushel on this would equal $170,000,000, and fourteen cents on the
same amount equals $238,000,000. Four or five men connected with the
different trunk lines met in New York City, at one of the prominent hotels,
some time in October, and agreed together that they would advance rates,
and from that time up to the present they have advanced 125 per cent., or
14 cents per bushel, on corn, and 15 cents per bushel on wheat, to say
nothing about other freights or the amount of tribute thus levied upon the
industrial and commercial classes. Tile question for this Convention, for
our people and Government to consider, is: Whether the power to levy
such enormous tributes, to so disarrange all industrial and commercial
transactions, as the four or five men who manage our )present trunk lines
now are capable of doing, and have actually done since July-whether this
exercise of arbitrary power is not prejudicial to all interests, and of such a
nature as should command the exercise of our best Legislative ability
in seeking the control, and to a large extent the supervision of our transportation routes. In cities like Chicago, Boston, New York, and all
others where large transportation routes centre, the formation of " Boards of
Transportation and Commerce" (like our New York "Cheap Transportation Association,") before which can be brought all differences and
grievances between transportation companies and the merchants and
people, will be found highly beneficial. And in closing, I should urgently
suggest that the merchants and business men in those and other sections
form such associations, for, like the fable of the bundle of sticks-which
unitedly could not be broken-taken singly they were good for nothing.
Just so the merchants and people must combine for the protection
against the present powerful corporations.  When a single merchant
asks for justice he is not noticed; but when yoou are organized, then it is
the merchants of Chicago that speak, and their voice is heeded, and they
can then accomplish something.
Trusting the foregoing report imay meet your approval, it is most
respectfully submitted.




10
An invitation was then read from the Secretary of the Chicago Board
of Trade, inviting that body to visit its hall. The invitation was accepted,
and at the suggestion of Col. BRIDGES, of Illinois, it was agreed to accept the
invitation as a body at 12 o'clock the next day. The Convention then
adjourned until two o'clock.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The Chairman announced that the first business in order was the
report of the Committee on Credentials.
Governor BROSS, of Illinois —I was going to ask the liberty of the
Convention and yourself, to present a paper here, from a very distinguished
gentleman now in the assembly, and move it be referred to the Committee
on Business, in order that we may have something to (lo. This paper is on
the general subject of transportation, by RICHA.RD P. MORIGANt, a gentleman
who, with Captain SWIFT, was engaged in building the pioneer railway of
America, the Boston and Western Railroad, and was largely the originator
of the Hudson River Railroad, and who commenced the Chicago and
Galena Railroad. He is now eighty-four years old. I think the Committee
will find it an excellent paper, and move to refer it to the Committee after
the Committee is organized. He is eighty-four years of age, but in the full
vigor of mental faculties.
On motion RICHARRD P. MORGAN, JR., was requested to read the paper.
It was listened to with great interest, and a vote of thanks was tendered
for it. Among other things this document presented the following facts
and suggestions:
Actual experience in transportation for long periods, and generally
under strong competition, demoonstrates with a high degree of accuracy the
following facts, from which deductions can be safely made. The average
rates for all distances charged by the great lines of transportation in this
country are:
By ocean, two mills per ton per mile.
By lake, three mills per ton per mile.
By river, five mills per ton per mile.
By canal, ten mills per ton per mile.
By rail, sixteen mills per ton per mile.
For through business, the distance varying from 500 to 3,000 miles, the
rates charged average:
By ocean, one five-tenth mills per ton per mile.
By lake, two five-tenth mills per ton per mile.
By river, three mills per ton per mile.
By canal, seven mills per ton per mile.
By rail, ten mills per ton per mile.




11
All of the elements of the cost of transportation; the irregularities of
traffic on the different lines; the fluctuation of the prices of the markets,
home and foreign; the changing conditions of the country, and of its
finance and commerce, are embodied in the foregoing schedules of average
rates.
The expression that railroads are yet in their infancy is hardly too
strong. The time will come when the locomotive of the present day will
be looked back upon as a clumsy, wasteful machine, constructed in violation of the fundamental principles of mechanics. Machines will be substituted by which, instead of wasting half the heating power of the fuel, combustion shall be far more perfect, and the full action of the steam utilized.
And it may be safely perdicted that this great propelling machine shall
glide smoothly along, near the surface of the rails, passing with facility and
safety around the sharpest curves. The same principles will attend all
other rolling-stock.  Instead of constantly deranging the track by its
impulsive vibrations, crushing and abraiding the rails, colliding at the
joints, and receiving corresponding damages by re-action, trains will rival
the steamboat in the smoothness of their motion.
Independently, however, of these mechanical improvements, which,
with the vast traffic to be anticipated on the great trunk lines from the
west to the eastern cities, a double-track railroad, free' from unnecessary
financial incumberances, employed exclusively for the transportation of
freight moved at velocities never exceeding ten miles per hour, could not
fail to acquire the ability to reduce charges far below the lowest existing
rates.
Mr. MORGAN indicated some of the reasons why the commerce of New
York City was declining, and why other distributing points are obtainilng
commerce which under equal'advantages would remain with New York.
He said that it was evident we must seek for the necessary relief to the
public mainly in two directions: First, in eliminating the excessive
nominal cost of railroads, so.that charges for transportation may be
reduced to such rates as will pay reasonably on the capital invested, and
second, in such improvements in their construction and operation as will
reduce these to their lowest point.
In speaking of the capacity of railroads for freight purposes, Mr.
MORGAN says:
"Railroads constructed and managed under the prevailing system,
although laboring under serious mechanical defects and paralyzed by the
influence of unprinciple(l men who control the corporations operating
them, have been, nevertheless, gaining upon all other modes of transportation to an extent not generally realized; but their present capacity is far
below the standard to which the progress made in the arts and sciences of
the Nineteenth century should have brought them.   Ways of iron and
steel, with the aid of steam power, possess a wonderful intrinsic value
from which may be evoked mechanical effects unequaled by any device
that civilized man has yet made available for the purposes of transportation."
The Chair then called for the report of the Committee on Credentials,
which was submitted by Mr. BENEDICT, as follows:
The Committee on Credentials respectfully report the following
LIST OF DELEGATES.
NEW YORK.
Delegates from the New York Chamber of Commerce:
John F. Henry, Francis B Thurber, Eugene R. Durkee, Charles
Watrous, James S. Barron.




12
From) the Newv York Cheap Transportation Association,:
George S. Merwin, A. B. Miller, John H. Kemp, T. F. Lees, B. P.
Baker, George Brown, H. K. Miller; - Wallace, R. H. Ferguson, Troy,
N. Y.
NEW JERSEY.
Jno. Jalleson.
New Jersey Sovereigns of Industry, State Council:
L. C. Reeves, President.
KENTUCKY.
On the part of the State of Kentulcky:
J. F. Bullitt, J. Nelson Harris, G.. Smith, R. H. Woolfalk, AW. H.
Payne, Richard H. Stauton, J. R. Hallam, C. D. Foote, Joseph Davison,
L. S. Trimble, Albert G. Rhea, Isaac G Forbes.
From the lMancufacturers' and Mechanics' Exchange:
Benj. F. Avery, H. Burckhardt, Rudolph Finzer, William Cornwall,
W. D. Fitch.
W\ISCONSIN.
On the part of the State:
John Nader, S. D. Carpenter, J. H. Osborn, N. M. Edwards, Charles
Stoppenbach.
IOWA.
On the part of the State of Iowa:
Joseph K. Hornish, Julius K. (;raves, Milo Smith, John M. I)ay, Elias
H. Williams, G. AW. Johnston, James C. Trace, Robert Smyth, E. C. Chapin,
Edward M. Bill, James S. Hurlyc, A. B. Snedley,l J. B. Cunmmings, Peter
Melendv, Edward Russell.
From the Board of Trade of Davenport:
George Parker, J. W. Green.
From the Citizens' Association of Mulscatine:
S. G. Stein, W. W. Webster, John MAahin.
MINN ESOTA.
On the part of the State of Mfillesota:
C. C. Sturtevant.
From the Board of Trade of Minneapolis:
C. A. Pillsbury, J. A. Christian, M. M. Fuller, E. R. Barbour, C. M.
Loring, W. P. Ankeny.
From the Chamber of (Commerce of St. Pauel:
D. Blakely, W. M. Tileston, W. L. Wilson.
NEBRAXSKA..
On the part of the State:
F. C. Morgan, S. R. Johnson, Amasa Cobb.
INI)JANA.
On the part of the State:
Jasper D)avidson, HIenry S. Cautlhirn, Felix Lewis, L. C. Law, 0. P.
Cobb, Isaac Odell, fThomas Kingaln, Claude \attthews, Joseph Poole, Clem
Studebaker, Isaac B. IHymer, I. I). G. Nelson, J. K. Beardsley.
From the lIuntington County Agricultaral Society:
Josephl WV. Purviance, Cyrus H. Briant, George I. Bippls, L. P.
Milligan, Robert Simonton.




13
MISSOUIT.
On the part of the State:
M. McElhany, John I. Martin, Joseph Brown, D. P. Rowland, E. O.
Stannard, George Bain, R. L. McDonald, John McGregor, T. R. Allen,
B. R. Henry, A. AW. Lamnl, Jas. 11. Nane,NMJ. A. L. McLellan, R. G. Barrow,
R. Q. Roach.
MT ISSISSlIPPI.
On the part of the State:
W. L. Heminmway, J. M. Stone, R. H. Allen, J. W. Sharp, J. L. Griggs,
Dr. MeLeod, A. Smith, E. Richardson, John W. Robinson, J. L. Helron,
C. M. Kane, A. H. Arthur, R. C. Lindsey, J. A. Hoskins, Ernmet Ross,
J. C. Lucas, E. C. Wall, Victor AV. Tholmpson, J. W. Faut, Wirn. Crumip,
J. T. Buck, D. L. Phares, WA. V. Voight, A. S. Gains, Dr. Aaiden.
FLORIDA.
On the part of the S'tate:
S. L. Niblack, Chandler Smith, T. P. Bishop.
K \ ANSAIS.
On the part of the State:
Charles Robinson, 1'. B. Plulmb, Tholimas Mu1rphy.
OREGON.
From the Board of Trade of tPortla ad:
H. J. Chapman.
VI(RG INIA.
On the part of the State:
Thomas T. IMunford, Ediward Daniels, Col. I-lenrv E. Peyton.
VERMONT.
From the City of Burlington:
F. C. Kennedy, AV. AV. Henry, L. C. Dodge, G. H. Bigelow, (. C;.
Benedict.
OHIO.
From the Ohio Wool Gr'owiers' Association:
L. T. Hunt.
From the City of Toledo:
W. J. Wells, G. W. Revnolds, O. E. M. Howard.
I L,INOI()S.
On the part of the State:
R. P. Derrickson, John Dougherty, L. R. Warner, T. J. Carter, G.
J. Been, Daniel Gold, George Hunter, Emlery Slate, iM.. Massie, George
S. Park, E. H. Nevitt, William Bross, John T. McGinnis, Robert A.
Talbot, M. K. Avery, James S. Taggart, (eorge l)unlap, L. M. Haverstick,
A. H. South, George V. Dietrich, W. A\. Aarner, J. Y. Scaimmon, R.
Prindiville, Charles G. Wicker, B. R. Hamipton, Alexander McLean, John
M. Pierson, D. A. Brown, Jamles Steele, Josephl U tlev, M. B. Lloyd, M. S.
Haydon, Wait Talcott, Samuel Douglas, J. S. Smithl, H. W. Austin, G. V.
Parker, L. G. Wilcox, I. N. Arnold, Frank Gilbert, (T. W. Armstrong, W. L.
Wiley, J. A. McDowell, AW. L. Brooks, I. P. Rooers, Thomas Hedges,
William Hanna, James K. 1McGee, F. E. Chandler, Thomas P. Rogers,
Duncan McKay, A\illial C. Burleigh, Lymanr Bridges, George Schneider,
D. Valentine, J. Rice, John Gordon, Frederick Bross, J. M. Ruggles, B. L.
Wooley, D. J. Stewart, J. M. Allen, H. S. Osborn, Masthew Dick, Samuel
Dysart, John Penfield, Louis Ellsworth, I). W ilcox, iAos Savage, William
E. Phelps, Wilson Buchanan, Franklin CorMwin, Charles IT. Saylett, S.




