St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-31
AN EMPHATIC PROTEST.
Against CHANGING Stea mbOat Inspec-
tiOn District boundaries.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 80. Hon. Platt B.
Walker has drawn up memorial and Sc
cured the signatures of all the Minnesota
delegation, state officers visiting here and
other interested parties. 1t will be sub
mtted to Capt. Hayes on Monday when
the board of inspectors investigate the mat
ter The following is copy of the memo
rial:
To Capt. George Hayes, supervising in
spector of steam vessels. Fifth district: The
undersigned citizens of the state of Mime
sofa, having learned with surprise and regret
that commercial bodies of Chicago have pre-
sented to the national board of supervising
inspectors memorials, briefs and arguments,
asking that districts be so changed that the
vast system of waterways of the Northwest
comprising the Fifth district be added TO the
south shore of Lake Superior and west shore
of Michigan, and the supervisors Office re-
moved from st. Paul to Chicago, we desire
to submit 70 you and the board our most earn
est protest against the proposed changes. We
would state that it would be matter of great
injustice to the Northwest.
THE FIFTH DISTRICT
now comprises the Mississippi above Keol1uk,
more than half its navigable length, the st.
Croix, Chippewa, Wisconsin, Red River of the
North. Missouri above Sioux City, Traverse
and Yellowstone, giving far greater aggregate
miles of navigable waters than is comprised
by any other district. These great rivers
penetrate the great producing heart of the
continent, whose aggregate freight tonnage
amounts to more than all the foreign and do
mestic commerce of the balance of the
United States. producing nearly 1,S00,000000
bushels of grain, a large part of the meat
supply of the country, and an annual ag-
gregate in value of nearly S3,0OO,0O0.O00.
While the principal means of transportation
for this tonnage is now by rail it must in the
moved
kets of the world by these
waterways The government has within
the last eight years entered upon the work of
improving these waterways, making them
great competing arteries of commerce and
regulators of freight rates. While the num-
Der of steam vessels now employed on these
rivers may be less than on the lakes, the pros
pective developments are such that, instead
of taking from them any safeguards, ii is the
duty of your board to increase them. While
the interests of the rivers and lakes are not
hostile, they are not by any means identical.
If the
RAILROADS OF THE NORTHWEST
are to control freight out of it, there should
be new districts created of the lakes in order
TO increase the safety of its steamers but
present and prospective commerce on the
4,500 miles of navigable waterways of the
Fifth district demand at your hands
that it be preserved as scpa-
rate district. We therefore protest
against the addition of enormous lake fronts
to the Fifth district Life and property are
now safe on Western steamers, but may not
be if the district is so enlarged that the
supervisors of vessels operating on the upper
Missouri, Red and upper Mississippi waters
reside in the distant city of Chicago, nearly
1000 miles from the upper end of the district
There is so little similarity of construction
between lake vessels and ocean and high.
draft, high-pressure river boats, and the
safety appliances necessary on the two
classes. that we express our doubts whether
one man can be found to be the best quail
fed to discharge the duties of Inspector fol-
both classes of vessels. For these and other
reasons we do most vigorously protest agains
the proposed change.