provements in the construction and equipments of railroads, the use of steel rails, and the advantages realized from the more advanced condition of railroad management, has led to a very large increase in the movements of commerce by rail.

The following table, from the report of the auditor of the State of New York, indicates the growth of traffic on the two New York trunk lines and on the New York canals from 1857 to 1876, inclusive.

Number of tons transported on the New York State canals and on the New York Central and Erie Railroads, 1857 to 1876.

This table indicates the comparative total traffic of the three lines. The traffic of the canals during the year 1876 appears to have been only 25 per cent. in excess of their traffic during the year 1857. The railroad traffic, however, increased from 1,816,857 tons in 1857 to 12,776,498 tons in 1876, an increase of 603 per cent.

During the first period of ten years the tonnage transported on the canals exceeded the tonnage on the two railroads by 18,404,328 tons. But during the latter period the tonnage transported on the railroads exceeded the tonnage on the canals by 36,637,180 tons.

The following table exhibits the average freight-charges per ton on all classes of commodities from 1857 to 1876, inclusive. This table is taken from the report of the auditor of the State of New York.

New York State canals.

1857

1853

1:59

1860

1:61

1862

1863

1964

1965

1866

1-67

1868

1969

1870

1871

1872

1373

1874

1875

1876

Cost of transportation per ton per mile on New York State canals and on the New York Central and Erie Railroads, 1857 to 1876.

It appears from this statement that the cost of transportation on the canals has always been and is still less than the cost of transportation on the railroads. It will be observed, however, that while the cost of transportation on the canals has for a number of years remained very nearly stationary, the cost of transportation on the two railroads has been very greatly reduced. A similar reduction in the cost of transportation has taken place during the last ten years on all the other trunk lines of the country.

The following table shows the average monthly freight-charges for transporting wheat from Buffalo to New York City during the last two years:

Average rates per bushel for the transportation of wheat by canal and by rail from Buffalo to New York during each month of 1875 and 1876.

1972. 1873.

1874..

1875.

The great reductions which have been made both in rail and canal rates may be seen by comparing the above average rates with the average rates which prevailed during the years 1871 and 1872, as shown in the following table:

Average rates for the transportation of wheat from Buffalo to New York during each month of the years 1871 and 1872.

It appears that the average charges for transporting wheat from Buffalo to New York by rail fell from 18.4 cents per bushel in 1871 to 6.8 cents per bushel in 1876, and that the average charges for transporting wheat from Buffalo to New York by canal fell from 12.6 cents in 1871 to 6.6 cents in 1876.

During the year 1876 wheat was at times shipped by rail from Buffalo to New York at 6 cents per bushel, being less by one-quarter of a cent per bushel than the tolls paid to the State prior to 1870 for the mere privilege of passing through the canal.

The extent of the diversion of grain from the canals to the railroads may be inferred from the following table showing the amount of grain received at New York by the Erie and Champlain Canals and by rail during the last five years:

Receipts at New York by the Erie and Champlain Canals compared with the receipts by rail.

1876..

The rail-receipts at New York embrace the receipts by the New York Central Railroad, the Erie Railway, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. The proportion of canal-receipts at New York fell from 60 per cent. in 1872 to 34 per cent. in 1876, a relative decline of nearly one-half. The rail receipts increased from 36,164,283 bushels in 1872 to 63,095,402

1872

1873

1874

1875

1876

bushels in 1876, an increase of about 80 per cent. This table also affords an illustration of the results of competition between the railroads and the lakes, as well as of competition between the railroads and the canals. The following table indicates the receipts of grain at tide-water by the Erie and Champlain Canals in comparison with the total receipts of grain at the seven principal seaports, viz, Montreal, Portland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans:

Receipts of grain at tide-water by the Erie and Champlain Canals compared with the deliveries at the seven principal seaboard ports for four years.

This table shows a decrease of 20,799,456 bushels in the receipts at tide-water by the Erie and the Champlain Canals from 1872 to 1876. The receipts by rail at the various seaports, however, showed an increase of 60,850,433 bushels during the same period.

This subject is farther treated of in the section of this report in regard to competition and to the growth of traffic on rail and on water lines.

SHIPMENT OF GRAIN FROM THE WESTERN STATES TO MONTREAL AND TO NEW YORK CITY.

The Canadian system of canals connecting Lake Erie with the Saint Lawrence River at Montreal was completed in the year 1848. The commerce of the Western and Northwestern States was then opened to the markets of that city, and an active competition has ever since existed between New York and Montreal for the control of the commerce between our Western States and the countries of Europe.

This competition relates especially to the grain-trade, but it naturally embraces to some extent all classes of commodities exported and imported.

Until within a few years this competition was confined almost exclusively to the two rival water-lines, namely, the line formed by the Lakes, the Canadian canals, and the Saint Lawrence River to Montreal, and the line formed by the lakes, the Erie Canal, and the Hudson River to New York. At the present time, however, the trunk railroads extending from these two seaports to the West, constitute important commercial highways, over which the competition for western trade is quite as active as on the two water-lines. It is important in this connection

to note the fact that the competition between New York and Montreal is confined almost exclusively to the transportation of the products of the West to Europe, and that the city of Montreal does not compete with the city of New York or with any other seaport city of the United States for the enormous commerce between the Western States and the States of the Atlantic seaboard, a commerce largely exceeding the commerce between the Western States and Europe. This may be inferred from the fact that during the year 1872 there was shipped east 178,000,000 bushels of grain, of which only 63,000,000 bushels, or 35 per cent., was shipped to Europe, constituting the entire amount for which the Montreal route entered into competition with the routes in the United States.

The competition of rail-lines for western trade began at New York about the year 1856, but it was not until the year 1867 that grain was first shipped by rail from the West to Montreal.

Wheat, wheat flour, and corn are the only cereal products of the West which are exported from the United States by the way of Montreal in any considerable quantities. The following table presents the receipts of wheat, wheat-flour, and corn at Montreal from 1870 to 1875, inclu sive:

The total exports of wheat at Montreal are about equal to the receipts of wheat at that port from the United States, and all the corn received and shipped is exclusively of American growth. It may, therefore, be assumed that almost all the American wheat and corn transported via the Saint Lawrence route is intended for exportation beyond Canada. Nearly all the grain exported from Montreal is shipped to Europe, and chiefly to ports in Great Britain.

The distances from Montreal and from the seven principal seaports of the United States to Liverpool are as follows: