deceased, whose services and advocacy of all measures tending to promote canal improvement entitle them to our grateful remembrance. Among these were Theodore S. Fassett, Marcus M. Drake, John Cunneen, John Laughlin, John Esser and Frederick C. M. Lautz.

The name of Alfred Haines, who had long been devoted to the general proposition of canal improvement in this State, does not appear in the list of delegates to that convention, although he had attended many other canal gatherings in various parts of the State and rendered services of great value to the commercial interests of the State. The Syracuse convention was one of the landmarks in the history of canal affairs in New York State, as may be judged from the large number in attendance and the results of its deliberations.

Important addresses were made by distinguished canal advocates; by the Hon. George Clinton; Gustav. H. Schwab of New York, on "Canals and the Foreign Commerce of New York"; by Hon. Abel E. Blackmar of New York, on "Railroad Discrimination against New York and the Remedy"; by Major Thomas W. Symons of Buffalo on "The State Canals and their Improvements"; by Willis H. Tennant of Mayville, on "The State Canals and their Improvement," and by Hon. Franklin Edson of New York on "Canal Improvement, a non-partisan Question."

Mr. Abel E. Blackmar, who has since been elevated to the Supreme Court bench in the 2nd Judicial District, was for years the counsel for the New York Produce Exchange in its litigation before the Inter-State Commerce Commission and other tribunals, over differential and other questions affecting the commerce of the port of New York. In the course of his speech before the State Commerce convention he said:

"Year by year the ports, especially those to the south, which have the larger differential, have encroached upon the trade of New York. The system of differentials which affect grain-moving from the lake ports by rail to the Atlantic coast, is aimed directly at the trade of Buffalo in favor of Erie for the Philadelphia trade and Fairport for the Baltimore trade. Neither are interior points like

Rochester and Syracuse unaffected. The rail rates on coarse freights from Syracuse and Rochester to the seaboard are the same as from Buffalo. This subjects such freight to the influence of the former lake differential and practically, as far as freight rates upon this class of products are concerned, brings Duluth within a cent a bushel as near Philadelphia and Baltimore as Syracuse is to New York. . . . Existing conditions had not permitted an arrogation of this discrimination by the railroads themselves. . . . But there does exist within the power of the people of New York a remedy which is sure and effective. There is a transportation agency which can never be interested in any termini except New York or Buffalo, nor in any interior cities except such as Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Albany. This agency can never make agreements with railroads to divert traffic to any other ports; it can be a party to no scheme of imposing and maintaining arbitrary charges for lighterage or elevators; it can serve only the people of New York and it can restore to New York in a decade the trade which has been laboriously and steadily diverted by the railroad companies. . . . This agency is an improved and large navigable waterway from Lake Erie to the Hudson river."

Judge Blackmar for many years acted as counsel for the New York Produce Exchange and other commercial bodies in framing statutory and constitutional canal measures and was associated with the Hon. George Clinton of Buffalo and John G. Milburn of New York in the defense of the referendum measure of 1903, when that law was attacked on constitutional grounds before the Attorney General of the State.

Major Thomas W. Symons made a strong, lucid address on that occasion, setting forth in detail the proposed route of the new barge canal and the reasons which had led the commission to its conclusions in recommending the same. He strongly opposed the proposition for the construction of a ship canal and urged upon the convention the construction of a canal capacious enough to admit of barges carrying one thousand tons of freight as the most economical and most serviceable waterway between the Great Lakes and the sea. His address was listened to with great interest because it was generally recognized that to Major Symons as much as to any other of the Roosevelt commission was undoubtedly due the recommendation of a barge canal.

It was at this convention that Willis H. Tennant of Mayville made his first appearance as a canal advocate and was welcomed by all those who understood that he represented a county wherein anti-canal sentiment was supposed to predominate. He made a forceful and convincing speech from the standpoint of a farmer, which elicited commendation from the delegates from various parts of the State. Mr. Clinton and Mr. Schwab also made strong and convincing addresses during the sessions of the convention.

The most serious problem under consideration at that convention was the form of endorsement that ought to be given to the canal project as recommended by the Roosevelt commission. The Canal committee was headed by George Clinton of Buffalo, and there were associated with him Major Thomas W. Symons, John Laughlin, George H. Raymond, and myself, from Buffalo; George B. Sloan, from Oswego; Henry B. Hebert, Gustav H. Schwab, Abel E. Blackmar, and Franklin Edson of New York; Willis H. Tennant of Mayville, Cornelius B. Kloff of Staten Island, and others. The committee consisted of twenty-five members selected from all parts of the State.

To this committee were referred all the resolutions in any way affecting the canal question. When it went into session all these matters were taken into consideration, but the most important question was the report of the Roosevelt commission embodying the recommendations as to the feasibility of various routes as well as the cost by sections and what action it was wise for the convention to take in relation to that report in advance of the surveys, plans, and estimates authorized to be made under the survey bill. It was a delicate matter to decide definitely before this information was obtained. Much time was given to the consideration of all these matters and in formulating its report. The committee finally agreed upon and reported the following resolutions, which, notwithstanding the opposition of John I. Platt, were, with substantial unanimity adopted by the convention:

"We recognize that for three-quarters of a century the canal system of the State has been the principal factor in securing and promoting our commercial prosperity. The chief results have been the up-building of industrial and commercial centers along the lines of the canals and making New York City the commercial metropolis of the Western Hemisphere.

"These great centers of population have furnished markets for agricultural products of the State. The continued growth and prosperity of these industrial centers are, therefore, vitally important to our agricultural interests.

"While affording cheap transportation for products raised and consumed by our people, the canals have kept down railway freight rates on local traffic in all parts of the State.

"While the railroads have minimized their operating expenses and laid out vast sums of money in multiplying their carrying capacity, no improvements have been made in canal facilities for nearly forty years. They have become inadequate to the requirements of our State commerce.

"The vast canal tonnage that gave New York its supremacy is largely diverted to rival routes. One of these is a 14-foot canal completed this year from the Great Lakes to the seaboard via the St. Lawrence river to Montreal.

"The interests of the great trunk lines prevent their protecting the commerce of this State. By agreements between them establishing differential rates a large portion of the commerce naturally tributary to New York has been taken from us. An improved canal will be an effective remedy.

"The experience of the world has shown that natural or adequate artificial water routes furnish today the cheapest possible transportation.

"The greatest centers of manufacturing prosperity are found where raw materials and manufactured articles can be moved to and from the factory at the lowest rates.

"An increase of manufacturing industries within the borders of the State of New York will of necessity benefit the farmer, the wage-earner and the merchant, as well as the manufacturer.

"Your committee, therefore, recommends the adoption of the following:

"Resolved, That the future prosperity of the entire State requires the improvement and enlargement of its canals in a manner commensurate with the demands of commerce and to a capacity sufficient to compete with all rival routes."

The recitals in this report set forth clearly indisputable facts showing what the canals had done and the importance of their improvement. The resolution following is a broad declaration in support of such improvement in a manner commensurate with the demands of commerce without specifically limiting the improvement to that recommended by the Roosevelt commission, the feasibility and cost of which being still problematical.

In commenting on the work of the convention after its conclusion, Mr. Howard J. Smith, one of the Buffalo delegates and a well-known authority on transportation questions, said:

"The feature of the convention was the unanimity of sentiment in favor of canal improvement. The report of the State Canal Committee made last January has been in the people's hands a sufficient length of time to be thoroughly understood and the great majority of delegates were united in favoring the general plan recommended by that report. . . . After the survey is completed we shall know the cost of the thousand ton barge canal and if that cost is not too high, a convention to be called next January will undoubtedly declare in favor of such canal. The Buffalo delegation are fortunate in having three leaders of canal sentiment among its number-George Clinton, Major Thomas W. Symons and Henry W. Hill-who have done and are doing as much work for the canal as any three men in the State, and the strong position they hold make the influence of Buffalo a very positive factor in the convention."

XXII.

PROGRESS UNDER THE STATE'S NEW CANAL POLICY.

The effect of this convention and the publicity given to its resolutions in the press throughout the State, was salutary and tended to keep alive the interest in the one subject which had received more attention than any other during the last century. Many of the interior towns were represented in the convention and united in supporting the resolutions presented by the canal committee. This gave them force throughout the State and in a measure accomplished what Governor Roosevelt had strongly urged in his speech at the canal dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria a few months before.