Daily globe., 1879-07-23

rail- rates per hundred pounds on grain from
Chicago being, to New York 4Oc, to Philadel-
phia 38c, and to Baltimore SIC. Philadelphia
and Baltimore are also able to furnish much
better facilities for handling grain coming
BY rail than New York City ION account of its
geographical position) can ever hope todo.
committee appointed by the senate Of the
United States had submitted to them paper
IN which an estimate was made of the rate at
which a projected railroad could be proftably
operated. The line was to extend from Council
Bluffs to New York, to have few curves, light
grades, with an immense and steady volume of
traffic. larger and more constant than any ex-
listing road conducting general transportation
business can depend upon. With every con-
ceivable advantage six mills per ton per mile wa
the lowest estimate at which the business could
be proftably carried on. We have seen that
with the present capacity of the Erie canal, and
with the existing tolls, produce can be profita-
bly, transported on it at less than four mills per
ton per mile. istA 5.
The same committee of the senate in con-
trasting the relative cost of carriage by water
and rail gave the following figures:
From the Ohio river to
Boston (via Balti-
Between ] Baltimore and 20 = 'aVos q water
NewYork (canal, riv-
er and bay to in favor of water
From Buffalo to Boston
(by steamship from
New York; ......... to 1 in favor cf water.
Between Parkersburg
and Cincinnati. -. ;. to 1 in favor Of water.
Erie railway and lake
propellers. ....... 5 to in favor of water
Central vt. Ry. and N.
Transportation Co.
propeller line) )..... to in favor of water.
These calculations were based upon contracts
existing at that time between railroad and
OF kI.A.
the railways transported the freight less dis
tance, they were paid larger proportion Of
the earnings, proving the cost of transporta-
tion by rail to have been in the proportions
greater than by water.
Other figures were given by the committee
showing the Immense advantages possessed by
water routes for cheapness of transportation.
The tolls on the Erie canal have already been
materially lowered, and the experiment. having
proved successful it is not probable that theY
will again be raised. Still this is not enough;
increased facilities for the movement of large
boats, small transfer charges, and lower tolls
or none at all are necessary if New York de-
sires to obtain the trad which has been divert,
ed to other cities under past mismanagement
Of the canal or even to retain that which it now
has. Not that all these changes need take
place at once, but it must in the end come to
q practically free canal accommodating large
boats, or the commerce will go elsewhere.
handling grain when it comes by boats, and it
is by neglecting that mode of obtaining sup
plies that the city has fallen SO far behind it's
rivals. New and improved terminal facilities
are now being provided there. but the geo
graphical difficulties to be overcome by city
are so great that produce arriving by. Xail can
never be handled as cheaply or quickly in New
York as in Baltimore or Philadelphia. i
Upon one occasion there left Buffalo for New
York in one day two hundred canal boats car
rying q little over l.500, GOO bushels. 10 trans
port this amount Of grain by rail would re-
5quire three thousand five hundred cars, each
car thirty feet in length, making total Of
1851 600 feet, or a train nearly twenty miles
long, 10 accommodate these cars three tracks
extending from the Battery to l52d street
would be necessary. and, if put upon the track
the train would extend in a straight line from
the Battery to point beyond Yonkers. The
mere statement Of these figures shows the im-
possibility of handling this amount of grain
cheaply and quickly on land in city of such
limited area. But no difficulty was experience
ed in disposing of the grain when it arrived by
water. The boats separated; each proceeded
to its appropriate dock and was there unloaded
principally by It's OwE crew. For handling
/ large number of railway cars, no city is so
unfortunately situated as New York !; for con-
venience in moving and distributing goods no
city in the United States has such advantages.
The shipment of ], ,50O,0 in one day was,
to be sure, an unusual cne; htill it took place,
and is likely to occur again as the country
grows. But we have seen that the grain alone
would more than cover any track room that
could probably be afforded in New York and
leave no place for cars containing other mer-
chandise moving Eastward or for empty cars
and loaded cars waiting to start Westward.
Terminal facilities might be provided on the
New Jersey shore, but, as far as the grain trade
ia Iva term kiur hat
side OF the river, with one exception, have the
interests of Philadeiphia and Baltimore more
at heart than those Of New York.
It seems clear that the proportion Of the
grain crop to which the metropolis Of the
United States is entitled cannot be properly
transferred when it arrives there by rail, but
that it can be disposed of in the easiest and
most speedy manner when it arrives by water.
When the grain comes by boat then can New
York utilize her immense advantage in the
possession of large ocean tonnage, and in being
an open port during the entire year; but she
| throws away that advantage when the grain ar
rives by rail and is transferred at great cost
and with m uch delay.
If New York has been tardy in recognizing
the vital Importance of transportation and OF
fostering its canals, Canada certainly is not
open to that reproach. Possessing already the
finest artificial waterways in the world, the
provinces have not rested content, but are now
1
these Improvements are completed the cities OF
the United States must look to their laurels.
Between Montreal and tide water in the st.
Lawrence the canals have already been enlarged
and deepened SO that ocean steamships Of $500
and 1900 tons burden, drawing twenty -foul
feet of water have passed through them; nor i.
| the work completed.
Between Montreal and Lake Erie the lock sill
are being lowered to depth of fourteen feet
These Improvements are to be finished in 1879
| or at the latest 1850. As soon as they are fin
ished a sea-going vessel drawing over twelve
| feet can take cargo of wheat from Duluth
and land it in Liverpool without breaking
bulk, without q transfer or elevator charge, o.
the loss in quantity consequent upon tranship
| ment. 1t is unnecessary to demonstrate tn,
reduction in freight which this will cause. We
have already shown how an increase in the siz,
of lake vessels decreases the cost per bushe
for transportation. This reduction would an
ply from Duluth, Chicago, Milwaukee or Toledo
to tide water in the st. Lawrence; and if tn,
vessel kept on the voyage to Europe ther
wonld be no charge for transfer. s8
The present tolls on the Welland canal are
fifteen cents met ton on grain, (say "A cen
| per bushel on wheat) Grain paying tolls OF
the Welland canal passes free through all othe
canals to Montreal grain that has not passed
through the Welland canal pays fifteen cent
per ton on the other canals.
The distance from Montreal to Liverpool
$50 miles less than from New York, and, by wa,
of Halifax, the metropolis of Canada is prac.
tically, and in many instances actually. az nea
South American ports as the Empire city. ]
has been contended that Montreal can neye
contain large amount of produce, at ocea,
tonnage would not be attracted to she cit
owing to small imports. The same argumen
aAo fo lal