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I • , ' , » 'f it'*' ^ , ' • I "■•H^ ' , ; 1 * r: 1 u ; ! - - I * .»• '5 *' Ml * H '■<-*;. >s J , « ^s^t ( * *"" THE QUESTION OF THE HOUR 18, ^m the ^mmt §Mw^ ^ptm it Mv^mM BY A. "NEW STYLE OF TRANSIT." AS MUCH SUPEluOR TO THE RAILWAY AS TH^ RAILWAY WAS TO THE STAGECOACH? IF NOT, WHY? TO THE HONOURABLE ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, PREMIER OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. Honourable Sih, — Seeing you have declared it to be your settled policy to begin at once and tinish as soon as possible — consistent wii,h the best interests of the Dominion — a line of railway through Canadian territory to the Pacific Ocean, I take the liberty of reminding you that there are a great many very important questions to be asked and answered, not only to the thorough satisfaction of your common sense, but also of your '''■nscience, before you can feel justified in throwing upon the shoulders of our young com- m^unity such a tremendous burden as is implied in the construction of a work like the proposed " Pacific Railway." And, in my opinion, the responsibility is enormously increased by the fact that no one at all acquainted with the construction and opera- tion of railways can bej ^e, that even if the said road was built and in operation, that it could I ,? maintained and operated without large annual subsidies from the revenues of the Dominion — say from five to six mil- lions of dollars per annum. It is also impossible to believe that such a road could carry farm produce, mineralo, or other heavy freight, at such charges as would enable produceis of the North- West or Pacific Pro- vinces to send their goods to Eastern markets — their only possible outlet. Permit me, then, to state a few of the questions which seem to leap into existence the very moment we try to fix our attention on this most momentous subject ; questions which, in my opinion, have not as yet received the attention \7hich their importance to the welfare of the country demands. In the first place, do you feel perfectly satisfied that a railway of a thoroughly useful and piuctical kind can be built through Canadian territory to the Pacific? 2nd. Could it be built for such a sum of money as four millions of hard vrorking but comparatively poor people can spare from the more pressing claims of every day existence 1 3rd. Supposing the road built, would there be any probability of its earning sufficient during the next ten or fifteen yeax'S to pay interest on the tremendous outlay necessary to build it, or even of its being able to pay the necessary maintenance and operating expenses ? 4th. Most import- ant of all, is it possible for a railroad, however built and operated, to supply the wants or develop the resoui'ces of such an immense stretch of country as that lying between Ontario and the Pacific ? Would not the charges fcr freight and passage be such as to exclude the farmer of Manitoba and the miuer of British Columbia, not to mention pkces much nearer hand, from all the benefits of our markets 1 By what magic would it be possible to make the charges other than such as will — nay must — prevent us receiving the produce ot their fields, forests, mines and rivers, and them from taking our manufactured goods in return 1 In short, unless the speed is very much higher, and the charges immeasurably lower than the lowest charges now made for railway car- riage in any part of the world, would there be any chance of its being used as an emigrant road 1 Would there be any probability of our filling up the North West with people, whose strong arms and willing hearts would develop the vast resour^.o8 of thi- distant portion of our young Dominion, or wonld there be the least nope, by means of such a road, of our main- taining b» tween the Provinces that social, political, and commercial intercourse, that oneness of thought, feeling, anu interest, which is abso- lutely necessary in every well-governed country. If tLen it is true, and I hold it to be incontrovertable— 1st, that it is physically impossible to build a railroad between Ontario and Fort Garry, on the only route where it could be of service to the Dominion, viz., along the north shores of Lake Superior. 2nd. That even if the milroad was built, the charge for passage between the points named would be nearly if not quite as high as that charged for crossing the Atlantic ocean. 3rd> 8 ^ That it is impossible to carry ordinary farm produce, minerals, and other heavy freight by railway for more than 600 miles, at less than from one- half to two-thirds of their market value f Would it not be wise to weigh well the following queries : Is'y. Is the " Kailway System" the absolutely best system 0/ transit which it is possible for the genius of man to devise ? Is the railroad so perfect in all Hs parts, so thoroughly adapted to all the equirements of man and n^'.cure ; so perfectly applicable to the condition and circum- stance of every country, small or great, densely peopled or sparaely settled, that it cannot be improved upon ? Do you really and truly believe that the present railroad system is the complete and perfected outcome of those great, godlike faculties which man possesses for the subjugation of Nature ; in stiort, that it is the finality of man's invention in the way of locomotion 1 2nd. If you do not believe the railroad to be perfect as a means of transport — and no man in his senses, no engi- neer in the world does so — ia it not your plain and obvious duty, befoi'e incurring the fearful amount of debt necessary to build one to the Pacific, before spending, directly or indirectly, an amount of money which actually baffles all ordinary comprehension to realize, and which would build a good, substantial and commodious dwelling-house for every fourth family in the Dominion, to make certain ihat there is absolutely no cliance of the railway system being superseded by an entirely different system of transit, as much superior to the railway as the railway was to the stage-coach of fifty years ago. 3rd. If there is any chance, e'" n the smallest, of such an invention being made, is it not your duty to look for it, and to encourage by every means in your power those who are trying to make the discovery ; to give a fair, full and impartial consideration to any system of transit which has for its end to supersede the present plan by one more efficient, cheaper to build, to operate and maintain t ITay, more ; is it not obviously to the great advantage of the country that you put to an ej:baustive trial any system of transit whiclj, with fair show of feasibility and probability, is maintained to be capable of cari-ying 7nore passengers and freight with infinitely more comfort, safety and speed than any railroad in exist- ance ; while it can be built, maintained and operated (suiamer and winter equally) for less than one-fourth the amount necessary for t. railway, rather than to run the risk of building the present railroad, and then find, before it is half finished, that for all practical purposes it has become useless, being sunerseded by a new system, infinitely S'lpe- Ill rior in every respect to the old 1 However, before discussing the pos- aibility or probability of superseding the railway by a new and supe- rior system of transit, it will in my opinion be for the best interests of all concerned to take a pretty close view — 1st, of the difficulties of building and operating a railroad between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean ; 2nd, at cbe coat of such a road, and the chances of its ever earning sufficient to pay interest on the outlay, or even of its paying operating and maintenance