Question 16. To what extent is grain purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio line, or by any steamer line or lines connected with that road for the purpose of completing cargoes to Europe?

Answer. None whatever by the Baltimore and Ohio Road, nor by the steamer-lines connected with it. As a general thing the freight-room for these steamers is engaged in advance of their arrival.

This is more especially the case with steamers running in connection with that road. Question 17. Do the steamer-lines from Baltimore to Europe receive their grainfreights at the same wharf at which they receive other merchandise? If not, is the grain brought from the elevator to the ships, or are the ships taken to the elevator for the purpose of receiving such freights?

Answer. All the regular steamers, such as the Allen Line, Beaver Line, and Hamburg German Lloyd Line, receive the grain portion of their cargoes from lighters alongside, the grain being bagged at the elevators. These steamers carry general cargo, and only grain in bags. All transient steamers and sailing-vessels loading grain receive their cargoes direct from the elevators.

Question 18. Please to mention the various competing lines for the transportation of merchandise from Baltimore to principal points in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Answer. (1) Baltimore and Southern Steam Transportation Company to Wilmington, N. C., and Charleston, has five steamers.

(2) Merchants' Steamship Company to Charleston, one steamer at present. (3) Baltimore and New Berne line has three steamers.

(4) Merchants and Miners' Company from Baltimore to Savannah, two steamers. (5) The Bay line of steamers to Norfolk daily, connecting with the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad at Portsmouth, Va.

Question 19. So far as you may be able, please to state the terms of the agreement under which the various lines just mentioned compete, and also any facts in relation to contests which have been waged between such competing lines during the last year. Answer. The terms of agreement cannot be stated. As to facts in relation to contests, can only give the points for which competiton is made, and by which lines, and effects of such competition.

The Baltimore Steam-Packet Company, being under the same control as Richmond, Fredericksburgh and Potomac Railroad, is enabled to bring cotton from North Carolina, points below Weldon,without rail competition; but at Richmond they meet a competitor in the Richmond and York River line of steamers, and at Petersburgh with Powhatan line.

Just now, Clyde has a line of steamers running from New Berne, N. C., in connection with railroads into the central part of North Carolina, and are bringing cotton from Raleigh, Goldsborough, &c., at nominally same rates as Baltimore Steam-Packet Company, but allowing rebate to shipper over Baltimore Steam-Packet Company and railroutes into South Carolina and Georgia. There is competition with the steamers running to Wilmington and to Charleston and Savannah.

This competition ran high last summer, when large quantities of bacon were being sent to South Carolina and Georgia. I think freight où bacon ran as low as 30 cents per 100 pounds to Columbus and Augusta.

Baltimore needs a through freight rail-route to South Carolina and Georgia, which she is denied by Steam-Packet Company controlling Richmond, Fredericksburgh and Potomac Railroad. On this account, freight from Weldon on cotton amounts to $2.25 per bale, when by rail it could be made to pay well at $1.50 per bale.

The city of Richmond and the stockholders of the Richinond and Danville Railroad are petitioning the Virginia legislature to charter another road to Washington from Richmond.

Question 20. Are the elevators at which sea-going vessels load owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, or by other companies or individuals, and what is being done toward the extension of such facilities of trade at Baltimore?

Answer. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company runs two elevators (A and B) at Locust Point, with capacity for storing one and a half to two millions of bushels. The Canton Company has one for the use of the Northern Central and Union Railway Companies, capacity for storing 100,000 bushels only; but with facilities of transferring from cars to vessels about 45,000 bushels per day.

The Northern Central Railroad Company is now constructing one with capacity of 500,000 bushels, located on deep water at Canton; this latter will be finished, we learn, for the next crop season.

Question 21. How do ocean-steamer rates from Baltimore to Liverpool compare with rates from Liverpool to Baltimore?

Answer. Rates from Liverpool to Baltimore pay but a small portion of the expenses of the trip on account of the competition for the limited amount of goods imported; owners chiefly rely on freights outward from Baltimore for their remuneration.

