The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1877-11-20
THE COST OF CARRYING GRAIN
LpOM IAIRn 10 NEW DRI EANS

THE COST OF CARRYING GRAIN
FROM CAIRO TO NEW ORLEANS.
New Orleans Times, 10TH rhcre is a
vast amount of loose talk about lie grain
trade and cheap transportation. People
smile and turn up their noses at the en-
thusiasts on the subjects, and indulge in
careless assertions as ii they were in full
possession Of all the facts and therefore in
a situation to talk intelligently about the
matter. The truth is, there is undue ex
aggeration on one side of the controv.
ersy and absurd depreciation on the other.
On on both sides there are oceans ofbosh.
Every ignorant scribbler in the land
has to have his say on the important top
ic, but most of them are too lazy TO pull
of their coats and knuckle down to the
hard work of fishing up the solid facts
that the public wants. One rugged
sledge,hammer fact is worth column of
fine writing. 1t is a genuine eontrlbu>
ton to the discussion, and helps those
who are thinking out the problem one
step further along. is for facts that the
Times searches.
THREE CENTS PoR GRAIN.
The other day Capt. Eads, in a chat
with a Times reporter, boldly asserted
that grain could be carried from Caro- to
Orleans for three cents bushel at a profit,
the proper vessels were built for the
purpose and all hiadrances to navigation
were removed. Some of our friends
laughed at tins suggestion.
The Times has all along been contend
ing that IL can now be brought from ST..
Louis to New Orleans, under present
conditions, at five cents, and leave a suf.
fcient profit to the carrier. This has
also been ridiculed. Calculations in the
commercial columns of this paper have
shown that the net cost from st. Louis
here Is three and three-tenths cents per
bushel. This would give the carrier q
profit OF one and seven.tenths cents
per bushel, which is a splendid yield Tor
the investment. But interested folks and
| ignOramuses ridicule these facts aud fig,
ures.
| THE SOLID FACTS.
There is nothing like experience. So,
Der men revere ii. The best way to know
certainly what can be done is to ascer'
tain what has been done. Delving alter
stub and twisted facts that bear in this
direction, Times reporter incidentally
ran across MIR. Robert Watson, the wei
known coal dealer, who has for year
been shipping numberless barge loads o
coal from Plttsburg to this city.
Tho distance between these two point
10 estimates in round figures ut tw
thousand miles. That is what the rive
men call it. 1t cost all last season fou
cents bushel to bring coal this distance
Twenty-Five bushels, or ten barrels
make a ton. This would be 81 ton, o
one.halt of one mill per ton per mile
Contrast this stunning fact with tho state
ment Of the railroad managers that rail
roads cannot pay II they carry freight fo
less than one cent per ton per mile, an
We have the indubitable but dazzling fac
that the river does and can carry freigt
for one-twentieth of railroad rates!
: Keep these facts before the people il
italics. Repeat them over and over, an
the Oftener they are repeated the NOR
|, good they will do. They must be con
SANITY rulrg into the ears of the people {
the Mississippi valley until we get wha
destiny marks tor our own.
SOUTH BARGE LINE-CoME DOWN?
10 return to three cents busllcl, it
proper to observe that the barge line is
public institution which is attracting tn
tenderest s0licitude OF this whole commu
inty. Its tendency to kill the graf
trade In its infancy by charging nine an
ten cents q bushel from st. Louis, make
, 1t necessary to pour broadside of soil
facts into its iron-clad monopoly.
The Times won't cOnnive at my MOI
sense. Will the barge line people stan
up and tell twenty millions OF PERSONAL
, interested people why bushel of graf
should pay nine cents tor twelve hundre
eyer one third heavier, only pays at mos
four cents for two thousand miles =?
Let there DO no cheating OK evasio
= about the reply to this.
, THE COST OF BARGE5.
/, The only conceivable excuse for an ~
swcr Is that II takes more costly barge
: tor grain than for coal. This answer
!, not sufficient. An elaborate calculatlo
| of the amount OF this difference would b
required to show how much Ii Ia. But
is evidently met by the difference in II
weight OF coal over grain. In the uppt
rivers weight 10 Of more importance tina
tspace. Twenty-Five bushels of CO.
weigh as much and put a barge down ;
much as thirty three bushels OF grain.
i This Is one reason why coal barges al
:. so shallow. II they could carry as niue
y In bulk as grain barge, coal would CON
" down here still cheaper than 1t does. II
: deed, the probabilities are that the dlfiel
II ence In the cost OF tko bar. |,
. in the long run IL In favor OF the grail
instead OF the coal barges. Some of III
+ coal barges are built cheaply and neyt
II used but once.
But this makes them costly. Othel
\ are built strongly and are towed back
~ Pittsburg several times. 1t Is Certai
r that coal barge will wear out quickt
q than grain barge of equal size ant
,. strength. Coal Is clearly a more cost
article to transport than grain, althoug
: the barges used for the latter must hay
Q a cheap house over them. The fact re
Q mains with its telling point that it pay
TO build strong barges good enough iC
. grain with the addition OF h0use--an
!, to wear them out towing back empty an
!. bringing coal down for four cents
bnshel.
tits also q still more important tact o
= the same subject that coal has bee
brought down here from Pittsburg 70