Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1873-05-17
The Great Problem Of Cheap Transport

most engages tho mind OF inc age
and which will be tho most prom
inent one before the convention tol
meet hero next Tuesday, is the]
problem of cheap transport. 81
lently but rapidly the necessities
of our intcr-continontal trade and
commerce have risen above all the
present possibilities ofsupply, lcav'
ing the bursting granarios of the
West to rot, and the food and
breadstufs OF the East to approach
tho starvation point of scarcity,
Tho attempt to solvo this para
mount problem by the agrarian'
violence which would seize the
great trunk railways and force
them to transport merchandise at
figures arbitrarily fixed by inter
estod judges and assessors, is, to
say the least, a desperate expcdi-
ent, which cuts the gordian knot,
rather than patiently unite it. How
far the people, acting legally
through Legislative and judicial
channels, can abato the present
monopolist tariffs of these monster
corporations is another question,
and one which will amply repay
calm and statcsmanlikc reflection
and discussion.
1t may be well, however, to go
into the convention with definite
information as to the various en-
gineering schemes for providing
cheap transportation, and we no,
tico among these the much. talked
Of project Of cheap railways, trunk
freight railways, etc. 1t has been
torcibly remarked by Herbert Spon
Ger, the great sociologist, that, in
reforming bad systems, mon almost
always recur to others Of the same
nature, involving similar defects
TO those which they aim TO correct
The remark will apply 30 the new
plan of correcting tho defects OF
railway transportation, by new
railways, which, in the very nature
OF the case, can never meet the
conditions of the great cheap trans
portation problem. We hear in
some quarters rhapsodical advocacy
of Gouble-traclk freight railways,
with trains moving each way at in
torvals of fifteen or thirty minutes,
andliatithc low speed of ten miles
an hour. Suppose we had ono or
two such lines in running order.
1t is very doubtful whether they
would suffice for the wants of the
country, and very certain that the
tariffs would still be necessarily
high.
With halfhourly trains, moving
at speed of ten miles an hour, at
intervals of five miles, q distin-
guished engineer calculates itwould
DO necessary to keep on hand in
perfect repair, and use, for every
one hundred miles Of the route (say
from st. Louis to New York;, l $3.50
freight cars and cabooses, 240 fire
men and brakemen, ~ locomotives,
so enginemen and 80 conductors.
This estimate, remember, covers
only 100 miles of such double
track freight line; and if we had
an airline from st. Louis to New
York nearly thousand miles
we should have TO multiply each OF
these items by ten. This takes no
account of the original expense OF
construction, or Of machine-shops,
stations, engine-houses, car-houses,
etc. But all this outlay of material
provides for the transportation OF
only 7,012,sOO tons of freight ON
each line, which (taking the pres
cnt surplus produce Of the West
demanding transportion at 25,O00,-
600 tons) is too small u capacity
for the immediate necessities of the
country, and for the prospective
necessities is wholly unworthy OF
consideration.
Moreover, the results of long
continued experiment and records
show that the best Bessemer rails
do not outlive the service of giving
transportation to q gross weight of
95,0OO,O00 tons, and tho cheap
freight railway, destined to meet
the exigcncies of-our intcr-conti-
mental trade, would need renewal
every three or four years at farth-
est. The Hon. Josiah Quincy, OF
Boston, who advocates this mode
of relief from present railroad mo-
nopoly tariffs, has been driven to {
admit that his scheme would keep
constantly on his road $500 trains
each way, with a total Of 5000 en-
gincs and trains in constant en-
ploy. d
We turn from these gigantic I
dreams of impracticable men to the
simple and easy relief afforded by
The rivers and waterways of the .
Continent, which, as Pascal once so .
beautifully said, "are moving roads ,