Question 22. Does the Pennsylvania Railroad transport grain and other western products to Baltimore for export to Europe or other foreign ports, and to what extent?

Answer. Yes; quite largely, particularly of grain; and is making extensive arrangements through the Northern Central Railway Company for terminal facilities, which will enable her to compete for a still larger share of the grain-trade.

Question 23. By means of what rail or water combinations does the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad now transport freights from the West to Philadelphia, New York, and . Boston?

Answer. In 1875, during the railroad war, for a portion of the time, the Baltimore and Ohio Road had an ocean steam-line from New York, but since that war closed freight to and from Philadelphia and New York is carried by the canal-lines mentioned in No. B.

Freight to and from Boston, passing over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, is carried by the Merchants and Miners' Transportation line.

8 AP

APPENDIX No. 8.

ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES IN RELATION TO THE COMMERCE OF CINCIN NATI, THE COMMERCIAL MOVEMENTS TO AND FROM THAT CITY, AND THE VARIOUS TRANSPORTATION LINES CONNECTING CINCINNATI WITH SOUTHERN AND EASTERN MARKETS, BY MR. SYDNEY D. MAXWELL, SECRETARY OF THE CINCINNATI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 1876.

Question. 1. For every one hundred loaded cars from Cincinnati to points east of Buffalo and east of the Alleghany Mountains, about how many loaded cars are there received at Cincinnati from the section just referred to?

Answer. To this the Atlantic and Great Western Railway and the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis reply about the same number. The representative of the Union and National line, passing over the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railway, reports about seventy-five cars, while the Marietta and Cincinnati says for every one hundred loaded cars east they receive about fifty loaded cars west, estimating car-leads in both directions at 20,000 pounds.

From these statements, in the absence of more definite figures, it appears that the number for the four trunk-roads named cannot vary much from seventy-five loaded cars, the number being more likely to be above these figures than below them.

Question 2. For every one hundred cars (loaded) from Cincinnati over the roads running to Lake Erie, about how many loaded cars are received over such roads at Ccinnati ?

Answer. About ninety-five loaded cars forwarded from Cincinnati to one hundred loaded cars received at Cincinnati over the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad. and about an equal number over the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad.

Question 3. Is it proper to assume that your statistics of tonnage of vessels built and of steamboats running between Cincinnati and other ports indicates the progress of the commerce of Cincinnati on the Ohio River?

Answer. No, sir. There are causes which have been operating to reduce the number of vessels built at Cincinnati which have no immediate connection with the commerce of this city on the Ohio River. Neither will it do to measure the progress of the commerce by the tonnage of vessels plying between Cincinnati and other ports. To do so would be to assume that the nature of the business, stage of water, &c., were each year the same, whereas the incidents from year to year are quite unlike. It makes no difference how frequently a vessel may arrive and depart, or whether she has full cargoes of Cincinnati freight or not, she is counted once, and only once, in tonnage during the year. Again, the means used by those engaged in the shipping interest have very materially changed and are changing. There has been for a number of years an increased use of barges. The character of the vessels is changing, this being specially the case since the completion of the Louisville and Portland Canal. The tonnage of vessels is increasing. The smaller class of boats is giving way to boats of greatly increased tonnage, constructed with a view to capacity, and yet run at an expense relatively below any of their predecessors. In this connection I wish to call your attention to the report of Capt. Sam J. Hale, from the committee on river navigation, submitted recently to the Board of Trade of Cincinnati. Captain Hale is conversant with river-navigation, having been long intimately connected with the same. The following is the report:

Hon. Wм. T. BISHOP,

Report of the Committee on River Navigation.

President Board of Trade:

Your committee on river navigation would respectfully report, that nothing of par ticular interest has been brought to its attention during the year now drawing to a close; at the same time it may be of interest to note somewhat of the situation and future prospects of this great auxiliary to the commerce of our city.

We find the same general complaint of hard times in steamboating as in other departments of business; and some steamboatmen go so far as to say that the river is

"played out." This conclusion, however, is not warranted by the facts; it is attributable more to the transition from the old to the new state of affairs. Since the enlargement of the Louisville and Portland Canal, our steamboats have undergone a complete change in construction and capacity.

