The Erie Railway and the steamers from New York to Boston have an arrange
ment by which Uie rates on freight between Buffalo and Boston are divided,
the railroad company getting for each mile of railroad three times as much as
the steamers receive for « mile on the water. Mr. McAlpiu, in his address
before the New .York Chamber of Commerce, May 8, 1873, informs us that on
the Hudson River the charges for transportation by water are one fourth of
those, by the Hudson River Railroad Company in Summer, and one-sixth of
the Winter rates of the railroad when there is no water communication. The
charges for railway transportation by the railway from New York to the
Pacific are thirty times the charges by sailing vessels, and fifteen times as great
as the cost by steamer via Panama. From Louisville to New Orleans (1,400
miles) the average rate through the year for freight is $5 per ton by water and
$10 by rail,

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company may be presumed to appreciate the
merits and capacities of railroads, and (owing mainly to the low price paid
for coal) it transports freights at a lower rate than any other railroad in the
United States. And ytt this Company has purchased or leased over 400 miles
of canal, and since it got possession of them has proceeded to extend and im-
prove them. Then, after giving other similar examples, and leaving this
question of the comparative economy of land and water trafisportation, Mr.