expenses ; 3rd, the probable effect of a railroad in peopliiig the North- West and the Pacific Provinces ; and what chance the people who did settle in the said provinces would have of becoming a contented and prosperous population, such as would add to the strength and material well-being of the Dominion. Having done so, we will then take a general view of the " Railway System " as a " mechanical contrivance," and having ascertained its capa- bilities and defects — inherent, local and accidental — we will be in a position to juige whether or not it is possible to improve upon it as a " System of Transport ;" also to say if we have done so in the plan about to be proposed as a substitute for and great improvement upon it. In the first place, then, can a railroad of a thoroughly useful and practical description be built through Canadian territory to the " Pacific Ocean ?" It is hardly necessary for me to point out that this is a query which can be answered intelligently and aiithoritatively only by engineers, who have fixed upon and made a complete survey of the route ; and as that has not yet been accomplished, there must neces- sarily be a good deal of guess-work in any estimate or opinion we may form. There is one point, however, on which all are agreed, viz., that no railroad can be carried by the North Shore of Lake Superior ; con- sequently we must go back — no one knows how far — and build our road for many hundred miles through an inhospitable and barren wil- derness, that never can be settled : a circumstance of itself sufficient to condemn to eternal poverty any road, even if otherwise capable of yielding a profit. British Columbia is described as a sea of mountains. " The whole Province consists of a scries of mountain ranges, rising, it may be, to no great height, but none thei less formidable obstacles on that account to the construction of a cheap railway. The country between the Upper Ottawa and Lake Winnipeg is well nigh an un- known land ; but this much we do know, that the snow falls deep and lies Umg in the basin of the Hudsons Bay. In the winter season, in a country without inhabitants, in which the ground freezes to a depth of 10 to 14 feet where there is ground to freeze, in which the thermometer sinks to 40" below zero, it is not easy to understand how passengers will be made comfortable, how water-tanks are to be kept open, or how employees are to be saved from perishing on account of the necessary exposure to the cold." As an evidence of this danger, it may be stated that at " Herman station, on the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, men were frozen to death going from the depot to the water-tanks on the 13th January, 1873." Indeed no one can look at the map and not be impressed with the idea that the cost of construction of the Canada Pacific must be enormously enhanced from the position of the road. Sir Hugh Allan, than whom no man ought to have a better idea of the difficulties of making such a road, seeing he was president of the com- pany that professed itself willing to undertake the job, expresses him- self as follows : — "The road would meet with great difficulties west of the Rocky Mountains owiog to the canons and mountain ranges ; and it was a question whether any really practicable route had been found by which the road could, be carried to the Pacific Ocean. They had no idea of the difficulties presented by those mountains, which, rising to the height of 9,000 or 10,000 feet, have directly at their baoss enormous gulfs, through which ran swift and deep rivers. Therefore it was a matter of very great difficulty to find a proper route. Still, it must be found, and they must not give it up if they could not find it at once, but must look for it until they did find it. He had not the slightest doubt but that they would find it. The country north and east of Lake Superior also presented considerable difficulties, and they would have to mak" the road west of it first and leavf that section to tlie last." 1 think, after that quotation, it is needless for me to say any mora in regard to the practicability of building the " Canada Pacific Rail- road," fr.rther than to intimate that the explorations since made and the experience gained only goes the more f'lUy to confirm the opinion that, although it may not be physically impossible to build the said road — and what engineering project is physically impossible ? — it is financially impracticable for a country of less than four millions of people — that in truth it would be an act of sheer insanity in Canada to undertake such a job at the present time. The second query, as to cost, may best be answered by Mr. Flem- ing. Indeed it is altogether imposiiible for ordinary minds to grasp the magnitude, the immensity of the undertaking in any other way than that in which he puts it in his official report. 6 l.ii Mr. Fleming, Chief Engineer to the "Dominion Government," remarks as follows : — '* That a just conception may be formed of the real magnitude of the project undur discussion, and the means necessary to its attainment, attention may for a moment be drawn to a few leading details. The construction of 2,000 miles of railway, measured by the average stan- dard of similar works existing in this country, implies the performance of labourers' work >suflScient to give employment to 10,000 men for five or six years, — it involves the delivery of 5,000,000 cross-ties or sleepers, and over 200,000 tens of iron rails for the ** permanent way," — it com- prises the erectioiL of 60,000 poles hung with 1,000 tons of wire for the telegraph, — it necessitates the creation of motive power equivalent to over 50,000 horses, which power would be concentrated in four hundred locomotives, — it involves tLe production of from 5,000 to 6,000 cars of all kinds, which, coupled wiih the locomotives, would make a single train over 30 miles in length ; i^nd, lastly, it implies a gross expenditure in construction and equipment of not less than $100,000,000. " It will likewise serve as a salutary check on hasty conclusions, to weigh beforehand the cost of operaimg a truly gigantic establishment of the kind, after its perfect completion. A few figures derived from actual results will show that the first construction of a railwt.y through the interior of British North America is even a less formidable under- taking than that of keeping it afterwardd open, in the present condition of the country. For operating the line successfully, the fuel alone required in each year, and estimated as wood, would considerably exceed 200,000 cords ; for keeping the road in repair, a regiment of 2,000 trackmen would constantly be employed in small gangs through- out its entire length ; for the same purpose there would be on an average annually required 600,000 new cross-ties, as well as 30,000 tons of new or re-rolled iron rails. The annual repairs of rolling stock would not cost less than one million dollars. Over 5,000 employees of all kinds would be constantly unJer pay, and as these men would usually represent each a family, there would not be far short of 20,000 souls subsisting by the operation of the road. The aggregate amount of wages in each year after the road was in operation would swell out to nearly $2,000,000, while the gross expenditure for operating and main- taining works would annually exceed $8,000,000. " Again, if to this last sum be added the interest of first cost, it becomes evident that until the gross earnings of the railway in each year come up to the enormous sum of $14,000,000, it could uot pay interest on the capital invested." It may be well to note in regard vj this estimate, gigantic as it is, that it covers only 2,000 miles