National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-02-06

population at "a marvellous rate. ONr prOduC-
tions in manufacturers, rs well rs agricultural
results, have overtoped tho bounds Of homo
consumption. TO an increase Of expectation
the nation must look for that demand which
Will give remuneratiye cmploymeut TO the
mechanical labor OF the COuptry and the az
rcuturist. Tho spirit Of the principles upon
which our government is founded requires
that Tecompenso for labor shall be- liberal. To
that ond n market for production must be, or
dema nd for labor fall short of the supply
and competition for daily bread reduce
wages below standard necessary to the
comfort and elevation of the masses. Under
over production expectation presents Itself rs
% remedy. To that end cheap and faclio
transportation is requisite. A glance Mt n
map of the United States shows how tlR
Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries fur
nish cheap routes for ths march 20 the sea
and foreign markets for our products, and, not
least facilitates for tho distribution of food at
low rates of freight to all sections, thereby
reducing cost of living. tHf
Competition has been the soul of the de-
velopment of our nation. IL has wrought
out methods, so that in largo number of
articles the cost of production has not only
cheapened the cost of living, but placed the
country in position TO gather profits from
the wants of other nations. In the carrying
trade, as in other utilities Of tho country,
competition is important. Multiplied rail
ways have tho element of competition within
themselves, but the day is not without Illus
tration how combinations maintain carrying
rates thereon. map Of tho United States
forcbly shows how our rivers, if made fully
available, would create an element Of COM
petition with railways in nearly all SECTIONS.
As family indicating the benotit of river
transportation versus railway carriage, few
statistics of wheat transportation for the
supply of limited section of our country aro
here Apostle. 1t has been estimated from
census ratios that in 1890 the inhabitants of
the sixteen Atlantic coast states will require
5000, $50 tons of wheat for food more than
they will produce. Census statistics shows
that the Ohio river states under their in
creasing populations will fail TO produce
enough wheat for their own wants Tho
supply, therefore, for the Atlantic ooast
will have to DO brought from
beyond the Mississippi. The carriage of that
bulk of wheat will cost for freight trans
ported from st. Louis, as central point, by
rail, $54,000,0O0; transported by river to tho
beadwaters of the Ohio, and the remaining
800 miles by rail- would cost but S27, ,0OO,OOO,
q saving in one year alone, on wheat carriage
only, of S27,00O,0O0, or enough to render the
Ohio navigable, with six feet of water, all the
year around. To that end, as you are well
aware, You have for twelve years given much
time, work, and expense.
u
tina Youghiogheny river, If slaclSwatered,
made in 1880 to the secretary of war, 1t ~
stated that there is annually shipped by rail
from the Connellsvilecoker region to points on
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers about 10000
600 bushels of coke, upon which the saving in
cost of freight, If transported by water in
stead of by rail, would be each year S2,O0O,-
900. If such hugo savings as these are TO be
made in the carriage of single articles, what
would they be be in the aggregate commerce
of the seven Ohio and eight mississippi
states, and where could the treasury surplus,
over which theorists are already advancing
plans for its distribution, be better placed
than in the improvement of our great water
highways? 1t would DO perhaps hazardous to
say that under railway improvements they
may not be able to carry cheaper than now,
and Obliged to do so under railway competi-
tions, but il is not hazardous to say that un-
der the power of combination interest in
railway corporations, and natural to private
capital, as high rates will always be secured,
as possible. 1t is not hazardous to say that II
improved methods of railway carriage be the
cheapening of freights by rail Us applied to
rail transportation, that water transportation
is equally susceptible of cheaper methods also
of carriage, and healthy competition be-
tween water and rail freight5 be maintained.
remark of the commissioner of the New
York canals, in one of his annual reports, ID
illustrative of this benefit and noteworthy.
1t is in substance that tho competition in
carrying rates for wheat between the canals
and railways so chcapened rates that IL was
possible to export wheat during % year whom,
from tho low price IN foreign markets, ii
would not have been possible TO do so with
out loss under normal railway charges, and
the country would have lost the benefits
arising in various ways from sales of wheat
in foreign markets.
atl nrfa IN
do not propose to occupy your time. What
/ have stated has been merely to place pin
here and there in tho survey of the work on
which you have labored so lon 6 to indicate
its nationality and Importance.
To the Ohio river, the immediate district
of this commission, j venture few para
graphs as indicating how its commercial
| Importance is increasing and prospcctively
augmonting
Within tho boundaries of the seven states
| the commission represents there are, as has
been stated in memorials to congress from
| this body, 100000 square miles of coal Tc
| that must now be added, as manufacturing
| factor we know not what fathomless reser-
voirs of natural gas, whose fuel force in man.
| ufacturing development is yet of unknown
| quantity. 1t Is, however, sufficiently indicated
| araady to show how largely il itmuststrengthen
| the manufacturing ability Of the seven Ohio
states throughout whose area it will pre-
sumably, from indications, be found. In op'
| position to this aggregation of manufacturing
force it is worthy of especial note that Great
| Britain's manufacturing power and conse-
quent wealth rose from but 1l,OOO square
miles of coal alone--but IL 100 of that to who's
| territory the Ohio river and its tributaries
| give transportation.
| Pre-eminently manufacturing nation, ii
| is certain that the mechanical population OF
| tho United States and the capital of the coun-
| try, desiring manufacturing investment, viii
| seek and occupy that section of the nat n
where facility for manufacturing and
| cheap distribution of products and reception
of material and food preponderates. There
! are sections of the union where TO some OK
| tent, fuel force exists There are Others
where water transportation facilities are
In no section, however, of tho country
exists in such union, manufacturing facilities
and receptive and distributive capabilities DN
| water carriage rs in the seven Ohio states
In 1850 there were but 36,277 factories in tht
area occupied by those states, producni
1884 100000 Of manufactured articles. II
1872 when this commission organized, TIN
valuation by the census Of 1870 OF tho pro
duet of the factories Of the seven Ohio rive
states was 81, ,IO5,9j5, $50. In other words, tn
manufacturing facilities of those states haC
attracted capitol, skill, and mechanical .popu
lation 80 largely as to have increased tn
manufacturing product of the section
nearly one and quarter billions q
dollars, not millions, but bplionf
BY tho census of 1850 we find there arc S9,7O
manufactures in tho states represented D.
this commission, producing at the prizes q
1879 within 10 per cent. of 1000, ,O0O,o0o
manufactured articles, with au invested sap
tai in factories of nearly $l,000,0OOQG
hardly admits of doubt that when tho spe
cial manufacturing resources Of these state