Authorities on inland waterway construction and operation the world over have pronounced them uniquely designed to secure the maximum efficiency in water carriage. They are the embodiment of the dream of State Engineer Martin Schenck, the realization of the ideal of Major Symons, and the final culmination of the masterful efforts of the Clintons and of the manifold activities of others, "whose number is legion," extending through the years to promote, as was prophesied by De Witt Clinton a century ago: "The commerce of the ocean and the trade of the lakes passing through one channel, supplying the wants, increasing the wealth and reciprocating the benefits of each great section of the empire, producing a "canal as to the extent of its route, as to the countries which it connects and as to the consequences which it will produce, is without a parallel in the history of mankind." The foregoing prediction of De Witt Clinton has already been verified. For the foregoing and other reasons a ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario as a commercial waterway is not justified, and in the opinion of your committee its construction and operation would involve the government of the the United States in an expenditure of fifty or more millions of dollars without serving any substantial commercial purpose other than making it possible for a few vessels from the Great Lakes to descend into Lake Ontario, either to transfer their cargoes at Oswego to canal barges to be transported up over the Rome summit level 172 feet above Lake Ontario and thence down to the tidewaters of the Hudson river, or what is more likely to happen, to descend the St. Lawrence river to Montreal and divert thereto commerce from the port of New York. Such proposed ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, as already shown, would neither cheapen the rates of transportation nor expedite the transit of tonnage from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean. Therefore your committee disapproves the project as a commercial waterway. NO NECESSITY WILL BE SERVED. From what has already been stated, it must be apparent to all that had there been any necessity-political, naval, military or commercial-for the construction of a ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario or any real interest in the project, which has engaged the attention of worthy people and many theorists during the past century, undoubtedly either the Congress of the United States would have been prevailed upon to build it, or some one of the several corporations, chartered for that purpose, would have gone forward with its construction. The fact that neither the United States Government nor any such corporation has done so, argues strongly against it. Rather than appropriate millions of dollars for the construction of such waterway, whose chief function would be to divert tonnage away from New York, it were far more statesmanlike for the United States Government to make a liberal contribution towards the cost of building the barge canals of New York which are destined to perform a most important service in the transportation of no small part of the products and commodities of a score of great states, bordering on the Great Lakes and on the Atlantic ocean, brought into navigable communication through such arteries of commerce. Congress might well address itself to the matter of reimbursing the State of New York for its unprecedented outlay for the promotion of the domestic commerce of the United States, rather than expend its energies and waste the funds of the nation in waterway projects that tend to divert rather than promote such internal commerce. The State ought not to be forced to contribute to such projects and especially so after its good faith has been shown in its waterway activities, extending over more than a century of time. Congress might more wisely appropriate funds to improve the prisms of the barge canals. Wherefore a strong protest should be made by the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce to the State of New York and to the Federal Government in opposition to the construction of the proposed Niagara ship canal and an appeal might well be made by the state to the Congress of the United States for a substantial appropriation of money to the sinking funds of the State of New York, created to liquidate its canal bonded indebtedness. We therefore recommend the adoption by the Board of Directors of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce of the following resolution: RESOLUTION ADOPTED. Resolved, That the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce strongly opposes a survey for a ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario as directed by the Act of Congress of July 27, 1916, on the grounds First: That the project is neither a political, naval, military or commercial necessity, Second: That if it were constructed it would tend to divert commerce from the Great Lakes away from the state of New York down the St. Lawrence river, through the port of Montreal, to foreign markets, and largely that would be true, even though a ship canal were constructed from Oswego to the Hudson river, a distance of 172 miles, beset with many engineering obstacles and for whose operation an adequate supply of water may not be obtainable without depleting the water resources of the watersheds of Central New York, that are now needed for power purposes and may be imperatively demanded in the near future for municipal, domestic and potable consumption and for other domestic purposes, Third: On the further ground that such ship canal would involve the expenditure of many millions of dollars, to which the State would be forced largely to contribute, despite the fact that the operation of such a canal would not cheapen the rates of transportation on tonnage passing over it below the rates of transportation on tonnage over the barge canals and would tend to divert business from the state and the port of New York. Fourth: On the further ground that such a ship canal in operation might prove to be an impracticable waterway and very difficult to navigate, as it is quite generally believed by experienced ship owners and operators, and in that event the moneys expended in its construction would be entirely wasted, Fifth: The State of New York is now providing what is considered the most modern and well-equipped inland waterways in the world, which are believed will afford as cheap rates of transportation as it is possible to obtain on any interior waterway and these will afford as expeditious transportation of the products, commodities and tonnage of the state and of other states in touch with the barge canal system and there is no occasion for the construction of the proposed Niagara ship canal or any other ship canal between the Great Lakes and the ocean. In the foregoing, your committee has not considered the feasibility or expediency of a canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for sewage disposal or power development purposes, which are entirely divorced from the Niagara ship canal project. All of which is respectfully submitted, Canal Committee, Dated April 25, 1917. HENRY W. HILL, Chairman, C. LEE ABEL, HENRY V. BURNS, EDWARD H. BUTLER, SAMUEL J. DARK, H. C. HARRISON, MAXWELL M. NOWAK, RICHARD C. O'KEEFE, GEORGE W. SMITH, HOWARD WINSHIP. |