14
P. Cummings, William Gilmore, William Lindsley, A. B. Barrett, Rodnev
Welch, W. B. Strong, William H. Ray, David McIntosh, H. S. Townsend,
C. E. Taylor, L. H. Goodrich, Nathaniel Moore, G. W. Scripps, T.
McWhorter, W. A. Jones, W. N. Brainerd, C. P. Kellogg, J. W. Preston,
James Coy, George P. Jacobs, J. W. Eddy, John Allison, John Wentworth,
N. H. Warner, D. W. Danley, John Buhler, Richard Michaelis, J. A.
Noonan, S. A. Epperson, G. C. Wilson, A. M. McCrae, J. R. Mulvand,
James F. Watkins, Osman Pixley, D. Clark, W. E. Doggett, S. H. Burley,
J. A. Hayward, John Cassidy, Peter Scott, S. S. Hays, Richard P. Morgan,
Jr., W. H. Stewart, James Pollock, D. C. Pierce, N. B. Judd, Robert
Warren, H. L. Bories, Lewis Stewart, M. B. Floyd, C. A. Whitney, James.
F. Thornton, D. Hitchcock, H. F. Irwin.
From the Chicago, Millington & Western Railway Company:
E. R. Saterlee, W. H. Pettibone, J. R. Zearing.
From the Farmers' State Association:
Lewis Ellsworth, H. D. Emery, C. C. Parks, J. M. Curry, C. C. Buell,
J. M. Allen, Charles Seward, W. H. Grinnell, C. A. Hinkley, H. C.
Lawrence, E. A. Geller, J. B. Turner, S. M. Thorp, A. P. Caffeen, H. W.
Ruicher, M. M. Hooton, David Gere, T. A. E. Holcombe, A. M. Sturman,
M. B. Lloyd, S. M. Smith.
From the Chicago & South Atlantic Railway Company:
Robert Rae.
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the National Council of Sovereigns of Industry:
William Orledge, S. J. Avery, A. T. Elliott.
From the Board of Harbor Commissioners of Montreal, P. Q.:
Hon. John Young, A. Bernard, Thomas Cramp.
Convention of the Millers of the Northwest:
F. C. Fillsbury, W. G. Teller, C. M. Loring, W. P. Ankeny, J. C. Berry,
Leonard Day, M. B. Rollins, B. S. Bulls, George W. Crocker, C. T. Hobart,
C. G. Hazzard, F. B. Mills, G. Shober, H. Darrow, J. M. Robinson, J. A.
Christian, and D. R. Barber, all of Minneapolis; E. V. White, Medford,
Minn.; H. E. Mellon, Rochester, Minn.; William Bowman, Waterloo, Wis.,
R. H. Strong, Baraboo, Wis.; Welcan Davis, Gatesville, Wis.; Miles Hollister, Faribault, Minn.; E. Kimball, Forrest City, Minn.; E. H. Reidell,
Owatonna, Minn.; W. L. Tusler, Faribault, Minn.; H. Miller, Minnesota
City, Minn.; Charles H. Whipple, Faribault, Minn.; John T. Ames, Northfield, Minn.; E. T. Archibald, Dundas, Minn.; James Thompson, Lanesboro, Minn.; Richard Gregg, Cannon Falls, Minn.; A. D. Andrews, Milwaukee; E. C. Durant, Milwaukee; S. J. Sleever, Mitchell, Iowa; Theo.
Conly, Appleton, Wis.; H. S. Osborne, Quincy, Ill.; Nathan Dirk, Quincy,
J. Stuart, Milwaukee; L. F. Babcock, Minnesota City; C. Marigold, Milwaukee; J. S. Hart, Racine; Ed. Murphy, Cannon Falls, Minn.; Christian
Burkhardt, of Bouchea, Wis.; F. H. Allen, Rochester, Minn.; and John B.
A. Keen, Milwaukee.
Representing seventeen States, nineteen cities, one Association, and
other organizations.
B. R. HAMPTON, Illinois.
CHARLES WATROUS, New York.
J. NELSON HARRIS, Kentucky.
J. H. OSBORN, Wisconsin.
G. G. BENEDICT, Vermont.
Committee on Credentials.




15
The Chair stated that this Committee would hold over, and all corrections and additions would be made by them. On motion of GOVERNOR
BRoss, the report of the Committee on Credentials was adopted, and the
gentlemen reported by them were accepted as members, was adopted. It was
agreed that if desired in any case, the Convention would vote by States,
and each State be entitled to cast the number of votes to which it is
entitled in the Electoral College, and no more.
Mr. TlHtRBER, of New York-In order to facilitate the business of
this Convention, I desire to state that we have found in former
Conventions that it was necessary to have a Committee on Resolutions,
which should harmonize and give voice to the opinions presented.
Heretofore, sir, this Committee has been composed of one delegate from
each State, and I would now move that a like Committee be appointed,
to whom shall be referred resolutions and reports, in the pleasure of
the Convention, and whose duty it shall be to harmonize the views that
are expressed and presented to this Convention, as the expression of
opinion for the Convention to endorse.  The motion was seconded.
Mr. UTLEY, of Illinois, suggested to his friend from New York, that he
could include in that motion that the Committee on Resolutions be
appointed by the delegations from the various States.  Mr. T URBER
accepted the amendment, and the motion as amended was adopted.
On motion of GOVERNORI DOUGHIERTY, of Illinois, a Committee of
one from each State was appointed for the nomination of officers for the
ensuing year.
At the direction of the Chair, the Secretary read the following communication:
The citizens of Chicago, and the State of Illinois, respectfully tender a
banquet at the Grand Pacific Hotel, to the members of the Convention from
abroad, on Thursday evening,' the 16th instant, at 8 o'clock.  Delegates
from this city, and from the State at large, can get their tickets by applying
at room 1, Pacific Hotel, or to the Commlittde.
J. W. PRESTON,
W. N. BARNARD,
JAMES T. PAXTON,
Committee on Invitations.
On motion of Mr. BAKER, of New York, the Convention unanimously
and thankfully accepted the invitation.
The Chair then stated that it had been customary heretofore to have
the different Committees, on Railroads, Water Routes, etc, to report early
in the session. The Convention called for the report on Railroads, which
was submitted and read by the Chairman of the Collmmittee, Mr. THUIRBER,
as follows:
To HON. JOSIATI QUINcY, President of the American Board of Transportation
and Commerce:
The Standing Committee on Railway Transportation of this Association, beg leave to submit the following brief report upon the Railway
system of the ITnited States:




THE RELATION OF OUR PUBLIC HIIGHWAYS TO CIVIL GOVERNMAENT
is one of the momentous questions at this time before the American people;
it involves the prosperity of commerce and the welfare of both the
producing and consuming classes, in short, the interests of every citizen of
the United States.
The old common laws of highways, was based upon public proprietorship and private use; ownership and jurisdiction being held by the
organized sovereignty of the State, which permitted the common carrier
and the public to use the highways under such regulations as were for the
public good.
Tllis was the situation at the time of the discovery and application
of steam to the purposes of transportation, and here-as in all other
relations of life, it revolutionized existing conditions. Instead of the
people building and owning the improved highways, in nearly every
instance they delegated their powers and duties in this respect to
associations of individuals, reserving, however, the sovereign power to
regulate and control.  The charters first granted were for small and
unimportant lines, but economy and convenience of operation was a
powerful incentive to consolidation, and the power which, when divided
among small local roads, was insignificant and harmless, became,
through combination and consolidation, strong enough to control and
oppress the people who created it. So powerful did these great combinations of capital become, that Legislatures were controlled, charters
disregarded, courts of Justice corrupted, and the principle was asserted
that the creature was greater than the Creator, and that charters granted by
the people of one generation, were a perpetual, irrevocable, unalterable
obligation upon those of the next generation.
For. a long time the public were satisfied with the development and
increase in values which inevitably accompanied the application of steam
to the purposes of transportation; but after a time the fact became apparent
that they were not sharing proportionately in the benefits; that the abuses
which had crept into the system were a burden upon the many for the
benefit of the few, and a reaction set in, which for the past four years has
made great progress. At first it was claimed that there was constitutional
ol)jections in the way of the people helping themselves through their
organization of Government; that in relinquishing the ownership of
highways, the State also relinquished its power of control, and many other
theories of similar character were brought forward and advocated with the
ability and force that is always at the command of large aggregations of
capital.  A large and influential portion of "the Press " has persistently
opposed every measure tending to curtail the power, influence and
revenues of these great monopolies, yet puplic opinion has been steadily
progressing, and is gradually crystalizing upon certain great principles,
which may be summed up as "Equal rights and universal justice to all
men."




17
A remarkable confirmation of this view of the case is found in the
conclusions of the United States Senate Committee on Transportation
Routes, as will be seen from the text of their report which is as follows:
"First. That the powers of Congress, whatever they may be, are
derived directly from the people of the several States, and not from the
States themselves.
Second. That every important word in the clauses which confer the
" power to regulate commerce among the several States " and to " make all
laws which shall be necessary for carrying it into execution," has received
legislative, executive and judicial construction, and under such construction
the power of Congress to regulate inter-State transportations by railroads,
and to aid and facilitate commerce, is clearly established.
Third, That in the exercise of this power, Congress is authorized,
under the grant of auxiliary power, to employ such means as are appropriate and plainly adapted to their execution.
Fourth. That in the selection of means, by which inter-State commerce shall be regulated, Congress may:
1. Prescribe the rules by which the instruments, vehicles, and agents
engaged in transporting commodities from  one State into or through
another, shall be governed, whether such transportation is by land or water.
2. That it may appropriate money for the construction of railways or
canals, when the same shall be necessary for the regulation of commerce.
3. That it may incorporate a company with authority to construct
them.
4. That it may exercise the right of eminent domain within a State in
order to provide for the construction of such railways and canals, or,
5. It may, in the exercise of the right of eminent domain, take for
the public use, paying just compensation therefor, any existing railway
or canal owned by private persons or corporations."
Perhaps a still more remarkable illustration of the changes which the
progress of the age has wrought, is the opinion of the Hon. R. M. T.
Hunter, of Virginia, on State rights, expressed by him  at the last
Convention of this Association, held in Richmond, Va., about one year
ago. Mr. Hunter stated that the old " State rights " advocates, of which he
was one of the most radical, had greatly modified their views, and while he
still thought, where public works within a State could be executed without
calling upon the general Government, that it was better to do so, yet the
boundaries of commerce had become so extended in this age of steam and
electricity, that there was a class of works needed which States were
powerless to execute, and that, therefore, it was necessary that the
National Government should undertake such works.
Let us examine into
THE CAUSES OF THIS CHANGE.
Fifty years ago it cost about thirty-three cents to move a ton one mile
by animal power, on ordinary roads, and the average speed was twenty
2




18
miles per day; to-day, with our improved roads and steam power, it costs
from 1 to 1  cents per mile, and the average time is about 125 miles per
day. This is practically abbreviating time and space, for in the ordinary
operations of commerce a reduction of one-half in the time required to
place merchandise at the point where it may be required, doubles the
distance and greatly extends the area from which the supply may be
obtained; or to put it in a different way, it reduces the distance between
two points just one-half. Such an enormous reduction in the cost makes it
possible, also, to utilize many products which before were useless because
they were not where they were wanted.
This is illustrated by dividing the price of an article by the cost of
transporting it one mile; for instance a ton of wheat contains 33 bushels, at
$1.50 per bushel-value $49.50-can be transported 150 miles, and a ton of
corn containing 36 bushels, at 75 cents-value $27.00-82 miles at 33 cents
per ton per mile; while at 1 cent per ton per mile they can be transported
respectively 4950 and 2700 miles before the charges for transportation equal
their value; hence we can see that the discovery and application of steam
to the purposes of transportation must necessarily have had an enormous
influence upon commerce, for commerce consists in having an article
where it is wanted at the time it is wanted.
Fifty years ago commerce was a crude, slow, and laborious interchange
of products. A few persons controlled the principal staples in the markets
of the world, and stored them until the consumer was obliged to pay the
price asked for them. Now, the whole world has become producers or
traders, and in the event of scarcity at a given place, the news is flashed to
the point of supply-under the ocean and around the earth, even-and the
giant power of steam hurries the products of the world to our doors. In
this way we see how wonderfully the power of electricity supplements and
aids the usefulness of steam; there is nothing yet discovered in creation so
marvelous, and we must turn to fairy land for a parallel; the story of
Aladdin and his Lamp is realized; steam is our "geni," and electricity our
"slave of the ring — one has the power to remove mountains, the other
to annihilate time and space. These are the causes which have compelled
the advocates of the rights of States to modify their views; the rights
of States as States must give way to the rights of men as men, and one of
these rights is to share in the enormous benefits which steam has conferred
upon the human race, and in none of its various functions has its benefits
been so remarkable as in that of transportation.
So numerous and important have the changes been since the discovery
of steam and electricity, that almost every department of life has been
revolutionized, and one of the most important tasks before the statesmen
of to-day, is the equitable adjustment of the fundamental laws by which
the benefits and burdens of life are distributed and regulated. These
changes are at the root of all difficulties between capital and labor; at the
root of every strike and every lockout. Capital invested in our transportation
system is entitled to a fair remuneration, but a railroad, being by the




19
nature of the work, a monopoly, not subject to the usual laws of
supply and demand, by which all other kinds of business are regulated,
it naturally becomes indifferent to the rights of the public whenever they
conflict with its interest, and hence, defects and abuses have crept into our
present system of Railways, which the entire public are now unjustly
taxed to sustain.
It may be asked
WHAT ARE THESE DEFECTS?
We will state that they are found at almost every stage of the construction
and operation of these improved highways, and we will indicate a few.
First, construction is often undertaken by irresponsible men without
capital, who obtain a charter to build a road that perhaps is not needed;
they obtain all the local subscriptions possible, and then issue construction
bonds secured by mortgage upon the road; they then form a construction
company, and let the contract for building the road to themselves at a price
which will admit of sub-letting to bona fide contractors at a large profit;
the bonds are sold at a sacrifice, and the cost of the road is thus greatly
enhanced. After completion, the stock is divided among the projectors
without equivalent, and rates for transportation fixed high enough to pay
interest on bonds and dividends on stock. As soon as the projectors can
dispose of a large proportion of their stock they do so, but generally
manage to retain control of enough to assure their retention as managers of
the road; they vote themselves large salaries, and perhaps make contracts
with bridge companies, or coal companies, or supply companies, in which
they are interested, to furnish those services and supplies at exorbitant
prices; these gradually bankrupt the road, and when it is sold they are able
to buy it in at a low price, issue new stock and repeat their financial
operation over again.
Another phase in railroad management is, for men of wealth (often
acquired in the way we have described) to find a road which has developed
a good business, buy a controlling interest, elect their own Board of
Directors, mismanage the property purposely until the stock is depressed
sufficiently low, then buy up the balance; suddenly discover that the road
is an immensely valuable property, and that its capital stock bears no
proportion to the actual expenditures made upon it (from its earnings since
construction); issue new stock without, or partially without, equivalent,
and gradually advance rates until regular dividends are paid on the whole
mass of obligations thus created.  An instance of this kind of railroad
management may he seen in the New York Central and Hudson River
Road, about 450 miles in length, which in 1867-8 presented its stockholders
with 48,000,000 of stock, which has since paid 8 per cent. dividends,
amounting in eight years to $30,720,000, or, with interest compounded
annually at 7 per cent., $39,397,000, a sum which, it may justly be said,
would have remained in the pockets of producers and consumers, manufacturers and traders, if this inflation of stock had not been permitted.
(Note, in 1885, these dividends with compound interest, if continued, will




20
amount to 118,000,000 of dollars.)  It is argued by the apologists for this
practice, that it was a perfectly just and proper proceeding, because
investors in railroad property are entitled to an increase in values of
property the same as are owners of real estate; but it must be remembered,
primarily, that a railroad is semi-public in its nature; that it is granted
certain privileges, among which is the right of eminent domain-the right
to take private property against the will of its owner, " because it is for
public use "-and therefore it owes some duties to the public, which
a private citizen or a manufacturing company does not. Again it might be
remembered that the men who issued the stock had nothing to do with
building the road originally, it having changed owners, and it must also be
remembered that the very improvements which this stock was issued
to represent had been paid for out of the surplus earnings of the road-that
the public had, so to speak, paid for the improvements for which stock was
issued, and which forever after they can be taxed to pay dividends upon.
When it becomes the interest of unscrupulous men to perpetuate these
defects they become politicians. And, so many of our railway managers
are of this class, and so often is political influence in demand to serve their
purposes, that in many parts of our country the entire patronage of these
powerful organizations is bent to that end, and the political management of
railways has become a science:
One great feature, however, of their politics is, that they never quarrel
with the party in power. Influential men on both sides are cultivated;
free passes are a usual attention to prominent men; editors and legislators
all travel on free passes; members of Congress and Senators of the United
States are favorites; many are avowedly elected in that interest; others,
who belong to the legal profession, are retained professionally; influence is
brought to bear in a hundred ways which are not considered directly
dishonorable, and when necessary, the purchasing power of money is freely
used. In the report of a Committee appointed by the Legislature of
the State of New York, in 1872, to investigate the affairs of the Erie
Railroad, we find the following:
" It is further in evidence that it has been the custom of the managers
of the Erie Railway, from year to year in the past, to spend large sums to
control elections and to influence legislation. In the year 1868 more than
$1,000,000 was disbursed from the treasury for'extra and legal service.'"
For interesting items see Mr. Watson's testimony, pages 336 and 337.
Mr. Gould, when last on the stand and examined in relation to various
vouchers shown him, admitted the payment, during the three years prior
to 1872, of large sums to Barber, Tweed, and others, and to influence
legislation or elections; these amounts were charged to the'India rubber
account.' The memory of this witness was very defective as to details, and
he could only remember large transactions, but could distinctly recall that
he had been in the habit of sending money into the numerous districts all
over the State, either to control nominations or elections for Senators and
members of Assembly. He considered that, as a rule, such investments




21,paid better than to wait till the men got to Albany; and added the
significant remark, when asked a question, that it would be as impossible to
specify the numerous instances, as it would to recall to mind the numerous
freight cars sent over the Erie road from day to day." (See testimony
p. 556.)
The report concludes with the following remarkable words:
" It is not reasonable to suppose that the Erie railway has been alone
in the corrupt use of money for the purposes named, but the sudden
revolution in the direction of this company' has laid bare a chapter in the
secret history of railroad management such as has not been permitted
before. It exposes the reckless and prodigal use of money, wrung from the
people to purchase the election of the people's representatives, and to bribe
them when in office. According to Mr. Gould, his operations extended
into four different States. It was his custom to contribute money to
influence nominations and elections."
As relief from these abuses must come from legislation, no improvement can be looked for until public opinion becomes strong enough to
make such practices dangerous both for railroad managers and the average
politician whom they make use of.
When this is accomplished, the minor abuses, common to railroad
management, can be remedied by State Legislation; but there remains
a class of defects such as fictitious cost of construction and watering of
stock on most of the trunk lines which can only be reached by competition.
The road having watered their stocks cannot now reduce them. You
cannot legislate the water out that has been put in. The managers will not
reduce rates until compelled to do so, and, as above stated, they can only
be compelled by competition.
The question then arises
HOW CAN EFFECTIVE COMPETITION BE SECURED?
Some persons think that it can best be obtained through the construction of water lines, and it is undoubtedly true, that in the past, water
transportation has played a most important part in transporting the heavy
products of this country; but unless improvements are made in the
construction and operation of artificial water-ways, it seems probable that
they will play a secondary part in the transportation system of the future.
Of the 5,000 miles of canal in the United States, about one-half have been
abandoned, or their traffic has been diverted, so that they are practically
useless. In a communication made to this body by the delegates from the
Cincinnati Board of Trade last year, the following views are expressed:
"That it is not possible for long and artificial water channels to compete
"successfully with railroads; it is, no doubt, desirable that canals which
"have been constructed, should be maintained, for, to a certain extent, they
"prevent railroad monopoly, but the time is past for the construction of
"any more, unless it may be short links connecting great bodies of water,
"or to overcome the obstructions therein." These are substantially the




22
views of your Committee, who, while believing that there is no antagonism
between water and rail transportation, as each has its domains where
respective superiority is incontrovertible. Large natural bodies of water with
sufficient depth to float large vessels, upon which steam can be successfully
used as a motive power, will undoubtedly always furnish cheap and
satisfactory transportation; but with canals, and with many rivers where
both room and depth of water are limited, the case is different; and as
cheapness is only one of the great requisites that influence trade, your
Committee are constrained to believe that railroads will continue to play a
more important and constantly increasing part in the transportation system
of the future. Canals are too slow for many classes of goods, are closed a
portion of the year by ice, and cannot be built through many sections of
country which are practicable for railroads. The elements of speed and
certainty enter so largely into the calculations of modern commerce, that
railroads have become the favorite means of transport, and, as in the case
of the post office and the telegraph, the public will often pay a higher price
for quicker transit. This element of time has a greater bearing upon the
subject of transportation than is generally understood; it is not alone the
interest on capital saved; trade combinations are made and plans are
consummated, which would not otherwise be practicable; capital can
sometimes be turned often at close margins with greater profit to the owner
than on a less number of transactions with larger margins.
RAILROADS HAVE BECOME THE GREAT DISTRIBUTORS.
And we are, therefore, forced to the conclusion that for all trunk lines,
railroads exclusively for freight, honestly built for ready money, will furnish
the most effective competition. All estimates of the cost of transportation
by rail are based on the results of mixed passenger and freight traffic, in
which, of necessity, passenger trains have the right of way, and freight
trains have to lie up much of the time when they should be rolling on to
their destination. Owing to these detentions, the present average speed of
freight trains is under five miles per hour, while upon a road exclusively
for freight, an average of ten miles per hour could be attained, and the
capacity of the road so increased that freight charges could be reduced onehalf. The New York Central is the only example we have of this kind of
a road, but the performances of its exclusive freight tracks during the past
summer exceeds the most sanguine hopes of its projectors, who openly
assert they can carry with profit at rates which are not remunerative for the
steam canal boats of the Baxter line. Your Committee believe that an
exclusive freight railroad built and operated upon the principles just
indicated, connecting the grain growing sections of the great West with the
Atlantic seaboard, together with the improvement of existing water lines,
and the possible construction of one or two short links of canal in the
chain of natural water routes now existing, would furnish a solution of the
question of cheap transportation-at least for many years. This brings us
to the consideration of




MEANS FOR OBTAINING THESE IMPROVED FACILITIES.
There are a class of people who believe that whenever a necessity exists
for internal improvements, that sufficient private capital will be forthcoming
to build them. Doubtless there are many honest advocates of this theory,
but they do not consider the difficulties in the way-difficulties of comparatively recent origin. As remarked by Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, at our
convention last year, "The boundaries of commerce have become so
extended in this age of steam and electricity, that there is a class of works
needed which individuals, or even States are powerless to execute," and
that, therefore, works of national extent and character can only be
constructed by the co-operation of the entire people through the National
Government. The present trunk lines of road between the East and the
West were constructed by piecemeal, yet received financial aid to a very
considerable extent from States and municipalities, which are now in most
instances prevented from extending aid to such enterprises by constitutional
prohibitions-prohibitions which in some instances, at least, were instigated
by the managers of existing roads for the purpose of preventing competing
lines from being established. To raise, by private subscription and credit,
the amount necessary to thus improve our transportation system, would be
simply impossible; for the reason, in the first place, that the large
capitalists of the country are hostile to such a scheme, and the producing,
consuming and commercial portion of the community would not be able to
divert fron their legitimate avocations the necessary amount of capital;
besides, the further and very important consideration remains, that if the
attempt was made to build such a railroad as has been indicated, without
Government aid, supervision and control, it would no sooner be completed
than it would be controlled by, and forced into combination with, existing
lines. As previously stated, the managers of our transportation system
have grown so rich and powerful under the present system, and the capital
that they control is so organized, consolidated and combined-so powerful
and far-reaching in its influence, that the organization of the people
through the machinery of their Government, is the only one through
which redress can be obtained. Every day that this lmode of relief is
postponed makes the task more difficult, for the managers of our great
corporations are daily growing richer and more powerful. Combinations
and consolidations are constantly being consummated, and a centralized
power will soon be organized which will be beyond the power of the people
to successfully oppose. Unless we admit the principle that the many
should be taxed for the benefit of a privileged class, we cannot act too soon
in endeavoring to remedy the present state of things.
THE OBJECTIONS WHICH ARE MADE
to the Government aiding in the construction of these modern highways
are: 1st. That it would add to the centralization of power in the hands
of Government, a power already too large. 2d. That when once begun
each section of country would expect and demand that the same facilities




24
should be extended to it that had already been extended to other sections
of the country.  3d. That Government aid, whether in the form of
subsidies or otherwise, has been productive of frauds and scandals, such as
the Credit Mobilier and the Pacific Mail Steamship swindles. 4th. That it
would only be adding to the capital invested in transportation lines, which
are already thought to be sufficiently numerous. 5th. That it would
furnish no essential element in the cheapening of transportation which
would enable us to compete with the productions of other nations in the
markets of the world. And 6th. That the financial condition of the
United States is not at this time sufficiently favorable to afford the expense
attending the construction of extensive internal improvements.
IN ANSWER TO TIESE OBJECTIONS
we may state that, in regard to the first, "that it would be a centralization
of power in the hands of Government." It is somewhat of an anomaly to
raise this objection when the object sought is to obtain relief from a
centralization power-a centralization not in the hands of Government,
but in the hands of corporations, which by combinations have become, for
the time being, more powerful than the Government.
On page 158 of the report of the United States Senate Committee on
Transportation Routes, we find the following:
"In the matter of taxation, there are to-day four great trunk lines
between Chicago and New York, who possess and who not unfrequently
exercise powers which the Congress of the United States would not
venture to exert. They may at any time, and for any reason satisfactory
to themselves, by a single stroke of the pen, reduce the value of property
in this country by hundreds of millions of dollars. An additional charge
of five cents per bushel on the charge of cereals would have been equivalent
to a tax of forty-five millions of dollars on the crop of 1873. No Congress
would dare to exercise so vast a power, except upon a necessity of the most
imperative nature; and yet these gentlemen exercise it whenever it suits
there supreme will and pleasure, without explanation or apology. With
the rapid and inevitable progress of combination and consolidation, those
colossal organizations are daily becoming stronger and more imperious.
The day is not distant, if it has not already arrived, when it will be the
duty of the statesman to inquire whether there is less danger in leaving
the property and industrial interest of the people thus wholly at the mercy
of a few men, who recognize no responsibility but to their stockholders,
and no principle of action but personal and corporate aggrandizement, than
in adding somewhat to the power and patronage of a government directly
responsible to the people, and entirely under their control."
In regard to the second objection, that it would be impossible to fix a
limit at which these improvements should stop," we would state that, in
the opinion of your Committee, this is not a serious objection; that public
opinion would regulate this matter, and confine it to the construction of
those great trunk lines which are absolutely necessary to bind the country
together in bonds of common interest.
In regard to the third objection, it does not follow necessarily that
because government aid to public enterprise in the past has been productive of scandals and corruption that it should be so in the future, any more




25
than it follows that a person who, while taking necessary exercise,
imprudently exposes himself and is taken sick in consequence thereof,
should not a second time guard against the imprudence which caused the
trouble. There are new ways of dealing with new difficulties; new
diseases must be met with new forms of treatment; and new laws must be
framed to meet the changed conditions of the age in which we live.
During the past few years we have had much valuable experience which
will enable us to guard against mismanagement and frauds in this line in
the future, and notwithstanding this experience has been costly, there are
none at this time so unappreciative as not to admit that every dollar thus
invested has already paid for itself many times over in the development
of the country and in substantial benefit to the people.
In regard to the fourth objection, "that it would only be adding to the
capital invested in transportation lines which are now thought to be
sufficiently numerous." we would state that this argument will only be put
forward by those interested in maintaining the present system-a system
which dwarfs production, stifles commerce, and prevents us competing in
the markets of the world. If there be any honest advocates of this theory,
they are men who ignore the logic of the past development of this country.
They ignore the fact that less than one-tenth of the arable lands of the Mississippi valley have yet been put under cultivation. They forget that the
population of this country has steadily increased during the last half century
in a compound ratio at the rate of three per cent. per annum, and that within
the next thirty years it will reach one hundred millions of souls, of which
more than two-thirds will be in the western States-a population which,
by the aid of the labor-saving, wealth-creating, wonderful steam engine,
will have a producing capacity, compared with the same population without that power, in the proportion of more than ten to one. They forget
the fact that the printing-press the postoffice and the telegraph have made
the distribution of intelligence the every-day accompaniment of modern
civilization, and they forget that not only will greatly increased facilities of
transportation be required, but that this great people will demand that
those facilities be made more perfect than those of the present time, and
that the many shall not be longer taxed for the benefit of the few.
Fifth-In regard to the objection, " that it would furnish no essential
element in the cheapening of transportation." Those who advance this
argument can hardly hope to further impose upon the credulity of the public.
The present railway system of the Inited States has been constructed with
but little reference to the requirements of freight; it is made up of local
roads with heavy grades and short curves, and neither iron or rolling stock
suitable for the economical transportation of through freight; yet with this
and the many other defects in construction and operation mentioned elsewhere, it has gradually encroached upon the domain of water transportation to an extent that has astonished all who have witnessed it. When
railroads were first built it was thought that they would only be available
for carrying passengers; it was found, however, that freight of a valuable