What was known as a large and money-making steamboat in the good old steamboating days, from 1850 to 1865, as applied to Cincinnati craft, would not be able to compete in trade with the steamboat of to-day. Then the carrying capacity of the boats adapted to the old locks was from three hundred to eight hundred tons; now it is from five hundred to two thousand tons. Nor is this difference confined merely to the carrying capacity, but the application and utilizing the steam-power is greatly in favor of the present day. For instance, we find that the engines which propelled the Alice Dean, a boat of six hundred tons capacity, now doing the same service for the Thomas Sherlock, a boat of fifteen hundred tons capacity.

This, of course, cheapens river transportation, and it may and propably does work some hardships to river men, especially to those in responsible positions; for the same set of officers and skilled mechanics can navigate one of the large boats of the present day as easily as they could one of the old-time boats, again saving in expense upon tonnage estimate.

To all this add the more rigid economy now practiced by steamboat captains and owners, and we will at once see that the tendency is toward cheap freights by river, and that steamboats can and will carry passengers and freights at greatly reduced rates from those of former periods.

Formerly, the prevailing rates of freight between Cincinnati and New Orleans, either way, was from 30 to 40 cents per 100 pounds. This was before the war. Now, a steamboat, with a competent load, can make money at 20 to 25 cents per 100 pounds. The supply of freight can never be less than it is now. As Cincinnati increases in trade, so must the traffic upon the river; and to-day a railroad on each bank of the Ohio River would not be able to carry the freight that floats upon its waters. The flat-boats laden with coal, with iron ore, with hay, and other farm products; the barges and the steamboats aggregate a tonnage capacity sufficient for the transportation of millions of tons of freight per annum.

Especially may we expect a large increase in the transportation by river of one of the southern staple productions, to wit, the sugar-crop of Louisiana, which at the close of the war, in 1865, was 18,000 hogsheads; in 1873, 89,000 hogsheads; in 1874, 117,000 hogsheads; the estimate for 1875 being 150,000 hogsheads of sugar, and 250,000 barrels of molasses.

The planting for 1876 is large, and with a continuation of present favorable prospects, the crop of this year will show a further increase.

That this produce can be carried better and cheaper by river than by rail was demonstrated this season, in the fact that when steamboats put freight to 20 cents per 100 pounds, railroads withdrew their competition.

The increase in the transportation of coal and iron ores during the past few years has been remarkable, and we believe that we are safe in saying that the coal and iron alone now carried upon the Ohio River exceeds in tonnage that of the entire transportation of twenty-five years ago.

Tow-boats built expressly for this trade have not only increased in numbers, but largely in power and capacity.

The Oakland and the Ajax, for example, have taken to New Orleans safely, in a single tow, exceeding twenty thousand tons of coal, and the new boat, Joseph B. Williams, is confidently estimated fully competent for a tow of twenty-six thousand tons. The great value of the coal trade within and of itself, and it being so absolutely indispensable to manufactures of every description, makes its cheap transportation of vital importance. The importance and value of the river as a means of transportation is by no means diminishing, but is steadily increasing, quite as rapidly as any other department of trade or commerce in our section.

By the act of Congress of June 23, 1874, the jurisdiction of the Light-House Board was extended over the western rivers; and within the past two years great benefits and aids have been given to navigation by placing signal-lights at all the difficult channels of the river. Government has also been active in removing obstructions, and the navigation of the river is now much safer than formerly. With the fostering care of the Government so well begun, continued to meet the demands of commerce upon our rivers, they can never have any formidable competitor for the transportation of the products of the fertile valleys lying along their borders, or of the countless manufactures which are daily enriching this great central valley.

