manufacturers of solar salt, by which 38,517 vats or covers were leased to the company at twelve and a half per cent on an average valuation of $40 each.

The absolute control thus secured over the manufacturers enables the company to determine the quantity of salt that shall be manufactured; the number of works that shall be employed in such manufacture; the price that shall be paid to the manufacturers, and the price at which it shall be sold.

An ordinary fine salt block is capable of making from 250 to 280 bushels of salt per day. Of the 316 fine salt blocks on the reservation, not more than one-half or two-thirds of them are kept in repair, and only a small portion of this latter class is kept in continuous operation during the whole salt manufacturing season.

The introduction of coal in the manufacture of fine salt has been attended with highly beneficial results. Its superiority over wood is evidenced in the improved quality of the salt, which can be produced at a largely reduced cost. Former apprehensions in regard to the scarcity and probable price of wood have been dissipated The future production will only be limited for the want of adequate facilities to raise and distribute the brine, which nature has deposited in this exhaustless reservoir which underlies these works, and for the want of a remunerative market. The price of coal at the works has varied for several years past from three dollars to seven dollars per ton; it is now selling freely at five dollars. By an advantageous contract, the salt company are enabled to furnish the manufacturers with coal for the next seventeen years, at an advance of fifty cents over prime cost.

The production of salt by solar evaporation is steadily increasing, as will be seen from the tables which accompany this report. A solar cover (as the vat is called, into which the brine is placed for evaporation), costs from forty to fifty dollars, and will produce about fifty bushels of salt in a season. The quality of the salt produced by this process is, for many purposes, superior to that produced by artificial heat. The following table exhibits the production of the works and the price at which the same has been sold at Syracuse for the last twenty years:

nearly prohibitory rates of duty and ever presented strong inducements Cons which no statute law can effecracter of the business, there is proonsumption produced in the State so aga salt. Under the plea of furnishne manufacturers have generally opes beyond a sum sufficient to furnish ile on the other hand, the State has late the business and adjust the duties conditions of the country and the deing upon individual competition to give price for which it can be afforded.

ble to reconcile the practice which preof salt with the principles of justice or policy.

ich accompanies this report, it appears that els were sold to the people of this State at ive per cent more than was received from er States. The rules of legitimate trade are he sale of salt. The greater distance the conplace where the article is manufactured the 1 to pay. Citizens residing in the Northern, counties of our State have abundant reason to t discrimination against them;, nor can such tified upon the plea of unprofitable sales in g markets. Should our citizens, who consume of the production of these springs, be compelled ficiencies? The efforts of the State to restrict ncourage competition have been exceeded by the nufacturers in the opposite direction.

longer continuing the anomalous relations which ted between the State and the manufacturers of which demands the serious consideration of this reasons which originally controlled the action of subject no longer exist. Experiments which the to be made during the last half century, and the

If the actual business of 1866, which falls considerably below the average of the last seven years, and largely below that of 1862, be subjected to the following analyses, the net profits derived from the salines for that year will be obtained thus:

The Salt Company of Onondaga.

In account with Salt.

By 1,431,700 barrels salt, sold at an average price of $2.03,.

To 1,036,064 bbls. fine salt, at $1.85 per bbl.,

To 395,5363 bbls. Solar Salt, at $1.55 per bbl.,

Cr.

$2,906,352 22

Dr

$1,916,718 40

613,236 75 2,529,955 15

$376,397 07

104,160 00

Net profits of the Co. in 1866,

$272,237 07

To which add net revenue which the State received for duty over expenses in 1866, (see Constitutional Manual, Vol. 2, page 185),.

24,557 48

....

Profits rec'd by the Co. in 1866,. From which deduct interest at 7 per cent on capital stock, surplus and borrowed, $1,488,000,.

Which gives a net profit derived from the springs in 1866, of......

$296,794 55

This sum will represent the interest, at 6 per cent, on $4,946,575.83, which may be considered the approximate value of the property owned by the State on the Reservation. Included in the above valuation are the wells, pumps, offices, reservoirs, aqueducts, machinery, &c., which are estimated at $311,710.

From an examination of this subject, it is apparent that no uniform policy has prevailed in regard to these springs. The numerous petitions, reports and legislative acts abundantly prove that conflicting views have long existed between the people and the manufacturers. The liberality with which the State has raised the brine and poured it into the vats and cisterns of the manufacturers, almost free of cost, the ease with which they convert it into salt, and

the protection afforded them by nearly prohibitory rates of duty and canal tolls on foreign salt, have ever presented strong inducements to them to enter into combinations which no statute law can effectually prevent. From the character of the business, there is probably no necessary article of consumption produced in the State so readily monopolized as Onondaga salt. Under the plea of furnishing cheap salt to the people, the manufacturers have generally opposed all restrictions and duties beyond a sum sufficient to furnish a full supply of brine. While on the other hand, the State has repeatedly interfered to regulate the business and adjust the duties so as to correspond with the conditions of the country and the demands of the treasury, relying upon individual competition to give the people salt at the lowest price for which it can be afforded.

Your committee are unable to reconcile the practice which prevails in regard to the sale of salt with the principles of justice or with a sound commercial policy.

From the testimony which accompanies this report, it appears that over one million of bushels were sold to the people of this State at from twenty to twenty-five per cent more than was received from sales of their salt in other States. The rules of legitimate trade are reversed in regard to the sale of salt. The greater distance the consumer resides from the place where the article is manufactured the less price he is required to pay. Citizens residing in the Northern, Western and Central counties of our State have abundant reason to complain of the unjust discrimination against them;, nor can such discrimination be justified upon the plea of unprofitable sales in distant and competing markets. Should our citizens, who consume but a small portion of the production of these springs, be compelled to make up these deficiencies? The efforts of the State to restrict combinations and encourage competition have been exceeded by the ingenuity of the manufacturers in the opposite direction.

The propriety of longer continuing the anomalous relations which have hitherto existed between the State and the manufacturers of salt, is a question which demands the serious consideration of this Convention. The reasons which originally controlled the action of the State on this subject no longer exist. Experiments which the State has caused to be made during the last half century, and the