George Washington Papers
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To George Washington from James Madison, 1 December 1796

From James Madison

Philada Decr 1. 1796

J. Madison presents his respectful compliments to the President & returns the Treatise on small Canals &c., with his acknowledgments for the perusal of it.1 He is not enough conversant with such subjects to decide on the merits of the various plans & machinery recommended by the Author. In general his principles appear to be both effective & practicable; but the question of their utility must be decided by a very accurate comparision of expence & saving, which can not easily be made without partial experiments at least; and which must vary also in different countries, & different situations of Society. The author however is certainly entitled to much praise for his ingenuity & laudable zeal for improvement; and has probably by his work really contributed to it, either immediately, or by the use that may be made of his ideas by others.

AL, DLC:GW; copy, DLC: Madison Papers.

1Madison refers to engineer Robert Fulton’s Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation; Exhibiting the Numerous Advantages to be Derived from Small Canals. … (London, 1796), which Fulton had sent GW (see Fulton to GW, 12 Sept.). The treatise recommended smaller-size canals for craft of light tonnage and argued against traditional canal locks as inefficient and costly. The work contained seventeen plates and covered a wide range of information about canals, including their origin, usefulness to commerce and agriculture, and construction costs. Fulton’s treatise also included detailed descriptions of mechanisms for canals, such as perpendicular lifts. GW later deposited Fulton’s work with Tobias Lear for safekeeping until his final retirement to Mount Vernon (see GW to Lear, 14 Dec., and n.2).

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