J. Allen Barber and others [no address] Joint Resolution

JOINT RESOLUTION

In Relation to Enlarged Facilities of Transportation between the Great Lakes, the Atlantic Coast and Europe.

WHEREAS, The agricultural interests of the great producing States of the Northwest, are the principal sources of their prosperity, and the opening of improved and enlarged facilities for the transportation of those products from the great lakes to the seaboard, tend directly to stimulate and increase the growth of these products, as well as to encourage and advance the interests of all branches of business, commercial or otherwise, prosecuted within those States; and

WHEREAS, The present channel of communication, by way of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River, is scarcely sufficient to accommodate the present wants and wholly inadequate to meet the prospective demands of the great grain growing States bordering upon and tributary to these internal waters; and

WHEREAS, The rivers and canals of Canada can be readily enlarged and improved so as to furnish ample and reliable facilities for transportation from the lakes to the Atlantic ocean, thereby saving to the western producer millions of dollars per annum, as well as a large per centage of the time now occupied in transit; therefore,

Be it resolved, by the Senate of the State of Wisconsin, the Assembly concurring, That the Governor be and is hereby authorized to appoint a committee of five citizens of the State, to communicate with the provincial government and parliament of Canada, either by petition or by proceeding in person to the seat of said government, for the purpose of laying before that body, in a proper and respectful manner, statistics of the production and trade of the Western States, present and prospective; the inefficiency of the present thoroughfares connecting the lakes with the seaboard; the mutual advantages presented by their rivers and canals for the construction of such enlarged avenues as the interests of the west so imperiously demand, and the mutual benefits which must necessarily accrue from the proper improvement of these advantages to the constructors of such channel or channels, as well as to the western producer.

Resolved, That the Governor be also authorized to appoint twenty-five delegates from this State, to attend the canal enlargement convention, which has been called to meet at Chicago, in June next, for the consideration of enlarged facilities of transportation to and from tide water.

Resolved, That our neighboring States, similarly interested, be and are hereby respectfully invited to appoint like State committees, to act and co-operate with the committee hereby appointed for the attainment of the objects herein set forth; and that the Governor be and is hereby requested to send copies of this joint resolution and invitation, to each of the States so interested, and to our Senators and Representatives in Congress, and that the preceding preamble and resolutions be printed for the greater convenience of so doing.

J. ALLEN BARBER,

Speaker of the Assembly.

WYMAN SPOONER,

President of the Senate.

EDWARD SALOMON, Governor.

Approved March 27, 1863.