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A COMPANY ORGANIZED AND CHARTERED
TO BUILD THE LAKE ERIE AND OHIO
RIVER SHIP CANAL.
Announcement was made on May 23 that a company
had been formed in Pittsburgh to build the
Lake Erie and Ohio river ship canal, and that
active work had already been begun. On May 4
a Pennsylvania charter for the company was issued
at Harrisburg and on May 25 incorporation
papers were filed at Columbus, O. Under the
Pennsylvania law of 1895 requiring that the capital
of the company shall be $25,000 per mile, the
capital stock of the company for preliminary purposes
was made $2,625,000, which amount will be
increased as soon as necessary. The capitalization
of the Ohio company is $10,000. It was incorporated
by Frank H. Robinson, Ralph W. Tourzeau,
Peter Grob. P. P. Snayle and C. M. Hartley.
The officers of the Pennsylvania company include
some of the best known men in Western Pennsylvania.
The list is as follows:
The officers of the company are: President, John
E. Shaw; vice-president, George A. Kelly, Jr.;
treasurer, William I. Jones; secretary, Burd S.
Patterson; chief engineer, George M. Lehman.
The directors are Henry Buhl, Jr., Edward J.
Lloyd, George W. Stewart, Charles A. Fagan,
James W. Wardrop, Emil Swensson, William J.
East, Thomas P. Roberts, William I. Jones, George
A. Kelly, Jr., John E. Shaw and Burd S. Patterson.
Announcement of the formation of the companies
was delayed owing to the necessity of
permitting the engineers to have the greatest latitude
in locating the best routes. Engineers had
been at work since the date on which the charters
were granted, under the supervision of George M.
Lehman, a civil engineer, who was in charge of
the field work of the canal commission of ten years
ago. The consulting engineers of the company are
Col. Thomas P. Roberts and Emil Swensson. It
is estimated that the total cost will be in the
neighborhood of $25,000,000, and five years is the
time estimated to complete the work. President
Shaw thinks that ground will be broken within
the year near the mouth of the Beaver river.
Coming on the heels of the projected nine-foot
stage of water in the Ohio river from Pittsburgh
to Cairo, and the deepening of the Erie canal to
12 feet, which had already been decided upon, the
promoters of the Lake Erie and Ohio river canal
are sanguine of success in their venture. They
plan to build a canal 12 feet deep at present, but
it is possible that plans will be changed and a
15-foot depth decided upon. The exact mouth of
the canal in Lake Erie has not been selected, but
it is probable that Ashtabula will be selected. The
canal will pass through Ashtabula. Trumbull and
Mahoning counties in Ohio to the point where the
Mahoning river strikes the Pennsylvania line, at
Lowellville, Lawrence county. The lower end of
THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 33
it is to be started at the mouth of the Beaver
river.
In 1889 the Pennsylvania legislature appointed
a committee to inquire into the practicability of a
modern canal. Its report was that a canal could
be built for $30,000,000. In 1893 a provisional committee
was organized in Pittsburgh with 35 members.
This committee had a law passed authorizing
a ship canal company to be organized to construct
and operate a ship canal from the head
waters of the Ohio river via the Beaver and Mahoning
rivers. The committee also asked for a
national charter. The charter, however, was
not secured, although favorably acted upon by
various congressional committees. It is under
this state law that the present corporation was
organized and the charter secured.
RAILROAD MAN FAVORS RATE LAW.
At one of its recent sessions, the United States
senate committee on interstate commierce was
favored with the novelty of having a railway man
advocate the extension of the powers of the interstate
commerce commission. A. B. Stickney,
president of the Chicago Great Western railway,
in a communication to the committee, said that
the commission would be the most satisfactory
arbiter possible. Mr. Stickney thought that the
commission should be allowed to fix minimum as
well as maximum rates, or discrimination could
not be prevented.
President Ramsey, of the Wabash, concluded his
testimony before the committee by saying: "I
want to say as a railroad man who has been building
railroads since 1871, that there is not a railroad
in the country that has its cost represented
in its stock Their $13,000,000,000 of capital stock
do not represent the cost of the railroads of this
country. In olden times railroads were welcomed
as benefactors, and they were accorded liberal concessions.
To-day, the condition is very different.
I have recently had an experience in tuis respect.
I built 60 miles of railroad into Pittsburgh. We
had to pay for that 60 miles $40,000 a mile for the
right-of-way. We had to give them anything they
wanted. We paid whatever the people asked, because
we knew that if we took them before a jury
the jury would probably give them more than they
asked."
Following Mr. Ramsey a number of shippers
from various sections of the country were placed
on the stand. All of them protested against the
passage of the Esch-Townsend bill. Among these
was James B. Kerr, of Clearfield, Pa., formerly
secretary of the Democratic congressional committe,
who spoke for the bituminous coal operators.
He said:
"From the view-point of a shipper I believe the
proposition to give rate making power to the inter-