of railway, while it is well known that the •* Canada Pacific Railway " could not be less than 2,500 — and more probably 2,700 — you must, therefore, of necessity add, say 40 millions, making in all, according to Mr. Fleming, 140 millions, as the probable cost of the whole line. Another thing to be noted is, that the estimate is calculated on the most moderate scale in every pai-ticular, and for a road which is expected to do but a very moderate business. For ex- ample, we have one locomotive for every five miles of road, and two and a half to three cars of all kinds per mile, now in the United States the average locomotive power is one engine for every three miles, in Eng- land it is 0"93 parts of an engine per mile, and of cars in the United States it is over six per mile, and in England considerably over 28 cars of all kinds per mile, or twelve times the number calculated for the Canada Pacific. Again the cost is calculated at $50,000 per mile, while the com- pany that proposed to build the road founded their calculations on a probable cost of $8u,000, and tried to make their arrangements in the London money market at that figure, showing that they were well acquainted wit^ the facts — which no professional engineer ever doubted, viz,, that such a road could not be made for a less figure, if it could be completed for that sum. But as it is now nearly two years since both esiimates weie made, great changes have taken place in the " iron mar- ket," in fact, since that time all kinds of railroad iron has nearly or quite doubled in price, consequently we must add at least 16 millions for the advance in iron, making Mr. Fleming's calculation 156 millions, and the late Pacific Railway company's at least $216,000,000, an amount of money which is altogether incomprehensible to any ordinary intelligence, indeed the great danger and difficulty in dealing with such sums is, that they produce very little, if any, impression upon the mind unless it is bewilderment. Yet it is absolutely essential that we should realize as clearly as possible the immensity of the obligation we are re- quested to undertake ; I will, therefore^ put It in this way r It is con- &ideiubly more than double the paid-up capital, deposits, coin, securities, and circulation of all the banks in the Dominion of Canada for the year 1867. And if that is uot enough to make you '' stop and think,'' I will add that, which no man who is acquainted with or has studied the cubject wiU deny, viz , that it will cost at the very lowest calculation six millions a 8 ill year over all possible income to keep such a road in operation, which sum capitalized would make at least 80 millions more or in round num- bers say $300,000,000, and if any sane man in this Dominion will tell me that he believes that the three-anda-half or four millions of people inhabiting this country can afford to spend that amount in buildinpt a railroad through a wilderness two or three thousand miles in advance of settlements, a road which would require to be rebuilt three or four times over, before it could possibly be re quired by the population which it is supposed will ultimately inhabit the country lying between Ontario and the Pacific Ocean, all I have to say to him is, that he and I differ in opinion, and that I consider it would be a veritable waste of time to argue the matter with him. Indeed it has always been a puzzle to me how any government composed of sane, intelligent men, practical politicians, statesmen, who ought to have been and surely were perfectly acquainted with the material re sources and capabilities of the country which they governed, could think of pledging the faith and honor of the nation to undertake such a work, or even entertain the notion of laying the people under such tremendous liabilities, for such an object, until at least every intelligent man in the Dominion had had an opportunity of studying the subject in all its bearings, and coming to a deliberate conclusion as to whether it was really worth his while to allow himself to be taxed the amount necessary CO carry out the project ; or rather, if he could afford to do so without inflicting an injustice upon himself, his family, and the interests of the entire Dominion 1 And the action of the late Government I can explain only by remembering that rulers are but men, swayed by and governed according to the prevailing ideas of their time, and not over anxious to sit down and count the cost and consequences, especially if the conse- quences are a good way off — so long as their present action is likely to add coherence and strength to the force that keeps them in power. So much then as to the probabifc cost of the " Canada Pacific Rail- way." The next questions which foi'Ci themselves upon our attention are, would the road, if built, earti enough to pay interest on the original outlay ; or even to pay operating and maintenance expenses 1 Would it fill up the country with people, and render communication with the Pacific cheap, comfortable ar.d expeditious, and thereby create a " throu-gh trade with India, China, Japan, dtc, dec, these are the questions which must be answered, and, according to the verdict of reason and ex- perience, should be the fate of the ** Canada Pacific Eailway." 9 As I have already asserted more thaii once, that the Canada Pacific Railway could by no possibility earn even its operating expenses, it would be a waste of time to go on, proving that it could not earn inter- est on the capital necessary to build it. Indeed, I have tl '^ greatest difficulty in proving that it will earn anything at all — in all my calcul- ations I have supposed it to earn between five and six millions per an- num — we have no basis to go upon, no data on which to found our figures ; this being the first time in the history of railway construc- tion, so far as 1 am awaro, that it has been seriously proposed to build a railroad nearly three thousand miles kmg 5 ■^'n nowhere to connect with nothing, or what is pretty much the same thi ■ :, through one wilderness to connect with another. I am aware that it is the fashion to point to the Union and Cen- tral Pacific Railway as a case in point, and an example of .what can be achieved by pushing roads out into the unpeopled regions of the Con- tinent. For my part I can see no similarity between the position and prospects of the Union and Central Pacific Railway and the Canada Pacific Railway. Suppose, for example, that the Union and Central Pacific had turned out a complete failure, it would have entailed a liability of little more than two dollars per head of the population of the United States. Suppose the same to happen in the case of the Canada Pacific, and the loss would be at least fifty dollars per head, or two hundred and fifty dollars for evc^ry family in the Dominion. Is there any similarity in the risks run by the two p^r^oples 1 Again, the Unio:i and Central Pacific Railway Company had some- thing really reasonable on which to found a probability — if not a cer- tainty — of success. They knew that the western end of their line would terminate in California — a name to conjure with — one of the richest and most productive countries in the world, having a population of over a million of the most enterprising and go-aheadative people on the Continent ; they were awai'e also that they would get the entire trade, export and import, of that unique settlement " Utah," with its hard working and productive hive ; they knew, further, that there were numei*ou8 growing settlements along both slopes of the Rocky Moun- tains, while the Mountains themselves were alive with hardy miners, whose iron sinews yearly wrung from mother earth, millions of that glittering dust for hich all men sigh, the many scheme and the few labor ; that marvellous metal whose sheen casts a glamour, alike 10 lip, over the rudo untutored sons of the Prairie, and the most refined intelli- gence of the city, arousing in both those desii-es, which stamps frailty on the brow of man. Oh rare product of nature's alchemy, which can subdue even the Pet creation of the Almighty — heaven-bom genius — and bring it into fellowship with the sordid and grovelling miser, who bows in lowl}' adoration at the shrine of the golden calf ! for thee the poet waves his wreaths of fancy's gayest flowers, and the painter makes the coarse dull canvass eloquent with beauty ; for thee the sculptor shapes and fashions the lifeless marble into forms lovely as the outward seeming of en angel, while the orator chants thy matchless charms in words as sweet and sonorous as the sound of a silver bell. But a truce dear fancy, sweet as are thy tones, and oft as I have communed with thee on other themes and at other times, the majority of meu would say you had no place here, so good-bye for the present, while I return to hard dry facts. The Union and Central Pacific Railway Compaaies could also point to the immense trade which their country did with all parts of China, India, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, &c., &c., a trade amounting to hundreds of millions, and ask if it was not reasonable to suppose it would find its way over their road, rather than go round by Europe and back by the Atlantic 1 Again, they had a native population in the East of over thirty-eight millions — a population cf the most restless and enter- prising desci'iption — thousands and hundreds of thousands of whom were perpetually on the move from East to West, and from North to South, and only waiting the opportunity of a Railroad to scatter themselves over the Golden States and Territoiiea — California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming;, Nevada, New Mexico, 000 pounds. Now, to increase this tractive power, we must enormously increase the weight on the driving wheels of the locomotive ; but the important question comes in here — What would be the effect of the increased weight on the permanent way 1 The answer of experience is, that '.ny •considerable increase in the weight of the engines would destroy the permanent way so quickly that the track repairers and rail-layers would hardly have left one part of the line Jinished before they would be wanted back again to relay it. Indeed it is the universal opinion among railway engineers that any increase in the weight of our engines as at present constructed, would be altogether too destructive to the track to be seriously thought of. To load each pair of wheels even as heavily as now is considered very bad practice among the most intelligent loco- motive builders. " The blows dealt by passing wheels upon the rail joints, and the bending or breaking strain brought at any instant upon the joint in the rail, where the wheel presses, depends upon the weight which the wheel carries, as well as upon the speed at which it moves; consequently, to diminish the track repairs (that which is by far the most greedy of all maintenance accounts), the weight borne per wheel by the present loco- motive mus'i. be lessened at least one-half, so that it may agree more nearly i with the load borne per wheel by the cars ;" and how this is to be done, without at the same time diminishing the power of the locomotive, is the ^' great problem " among railway engineers. Now serious — nay, radical — as is this defect in the railway system (I mean the limited 2)ower of the locomotive), it seems to be very little • thought of — if it is taken into account at all — yet your own common sense will show you, that it is of the very first importance that it should be always before the eye of a railway promoter ; it would save him from ? many hasty conclusions (as to what a railroad could or could not do), . conclusions which have led, and will continue to lead, to most disastrous results. I repeat, then, that the railway and loconiotive are, after all, but a mechanical contrivance of very limited and definite capacity — that is, the engine is limited, practically speaking, to a weight of 35 tons or there- abouts, and is capable of hauling (on such a road as the Canada Pacific ia likely to be) a gross load of 200 or 230 tons, or 80 to 100 tons net freight, at say 20 to 25 miles au hour. The next thing to be ascertained is, at what cost could the engine haul 18 the said 80 tons of freight between Manitoba and Montreal, or vice verses — taking the distance at 1,200 miles? This is ref/lly an all-important point to settle, for it must be apparent that the producer can afford to pay only a certain proportion of hi& produce to have the surplus carried to market, and unless a railroad can carry it for that proportion, that is, at such a tariff as will leave the far'iier, &c., &o., a fair remuneration for his toil, a surplus sufficient to furnish himself and his family with all the necessaries, and a few of the comforts of life. Such a railway can be of no service to him, and he can have no inducement to follow in its track, no matter how rich and fertile the land may be. And, that being admitted, proves conclusi^oly (unless we accept the idea that the locomotive engine is really unlimited in power) that there must be a point beyond which it is absolutely impossible to operate a " freight railway " at a profit, either to the forwarder or the owners of the road ; and if we can but find out definitely where the point of limi- tation is, it will henceforth beco'ae an easy matter — a mere matter of calculation in short — to say whether such and such a railroad should be built or not ; it will also become a comparatively simple matter, to esti mate the probable effect of any particular road in peopling the section of country thro\igh which it runs. The question then is, at what cost could the Canada Pacific Railway (if built) carry a ton of freight between Manitoba and Montreal, and vice versa ? Now, simple — as at first sight, this queption may seem to the majority of men, it is, nevertheless, one of the most difficult and impor- tant problems which you can present to the statist or engineer — a problem, the attempted solution ot which, in other cases, by ignorant (though honest) bunglers, and interested and selfish speculators, has cost the trusting and credulous public hundreds — nay, thousands — of millions, and brought ruin and misery to thousands of previously happy and prosperous homes ; indeed, the railway tariff, especially in regard to produce, is by far ihe most important and widely discussed subject of the present day, at least on the American continent. I have studied the subject for years ; 1 have read scores of letters, speeches, and orations on the subject ; perused numerous pamphlets, and listened to innumerable debates, &c., &c., and after all, the only conclu- sion I could arrive at was, that what No. 1 affirmed. No 2 contradicted, and what No. .3 declared to be indisputably true. No. 4 held to be sheer nonsense, &c. I have perused elaborate statements — written by men of great gen- eral intelligence — showing in the most conclusive manner — as they believed — that such and such a railway could carry freight at, say, 3 to 4 mills per ton per mile ; and then found, after considerable trouble, and oft-*imes expense, that the same railroad was carrying every ton of freight the country yielded, charging an average of 2^ to 3 cents per ton per mile, and after all, could barely pay two per -^ent. on the capital 19 nee versct invested. We have also heard the most tremendous outcry made