Ohio Canal Era: A Case Study of Government and the Economy, 1820-1861 (review)

360CIVIL WAR HISTORY significant historical interest; one which is owned and/or maintained by a public or private organization responsible for its maintenance and interpretation; and one which is open to the public at regular specified times." There are four articles included in this work which do not completely meet all these requirements: "The Governor's Mansions of Tennessee ," "Nashville's Ryman Auditorium," "The Architecture of [Nashville 's] Union Station," and "Tennessee's Covered Bridges—Past and Present." These places have been of considerable significance and widespread public interest, thus justifying their inclusion. The nineteen articles appear in alphabetical order and are generally well researched and well written. Most of them will be of interest to the student of the Civil War and the Middle Period in American history , as well as those who are especially interested in Tennessee history. Directly concerning the Civil War are articles about Fort Donelson, Stone's River National Military Park, and the Sam Davis Home. Anyone interested in the Middle Period will want to read such articles as "The Tennessee State Capitol," "David Crockett and His Memorials in Tennessee ," "The Hermitage Church," "Travellers' Rest: Home of Judge John Overton," and "Tulip Grove: Neighbor to the Hermitage." Persons interested in later Tennessee history will be pleased with articles about "The Parthenon and the Tennessee Centennial," "Tennessee's Rugby Colony," and "The Fontaine House of the James Lee Memorial." More Landmarks, with its coverage of more historic sites, extensive illustrations including three beautiful color photographs, three pages identifying the contributors of the articles, an index, and a reasonable price, is a fitting volume to accompany the earlier Landmarks. James L. McDonough David Lipscomb College Ohio Canal Era: A Case Study of Government and the Economy, 18201861 . By Harry N. Scheiber. (Athens: University of Ohio Press, 1969. Pp. xviii, 430. 10.00.) Scheiber's Ohio Canal Era is an ambitious study that displays the author 's able craftmanship in several disciplines of the social sciences. The division of the book into three parts will be useful to scholars who wish to concentrate on their own field of interest, but those who read the complete book will surely be rewarded for their efforts. Part I will be of most interest to political and business historians. Here Scheiber discusses the forces which led to state enterprise, how a canal policy was formulated, and most interestingly, how the state implemented the finance, construction and administration of its canals. It is rich in description, not just of how things were done, but also of the contemporary political philosophies and attitudes of early Ohioans regarding public vs. private enterprise. The eventual loss of prestige by the canal board and the ultimate book reviews361 change in enthusiasm by Ohioans from public to private enterprise in transportation after 1840 was due to administrative and engineering failures, according to Scheiber. He argues that the post-1840 board was too decentralized in contrast to the centralized and successful early commission (1825-1836). The correlation between voter enthusiasm and administrative success seems dubious, however. Much of the loss of prestige was due to financial failures, which was not a result of the incompetence of the post-1840 canal board. This lack of revenue merely reflected that investments had been made which were not realizing a sufficient return—a fault more the responsibility of the earlier commission than the later canal board. Moreover, the remarkable ability of the board to market bonds during greatly depressed international monetary conditions after 1840 is a sensational success story. In general, the pioneering -hero-type portrayal of the members of the early commission is curiously different from Scheiber's typical historiography. Part II, on economic change, 1820-1851, and Part III, on the impact of the railroad before 1861, will be of particular interest to demographers , economic historians and transportation economists. Scheiber skillfully shows in quantitative terms the impact of the canal (and then the railroads) on resource allocation and patterns of economic activity, urbanization, commodity flows and population growth. Much of this material appears for the first time (from primary sources) and greatly raises the possibility of applying testable economic hypotheses and theory to early Ohio, the lack of which is...