of the Erie canal, to competent engineers to ascertain what portions of the same might be delayed without detriment to the public interest, and what expense might be saved by executing other portions in a manner equally effective, but more plain and economical, and to establish a canal board for the purpose of preventing erroneous estimates and inconsiderate legislation. It was moreover especially insisted, that, with a view to guard against a dangerous increase of debt and the possibility of taxation, all issues of stock should thenceforth be so limited that the whole debt of the state should at all times be kept within such bounds, that the interest on it should not exceed the net revenue from canal tolls, and that the increase of that revenue should be devoted to the extinguishment of the public debt. It was assumed that although the adoption of this rule might seem to delay for a season the progress, it would insure the completion of the great works in contemplation in different parts of the state, and it was maintained that the retardation, which had become necessary, from causes so obvious, ought by no means to be considered as an abandonment of the policy of internal improvement, but that on the contrary such retardation was indispensable, and was indeed the only mode of carrying it forward with certainty and success. This policy, which in its more important parts prevailed in the legislature of 1840, is respectfully recommended to your favor.

I tender you my congratulations upon the happy termination of the embarrassments to which it has been my duty to refer. The people of the state have stood firm by the pillars of her strength and glory. Time enough has elapsed to show that our fiscal condition is sound; that, although the expense of our improvements was erroneously estimated, our revenues are abundantly adequate; and that, with judicious management, we can persevere firmly in the policy of internal improvement, with a confident expectation of accomplishing ultimately all that has been contemplated.

The eastern section of the Erie canal has, during the last season, been subjected to a test of its ability. From the opening to the close of navigation, a period of seven months and a half, there was an average lockage at each lock of one boat in eleven minutes. The irregular arrival of boats has caused much detention and frequent delays of several days. The immediate enlarge

ment, therefore, of this portion of the canal is indispensable to the public convenience, and to the security of trade. One million, eight hundred and five thousand, one hundred and thirtyfive barrels of flour, and one million, three hundred and ninety-five thousand, one hundred and ninety-five bushels of wheat, were delivered at the eastern termination of the canal during the past season. Six hundred and forty-six thousand, nine hundred and seventy barrels of flour, and one million, four hundred and sixtyseven thousand, nine hundred and four bushels of wheat entered the canal from Lake Erie. Of the flour and wheat which entered the canal at Buffalo, five hundred and five thousand, two hundred and sixty-two barrels of flour, and seven hundred and twenty-five thousand, and twenty-five bushels of wheat, were received from Ohio, one hundred and twelve thousand, two hundred and fifteen barrels of flour, and ninety-seven thousand, two hundred and forty-nine bushels of wheat, from Michigan, thirteen thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six barrels of flour, and forty-eight thousand, two hundred and seventy-nine bushels of wheat, from Indiana, two thousand, two hundred and fifty-nine barrels of flour, and ten thousand, six hundred and thirty-four bushels of wheat, from the state of Illinois, and one hundred and sixty-six barrels of flour from the territory of Wisconsin.

These facts serve to show, not only how safely we may rely upon a continued increase of revenue, but also how much we are indebted to our system of internal improvement for the supply of our markets. If such benefits are enjoyed while the navigation of the Erie canal is imperfect, and while the western states are yet in their infancy, no estimates heretofore made have approximated to the results which will be exhibited when the Erie canal shall have been enlarged, the western states fully settled, and their improvements completed. The earliest practical notice should be given of the time when the enlargement shall be finished. The capital, invested in boats and other property used in navigating the canal, exceeds three millions of dollars. Very extensive business arrangements among our fellow-citizens will be affected by the improvement in navigation, and time should be allowed to prepare for the change.*

It is the peculiar and rightful province of the legislature to

*The legislature of 1841 responded to these views by making liberal appropriations for the completion of all the public works.-Ed.

determine the amount to which the appropriations can be carried, and to give them their direction. I may be permitted, however, to observe that the object of internal improvement is not to confer local advantages, but to promote the general welfare; that, although revenue is necessarily an intermediate, it ought not to be the ultimate object of the system, that moderation and economy are required even less to save us from the effects of improvidence, than because they are necessary to render the system as comprehensive as the wants of the state. Legislative action should, therefore, always have in view the improvement of every region. Although some portions of the state may excel others in producing one staple, no portion is without fertility and resources of wealth. There are some regions in which canals would be impracticable or unprofitable, but there are none in which some form of modern improvement can not be successfully introduced. No one who studies the general welfare should wish to have the productions of one district dependent for a market upon the precarious navigation of fordable rivers, while those of another should be transported upon an enlarged canal or by steam-power; to see mails carried weekly through one portion of the state by the slow post-wagon, while other portions of our citizens should be receiving daily intelligence, transmitted by railroads. Those who suppose that natural obstacles, wherever existing, can not be overcome or removed, and that the course of trade can not be affected by artificial improvements, may contemplate with advantage the success which has crowned the efforts of our state in concentring, in its own market, the trade of its northern, southern, and western counties, which thirty years ago had no other channels of trade than rivers flowing toward widely distant ports. Another example will soon be afforded, in the successful attempt of the citizens of Massachusetts to divert from the valley of the Hudson, at least the winter travel and trade between this city and the seashore; an enterprise which they are prosecuting firmly and rapidly, while in regard to that particular interest we are relying upon the sublime but hazardous theory of leaving the course of trade to the laws impressed by God upon mind and matter.*

Although seventeen millions of people have founded their cities and established their homes under our laws, less than one

* Report of the Hon. Samuel Young.

and in war, would be benefited by the improvement of inland navigation and the construction of highways in the several states. "Let us, then," he added, "endeavor to attain this benefit in a mode that will be satisfactory to all. That hitherto adopted has, by many of our fellow-citizens, been deprecated as an infraction of the constitution, while by others it has been viewed as inexpedient. All feel that it has been employed at the expense of harmony in the legislative councils. To avoid these evils, it appears to me that the most safe, just and federal disposition, which could be made of the surplus revenue, would be its apportionment among the several states, according to their ratio of representation." This suggestion by President Jackson met a favorable response throughout the Union, and was especially approved in this state. The governor,* in his message of 1830, observed, "Our funds applicable to the extension of our public works may be augmented at no distant day, from a new source. The duties upon the importation of merchandise are secured, by the constitution of the United States, to the general government, and have been its greatest source of revenue for all purposes. In a very few years the national debt will be paid off, and as but a small portion of the revenue will be consumed in conducting the affairs of the Union within the constitutional limits, and as there are prudential reasons for continuing the duties, to a certain extent, there can be no valid objection to a distribution of the surplus revenues among the states, to be disposed of at their discretion. If constitutional obstacles exist against the measure, they may be removed by constitutional means."

I acknowledge my inability to present a full view of the benefits this great measure would confer upon the people of this state. Our seminaries of learning are now enjoying an annual endowment of two hundred and eight thousand dollars, arising from the apportionment heretofore made. The amount of the revenues from the public lands for the present year, as estimated by the secretary of the treasury of the United States, will be three and a half millions of dollars, of which the share of this state would be near three hundred thousand dollars. An imperfect idea of the rapid settlement of the public lands may be conceived from the fact, that the population of the state of Indiana has increased, within the last ten years, from three hundred and

*Hon. Enos T. Throop.

forty-one thousand, to six hundred and eighty-three thousand; and that of the state of Michigan, from thirty-one thousand, to two hundred and eleven thousand. .What the actual value of our share of such a distribution would be, can not be estimated; but it may safely be assumed that it would far exceed all that we have expended in the construction of canals and roads, the foundation of charities, the erection of penitentiaries, and the endowment of colleges, academies, and schools. After such an accession to our revenues, the various enterprises of internal improvement would no longer be rivals, prosecuted against the influence of local jealousies and alarms of taxation. The present generation would anticipate the blessings in store for posterity, and every portion of the state would be admitted immediately to their enjoyment. It would be in our power, not only to extend our system of improvement, but also to increase in various other ways the general happiness. We are now obliged to practise a cold and calculating charity. We have more than twenty-three hundred lunatics in the state, yet we have made provision for the relief of only two hundred and fifty. We have more than a thousand deaf and dumb persons; yet we are obliged to select by favor from among them, instead of pouring the lights of truth and knowledge into the minds of all. Our almshouses are perhaps sufficiently convenient for those who are brought into them by idleness and vice; but do they afford all the enjoyments we would be happy to yield to the aged, the sick, the widow, and the orphan, whose afflictions are the result of Providential visitation, unattended by vice or error of their own? Should we longer contend about the apportionment of moneys devoted to education, if our funds were ample for the full endowment of all our seminaries of learning? Would there not be an end to the great fault of our common schools, the small compensation paid to teachers, if we could adequately increase the Common-School Fund, upon which we rely for the education of more than half a million of children? But if it be maintained that enough has been done for the relief of wretchedness and for the improvement of the foundations of prosperity and union, what reason can be assigned why, with the revenues in question acknowledged to be the property of the people, the burdens of the people should not be diminished? Let us bring annually into the treasury of the state her proportion of these revenues, and our fellow-citizens