26
character could be carried, and soon monopolized this class, and began to
be available for freight of the second class; it then began to compete with
water routes for the third class; but it was not thought possible that
beyond this it could be utilized; soon, however, it began to carry freights
of the fourth class, but persons who talked of successfully transporting
bulk grain long distances by rail were looked upon as visionary and
impracticable; it is scarce ten years since this was attempted, and yet
during the past twelve months more than two-thirds of the bulk grain
reaching the seaboard was carried there by rail. During this period the
railroad has monopolized the carrying of all other merchandise, except the
products of the forest and the mine, and of these it distributes by far the
larger portion.
In the light of this experience-these accomplishedfacts-who shall
say that railroads exclusively for freight, in which there shall be no delays,
as in the present system of mixed passenger and freight traffic, and upon
which a steady and, if need be, continuous stream of freight can flow
onward to its destination, would furnish no essential element in the cheapening of transportation, which would enable us to compete successfully
with other nations in the markets of the world.
Sixth-In response to the objection that the finances of the country are
not in a condition to warrant the expenditure of money for internal
improvements, we desire to state that, in the opinion of your Committee,
those persons who oppose the co-operation of the people, through the
machinery of government, to provide improved transportation facilities, are
opposing not alone the only means by which they can be obtained, but are
also opposing the only method by which the finances of this country can
be put upon a sound and prosperous basis.
Agriculture, mining and manufactures-the three great elements of
commerce-are depressed and unremunerative.    In short, the whole
machinery of production, distribution and consumption is disorganized,
and being destroyed for the want of this chief corner-stone in the foundation qf
our commercial prosperity. The financial question, which has attracted so
much attention of late, depends primarily upon the solution of the
question of transportation. The principle, that a sound currency is the 1ESULT
and not the cause of prosperity, cannot be too loudly or too frequently
enunciated; and those statesmen and political economists who overlook this
primary law will sooner or later be forced to recognize it and advocate a
policy of government that will CAUSE prosperity.
Forty millions per year, expended for five years in providing suitable
transportation facilities for our commerce, would place the United States
far in advance of all other nations in the race for commercial supremacy,
and repay the outlay a hundred fold within a quarter of a century. If such
a policy be strangled by the influence of the consolidated capital now
invested in our present defective transportation system, it will be a blot
upon our system of government, and a disgrace to the statesmanship of the
age in which we live.




27
In conclusion, your committee respectfully submit that the remedies
for the defects and abuses in our present system of transportation must
comprise the construction, by the National Government, or by national aid,
and with national control which will give results equivalent thereto, of a
national iron highway for the movement of freight between the grain-growing section of the West and the Atlantic seaboard; and, as auxiliary thereto,
existing water lines should be improved and such additional ones
constructed as promise the best results for the amount of capital invested.
The internal commerce of the United States has increased so that it
has become the controlling element in a national prosperity, exceeding
that of our foreign commerce in the ratio of more than ten to one; and it
has not in the past received the amount of attention that its importance
merits.  Your committee respectfully recommend that this convention
present a memorial to Congress, asking that a joint committee of both
Houses of Congress be appointed to consider and report at the next session
of Congress upon the advisability of establishing another excutive department of the National Government, to be called the Department of Internal
Commerce, which shall be specially charged with all matters relating to the
internal commerce of the United States.
Your committee believe that this convention should make a suitable
expression of these views to the Congress of the United States, and that
each member of the convention should advocate them wherever and
whenever practicable, to the end that a favorable public sentiment may be
created and the great boon of cheap transportation be attained.
LOCAL LEGISLATION RECOMMENDED.
We further recommend the following course in relation to the
regulation of those railroads lying wholly within the limits of individual
States:
State regulation of railways by making laws in detail, stating what rates
they shall charge and how they shall transact their business is, as a whole,
impracticable. If you attempt to regulate the details of railway management by specific enactments, before you have carefully studied the subject,
the moment you fill the statute-books with a mass of laws which benefit
only the members of the legal profession, and you largely increase the
amount of official corruption; for what is applicable to one road is not
applicable to another, and it is a matter of such delicacy and detail that it
is almost an impossibility to equitably regulate the details of railway
management.
There are, however, certain general laws which are practicable, and
which every State should enact for the regulation of railroads which are
exclusively within its borders.
Under this head we may enumerate the following:
1. A law providing a board of railway commissioners, with power to
prescribe a uniform system of keeping railway accounts, and with other
powers and duties similar to those possessed by the railway commissioners




28
of Massachusetts.  While these powers are quite limited, yet they are
sufficient to focalize public opinion, and this power, when intelligently
directed toward the minor defects in the management of railways, will
rarely fail to secure reforms. This is a most important matter, and the
public can afford to pay salaries which will command talent of a high
order for this purpose. If men are secured whose characters command
respect, the railway commissioners of a State become efficient arbitrators in
all matters where the interest of the public and those of transportation
lines conflict.
2. A law to prevent stock inflations similar to the one now in operation in Massachusetts. The evils of this practice have been described at
length elsewhere in this report, and we will dismiss it with the remark,
that the provisions of the law referred to are substantially, that no stock
shall be issued except for a specific purpose, and when issued shall be
sold at public auction. In short, that a road, if it wants additional capital,
shall go into the market and borrow it, instead of making the public pay
for it in the shape of exorbitant transportation charges, commonly termed
"surplus earnings," for which, in other States, stock is frequently issued,
and the people are made to pay dividends upon the very capital they have
themselves paid in.
3. A law prohibiting officers or directors of railways from either
directly or indirectly owning or becoming interested in any nonco-operative fast freight line, car company, or bridge company, or from
being interested in any manner in the furnishing of supplies to any
company with which they may have official connection.
4. A law prohibiting railway companies from acquiring or holding
more real estate than is necessary for the operation of their roads, and
prohibiting railway companies, or officers of companies, from engaging in
mining or any business other than that of transportation. This provision
is taken from the new constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, and is
designed to prevent in the future such monopolies as exist in that State, by
which the general public is discriminated against, or ruled out altogether
in certain kinds of business.
5. A law providing that all common carriers shall receipt for quantity,
whether it be of grain or other commodities, and to deliver the same at its
destination. This is designed particularly to secure a proper responsibility
for grain carried in bulk by rail; a responsibility which therefore has been
declined by railways, although recognized by all other common carriers.
6. A law making it a penal offense for any public official to accept or
use the free pass of any railway company, and prohibiting railway companies from granting such passes to any but regular employes of such
railways.
The propriety of such a law is obvious when we reflect that such favors
are granted to public officials solely to place them under obligation to these
great corporations who are constantly in our legislative halls asking for




29
legislation antagonistic to the public interests. A free pass is the entering
wedge in many schemes of legislative corruption, and the influence of
honest legislators is frequently secured in favor of seemingly innocent
measures by the little attention of a free pass. If further reasons are needed
to'show the necessity of such a law, we may state that those who pay have
to bear the additional burden of those who do not; and also, if legislators
had to pay for their traveling we would probably see closer attention paid
to legislative duties and more hours of work in a legislative session than
we now do, when State Capitals are deserted on Friday by legislators who
do not return until the following Tuesday.
7. A law prohibiting representatives of the people who belong to the
legal profession from being retained on either side in cases where the
public interest is involved, is sufficient reason for such a law being
enacted both by the United States and every State in the Union; indeed
the 5th, 6th and 7th recommendations should be enacted by Congress as
well as by the various States.
This closes the labors of your Committee, which we trust may meet with
the approval of the Convention. While we can scarcely hope for the
immediate and full realization of the views advocated by us, yet we are
firmly convinced they are founded upon truth and justice, and that they
will ultimately be realized.
We believe that this country is about entering upon a commercial era
such as the world has never seen. Our country possesses the wealth of the
field, the forest and the mine to an extent unequaled by any other
country on the face of the globe. The increase of our population is
unparalleled, and we have just begun to learn how to use the great factors
in modern civilization-steam  and electricity. Thirty years hence the
statesmen of the times will look out over a nation of a hundred millions of
active, energetic and intelligent people —a nation made possible by those
great factors-and wonder how in the first fifty years of their usefulness
their benefits could have been monopolized by any class of individuals as
they are at this time.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
F. B. THURBER, New York.
A. B. SMEDLEY, Iowa.
J. NELSON HARRIS, Kentucky.
S. R. MOORE, Illinois.
F. C. JOHNSON, Indiana.
The report was accepted and referred to the Committee on Resolutions.
The following Committees were then appointed:
Committee on Permanent Officers for the ensuing year:-Col. Lyman
Bridges, Illinois; Geo. A. Merwin, New York; D. C. Dodge, Vermont;
i]. Bernard, Montreal; T. F. Mumford, Virginia; P. H. Woolford, Kentucky; J. B. Cumming, Iowa; J. B. Himmer, Indiana; J. I. Martin,
Missouri; W. M. Tilesten, Minnesota; J. H. Osborn, Wisconsin; H. J.




30
Chapman, Oregon; Gov. Robinson, Kansas; George W. Reynolds,
Ohio; A. Cobb, Nebraska; E. S. Ross, Mississippi.
Committee on Resolutions and Reports:-F. B. Thurber, New York;
F. C. Kennedy Vermont; W. J. Wells, Ohio; Gov. Robinson, Kansas;
H. I. Chapman, Oregon; S. D. Carpenter, Wisconsin; M. McIlhaney,
Missouri; D. L. Ross, Mississippi; C. C. Sturtevant, Minnesota; James
S. Hurley, Iowa; L. B. Milligan, Indiana; Henry Buckhart, Kentucky;
Col. E. Daniels, Virginia; L. C. Reeves, New Jersey; John Young,
Canada; Samuel P. Cummings, Illinois; A. Cobb, Nebraska.
An able paper on Railway Regulation was then read by S. D. Carpenter,
of Wisconsin, for which the Convention returned a vote of thanks, and
after which it adjourned until eight o'clock in the evening.
EVENING SESSION.
The Convention was called to order at eight o'clock, pursuant to
adjournment, by Vice-President HENRY. Gov. BROSS, of Illinois, offered a
series of resolutions, which formed the basis of discussion during the
evening. Mr. BIGELOW, of Vermont, followed in a brief and eloquent
speech in advocacy of the Caughnawaga Canal, substantially as follows:
" I am aware, Mr. PRESIDENT, that the chief consideration of this large
and intelligent Convention has thus far been given to all rail routes as the
best means towards accomplishing cheap transportation; but that the great
water routes from the West to the East will receive their fair share of
attention and discussion, I have not the least doubt. Indeed, the handsome
tribute paid by the distinguished Chairman of the Committee on Railroads,
(Mr. THURBER, of New York) in his able report to the Convention this
afternoon, to those natural channels of commerce, assures me that the
measure, to further which the delegation from the city of Burlington,
Vermont, has been sent here, is one of that importance which will receive
careful consideration and intelligent action from this Convention.
The Caughnawaga Canal project, whose benefits are so fully set forth
in the resolutions of Gov. Bross, is not a new one. Over a quarter of a
century ago it was brought to the attention of the people of the United
States and Canada. Such distinguished statesmen and publicists as Robert
J. Walker and Chancellor Walworth have given it their approval, and
eminent engineers as Mills, McElpine and Jervis have demonstrated the
feasibility and cheapness of the undertaking. But twenty-nine miles in
length, with only twenty-five feet lockage, with depth sufficient to float
vessels of a thousand tons, costing not five millions of dollars, its construction would at once serve to reduce the cost of carrying fourth-rate freight




31
from the West to the seaboard at least fifty per cent. That the speedy
construction of the proposed canal is of great importance in a natural point
of view, is shown from the fact that the able Senate Committee on Transportation, of which Senator Windom was Chairman, and which embraced
among its members Senators Conklin, of New York, Sherman, of Ohio,
Johnson, of Virginia, and Norwood, of Georgia, unanimously endorsed it
in their report as one of the four great water routes which should be
developed in order to secure cheap transportation.  But, sir, we of
Vermont, and elsewhere, who have a deep interest in the Caughnawaga
Canal, have obtained our best information concerning its construction and
the grand results to so certainly flow from it, from the lips and pen of a
distinguished statesman of the Dominion of Canada, who, I am happy to
see, is in attendance on this Convention.  A close student of political
economy for years, connected with the public works of Canada, Hon. John
Young, of Montreal, has made this project, I might say, the darling idea of
his life. Nearly thirty years ago, at a commercial convention held at Troy,
New York, he brought this subject to the attention of the business men of
the East. As a pioneer in the project, and as President of the Caughnawaga Canal Company, Mr. Young can give this body such information
and details concerning the project as, I am confident, will greatly interest
them, and I therefore leave its further discussion in his competent hands."
Mr. YOUNG addressed the Convention as follows:
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION:-I will waste
no words in presenting to you the subject in hand.   I have the
honor of representing here, in part, the New Dominion, and to assure you
that we, of Canada, are not unmindful of the importance of cheap
transportation. We have done much by deepening the St. Lawrence
river.  The work has so far advanced as to enable us, instead of
employing the former vessel of 250 tons, to employ the vessels we
now do, steamers of 4,000 tons. We are encouraged, Mr. President, in
deepening it still further. We have got to compete on the St. Lawrence with
other parts of the Continent. We have ten steamers and employ about
five hundred men, and we are now at work in probably spending three
millions of dollars in attempting to make a channel of twenty-five feet to
Montreal. Now, Mr. Chairman, you are interested in these things. If we
succeed in them, freights will be greatly reduced, and Montreal will be
brought 126 miles nearer the interior than any seaboard on the Continent.
The effect of making these light-houses in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was to
reduce the rate of insurance from about four and five per cent. to what it is
now, equal to New York in the summer season. The effect of deepening
the river is that instead of employing a 250 ton ship, compared with what
they are now, has reduced freights nearly forty per cent. The principle
prevails everywhere that where the size of a vessel is increased the freight
is thereby cheapened. The same law has prevailed on the Erie Canal. In
1825, when the boats were of seventy-five tons, the rate of freight, after the
canal was enlarged for 210 ton boats, was reduced some fifty per cent. The