about the enormous profits made by certain westera railroads (United States), and the immense dividends paid on stock said to be watered to more than half its full value — and a few months after we have seen the same stocks (with the water most effectually squeezed out of them), go a begging at one-haif, and in some cases, one-third their former value ; and I have noted particularly that the very men who talked the loudest about the enormous profita made, and the low rates at which freight could be carried, if railroads were only honestly conducted, were veiy careful to avoid becoming possessed of such valuable property, even when offered dirt cheap. It may have been that their pure and ' potless consciences recoiled from the thought of injuring the poor farmers of the West, &c., or being made partiet o a " legalised robbery " — by receiving large dividends, gained by extortionate freights, though I am reluctantly com- pelled to declare that theii general character would never have led one ; ; to credit them with such generous and patriotic motives. In short, my deliberate conviction is, that it is next to impossible to predict with any degree of certainty, what will be the earnings, and, con- sequently, charges of a railway running through a new country — that is ' if the railway is managed on commercial principles — it is at all events ; certain, that not one road in a dozen, either in Europe, America, Asia or Africa, ever fulfilled the honest expectations of those who projected and built them. To begin with, very few indeed, have a correct idea of the railway system, what it is, and consequently what it can and cannot do. The natural result is that it is credited with infinitely more than its real ability ; half the working charges are overlooked, or greatly under esti- mated, while the traffic is over estimated ; peculiarities of time, place, and circumstances, are unheeded or forgotten, (fee, &c.. You will find an example of the way in which railway projectors generally estimate traffic and expense, «fec., «fec., in appendex No. 1. But though it is thus difficult to estimate the probable income of such a road as the Canada Pacific, it is by no means so difficult to give a pretty correct guess at the outlay, hox example, the 60,000 miles of railroad in the United States costs on an average, $5,300 per mile per annum to operate and maintain it ; and you will please note that with the exception, perhaps, of Belgium, the United States railways are the most clieaply operated of any railroads in the tcorld.k Now, if you multiply the length of our road by 5,300, you have got an answer; but as there can be no doubt that the average of the United States is too law for a railraad like the Canada Pacific, passing as it does, through a wilderness, and having an average of three to five feet of snow on the level throughout its whole hmjth during the winters, it would be only prudent to ailow 20 per cent, for overcoming any such obstacles — the cost per mile in that case would be over $6,300 per mile, from this sum you may deduct 30 per cent for the difference in the values between the United States and Canada, making the oost per mile per annum, iiii: ■lii about $4,400, or suppose we take the even $4,000 per mile per annum (certainly an under estimate) ; in that case we would require a yearly revenue of not less than $10,800,000, and as we have shown that the utmost supposable income of the Canada Pacific Kailway will not amount to three millions, it is quite plain that ihe road (if built), could never be managed as a commercial speculation, for in that case the tariff would require to be 20c. per ton per mile for every ton of goods passing over it, which is equivalent to saying the road would be closed. We are, therefore, shut up to the conviction that the Government must not only build the road, but that they will also require to operate and maintain it, at a tremendous sacrifice to the general public of the Domin- ion ; consequently, in making our calculation as to the probable expense of moving a ton of freight between Montreal and Manitoba, and vice versa, we take for granted that the Dominion Government will supply funds sufficient to enable the managers of the road to regulate their tariffs, on the same principle and according to the rules governing such roads as the New York Central, Grand Trunk, Great Western, Erie, &c., &c. Estimating, 1st, by the local tariffs of the Grand Trunk, Great Western, &c., viz : 4^0. per ton per mile ; the cost per ton would be $54.00 2nd. Tried by the tariff of the narrow-guage railroads — which cost to build only some $9,000 per mile, plus the bonuses — the amount would be $36 or 3c. per ton per mile, or suppose we estimate the pi'obable charges by the English tariffs, for example : that of the London and North Western, a road which carried 15,000,000 tons of freight last year, and despatches daily (every twenty-four hours,) no fewer than 626 ruer- chandise trains over all parts of the line ; the earnings for goods traffic on that road averaged 6s. 3d. sterling per train milt?, or an average all round of l^d. or 3c. par ton per mile. Judging then by the standard of this great English road, we are brought back to the $36 charged by the Canada narrow-guage roads, as the lowest sum at which a ton of freight could be carried between Montreal and Manitoba, and m'ce versa, for it must be distinctly understood that we are taking the lowest English charges, the average charges in England being about 4^c. per ton per mile ; in France the charges is 3^ to 4c. ; in the United States, 3 and 6-lOths, &c. Now, I would like to ask, just by way of parenthesis, if you know of any kind of produce which the farmers of the Northwest could r>*ise, that would bear such charges for transport to market? or, if you are acquainted with any kind of manufactured goods, required by the people of the Northwest, whicti we could send them at the same mtes ] I hold that there are no products natural to, or likely to be produced in the Northwest ; nor, as a rule, are there any manufactured goods required in the said Province, which could bear such chai-ges for transport. I fancy that no man with an intelligent knowledge of the subject will be inclined to doubt the assertion, that the successful cultivator of our great " prairies " must for many years to come confine himself to 21 sr annum ) a yearly that the will not if built), ,i case the 1 of goods 1)6 closed, lent must erate and le Domin- e expense I and vice ill supply pir tariffs, h roads as 3., &c. ik, Great would be Is — which a amount 3 probable ndon and i last year, 626 «t«r- ods traffic verage all andard of ;ed by the of freight ■sa, for it English ton per es, 3 and :ou know uld r>»ise, you are he people I hold ed in the required ort. subject tivator of mself to raising cerealc, wheat, oats, com, &c., &c., or become a patriarch of flocks and herds ; in this latcer case he would have but a very limited mark'-', for his products, the principal of which — his wool — would come into direct competition with the produce of more favoured Southern lands, such as California, Cape of Gk)od Hope, Australia, &c,, (countries producing already more wool than is really required), against which it is perfectly safe to say he could not hold his own, indeed it is quite certain that he could not, for it has been tried more than once on a most extensive scalfl, only to end in failure. We may, therefore, take it as a settled matter that the farmer of the Northwest will confine him- self to grain crops ; and in that case his export market will be Mon- treal; there, his wheat, as an average, may command say $1.20 to $1.30 per bush«l ; com — the great staple of the west — would be worth 60c to 65c p°r bushel ; oats, 34c to 39c, &c. Now take the distance between Manitoba and Montreal at 1,200 miles — the shortest known route — and the rates of freight three cents per ton per mile, or $36 a ton — divide the ton by the bushel and keep to yourself the secret of the profits made or likely to be made by farming in the Northwest. If, then, as the above calculation clearly proves, it is impossible to carry farm pro- duce, minerals, and other heavy freight, for a distance of twelve or thir- teen hundred miles except at a loss, it must be self-evident that the rail- way is no longer of use or benefit, and consequently ought not to be built. Indeed, I hold that at a space of 800 miles — or under the most favour- able circumstances — at 1,000 miles, you will find the utmost limit to which it is possible to carry a paying railrocd, and that immediately be- yond that, there is a line on which the intelligent locomotive engineer and railway projector may read the following warning, written by the well-known gent's, " Calm Calculation," " Much Abused Common Sense," and " Dear bought Experience." " A.11 beyond this line is loss, debt, and difficulty," not only to the Railway Company but also to every man and woman who through ignorant or selfish misrepresentation may be induced to settle in this section of country ; and such will con- tinue to be the case until in the course of time by the growth of popu- lation and development of resources the place may become self-sustainitiy, but in no case can such a settlement be of use or benefit, material, poli- tical, or otherwise to the country which has planted it. It ^las just been suggested to me, " that although my calculations may be all right, still, as they are based upon a local or 3c tariff ^hey are not ap{)licable to the case under discussion ;" " that the calculation ought to be made on a through tariff," &c., and as this, doubtless, is a very general opinion, and the subject itself one of the most important which it is possible for Canadians to discuss at the present moment ; you will pardon my seeming prolixity if I try to find out what force there is in it. In the first place a good deal will depend on the manner in which you view the road. I have gone on the supposition tliat the " Canada Pacific Railway " will be managed and its tariffs regulated on the same 22 *■' # principles as the othei' great railway corporations of the continent ; that it is to be operated on ordinary commercial principles, and to be made pay as much as it possibly can, say for the first ten years after comple* tion — between three and four millinns annually, or 35 per cent of its operating expenses — but if I am in error, and the road is to be looked upon rather as a benevolent enterprise, got up at the expense of the entire Dominion for the sole use and benefit of the Northwest and Pacific Pro- vinces of course, I have nothing to say further than, VVhy charge any- thing at all ? Why not make it absolutely free % It would be much better in every sense to do so than to mix up businebs with charity ; but as I cannot suppose any set of men capable of perpetrating such a piece of absurdity as I have supposed, we will believe that all intend to look upon the " Canada Pacific " as a " commercial speculation," &c. Having then got upon firm ground we can argue the matter of " chrough rates," and in the first place I would say that whoever says that through I'ates should bo applied in the case of the Canada Pacific assumes — although he may not know it. 1st. That the Canada Pacific will be a paying concern^ and that its managers will be able to regulate their tariffs so as to suit the wants ot particular districts 1 2Hd. That 3c. per ton per mile is an exorbitant charge for railway carriage for the distance named. 3rd. That through or way rates are mere arbitrary regulations depending on the vnll of the managers ; now as every one of the assumptions are erroneous, the con- clusions drawn from them must be so also. I hold, in the first place, that through freights are an entirely exceptional arrangement, growing out of exceptional circumstances, and existing only between the city of Chicago and the seaboard ; and they are Only practicable between the points named, because the city of Chicago is the grand centre or focus, into which is poured the grain grown on the 44,000,000 acres of land cultivated in the West, over one thousand million bushels — an amount which keeps her elevators continually full, so that a locomotive can back in and take on its full load at a Chicago elevator and make the run to New York, Boston or Montreal, without change or break. A few moments refiection will show you how it is that certain railways can afford to take traflSc at through rates, and how a large load at very low rates, may be mo.e profitable than a small load at high rates, par example : We, the public, insist, or the company thinks it is its interest, to run a certain number of trains per day at a given speed per hoar, from end to end of their lines, so that the public may take a ride when and as far as their business or pleasure may i-equire, ccr.seqaently, the company must keep a certain number of engines, passenger and other cars, and the men to operate them ; more- over, they must keep the track in good repaii-, &c., to do which requires a very large outlay of money, and you will please mark particularly, that by far the largest portion of this outlay, may be described as outlay of a fixed or permanent character, and is independent of the amount of 23 1 : niore- huainesa done; thus, the engine has five passenger coaches behind it, each coa )h is intended for fie accommodation of fifty passengers, and the train once started, must go right on to its destination, whether it is fuU or empty, the experise will be precisely the same, whether it carries fifty or 250 passengers. Consequently, it is plain, that it would pay the com- pany much bettei' to carry the 250 or full compliments of passengers for 3c. per mile, than the 50 at 10c. per mile ; all that is needed, therefore, to insure "through rates" is to guarantee the railway a large traffic; and what holds good in the case of passenger traffic, is still more power- •'ul when applied to freight, because passengers load and unload them- selves, whereas freight requires to be handled at an expense of not less than 50c. per ton on an average. If, as before explained, the road is to be managed on commercial principles, we must divide the fixed cJiarges by the nv.mber of engines and cars on the road, and each engine and car must earn its proportion of the whole sum. There are only two ways in which they can do so — 1st, by being operated up to their full limit of useful work at low rates 1.69c. per ton per mile, as in the case of the six great competing routes of the western states, or 2nd, by just taking what freight is offered at high rates, as in the case of nin«ty-nine out of every hundred of the railways in existence. So much then for the argument that I should have estimated the probable cost of moving freight between Manitoba and Montreal, at through rates. As to the second argu- ment that 3c. per ton per mile would be too much, I would answer first that the lowest charge in Great Britain is about 4c. per ton per mile ;* in France, 3^ to 4 ; in the United States — which I repeat manages her * There are about 16,U00 miles of railways in Great Britain, which cost on an average £36,000 sterling per mile, or for the whole about £570,000,000 sterling, of this amount 240,000,000 is share capital, 180,000,000 preference and gaaranteed, 150,000,000 loans and debentures. The dififerent roads carried in all during the year 