The Great American Canals (Volume 2, The Erie Canal)Hulbert, Archer Butler
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The Great American Canals (Volume 2, The Erie Canal)
Hulbert, Archer Butler
Erie Canal (N.Y.)
The money will not be wanted at once. The expenditure, in order to be
beneficial ought not to exceed 500,000 dollars a year, and the work may
be accomplished in two ways, either by companies, incorporated for
particular sections of the route, or by the state. If the first is
resorted to, pecuniary sacrifices will still be necessary on the part of
the public, and great care ought to be taken to guard against the high
tolls, which will certainly injure, if not ruin the whole enterprise.
If the state shall see fit to achieve this great work, there can be no
difficulty in providing funds. Stock can be created and sold at an
advanced price. The ways and means of paying the interest will be only
required. After the first year, supposing an annual expenditure of
500,000 dollars, thirty thousand dollars must be raised to pay an
interest of six per cent; after the second year 60,000, and so on. At
this rate of interest they will regularly increase with beneficial
appropriation, and will be so little in amount that it may be raised in
many shapes without being burdensome to the community. In all human
probability, the augmented revenue proceeding from the public salt
works, and the increased price of the state lands, in consequence of
this undertaking, will more than extinguish the interest of the debt
contracted for that purpose. We should also take into view, the land
already subscribed by individuals for this work, amounting to 106,632
acres. These donations, together with those which may be confidently
anticipated, will exceed in value a million of dollars, and it will be
at all times in the power of the state to raise a revenue from the
imposition of transit duties, which may be so light as scarcely to be
felt, and yet the income may be so great, as in a short time to
extinguish the debt, and this might take effect on the completion of
every important section of the work.
If the legislature shall consider this important project in the same
point of view, and shall unite with us in opinion, that the general
prosperity is intimately and essentially involved in its prosecution, we
are fully persuaded that now is the proper time for its commencement.
Delays are the refuge of weak minds, and to procrastinate on this
occasion is to show a culpable inattention to the bounties of Nature; a
total insensibility to the blessings of Providence, and an inexcusable
neglect of the interests of society. If it were intended to advance the
views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it
promoted the interests of a few, at the expense of the prosperity of
many; if its benefits were limited as to place, or fugitive as to
duration, then indeed it might be received with cold indifference, or
treated with stern neglect; but the overflowing blessing from this great
fountain of public good and national abundance, will be as extensive as
our country, and as durable as time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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