32
same result, I have no doubt, will take place when we get a channel of twentyfive feet. Our canals, at first, on the Welland and on the St. Lawrence, were
made of small size. The canals on the St. Lawrence river were made for boats
of one hundred tons, with locks one hundred feet in length and twenty-two
feet wide. These had to be enlarged, and in 1849 they were made 200 feet by 45
feet. The locks on the Welland Canal were partly enlarged to 200 feet by 45
feet, but two of the locks were left of the old size, 26 feet, so that no vessels over
850 tons can pass through. The Government is now engaged, and two of
the locks are now finished on the Welland Canal, for vessels of 1,000 tons,
the locks being 270 feet by 45 feet, and 14 feet deep. The same plan will be
followed on the St. Lawrence Canal. These canals on the St. Lawrence are
only some forty-two miles long.  The Welland Canal is twenty-eight
miles long. The question, therefore, when these works are completed,
will be, "Where is the outlet to be?" At present, our trade on the
St. Lawrence is confined exclusively to our export trade. We have no
means of taking any trade from the West through on to Lake Champlain.
The only way of going to Lake Champlain is from the Ottawa, down the
Ottawa river, down the St. Lawrence and Sorrelle, forty-five miles up that
river and through the waters called the Chaumbey Canal, a canal that was
originally suggested by Mr. Allen, of Vermont, to the British Government.
This is, therefore, 121 miles from Montreal up to the foot of Lake Champlain. By this canal and the Caughnawaga Canal the distance will be only
29Y miles, with a lockage of 26 feet. By the other route, the present one,
the length of the river and canal is 121 miles, and 104 feet of lockage. The
Caughnawaga Canal would save 104 miles in length and 89 feet of lockage.
This canal is now owned by a private company. By the Washington treaty,
the American Government and the American people have the same right to
the St. Lawrence as we have ourselves, and have the same right to all the
canals belonging to the Government. On the Caughnawaga Canal they
have not this right, as I think it is a key to the whole. It was an oversight,
I have no doubt, when the Washington treaty was made. In giving away
the St. Lawrence we got a lease of Lake Michigan for ten years, five of
which have expired. That is the bargain I understand. Now this question
of Lake Michigan is a very important one, because I have a knowledge of
the disadvantages of not having it free to British vessels. I remember in
1850, as the Custom House books of Chicago will show, I sent the propeller
Iron, Captain Patterson, with an assorted cargo to Chicago, and that vessel
was seized on account of carrying a British flag. She had no business
here. I saw that great man Robert J. Walker, and told him we had no
defferential duties in Canada against the United States or any country.
She was at once released, and I had the honor of sending the first cargo
of grain from Chicago down to Montreal. [Applause.] Now the question
of transportation comes up in reference to the Caughnawaga Canal. When
that canal is finished, it will, as I said before, accommodate vessels of 2,000
tons. A vessel then can sail from the head of Lake Superior or from
Chicago and go down through the Welland Canal, 28 miles long, proceed
down the St. Lawrence-it is now the purpose of the Canadian Government




33
to deepen the river St. Lawrence so that the canal will not be used on the
downward trip-I say that a vessel can go from Chicago down through the
Welland Canal, down through the lakes, down through the river and on to
Lake Champlain with 37 miles of canal. She can deliver her cargo in
Burlington or any other port on Lake Champlain, and that cargo of one
thousand tons, 50,000 bushels, can be distributed through New England
at a less price than it is possible by any other route. If a canal is made
from Whitehall into the Hudson, then that vessel of 1,000 tons can proceed on to the city of New York, take in a back cargo, and go back to her
destination without breaking bulk. And it is this back cargo, this return
cargo, that makes the downward freight in all cases cheap, for if you go
empty, the one voyage has to pay for two, but if you get a back cargo then
you have freights reduced to the lowest possible point. Then, again, the'
lockages. By the one route, 609 feet with 68 locks, and by the Champlain
route, 391 feet, with 44 locks, a difference of 281 feet lockage and 24 locks.
In other words, the whole system of canals from the interior lakes will be
as 590 is to 500. Five hundred miles of river and lake and 90 of canal to
get into the Hudson river. Now, I heard, as stated in a report to-day, that
the average rate of speed by a railway, with mixed trains, is five miles
an hour. Our propellers, at present navigating our lakes, sail at least ten.
I know some which sail 11/ on the lakes. On the river and downward rapids the rate of speed will not be less, so that those vessels of 1,000
tons will make the passage almost as quick as suggested in the improved
railway. The cost of freight-it is impossible to tell what that will be.
That depends on the crops a good deal. The cost will, no doubt, under
those circumstances, be less than is possible to be in any smaller vessel, as
I have stated already. When this vessel of 1,000 tons is made, instead of
350 ton vessels that now go to Oswego through the Welland Canal, the
change will be very great. I have no doubt it will be one-half. These
opinions of mine are thoroughly endorsed by the gentlemen composing the
Committee of the Senate last year, of which the Hon. Mr. Windham was
Chairman. I will just read a short extract in that report in proof of this:
" Prom all points of the Mississippi river, between Minneapolis, Minn.,
and Quincy, Ills., the average railway rate to lake ports in 1872 was
17 cents per bushel of 60 pounds. From Chicago to New York by
rail, the average charge during that year was 43Y cents per bushel, and
the average rate by water was 26 6-10 cents per bushel, making the all rail
charges through from the Mississippi river to New York 50J cents, and the
rail and water charges, exclusive of terminals, 43 6-11 cents per bushel. It
is believed by those who have studied the subject, that the enlargement of
the New York canals so as to pass boats of 600 to 1,000 tons will reduce the
cost of transportation on that part of the line 50 per cent. The establishment of reciprocal trade relations with the DoIinion of Canada, which
shall include the construction of the Caughnawaga Canal, if such an
arrangement can be made, and which shall encourage Canadian ship-'
masters to compete for the carrying trade of the lakes, will also materially
cheapen the cost of transportation to New England. The evidence taken
3




34
by your Committee fully justifies the opinion that by the enlargement
of the New York canals, the construction of the Caughnawaga Canal, and
the use of the enlarged Canadian canals, the cost of transport from Chicago
to Burlington, Vt., and to New York City, will not exceed from 12 to 15
cents per bushel, making the entire cost from the Mississippi river to
Burlington, Vt., or to New York, not more than 22 cents per bushel,
against the present cost of 43 6-10 cents by water, and 50y cents by rail.
We may, therefore, reasonably estimate that by the proposed improvements upon this route, a saving can be effected of 20 cents a bushel, or
$6.70 per ton on all the East tonnage between that river and the East.
Elsewhere the Committee state that the actual movement of grain to the
East and Southern markets in 1872 amounted to 213,000,000 bushels, and
the annual saving of 20 cents per bushel moved that year would have
amounted to $42,000,000." Again he says: " The Committee believe that
upon the completion of the enlargement of the Welland and St. Lawrence
Canals,'and the construction of the Caughnawaga Canal, wheat and corn
can be transported from ports on Lake Superior and Michigan to Burlington, Vt., for 12 cents per bushel, and that the average cost of distribution
by rail from the latter point to the consumers of New England need not
exceed ten cents per bushel, making the entire cost of transportation 22
cents per bushel. The average freight charge during the last five years
by rail from Chicago to Boston, has been about 39 cents per bushel.
During the year 1872 the New England States received from the Western
States 41,132,255 bushels of grain. Almost all of this immense supply was
transported by rail. Assuming the average rail charge to be 37 cents, the
saving in the cost of transport by the Northern water line would be
15 cents per bushel, and the total saving upon the quantity of grain above
mentioned, would have amounted to $6,169,834 in the year 1872. The
Committee, however, can have no further recommendations as regards the
Caughnawaga Canal, as it is within the Dominion of Canada, but they
would express the hope that in the future, trade relations between the
United States and the Dominion Government may be so adjusted that the
construction of the work may be found to be in the interest of both
countries."
I will just read a short extract of the opinion of WALTER SHANLY, who
has lately succeeded in cutting through the Hoosac Tunnel. He says:
" That these commodities could be laid down more speedily and at
lesser transportation charges in Lake Champlain, by way of the St.
Lawrence, and Caughnawaga canals, than they could reach the New
England border by way of Ogdensburgh or Albany, is simply an incontestable proposition. The bulk of the business now takes the Erie canal
route, and compared with it, the Caughnawaga could certainly show a
gain in point of time of not less than six days, and in point of expenses of
not less than twenty-five per cent. as between Chicago and Albany on the
one hand, and Chicago, and say Burlington, on the other. New England
will have her food supplies from the west whether we carry them for her




35
or not, but assuredly, she will not object to our carrying them, provided we
can do the business with better dispatch and more cheaply than others
can, and the producers in the west will be equally ready on the same
conditions to entrust the transportation business to Canadian carriers."
I might refer you to other quotations from other engineers, especially
McAlpine, who is very decided indeed in reference to the route. He says,
in one of his reports, of the Lakes, the Welland and St. Lawrence canals:
" From the computation we have made, it will be seen that the cost of
transport to New York, by way of the St. Lawrence, and proposed Caughnawaga canal, and enlarging Champlain canal, for ordinary vessels, is less
than by way of Oswego. The Champlain route, thus improved, will have
the further advantage, of the more economic use of vessels of the largest
class, proceeding from any port on the Lakes directly to New York, without breaking bulk, and also the diminished length of the canal navigation
by that route."
This canal was first surveyed by an American engineer by the name of
Mills, who projected the Canadian canals when first originated. It was then
surveyed by Jervis, of New York, then by Colonel Swift, of Boston, and then
by three Canadian engineers. The route now fixed upon is shown by a map I
have laid on the table. There is, therefore, no difference of opinion now as
regards the capacity of the canal. It was opposed for many years, and
especially at that meeting at Saratoga by my Montreal friends who believed
it was going to take away the trade from Montreal. I differed with them,
and have differed since, and there is now quite an agreement in opinion in
regard to that. They now see that I was right, and that a canal, with
ninety-five feet lockage instead of twenty-five feet, which is a difference of
level between Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence, would have been its
ruin, and fortunately it was not don6. Now, Mr. Chairman, so much for
the water route. I would refer to what we are doing in reference to
railways in Canada. We have, as you are aware, the Grand Trunk
Railway, but up to this time we have never had a mile of railway on the
north shore of the St. Lawrence. Those roads were commenced about
eighteen months ago, one from Quebec up towards Montreal, on the north
shore, and the other from Montreal going'ip the valley of the Ottawa. The
contractors, in the first instance, not having been able to carry that out,
the Quebec Government is now taking it up and has a bill before the
house, under which it will furnish the means to carry on these works. It
is intended to carry them on with a view of ultimately reaching Sault St.
Marie. Any one looking at the map will see that from Sault St. Marie there
is a direct line to Montreal, and that line touches the north of Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota. That line will be found to the City of Montreal
and the seaboard, a saving of nearly five hundred miles nearer than any
other seaboard on the continent of America. I may say, I have thought
also of a charter of a bridge across the St. Lawrence in connection with
these railways, at a place called St. Dennis, in the city of Montreal, whereby
freight and passengers, will be carried over it from all these western




36
places, and where the distance to Portland, Boston and New York will be
several hundred miles less than by any other route from these northern
ports. I mention all these things for the purpose of showing how necessary
it is, that while we would use your railways and your canals, and you use
ours that we should be trying to pull together in having everything
arranged in such a manner between ourselves; the great rivalry being, of
course, who shall build up on this continent the best people and best
institutions. When, in my opinion, the great advantages which the
several routes develope in a proper manner will be guaranteed by both
governments, and reciprocal relations guaranteed."
Mr. HARRIS, of Kentucky, introduced an elaborate series of resolutions
upon the general subject of Cheap Transportation, which were referred to
the Committee on Resolutions.
A voluminous paper on terminal charges at Chicago was submitted, and
referred to a Special Committee, of which Mr. HARRIS was Chairman. As
the paper was pronounced inacurate and unjust by the Committee, it is
omitted.
A resolution in favor of narrow-gauge railroads was introduced and
referred to the Committee on Resolutions.
Mr. THURBER then read the Treasurer's Report. He stated that last
year, the amount collected at the Richmond Convention was hardly enough
to balance the expenditure. The Treasurer was recommended to keep his
expenses within proportions. In regard to the expenses of this Convention
there is stationery, postage, telegraphing, advertising, stenographer,
printing the Proceedings, etc. Mr. THURBER estimated the amount wanted
at $487.50. Last year the expenses exceeded that sum, but the Treasurer
thought they can be kept within that, and that is about the amount that
will be required.
On motion of Mr. BAKER, of New York, a Committee of Finance was
appointed, one from each State represented at the Convention, to take
measures to raise the amount necessary to pay the expenses of this
Convention.
On motion the Report of the Secretary was taken from the table and
adopted.
A motion to adjourn was adopted, and the Convention adjourned to
Thursday morning at nine o'clock.




SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
The Convention was called to order by Vice-President HENRY at 9
o'clock, pursuant to adjournment. Prayer was offered by Mr. MERWIN, of
New York. Numerous resolutions were offered by delegates, all of which
were referred to the Committee on Resolutions.  The report of the
Standing Committee on Artificial Water Routes was submitted by the
chairman, CoiL. FROBEL, of Georgia, as follows:
Your Committee on Canal Routes would respectfully report, that since
the last session of this Convention, the United States Congress has made
unusually large appropriations for the several rivers which form parts of
the great water routes recommended, namely for the improvement of
the Mississippi; for the Ohio and Kanawha; for the opening of the
Tennessee river at Muscle Shoals; and for the Fox river and Wisconsin
Canal. These appropriations amounted to three or four million dollars.
Although none of the appropriations are sufficiently large, except that
for the mouth of the Mississippi, to complete any one of the lines, still
they are regarded as.an inauguration of the great work so earnestly
advocated by this association, and give us the assurance that the necessity
which has so long been felt by the people for cheaper and more adequate
means of transportation has at length impressed itself upon the Legislatures
of the nation, that even the attention of Congress has been seriously
attracted to the matter, and that time has been found amid the mighty
political questions of the day to pay some heed to the necessity of relieving
the wants of an impoverished and suffering people. There is hope in all
this, and especially in their ability to spare a few hours from the discussion
of the vast political issues of the last session and to devote a few hours to
questions of practical importance to their constituents.
Much has already been accomplished by personal efforts, and we have
faith in the omnipotence of work.
Your Committee earnestly recommend that there be no relaxation of
these efforts; and that other and more effective steps be taken to make the
complaints of the suffering people heard where they have not been heard
before. We recommend that an Executive Committee be appointed for
each State, and that this Committee be clothed with power to appoint such
committees in any Congressional District; and that it may be made the
duty of these committees to labor, that only such men as are sound upon
great material issues of the day be intrusted with the matter of legislation
for our people. That the question of making labor profitable, and with
it, of restoring our commercial prosperity, and with that the financial status
of the country, be made the leading issue in every campaign, and to
see that the support of the friends of these measures be given only to such
men as are pledged to labor for the proper settlement of these questions.
We believe that the people of the whole country are becoming well
educated in the matter of these needs, and what we now require to insure




38
success is organization. We should see that our strength no longer be
wasted. We therefore recommend:
1. That in addition to the great improvements already undertaken by
the Government, that the Illinois and Mississippi Canal (formerly known
as the Hennepin Canal) be undertaken by the Government at once.
2. That the State of New York be earnestly requested to complete
a canal (of the capacity of the enlarged Welland Canal) from Oswego
to the Hudson river, and that a committee of five be appointed to present
each of the above recommendations to Congress and to the State of New
York.
COL. B. W. FROBEL, Georgia.
C. S. CARRINGTON, Virginia.
WM. H. ABELL, New York.
LYMAN BRIDGES, Illinois.
WALDO M. POTTER, Iowa.
Committee on Artificial Water Routes.
The report was accepted, and referred to the Committee on Resolutions.
At this point in the proceedings, his Excellency, Governor Beveridge,
of Illinois, entered the hall, and was enthusiastically received. In response
to an urgent call, he spoke as follows:
" The Northwest is the bread-producing region of the country. With a
widely extending territory, rich and productive before the civilized man
turned the sod, better after twenty centuries of civilization than the lands
of old New England, with improved implements of industry-the plow, the
drill, the planter, the mower, reaper and thrasher-such as steam is to
navigation, or gunpowder to war, the Northwest will furnish food to the
East and South, and feed the starving millions of the Old World. In fifty
years there will be 50,000,000 people in the great valley of the Mississippi.
This mighty people will never be cut off from the sea. The lakes will be
the great highway to the sea. The object of the Convention is to discuss
transportation, and I speak on behalf of the Northwest and of the entire
nation. I believe that the people are in favor of removing every obstruction in the Mississippi River, and making it nature's great outlet to the sea
and the lands beyond. I believe all would like to see this improvement,
We are all interested in the transportation by the lakes to the East. You
must build warehouses equal to your commerce. Leave it not to the
railroads for they will carry the grain on the tracks. Build them yourselves.
When spring comes we can then forward to you of the East, the abundance
we have stored up in the winter.
" Mr. President and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention. I
hope while you are here your time will be agreeably spent, and when you
go home I hope you will carry away pleasant memories of the city and its
commerce, and of the fair State of Illinois."
/The address was received with applause. The Chair responded happily
on behalf of the Convention. He heartily thanked his Excellency for the
encouraging remarks he had made and the kind spirit in which he made
them. The interests of the East and West, he said, in this matter of cheap
transportation, were identical. He looked for some relief from the present
oppressive system under which the agricultural labor of the country
groaned, and for his own part would like to see the Erie canal deepened
for the passage of the lake marine, also a double-track railroad built
between the East and West which would not be closed during the winter.
At twelve o'clock, sharp, the Convention adjourned for the day, and




39
proceeded in a body to the Chamber of Commerce, in accordance with the
invitation of the Board of Trade. The President of that body, Mr. GEORGE
ARMOUR, welcomed the Delegates on behalf of his associates, in a few wellchosen words, closing by introducing Mr. HENRY to the Board of Trade,
who spoke with business-like brevity, returning cordial thanks for the
attention shown the Convention, and for the coming banquet of the
evening. From there the Delegates went to the Union Stock Yards on a
tour of inspection.
In the evening, the Delegates partook of the sumptuous banquet
provided at the Grand Pacific Hotel. Seats for three hundred persons
were provided, including not only the Delegate guests, but many eminent
citizens of Chicago who were not members of the Convention. The toasts
of the evening were prefaced appropriately by Governor Beveridge as
follows:
"The American Continent-its discovery and settlement is mainly
attributable to commercial enterprise, whose star of empire shines resplendent in the West. Upon its soil was first legally displayed the spirit of
universal freedom and equal political and religious rights.  May its
governments, though varied in form and character, forever preserve the
elements of true liberty; to be of the people, by the people and for the
people; may theyi4e powerful to redress the wrong and to suppress the
vicious outgrowth of tyrannical monopolies in whatever disguise such
vicious outgrowth may appear. May they, each and all of them, work
together to advance the public weal, and shield the American at home and
abroad, with even more than a Roman indemnity, from vulgar abuse by
the truthful assertion: " I am an American citizen."
To this sentiment Hon. JOHN DOUGHERTY, of Illinois, responded.
Gov. BEVERIDGE then introduced the second regular toast:
Cheap Transportation-The key to the supremacy of our modern civilization upon the American continent-to its wealth, peace, prosperity,
and progress in all future time.
Which was responded to by JOHN F. HENRY and FRANCIS B. THURBER,
of New York. The third toast was:
Our Guests-We welcome them to this breaking of bread in commemoration of the blessings always attendant on united action for the general
good.
This was responded to by G. G. BENEDICT, of Vermont, on behalf of
the North; Col. PEYTON, of Virginia, on behalf of the South; H. I.
CHAPMAN, of Portland, Oregon, on behalf of the Far West, and Dr.
BERNARD, of Montreal, for the Far North. This closed the regular toasts,
and the usual line of volunteer toasts were proposed, and the company
dispersed at a late hour, evidently delighted with the proceedings of the
second day's session.




THIRD DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.
The Convention was called to order at half past nine o'clock by Hon.
J. Y. SCAMMON, of Illinois, who asked Rev. Dr. SULLIVAN to open the
proceedings with prayer. Vice-President HENRY then took the chair and
occupied it as usual during the remainder of the session.
Mr. BAKER, of New York, presented an abstract from the minutes
of the Cheap Transportation Association of New York, held December 7,
setting forth that the time had come for the construction of a double-track
railroad from the grain-producing sections of the West to the Atlantic
seaboard. Referred to the Committee on Resolutions. *
Mr. ANDERSON, of Illinois, introduced a resolution, which was referred
to the same committee, and which set forth that the improvement of the
Illinois river, the great connecting line in water communication of the
great lakes and the Mississippi river, is a subject well worthy of the
attention of this Convention, and the fostering care of the United States
Congress, demanding such appropriations as will insure its early completion.
On motion of Mr. CAMP, of Illinois, it was decided not to receive any
resolutions for reference after half-past 10 o'clock.
Gov. DOUGHERTY and Mr. FLAGG, of Illinois, introduced resolutions
endorsing the improvement of the Mississippi river, especially at the
mouth, by Capt. EADS' jetty system. Mr. PHELPS, of Illinois, introduced a
resolution to the effect that railroads, with all their faults, are one of the
chief corner-stones of commercial prosperity.
A Committee of five was appointed to suggest a place for the next
meeting of the Convention. Louisville, Kentucky, was selected, and the
selection approved. The committee consisted of Messrs. WOLFOLK, of
Kentucky, WATROUS, of New York, BIGELOW, of Vermont, BRoss, of
Illinois, and PEYTON, of Virginia.
Mr. A. B. MILLER, of New York, spoke in favor of the construction of
a double-track railway, under Government control, from the Atlantic seaboard to the principal producing points of the West.
Instead of reproducing that speech, as was intended, it is thought best
to present the following Memorial of the American Board of Transportation and Commerce, in behalf of the construction of a Double-Track




41
Freight Railway from the Seaboard to the West, prepared subsequent to
adjournment and in accordance with instruction from the Convention:
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America, in Congress Assembled:
The undersigned, a Committee appointed by the American Board of
Transportation and Commerce, at its Annual Convention, held in the City
of Chicago, State of Illinois, on the 15th day of December, 1875, for the
purpose of making known to your Honorable Bodies, not only the result of
its deliberations, but also to urge the necessity of immediate action at your
hands, respectfully call your attention to the resolutions adopted at that
Convention, which are as follows:
Resolved-That the great and pressing need of this country is a system
of Transportation commensurate with the requirements of the age in which
we live; that the absence of such a system is, in a great measure, the cause
of the present unsatisfactory state of trade and commerce; the reason why
our mills and manufactories are idle; why our agricultural interests are
unremunerative, and why thousands of willing hands lack employment.
Resolved-That the presence of a metallic currency is the result of
commercial prosperity, and not the cause of that prosperity. To restore
this circulation, it is only necessary for us to supply the means of exporting
our grain, flour and bacon, tobacco, cotton, oil and other products, at prices
which will enable us to sell those products in the markets of other
countries. This will give us commercial prosperity, and its evidence will
be a gold circulation.  With the return of commercial prosperity, all
questions relating to the value of different kinds of currency will disappear.
Resolved-That this consummation can be reached by providing an
adequate system of Transportation, and that the only way such a system
can be provided is by the co-operation of the people through the machinery
of government; that the-boundaries of commerce have become so extended
through the agencies of steam and electricity, that a new and more
extensive class of transportation facilities are needed; that the present
system has become not only inadequate to the necessities of the times, but
it is so filled with defects and abuses that it dwarfs production, stifles
commerce, and prevents us from successfully competing in the markets of
the world.
Resolved-That corporate power embodied in our transportation lines
has become so organized, consolidated and combined, that it is now able to
dictate values to the producers, prices to the consumers, and profits to the
manufacturers and trades, and to build up a privileged class contrary to
the spirit of the Constitution of the United States.
Resolved-That the further extension of this power must be opposed by
the mass of the people by creating, as fast as possible, a new system of
transportation lines, which will insure competition and thus protect the
public interest.
Resolved-That as a means to this end, the national government should,
as speedily as possible, undertake the construction of the lines of transportation recommended by the United States Senate Committee on transportation routes, or such of them as, after survey, promise the most favorable
results.
Resolved-That a national railway, exclusively for freight should be
constructed, from the grain-growing sections of the West to the Atlantic
seaboard, to the end that this great territory, with its dense population, and
the principal distributing cities both of the East and the West, may not be
wholly at the mercy of existing railroads, when water routes are closed by
ice.




42
Resolved-That if it be deemed inexpedient to have this road constructed and owned by the National Government, the object may be
reached by granting national aid to such road, and assuming, in consideration thereof, such supervision and control as will insure reasonable rates of
freight, and forever prevent combination and consolidation with existing
lines, and the abuses in the construction and management which pervade
our present railway system and so heavily tax the commercial and
consuming public at this time.
The Committee, your memorialists, further beg leave to say that the
Convention they have the honor to represent was composed of no less
than three hundred delegates, from eighteen States, and representing every
section of the Union, comprising, amongst its members, representatives of
the agricultural, mining, manufacturing, commercial and other interests.
Yet, with all of this diversity of pursuits, there was an entire unanimity of
opinion as to the main cause of that existing depression, and, in some cases,
entire suppression of the industrial pursuits and business interests that
now prevails throughout our land, which is fairly and forcibly expressed in
the resolutions as given above.
Your memorialists desire to say that, while they are not to be
understood as making an indiscriminate war upon any just rights of
existing railways, they respectfully beg leave to direct the attention of your
Honorable Bodies to the vast aggregations of capital, together with the
overwhelming influence that has been acquired within a few years by the
consolidation and combinations of railway corporations, which are wielded
and controlled with almost despotic power by comparatively few individuals-a power that levies, at its will, a tax upon the productions of this nation,
amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually; a power that
frequently increases or diminishes this tax arbitrarily, upon the producing
interests of the country, amounting to differences of many millions of
dollars within a few months, thereby causing fluctuations in value to such
an extent, and so capriciously, as to baffle all ordinary business calculations,
often causing wide-spread disaster and ruin to the community; a power
recognizing no real responsibility to the Government, either State or
National, or to the people, thereby inciting alarm and distrust, thus checking enterprise and the development of the resources of the nation-in short,
a power so absolute and exacting that, if attempted to be exercised in like
manner by the government of any civilized nation, would, in the opinion
of your memorialists, lead to its immediate overthrow.
Your memorialists would further say that the evils complained of have
reached their present formidable and intolerable character after many years
of intrigue and manipulation on the part of the various railway corporations, and, in the general attention given by the people at large to their
private affairs, have been passively submitted to; but the time has at last
arrived when, smarting under a just sense of the disasters and suffering
resulting from the depressing and unwise policy of those that manage and
control our railways, the people are rising in their might and forming
organizations throughout the length and breadth of the land, for the
purpose of securing, from their National and State representatives, such




48
legislation as shall relieve them from the arbitrary exactions and oppressive
rule of railroad corporations, whose power has become too formidable to be
controlled by their peaceful, unaided efforts.
Your memorialists would most respectfully but firmly urge upon
Congress the necessity of adopting such measures as, in their wisdom, are
necessary in the speedy relief of our hitherto patient and long suffering
people; and, to the attainment of that end, beg leave to suggest that, in
their opinion, as well as that of the Convention they represent, as
expressed in its resolutions, that the construction by the government or
the extension of its aid to the building of a double-track railroad,
exclusively or mainly for freight, extending from the Atlantic seaboardjts
Chicago, St. Louis, Omaha, and such other interior commercial cities as
may be deemed necessary, would effectually remedy the evils under which
we are suffering, provided the road is built under such restrictions as shall
prevent any speculation in its construction, or any consolidation or combination with other roads when built, with a charter so framed that it can never
become an instrument in the hands of bold and unscrupulous speculators
to serve their interests, indifferent to or independent of the rights and
reasonable demands of the public; giving to the people, through the
government, a voice in its management, and providing for reasonable and
fixed rates of transportation.
Youi memorialists believe that the construction of one such trunk line
of railway would demonstrate the possibility of transporting the products
of our country, as well as those of foreign origin, at less than one-half the
average charge hitherto made, and would not only cause all competing
roads to conform their charges thereto, but would secure to the producing
and business interests of the country reliably uniform and non-descriminating rates.
Your memorialists, firmly convinced of the truth of the statements
herein contained, cannot but indulge the hope that an enlightened sense of
the necessities of the people will induce your Honorable Bodies to adopt
such measures as in their wisdom may be deemed necessary.
C. C. STURTEVANT, Minnesota,
J. H. OSBORN, Wisconsin,
W. C. FLAGG, Illinois,
L. P. MILLIGAN, Indiana,
R. G. PENNINGTON, Ohio,
A. B. MILLER, New York,
Committee.
The Committee on Permanent Organization reported as follows:
President-John F. Henry, of New York.
Vice-Presidents-Joseph Utley, Illinois; James R. Anderson, Virginia;
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Massachusetts; J. Nelson Harris, Kentucky;
G. S. Houston, Alabama; P. L. Weaver, California; J. D. Adams,
Arkansas; Col. W. H. Greenwood, Colorado; J. S. Barbour, District
Columbia; B. P. Baker, New York; J. R. Thrall, Florida; J. Irwin Martin,
Missouri; Hon. J. M. Smith, Georgia; J. B. Hymer, Indiana; J. K.
Hornish, Iowa; J. J. Irby, Louisiana; J. R. Herbert, Maryland;
William Windom, Minnesota; Emmett L. Ross, Mississippi; J. L. Bridgeman, New Hampshire; N. McConanghy,New Jersey; Amasa Cobb, Nebraska;




44
Z. Vance, North Carolina; C. G. Menninger, South Carolina; W. P. Jones,
Tennessee; S. R. Anderson, Maine; F. C. Kennedy, Vermont; J. McClure,
West Virginia; J. W. Hoyt, Wisconsin; H. I. Chapman, Oregon; the Hon.
Henry Johnson, Pennsylvania; Hon. Charles Robinson, Kansas; L.
T. Hunt, Ohio; A. L. Catlin, Texas; A. H. Milroy, Washington Territory;
E. B. Creras, Dakota; F. C. Capreol, Canada; A. C. Wolford, Montana;
Gen. J. A. Hawley, Connecticut; Elisha Dyer, Rhode Island; Hon. R.
C. McCormick, Arizona; J. L. Jackson, Delaware.
Treasurer-F. B. Thurber, New York.
Secretary-Frank Gilbert, Chicago.
Assistant Secretary-H. A. Stolenwolks, Selma, Alabama.
Executive Committee-J. F. Henry, F. B. Thurber, James Utley, Frank
Gilbert, and H. A. Stolenwolks.
The report was unanimously adopted.
Resolutions of thanks were then offered. The absent President,
JOSIAH QUINCY, was duly remembered, also the retiring Secretary, R. H.
FERGUSON, and the acting President, J. F. HENRY; gratitude to the Board
of Trade, JOHN B. DRAKE and his associates of the Grand Pacific, and the
Michigan Southern Railroad Company, for their generous kindness, was
duly expressed.
The Convention then adjourned until two o'clock.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The Convention was called to order at the designated hour by the
Chair. The first order of business was the presentation of the report
of the Committee on Resolutions. There were two reports, a majority and
a minority. The former was presented by the chairman, Mr. THURBER, as
follows:
Resolved, That the great and pressing need of this country is a system
of transportation commensurate with the requirements of the age in which
we live; that the absence of such a system is, in a great measure, the
cause of the present unsatisfactory state of trade and commerce, the reason
why our mills and manufactories are idle, why our agricultural interests
are unremunerative, and why thousands of willing hands lack employment.
Resolved, That the presence of a metallic currency is the result of
commercial prosperity, and not the cause of that prosperity; to restore this
circulation it is only necessary for us to employ the means of exporting our
grain, flour, bacon, cotton, tobacco, oil, and other products at prices which
will enable us to use those products of other countries; this will give
a commercial prosperity, and its evidence will be a gold circulation; with
the return of commercial prosperity, all questions relating to one value of
different kinds of currency will disappear.
Resolved, That this consummation can be reached by providing an
adequate system of transportation, and that the only way such a system can
be provided is by the co-operation of the people, through the machinery of
Government; that the boundaries of commerce have become so extended




45
through the agencies of steam and electricity, that a new and more extensive
class of transportation facilities are needed; that the present system'has
become not only inadequate to the necessities of the times, but is so filled
with defects and abuses that it dwarfs production, stifles commerce, and
prevents us from successfully competing in the markets of the world.
Resolved, That the corporate power embodied in our transportation
lines has become so organized, consolidated and combined, that it is now
able to dictate valies to the producers, prices to the consumers, and profits
to the manufacturers and trades, and to build up a privileged class contrary
to the spirit of the constitution of the United States.
Resolved, That the further extension of this power must be opposed by
the means of the people, by creating, as fast as possible, a new system of
transportation lines, which will insure competition, and thus protect the
public interests.
Resolved, That as a means to this end the National Government should, as
speedily as possible, undertake the construction of lines of transportation
recommended by the United States Senate Committee on Transportation
Routes, or such of them as, after survey, produce the most favorable results.
Resolved, That a national railway, exclusively for freight, should be
constructed from the grain-growing sections of the West to the Atlantic
seaboard, to the end that this great territory, with its dense population, and
the principal distributing cities both of the East and the West, may not be
wholly at the mercy of existing railroads, when water routes are closed by
ice.
Resolved, That if it be deemed inexpedient to have this road constructed and owned by the National Government, that the object may
be reached by granting national aid to such a road, and assuming, in
consideration thereof, such supervision and control as will insure reasonable
rates of freight, forever prevent combination and consolidation with
existing lines, and the abuses in construction and management which
pervade our present railway system and so heavily tax the commercial and
consuming public at this time.
Resolved, That whenever national aid is extended to any project in the
way of internal improvement, or whenever the construction of any work is
undertaken by Government, that the work should -be done by contract, in
small sections, to the lowest responsible bidder.
Resolved, That a committee of seven persons, familiar with and
interested in water transportation, and a committee of equal number who
are dependent upon improved railway facilities for cheap transportation,
be appointed to present copies of these resolutions to the Congress of the
United States, and to take such other steps to forward the objects therein
advocated, as may be in their power.
Resolved, That the internal commerce of the United States has not, in
the past, received that consideration at the hands of our National Government that its importance merits; that, exceeding in magnitude, as it does,
our foreign commerce, in the ratio of more than ten to one, it is entitled to
the most careful consideration and fostering care.
Resolved, That, in pursuance of this policy, a memorial to Congress,
from this Convention, be prepared, asking that a joint committee from both
Houses of Congress be appointed to consider the advisability of forming a
new department of our national Government, to be called the Department
of Internal Commerce; said department to be specially charged with the
collection, preservation, and dissemination of information bearing upon
transportation, and with all other matters pertaining to internal commerce.
The joint committee, before mentioned, to investigate the subject and report
at the next session of Congress.
Resolved, That we recommend the several States to enact the following
laws for the regulation of railways chartered by them:




46
First-A law providing as Board of Railroad Commissioners to obtain,
preserve and circulate information bearing upon transportation, with
power to prescribe a uniform system of keeping railway accounts, and with
other powers and duties similar to those possessed by the Railway Commissioners of Massachusetts.
Second-A law to prevent stock inflation.
Third-A law prohibiting representatives of the people from being
retained or employed as agents, attorneys, or counsel in any case where the
public interest is involved.
Fourth-A law providing a uniform classification of merchandise, and
prohibiting the printing of conditions on bills of lading issued by common
carriers, which are designed to evade the just responsibility of such
carriers.
Fifth-A general law, or constitutional prohibition, against the consolidation of railroads, by which the power of these great corporations are
often greatly increased, and their proper control and regulation prevented.
Resolved, That we have no warfare to make upon any of the great
industries of the country, but, on the contrary, the very object of the
Convention is to promote peace and harmony among them by securing an
equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of life, without which
there can be no permanent harmony of interest. As the offices of all the
members of the human body are essential to its perfect vitality and vigor,
so are all these interests essential to a country that would be great and
prosperous. It is the true interest of all to promote the interest of each
other, and our best policy will be found in the union of all the great
industries of the land, for the sake of national peace and national
prosperity.
ORGANIZATION.
Resolved, That for the purpose of effecting a more perfect organization,
an Executive Committee be appointed for each State, consisting'of a
number equal to the representation of said State in the Federal Congress.
Resolved, That the said Executive Committee shall have power to
appoint sub-committees in each Congressional district in their respective
States.
Resolved, That it shall be the duties of these several committees to
collect and disseminate such information in their several States and districts
as may aid in procuring proper legislation upon this all-important matter of
transportation, and that their efforts and aims shall be to procure for our
people the cheapest means possible.
Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the Sub-Committee to correspond
with the Executive Committees of the States, and the State Executive
Committees with the National Executive Committee of this body, so that
there may be uniformity of purpose and action between the whole.
Resolved, That when this Convention adjourns, it be to meet in October,
1876, at Louisville, Ky.
Resolved, That your Committee further recommend the adoption of the
resolutions introduced by the Hon. William Bross, in this Convention,
relating to deep-water communication between the great Western lakes and
New York City, by the way of Lake Champlain and the Caughnawaga
Ship-Canal.,
This report was signed by all the Committee, (for a full list of which
see page 30), except Messrs. Carpenter, Cobb and Daniels, who made the
following minority report:
"The undersigned, a minority of the Committee on Resolutions,
respectfully submit the following Report:
The undersigned by no means underrate the importance of unanimity,
for the maxim that " in union there is strength," is worth every reasonable




47
exertion to secure it, and on this account many gentlemen have waived
objections that did not impeach the integrity of well-grounded convictions
on great questions of public import; yet, with naught but the kindest
feelings towards our brother members of the Committee, and cherishing
the policy that they are honest and sincere in this conviction, the undersigned, nevertheless, are constrained by a sense of duty that cannot be
shirked,without, in their opinion, doinginjustice to one of the most important
subjects that has agitated the public mind, touching the question of Cheap
Transportation. The resolution which was referred to the Committee on
the subject of restrictive control, reads as follows:
"'Resolved-That in the opinion of this Board, railway restriction is
both practicable and expedient, and that the mode, or principle of
restriction, ought, in justice to all concerned, to be based on a reasonable
maxilnum per cent., net, of a fair valuation of the property (not to exceed
ten per cent.), and that the principle of application, when the net receipts
shall exceed the determined per cent., should be a pro rata restriction, on
all classes alike.'
It is not contended, so far as the undersigned know or believe, that
arbitrary commodity restriction has, in any case yet adopted, proved
satisfactory to any interest concerned. Such restriction claims not the
merit of any knowledge to warrant the interference in the manner
exercised. Being arbitrary, and founded on no officially known facts, it is
likely to be as it probably is, oppressive on the new, or smaller roads, and
yet far below the rate of restriction that ought to be enforced as to the
older and more powerful trunk lines.
The resolution proposes a remedy for this by encouraging official
investigation of the actual amount of operating expenses, and, above all,
the actual amount of receipts, a mode which the Hon. Charles Francis
Adams, in his able address before the late Oshkosh Fair, declared would be
victory itself, when consunmated.
The undersigned charge no specific cases of wrong or suppression of
receipts. No individual road is, by the undersigned, arraigned, but we
cannot overlook the fact that in the investigation of the New York and
other Legislatures, not to omit the investigation by the British bondholders
of the Erie railway, etc., gross "irregularities " have been officially pointed
out, and the whole country is not unmindful of the facts that they are
laboring under the evils of this and kindred high-priced calamities. If we
would cure the disease, we must, with a manly courage, strike at the cause.
In vain will the people tax themselves to build new and expensive roadways
as outlets for the products of industry, if they refuse to put up barriers to
prevent the absorption of the new trunks, by and through the process of
"Watered" stocks, with which, without the addition of real dollars, they
buy up the securities of competing lines, and thus, after our money is
expended in their construction, they are swept away from our control, and
instead of becoming aid-de-camps of our commerce, and lessening our
expenses, they actually become engines of oppression.
This resolution calls for no outlay of capital.  It inaugurates not
innovation on vested or any other rights. It only provides for securing a
knowledge on which to base restrictive action or refrain from it. If the
various roads do actually report their actual cost-if they report truly their
operative expenses-if they give us all their actual receipts, then the
undersigned is of the opinion that they should not be restricted, for so far
as known to us, no roads report a net of 10 per cent. But if it shall turn
out, upon official investigation, which this resolution seeks, that the true
cost is much less than that reputed, that stocks have been heavily loaded
with the fiction of what is called "Water," as a basis for more onerous
exactions of the people, if it should turn out that operating expenses
were blended with construction accounts, and vice versa, as a basis for still




48
greater exactions, and if it shall be disclosed that a large proportion of the
actual receipts are suppressed from the public eye, and often passes the
notice of those who may have furnished the capital, that if these things
should be disclosed, then who will, or can, in honor or justice say that the
remedy proposed should not be applied?
The whole thing has no greater effect, so far as this Board is concerned,
than a mere recommendation to those interested, to file " bills of discovery."
It is no imputation on honest men in a crowd when pockets have been
picked, to propose a search, nor can a search harm the innocent, but as to
those proven guilty, who can have objections to the mode of discovery?
The undersigned know of no other way to eject the " water" from out
railway securities, which is now a prominent and an oppressive factor in the
unjust demands upon the people, than by the mode proposed.
For the above, and many other cogent reasons which might be urged if
time permitted, the undersigned respectfully, yet most urgently ask the
adoption of the aforesaid resolution.
The minority report, already referred to, was then submitted, and on
motion of Mr. WATROUS, of New York, both reports were accepted, and
pending their adoption, which was by sections, no member was allowed to
speak more than once or longer than ten minutes on any motion.
Gov. DOUGHERTY moved to lay the minority report on the table, which
was done by a vote of 153 to 24.
The first resolution of the majority report was adopted without debate.
The second occasioned an animated discussion. Mr. SCAMMON protested
against it as being irrelevant. Messrs. THURBER, FROBEL and CUMMINGS
advocated it as sound in doctrine and pertinent to the subject of cheap
transportation. The resolution was adopted. The fourth, fifth and sixth
resolutions were adopted without debate.
The seventh resolution occasioned some discussion on the constitutional question of whether Congress could grant the right of way for a
railroad through a State. Col. PEYTON insisted that it could not. Mr.
CARTER, of Illinois, said that it would be impossible to get Congress to
exercise that power. It was agreed that the Convention was not called
upon to pass judgment upon points of constitutional law, and the resolution
was adopted as read.
In connection with the resolution on internal commerce, Mr. UTLEY,
of Illinois, spoke as follows:
"I have listened to the remarks made by the gentlemen from New
York, upon the subject of railroad freights, with much pleasure. I am
aware, gentlemen, that within the past few years there have been very
many and important improvements made and a gradual reduction in
the price of transportation by rail, and I devoutly hope that the prediction
of the gentleman from New York, will speedily become a matter of fact,
and through freights be carried at the rate of six or seven mills per ton per
mile. But I beg leave to remind the gentlemen that the producers of the
Northwest do not complain of the cost of transportation from the lakes to
the seaboard, but do bitterly complain of the prices charged from interior
and local points to the great lakes. It must be remembered that not five




49
per cent. of the surplus products of the country reach our railroads at
terminal points. In'other words, more than ninety-five per cent. of these
products pay local rates before reaching competing points on the water
routes to the ocean. I must dissent from the conclusion of the gentlemen
from New York, that improvements in railway transportation will reduce
the cost to a point as low, or lower, than the same freights can be profitably
carried by water on canals and improved rivers.
"Actual experiments seem to have settled this question beyond dispute,
as will be seen by the following extract from a sworn statement made by
the main trunk lines and some of the latteral roads in New York, for 1874:
New York & Erie Railroad, average charge per ton per mile............. 1.r1,
New York & Erie Railroad, actual average cost per ton per mile.........  9
New York Central & Hudson Railroad, average charge per ton per mile, 1.T jNew York Central & Hudson Railroad, actual average cost, per ton per
m ile............................................................................... 
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, average charge per ton per mile..... 1.T2 
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, actual average cost per ton per mile.... 8 3
Boston & Albany Railroad, average charge per ton per mile.............. 1.62
Boston & Albany Railroad, actual average cost per ton per mile......... 1 42
Albany & Susquehannah Railroad, average charge per ton per mile... 2.r~
Albany & Susquehannah Railroad, actual average cost per ton per mile, 1.Ts,%j
Syracuse & Binghamton Railroad, average charge per ton per mile..... 1.,24
Syracuse & Binghamton Railroad, actual average cost per ton per mile,.TA
Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad, average charge per ton per
mile................................................................................  2.T
Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad, actual average cost per
ton  per mile.......................................................................  2.14 9
New York, Oswego & Midland Railroad, average charge per ton per
m ile....................................................................................  2
New York, Oswego & Midland Railroad, actual average cost, per ton
per mile.............................................................................  2.,96
"Within the past few years changes of great importance have been
taking place upon our lakes and canals; changes which I doubt not will, in
the near future, produce a further reduction in the cost of transportation. I
refer to the improvement in our lake marine and steam upon the canals.
"The following tables, compiled from official sources, show the charges
per ton per mile for transporting freight on the most important New York
railroads and canals:
1856.
New  York  Central Railroad..........................................................   2.
New  York  &  Erie  Railroad.........................................  2 48
N ew   Y ork   Canals.........................................................................  1.]
1860.
New    York  Central Railroad...........................................................  2.T,
New    York  &  Erie  Railroad.......................................................  1.
N ew   Y ork   Canals..........................................................................  
1865.
New  York  Central Railroad........................................................  3.
New    York  &  Erie  Railroad..........................................................  2.
N ew   Y ork   Canals.......................................................................... 
4




50
1870.
New York Central Railroad....................................   1.
New   York  &  Erie  Railroad.............................................................
New  York  Canals......................................................................
1874.
New  York  Central Railroad.........................................................  1.rTV
New  York  &  Erie  Railroad.......................................................... 1.fs
New   Y ork  Canals...................................................... 
"It will be noted that this statement is not based upon particular times
or years, when, on account of active competition, railroads and canals
carried freight at remarkably low rates; nor during suspension of navigation, when railroads charged high rates, but the actual average charges
paid by the people per ton per mile for both local and through freights. It
is believed that the improvement made within the last year will reduce the
cost of freight on the New York canals to the low price of five mills
per ton per mile. In fact, during the last summer, steamers on the Erie
Canal have carried wheat from Buffalo to Troy, a distance of three hundred
and fifty miles, for five and a half cents a bushel, or about one and a half
cents per bushel for each hundred miles. When the full reports for the
year 1875 are completed, it will show another material reduction in the cost
of freights on canals.
" I, sir, do not wish to be understood as opposed to the further construction of railroads, or as believing that canals can, or ever will, supersede
them. I do not advocate the construction of long and expensive canals
through mountain gorges and over high elevations, particularly when the
supply of water on the summit is doubtful and the construction expensive.
But I do believe that short canals like the proposed Illinois & Mississippi
River Canal, connecting the great lakes with the 15,000 miles of steamboat
navigation on the Mississippi, and its branches, is of vast importance to the
commercial interests of our country. Lines for the transportation of freight,
absolutely in the hands of the people, where their management can be
simple and economical, are, in my judgment, thl only sollution of the
great question of cheap transportation so earnestly demanded by the
producing classes."
The resolutions relating to organization were then adopted, and the
report was then adopted as a whole.
Mr. THURBFR said the report of the Railroad Committee was reported
back slightly amended, omitting some personal allusions.  The report was
adopted.
THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC.
The Committee on Resolutions referred back the resolution in favor of
Thomas Scott's project, without recommendation.
Mr. HARRIS moved that the following be substituted for the resolution
in the hands of the Committee:
Resolved, That the early completion of the Texas Pacific Railway, in
whatever way and by whatever means shall, in the wisdom of our statesmen and legislators, be considered best for the permanent interests of all
citizens and all sections, will result directly or indirectly in substantial good




51
to the- whole country, by reason of its being a much needed part of a
national system of adequate transportation facilities.
Mr. FLAGG opposed the construction of this road, in any way, unless
it should be controlled by the Government.
Mr. FERGUSON said the resolution was simply an indorsement of Tom
Scott's scheme, and he protested against the Convention countenancing it.
If they gave Tom Scott this line, no matter what restrictions were in the
charter, he would find some way of getting them removed at the last
moment. He [Mr. F.] was willing to give the South every facility.
Mr. HARRIS-"Show it, then."
Mr. FERGUSON —" would go as far as having the Texas Pacific built by
the Governmeit.
Mr. HARRIS-"So will I."
Mr. FERGUsoN-"Then say so in the amendment."
Mr. HARRIS —"The amendment says by whatever way and whatever
means."
Mr. FERGUSON-"Well, he will take it there and get it through, and say
we indorsed it."
The substitute was referred to the Committee on Railroads.
The report of the Canal Committee was taken up and adopted.
Mr. SCAMImON offered the following:
Resolved, That we are in favor of completing both the Northern and
Southern Pacific Railroads, as soon as the means for the completion of the
same can be properly made available.
Some discussion ensued, the gentlemen from the South claiming that
their section of the country was not receiving proper recognition. In
reply to this, the improvements given the south were somewhat warmly
referred to, but Mr. HARRIS retorted that they were mainly for the benefit
of the East and North.
There was danger that the proceedings would be marred by unpleasant
allusions to past sectional troubles. At this juncture, Colonel PEYTON, of
Virginia, who had served on General Lee's staff, and who is a grandson of
Patrick Henry, got the floor, and in a speech worthy his eloquent grandfather, gave expression to sentiments of truly national patriotism, alluding
to his oath of allegiance as a sacred vow. He was enthusiastically cheered.
Several of the previous speakers disavowed any sectional sentiment, and the
episode served to show the essential unity and broad nationality of the
Convention.
Mr. SCAMMON. introduced the following resolution, which was adopted
by the Convention and duly forwardedito his Excellency, Governor Tilden,
of New York:
Resolved-That the attention of the State of New York is called to the
absolute necessity of cleaning and bottoming out the Erie Canal, to the
maximum depth provided by law, and that improved lock-gates, now in
common use elsewhere, be applied to the locks, to the end that its present
capacity may be increased.




52
Resolvedfurther-That the authorities of that State be and are hereby
requested to take into consideration the enlargement of that Canal to a
capacity that will admit the economical application of steam as a motive
power.
The Chair then announced the following Standing Committees:
Railroads:-F. B. Thurber, N. Y.; W. C. Flagg, Ill.; J. Nelson Harris,
Ky.; Amasa Cobb, Neb.; Peter Melindy, Iowa; H. L. Goodwin, Conn.;
L. H. Stevens, Kan.
Artificial Water Routes: —Col. Lyman Bridges, Ill.; Wm. W. Henry, Vt.;
C. S. Carrington, Va.; Charles Watrous, N. Y.; G. W. Smith, Ky.;
Hon. John Young, Canada; J. H. Osborn, Wis.
Natural Water Routes:-Col. B. W. Frobel, Ga.; D. C. Lindsley, Vt.;
Col. H. E. Peyton, Va.; M. McIlhenny, Mo.; J. F. Bullett, Ky.; H. G.
Anderson, Ill.; John H. Kemp, N. Y.
Terminal Facilities:-R. H. Ferguson, N. Y.; F. F. Mumford, Va.;
John J. Martin, Mo.; John M. Pearson, Ill.; Emmett L. Ross, Miss.; E. R.
Durkee, N. Y.; Hon. John Young, Montreal, Canada.
The following Committees to visit Washington were appointed by the
President:
Water Routes:-James M. Allen, Ill.; B. W. Frobel, Ga.; H. E. Peyton,
Va.; Ed. Russell, Iowa; H. Merrion, Wis.; Geo. A. Merwin, N. Y.
Railroads:-C. C. Sturtevant, Minn.; J. K.Hornish, Iowa; J. H. Osborn,
Wis.; W. C. Flagg, Ill.; L. P. Milligan, Ind.; A. B. Miller, N. Y.; W. H.
Wood, New Jersey.
The Chair then announced that the business of the Convention was
over. He returned thanks to the Delegates for the honor of electing him
the President of the American Board of Transportation and Commerce for
the ensuing year, as well as for the intelligent attention given to the
subject, which had engaged their time during the three-days session. He
expressed the hope of being able to meet them at Louisville, next fall, to
give still further impetus, to the cause of Cheap Transportation. The
Convention then adjourned sine die.




Subsequent to the adjournment, and in accordance with the directions
of the Convention, the Executive Committee appointed the following
Committees:
NEW YORK-Hon. L. Bradford Prince, A. B. Miller, H. B. Claflin,
George A. Merwin, Chas. Watrous, W. H. Wiley, Theo. F. Lees.
MASSACHUSETTS-Hon. Josiah Quincy, Herbert Radclyffe.
VERMONT-Lawrence Barnes, B. S. Nichols, R. S. Taft, of Burlington;
E. P. Colton, Irasburgh; W. Y. W. Riply, Rutland.
ILLINOIs-E. B. Stevens, Wm. T. Baker, Wm. Bross, Josiah Stiles,
P. W. Dater, J. A. Noonan and W. N. Brainard, Chicago; L. D. Whiting,
Tiskilwa; S. P. Cummings, Fulton; G. W. Armstrong, LaSalle; James L.
Camp, Dixon; Richard P. Morgan, Jr., Bloorington.
IowA-Edward Russell, Davenport; Peter Melindy, Cedar Falls; J. L.
McCreary, Dubuque; John Mahin, Muscatine; G. W. McCrary, Keokuk.
NEBRASKA-J. Sterling Morton, Nebraska City; Amasa Cobb, Lincoln;
Geo. I. Gilbert, Omaha.
KANSAS-S. L. Shotwell, Eldora; Charles Robinson, Lawrence.
GEORGIA-Col. Frobel and W. E. Smith.
INDIANXA-L. P. Millington and Isaac Odell.
MINNESOTA-C. C. Sturtevant, Minneapolis;    Thomas Cantwell,
Brainard.
WISCONSIN-J. H. Osborn and S. D. Carpenter.
VIRGINIA-Thos. T. Mumford, Edward Daniels and Col. Peyton.
MIssoURI-Hon. Nelson Cobb, Kansas City, and John J. Martin.
MIssIssIppI-Emmett Ross and D. L. Phares.
OREGON-Major Joseph Teal, Portland; Hon. O. Humason Dalles;
Dr. Patterson, Eugene City.
WASHINGTON TERRITORY-General J. W. Sprague, Tacoma; Hon. H.
G. Struve, Olympia; Dr. Baker, Walla Walla.
The resolutions are somewhat obscure as to the number of persons to
be appointed oh these Committees, but the remarks made in the Convention warrant this interpretation: Two from each State, at large, and one
from each Congressional District.  The full lists are given so far as
expedient. The resolutions provide for filling out the list, each Committee
to complete itself.




54
That the duties of these gentlemen may be definitely understood,
the following resolution is subjoined:
Resolved —. That for the purpose of effecting a more perfect organization, an Executive Committee be appointed for each State, consisting of a
number equal to the representation of said State in the Federal Congress.
2. That the said Executive Committees shall have power to appoint
Sub-Committees in each Congressional District in their respective States.
3. That it shall be the duty of these several Committees to collect and
disseminate such information in their several States and Districts as may
aid in procuring proper legislation upon this all-important matter of Transportation, and that their efforts and aims shall be to procure for our people
the cheapest means possible.
4. That it shall be the duty of the Sub-Committees to correspond with
their Executive Committee of the State, and the State Executive Committee with the National Executive Committee of this body, so that there
may be uniformity of purpose and action between the whole.