423,000,000 passengers, besides season ticket holders ; of freight they carried 106,000,000 tons of coal and other minerals, 73,000,000 tons of general merchan- dise ; the locomotives travelled 190,000,000 miies, and earned 5s. 4d. sterling per mile for every mile run. or in all £23,300,000 for passengers, and £29,000,000 for freight ; about 50 per cent, of earnings going for operating expenses and the other for profits, giving on an average about 4J per cent per annum. Over £50,000,000 sterling of the railway capital of Great Britain has never paid one cent of profit. N. B. — Any one who is fond of figures might exercise his skill very profitably in trying to find out the the true cause why railways in this country have been such complete failures. He might begin, for example, by showing the number of miles of railway per million of the population in this country and in Great Britain ; 2nd, the tons of freight and number of passengers carried per mile in each coun- try, and the amount of money earned respectively; 3rd, the amount of railway business done per individual in the two nations ; 4th, the difference in the cost per train mile in Canada and in England, and the reason for the difference ; 5th, the average extra locomotive power required in Gauade per 1,000 tons in comparison with England or Scotland, Ac, the cost of the same, also the expense of removing snow, &o., the loss caused by reduced speed, loss of time &c., during the five winter months, &o., &o. He will find, 1st, that we have as near as may be double the number of miles per 1,000 of our population ; 2nd, that for every mile of road in £lngland they carry 30,000 passengers per annum, io Canada the number is be- 24 roads cheaper than any other country — it is (including throtigh freights on nearly one thousand million bushels of grair), 3 6-lOth, and if any one believes that we could manage a railway between British Columbia and Ontario for a less figure, " I envy him his faith," as Mr. Cartwrlght re- marked of another subject. 1. In the next place I would point to the Grand Trunk, originally built as a first-class road, running through a remarkably easy railway country, and doing as large business as it can accomodate. In short, running through a well peopled and prosperous country, and counting the through traffic, doing a business equal to the export, import and local traffic of the whole 4,000,000 of the Dominion, viz : carrying over 2,000,000 of passengers and 1,800,- 000 tons of goods per annum, yet the road — though charging consider- ably more than 3c per ton per mile for local traffic — has never paid one cent on the cost of construction. Nay, more, it has not been able even to maintain its permanent way, or even supply adequate rolling-stock from its earnings.* 2. The Northern Railway has paid interest on barely one-half the cost of construction. Indeed, the only Railway in Canada that has paid decent dividends is the Great Western, and its dividends have been very fluctuating and uncertain, as may be seen by the last report, which puts them at 2^ per cent, per annum for the last year. 3. The Directors of narrow guage Roads, at their last meeting, declared that all their calculations and expectatio7is had been falsified ; and that they were not only not able to pay interest on the share capital, but that they had no hope of doing so ; while one of their prominent men — Mr. Worts— afterwards declared in the St. Lawrence Hall, that the $15,000 he had invested in one of the roads was not worth 15c, yet the tween 1,400 and 1,500. In Great Britain the freight carried la about 16,000 tons per mile, in the Dominion about 1,000 tons per mile, &c. Taking all these points mto consideration, he will, I am convinced, be very chary in expressing surprise that Mr. Brydges, for instance, found it impossible to make the Grand Trunk a paying road. I think the astonishment will be — as it has long been with me— that the said gentlemen could keep the road in operation at all under the circumstances.. * I am well aware that it is customary to account for the none paying con- dition of the Grand Trunk, by referring to the waste and extravagance of those who- built it ; but that idea is manifestly absurd, for so long as a road cannot pay operating expenses, it can make very little difference whether the original road-bed cost $10 or $100,000 — except in so far as it increases the first loss. Others, again — for instance the Olohe — mnintains that the road is a failure because it attends too much to through traffic, and neglects to cultivate the local or way freight. That argument will have force when the writer sits down and shows first how much extra local freight the Grand Trunk would get by acting according to his instruc- tions. 2. By showing how much money each engire and car earns per twenty-four hours in carrying local freights, and comparing it with the amounts earned in car- rying at through rates. The real cause of failure in the Grand Trunk is that the local traffic is too small in proportion to the length of the line, just as the Grey and Bruce Bailway is a commercial failure because its manager calculated the freight rates in proportion to the cost of the road, in place of in proportion to the length of the road, and cost of operating. For a road the length of the Grey and Bruce, the fare ought to have been 4 to 4^ cents per ton per mile. .'5 narrow guage roads were got up with special economy, and cost their shareholders less than |9,000 per mile ; they run through one of the best settled and most productive parts of the Province, and charge 3p per ton per mile. 4. It is well known to all who take an interest in such matters, that neither the Grand Trunk nor Great Western could be kept in operation if they depended entirely on Canadian traffic. Lastly. No Railway can now be built in Canada, or even the United States, as a mercantile speculation, they must be very largely endowed by Government or local bonuses, &c., which, to me, is irrefragable proof that the Railway system cannot be operated in the Dominion, (and in very few parts of the continent,) so as to pay current expenses, and if you want still further proof of my position, you, sir, can find it in abundance in the records of your own office. For the sake of argument, however, let us suppose that by the ex- ercise of extraordinary forethought and financial wisdom, that by a com- bination of the highest order of commercial and engineering skill, it will be possible to build the Canada Pacific Railway so economically that it will be practicable to carry the produce of the few thousand farmers, &c., scattered along its route at the lowest through freights now charged by the great competing roads running through the Western States, viz.