In conclusion, there is one subject of vital interest to all persons engaged in river commerce, to which we desire to call the attention of the board of trade, the need of radically improving the Ohio River, so as to secure a minimum depth of six feet of water throughout the year. From information furnished by Colonel Merrill, the engi neer in charge, we are satisfied that there is no practical difficulty in improving the Ohio River on the same plan and methods that have been so successful on the Seine

and other French rivers. That the system will be successful does not admit of a doubt, as it has been in use in France since 1860, and is in use now. The system would meet with some opposition from the owners of the large coal tows, as at times it would necessitate the breaking up of a returning fleet of empty barges in passing through the locks, causing delay and expense; but as this particular branch of trade is carried on largely during the high-water season, it would appear to be just and fair that a trial dam should be built by the Government, and the system tested; the benefits to the general commerce of the Ohio River far outweighing the one particular interest. SAM. J. HALE, Chairman.

Question 4. Specify the principal commodities which are now transported chiefly or exclusively on the river both above and below Cincinnati, and in both directions. Answer. There is nothing now transported exclusively by the river. Even coal, which in the very nature of the case must continue to be largely transported by water, is being brought to the city in increased quantities by rail. There are, however, some commodities that will probably always be largely transported by the river. These are coal, stone, cement, lime, pig and manufactured iron, ores, nails, salt, glass and glassware, hay, corn, flour, whisky, sugar, molasses, rice, provisions, furniture, &c. Question 5. Please state briefly the facts in regard to the time when the transportation of express goods and of the lighter and more valuable freights bound to points at the South and West were transferred entirely from the rivers to the railroads.

Answer. The change closely followed the completion of the respective roads leading to and from the city.

Question 6. In your opinion what classes of freights must always be moved exclusively by river, and with respect to what classes of goods will the rivers always afford the advantage of regulating rail-rates through competition?

Answer. There is no class of freights that must be moved exclusively by river, and yet there are articles that will be largely transported by river. As to classes of goods in which rail-rates are to be always regulated by the river, there are questions involved which are difficult to solve. It is impossible to foresee the remote condition of railroad freighting in this country. The railroad system is by no means completed, particularly through territory tributary to the commerce of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The regulation of rates by the General Government, the building of roads which shall be open to all shippers who may desire to place cars thereon, and other problems, are involved in the survey of the future transportation field of the country. It may, however, be said safely, that in all the great commodities that are to be moved between the South and the North, in the country adjacent to the great rivers, water navigation must always be a wholesome check on the railroads. With the competition which the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers must always secure, it will not be possible for railroads, except it may be for limited periods, to be independent of riverrates in the heavy products of this country which may be able to reach the river under circumstances at all favorable.

Question 7. Please to give one or two examples of prorating arrangements between rail and water transportation, showing how many miles of river are taken as the equivalent of one mile of rail.

Answer. The basis of prorating arrangements is not found alone in comparative distances. Thus between Cincinnati and Huntington, where there is no rail competition, in the adjustment between the vessels and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, the river is taken at its measurement; that is, one mile of river to one mile of road. Between Cincinnati and Louisville the river, the measurement of which is about 133 miles, is taken at 110 and 120 miles, according to circumstances. Between Cincinnati and Memphis, the understanding is that the adjustment is made on a basis of two miles of river to one mile of road.

Question 8. Statistics of the increase of the wealth and population of Cincinnati during the last twenty years.

Answer. I append herewith a table showing the growth in population, value of real and personal property, of imports and exports of merchandise, and of manufactures, during the past twenty-five years. This period has been taken because we have nothing but the Federal census, and the limitation to twenty years, indicated in your interrogatory, would give but two such exhibits. The year 1854-55 was the first year in which values as to imports and exports of merchandise were calculated, so that preceding years cannot be given. In manufactures, antecedent to 1869, the aggregate value is given at the close of each decade.

In attempting to measure the growth of this city by these figures, there are circumstances which are necessary to be taken into consideration in connection with the exhibit. Though Covington and Newport are in different States and separated from Cincinnati by the Ohio River, they are substantially a part of Cincinnati. A large number of the citizens of those cities are engaged in business on the Ohio side, and much of the manufacturing done there is either conducted by Cincinnati enterprise and wealth, or owes its importance to its proximity to this city. While the ratio of