interest. The annual revenue of the canal was estimated at $924,000 and the expenditure $547,000.
William Ford, chairman of the joint committee of the legislature, addressed De Witt Clinton on March 8, 1817, asking him to outline a financial system for a canal fund. Clinton's scheme, which became the basis of all New York's canal building, is thus sketched by Mr. Sweet:[1]
"1. Borrow $1,500,000 on the credit of the State, by the creation of a funded debt, with interest at six per cent, principal reimbursable in twenty years.
"2. The said Committee shall keep an account of all moneys received for the said fund, (which moneys shall be kept in the treasury), and shall pay over, from time to time, such moneys as shall be required for the execution of the powers committed to them.
"3. The said Committee of the fund shall, as soon as the whole or a part of the said works be completed, have power to establish and receive reasonable tolls.
- ↑ Documentary Sketch of New York State Canals by S. H. Sweet (Albany, 1863), p. 104.