^ 1^ to 2c per ton per mile — and it is universally admitted by the most skillful Railway managers, that it is quite impossible to carry freight at a less charge. Now, even in that case, what chance would the settlers of Manitoba and the Saskatchewan have of becoming prosperous or wealthy men] Why, it is only necessary to place the figures beside the rates paid by the older Provinces, say from 8 to 10 per cent., to see how utterly hopeless must be the case of the man who depends upon a rail- way 1,200 to 1.400 miles long to carry his produce to market. Indeed, both reason and experience join in proclaiming with a voice which cannot be misunderstood, that either the Railway must carry all manner of produce at one-third the present (lowest) rates ; the farmer must find a local market for all his surplus, or, failing that, the lands of the Red River and Saskatchewan Valley, &c., must and should remain an untilied wildemes'^ for generations to come ; a land wherein the wolf may bi'ing forth her young, and the bufialo roam in comfort undisturbed, save by the whoop of the red man, or the crack of the hunter's rifle — the Canada Pacific Railway to the contra notwithstanding. Hitherto, however, we have been dealing in supposition, cal- culations, &c., we have been endeavouring to show, from the nature of the case, what must be the condition of farmers growing crops 1,200 or 1,500 miles from the place where they are to be consumed. Let us now come to facts, to figures, to the everyday expeiience of the producers who have to send their products long distances by railway ; and what do we find to be their state and circumstances ] Just what from a fair, honest and intelligent calculation of the capacity of the Railway system we would have expected, viz., a state of comparitive poverty, cursed with a 26 /plethora of food, and denied almost everything else in the shape of com- forts and luxuries, such as are absolutely necessary in our present state of so3iety, for the maintenance of decency and respectability. We see the States of Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, <&c., in a condition of most excited agitation in regard to railway tariffs on cereals between the west and the seaboard, the entire west is in a state of ferment ; I'epresentatives are harassed with depu- tations of farmers, the Legislatures are flooded with bills and petitions, the newspapers teem with articles ; and the public halls are kept vocal •with speeches on the subject of " Railway Extortion," " Legalized Robbery." Conventions of farmers are held in every town and city of the west, they combine in lodges called granges ; which associations are now numbered by the hundred thousand, and their members by the million all in defense of their rights and intei'ests against, and in denun- ciation of the (fancied) encroachments of what is called the railway despotism. Freight rates are so high, and crops are so abundant that in many pai'ts of the Northwest they are actually burning thbir produce for fuel as they cannot ship it at any price. To sum up in a few words, it is declared on the authority of +he head of the " National Granges" that three-fourths of the farms in Illinois and other parts of the West and Northwest, are mortgaged ; and the farmers otherwise over head and ears in debt ; a state of affairs which is truly alarming and gives good cause for the " Grangers " agitation of the railway question ; it also calls for the immediate and serious attention of every man calling himself a statesman ; a remedy must be found anc*. that soon or the vaunted prosperty of the great West will become a thing of the past and the free, intelligent and hardy tillers of the soil sink (in fact they are now sinking) down into mere helots, " white slaves, " toiling night and day for coarse food and scanty shelter ; thus becoming hewers of wood and drawers of water to the other and more prosperous membei*s of the community, in place of being as they have been hitherto the most pros- perous and independent members of society. The American farmer living not more than one hundred miles from Chicago has to pay ihree- fourths of his grain cro[> to have the remaining one-fourth carried to market ; so that it often i)ays them better to burn it for fuel than to ex- change it for wood or send it to eastern mai'kets. Yet he pays but l^c per ton per mib and the distance to New York is less than 900 miles, or 300 miles less than fi-om Manitoba to Toronto or Montreal. "That this is a very unpleasant commentary on our means of transportation" says the Scientific American, "cannot be denied; the cost of food here in the east is notoriously high, yet such are the rates of freight that it is a better j>aying operation to burn the food for fuel than send it to eastern markets for sale ; nothing can more forcibly pro- claim the necessity of some cheaper and more expeditious method of transit than canal or railway carriage." The Chicago Tribune says : — " What is needed is a cheaper freight 27 and miles, of «a8t of Chicago — than in the opinion of our best railway managers it will ever be possible for any number of railways to the seaboard to give," and this cheaper means of transit must bo found or the prosperity of the West and Northwest will gradual / cease, till war in Europe or some other unusual circumstance creates a great demand at unusually high prices ; indeed, if the present over production goes on for the next five or ten years the farms and the farm produce of the West will be almost worthless ; notwithstanding that we have over 10,000 laihm of railway in the West for which we have [)aid three hundred millions of dollars and the gross profits on which does not give 4 per cent to the shai*e- holders." The same paper in a recent article again refers to the cost of transportation from the West to Eastern markets, it saya : " Corn is offered delivered at the railway stations 100 and 150 miles from Chicago at 15c per bushel ; oats, 8c to 9c ; wheat, at proportionately low rates as compared with what it brings in tlie Liverj)ool market, and from this is still to be deducted the cost of moving the grain from the farmers crib to the railway stations, assuming, says the Trilnme, the distance from the farm to the railway station to be on an average fifteen miles, it will cost the farmer the value of time and labour of one man and a two horse team an entire day to deliver a thirty bushel load »>♦' corn at the station; at 15c per bushel the entire proceeds of the corn, le use of his team and labourer for the day will be $4.50, not equal to the price he has to pay for one set of shoes for his horses, it will not pay the tax on two pairs of blankets, nor on ten dollars worth of any woollen goods he re- quires for his family." That is how farming pays in the amazingly fertile lands of the Western States where the soil is said to be so rich as to require little else but the sowing and the reaping and that too within a hundred miles of the city of Chicago — one of the greatest grain mai'kets in the world — how then will it pay in lands so distant from the Atlantic sea ports as our Northwest ? What products could the farmers of Manitoba — not to mention British Columbia — raise that would bear railway charges from fourteen to eighteen hundred miles 1 Echo answers. What 1 If it is a fact (and alas it is an ower true tale), that the farmers of the West and Northwestex-n States of the Union — although possessed of the most fertile lands on the continent — find it a hai'd and constant struggle to keep theii heads above water (although living in a rude and most inexpensive way, denying themselves nearly all the luxuries and many even of the comforts and conveniences of life); owing to the enor- mous pi'oportion of their produce exacted by the railroads for carrying the remainder to market 1 What means are you going to adopt to make the condition of the settler more tolerable in the Canadian North- west ? or rather by what magic are you going to make his position equal to that of his American cousin — misemble as that is — seeing that he will be hundreds of miles further from the Atlantic seaboard than his neighbour ? 28 B If his position is to be anything better than a constant and hopeless Btmgglo with |K)verty and debt, yon must eitlier find for him a home market — which is ii(iix)ssible — or yon must build and maintain at tre- mendons sacrifice to the general public — a railroad for his accommoda- tion ; and you must not only make and maintain the road, but you must also carry his produce at less than one-third of the lowest charges now made for similar services, or it will be impossible for him to compete in an alrea