266

AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL.

RATES OF FREIGHT.
The forwarders on the Erie canal have

opened the campaign with lower rates of

freight than ever before known. They ad-
vertise to carry flour from Buffalo to Albany

for 55 cents per barrel ; and as 35 cents of

this amount goes to the State for toll, they

‘receive only 22 cents for carrying a barrel

of flour 363 miles. At the rate of the West-
ern railroad they would receive only 45 cts.,
including tolls. On the Hudson, also, the
rates are reduced 20 per cent. Last year
they carried flour for 10 cents per barrel ;
now they charge only 8 cents. There was
a. combination among the forwarders in ’44,
to keep up the price; now they combine to
reduce it. The charge, during the past sea-
son, was 87% cents per barrel of flour from
Buffalo to New York; now it is 63 cents,
(55 + 8) or 24% cents per barrel less. The
profits of the past season must have been
great, or they are now engaged in a ruinous
business. At these rates there will be little
inducement to use the Welland canal, and
discriminating tolls will be as unnecessary
as they appear to be, and, we hope, are like-
ly to continue, impracticable. Had the en-
largement not been commenced, the tolls
might- have been reduced to 20 cents per
barrel of flour; when the total charge would
have been 42 cents-—little more than the
rates from Kingston to Montreal. Still we
do not believe even this advantage would
have diminished the trade via the St. Law-
rence. The flour which goes that way must
take that route, or remain in the west; it is

not, as we have often explained, diverted

from the Erie canal, but it is so much addi-
tional purchased from the western farmer,
who would gladly furnish them ten times as
much, without in any way diminishing the
quantity sent to the New York market, or
even increasing the price.

Many will imagine that the Western rail-

road -carries at less than cost, but it must be
I remembered that they charge the same for
flour delivered on the line, that they have

large quantities of return freight, and that,

as a certain number offreight trains must
be run per day, they may as well be filled,
There are also a va-
riety of local inducements, which have their
Lastly a
railway doing a large business in passengers
and light freight can afford to carry coarse

even at a low charge.

influence, and very properly too.

articles in large quantities at very low rates,

and this isginfact the secret of the success
of our northern roads. They accommodate‘

themselves to the wants and wishes of the
community, both as to travelling and the
transportation of freight: on the same road

a passenger train may run 25 miles per hour,
and a freight train 6 miles per hour. Nei-
ther a canal nor a common road can do one
or the other, and north of Pennsylvania,
the former mode of communication is liable
to the insuperable disadvantage of being
closed nearly half the year, including
that most important period before winter
shuts up the rivers and lakes, when the pro-
ducts of the husbandman’s toil are ready for
market.

‘We perceive that coal freights from Phi-
ladelphia are one dollar per ton to this city,
and $1 45 to Albany, and that there is a
great _want of vessels to load with coal at
Baltimore. In our last and previous num-
bers we have given statements of the charges
on many of the principal lines of the coun-
try, and at this season of the year, there are
few more important topics.

We find the following in the Burlington
Free Press, the only paper~Arnei'ican or
Canadian—-in which we have seen any no-
tice of the extension of the St. John’s rail-
road.

“ ‘We took occasion, yesterday,*to call the
attention of our readers to this subject-—-and
the more we reflect upon it the more tho-
roughly do the magnitude and importance
of the work become impressed upon our
minds. The great engrossing topic of this
community, at the present time, should be
the completion of this road. Every man
who regards the welfare and prosperity of
New England—-and especially of the capi-
tal of New E'ngland—-should engage him-
self in this work. The railroad from Bos-
ton to Montreal must be built; and the
sooner it is commenced, the better it will be
for the people of Boston.

“On the subject of the construction of
this road, we publish the following extract
ofa letter from a highly respectable gentle-
man, of Burlington, Vt., who is probably
better acquainted with the business of Can-
ada east than any other man in New Eng-
land. ,

“‘The project of connecting Montreal
by railroad, with the seaboard, either at Port-
land or Boston, via Stanstead, appears to
me one of these wild schemes which some-
times gain favor for the moment, but which
when examined, suddenly vanish into thin
air. I have never felt a moment’s hesitation
on this subject. I have had considerable
acquaintance with Canada, residing at Mon-
treal from 1834 to 1841, and my business
led me frequently into the country. I do
not believe that all the business on the road,
during the winter months, would keep the
track clear of ice and snow, and, during the
remainder of the season, that part of the old
road leading through the French settlements,
though densely populated and over a good
soil, would receive little or no patronage
from the inhabitants along the line. The
Canadian French patronize nothing but a

cart and poney. The friends of that road
cannot now expect to build it with English
funds; for the provincial parliament, in
granting the charter, omitted to guarantee
any dividends on its stock, and this has been
considered an essential feature in commend.
ing the project to capitalists. Canadians,
offthe route, will be very slow in taking its
stock. Their subscriptions when made, will
be for the extension of the St. Johns road
to the province line, to connect with our road
to Boston.

“ ‘ The route from Burlington to Canada
presents no obstacles, more difficult to over-
come, than the same distance east or south.
The statement, of late so industriously cir-
culated to the contrary, was the offspring of
ignorance or malice, and gains no credit
with even the Canadians who favored the
St:-instead route. ’I presume measures will
be taken, north of us, to cause a survey du-
ring the approaching summer.

“ f The bill chartering a railroad from
Ogdensburgh to lake Champlain .-has passed
the N. York house of assembly, and a favor-
able report has been made upon it to the se-
nate. This will soon becomc a law; and,
when that road is completed, together with
ours—making a continuous line from lake
Ontario to Boston-—imagine, if you can, the
enormous extent of its business. The con-
templation of such an event fills one with
astonishment and wonder. A great revolu-
tion is at hand, and prompts us to take an
active, zealous and energetic part in hasten-
ing its glories to a consummation.’ ”

RAILROAD MEETING.

A meeting of many of the citizens of this
town was held at the town hall on Tuesday
evening of last week, to take into consider-
ation the construction of a railroad from
Worcester to Nashua. A delegation of 50
or 60 gentlemen was also present from Nor-
wich, Ct., who came up in an extra train,
and returned home after the close of the
meeting.

Gov. Lincoln was called to the chair, and
John Milton Earle, Esq.. was appointed se-
cretary. On taking the chair, Mr. Lincoln
made a few brief but pertinent remarks on
the importance of the contemplated road to
the prosperity of the town of ‘Worcester,
and also to the section of country through
which it will pass, if built.

Gov. Davis then presented the whole sub-
ject to the consideration of the meeting, in
a speech at once forcible in manner, and re-
plete with facts and arguments, showing the
necessity for the road, its tendency to in-
crease and facilitate the business of this
town, its importance to the northern section
of VVorccster and Middlesex counties and
the important towns in the valley of the
Merrimac, and the reasonable certainty that
the -road canbe built at a low rate of expen-
diture, and will be profitable to the stock-
holders.

The meeting was further addressed by
the Hon. John A. Rockwell, of Norwich,
Col. A. H. Bullock, and Judge Merrick, of
‘Worcester. At the conclusion of his re-