San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-18
DEEP WATER NEEDS.

the Atlantic sea- board, or through
the mouth of the Mississippi river,
that any attempt to change the cur
rent of that commerce naturally
awakens suspicion, and may reason
ably be expected to meet with violent
opposition on the part Of those inter-
ested in maintaining the old channels
of communication. All the more
reason, therefore, that those who are
interested, not primarily in opening
new channels of trade, but in secur-
ing the cheapest possible outlet to the
ocean, should take due heed of the sit
uation and become fully alive to the
importance of opening such cheapest
routes to the seaboard, despite the in
terested efforts Of carrying corpora
tions in maintaining the long haul
and the higher tax on productions.
A few things are accepted as facts:
Water transportation is so much
cheaper than land transportation
that there is practically no COM
petition between them, save in
the case of such perishable goods as
make time in transportation an I'M
| portant factor. A distance of even
loo miles in the carrying of produce
| to market may make the difference
between profitable and improbable
cultivation and production, the add
ed expense of that 100 miles freight
ing operating as an embargo upon
both. Multiply this one hundred by
from four to ten ana you greatly add
to the chances of long freight hauls
acting as barrier to profitable en-
terprise. The producer who lives near
est the market has always this i'm
mense advantage over his more dis
tant neighbor, modified, per-
haps, by the difference of the cost
Of production in favor Of the more dis
tant producer. 1t is this distance
from market that handicaps the
great producing states west OF the
Mississippi river, and it Is the remov-
ing of this embargo by shortening the
haul to deep water which is the aim
and ultimate object of these deep
water conventions. This being the
case, every railway interested in the
long haul 20 the Atlantic sea.
board and the mouth of the MISSISSIPPI
pi river, is by every ruling of self in
terest an opponent of deep water on
the gulf coast of Texas. Shorten the
distance to deep water by from 100 to
1000 miles, and you add the freight
savings of this distance to the profits
of the producer, or at least very con-
siderable proportion Of it. The only
| question then remaining Is the volume
of products, grown and manufactured,
| seeking an outlet over these highways
of traffic. If they are sufficient mag
| nltude to make the saving between
long and shorter haul of any national
| Importance, then the need Of
| providing for that shorter haul Is dem
| onstrated. That is to say, IL the diff
| ference between the grepat reducing
states west of the Mississippi and deep
water is so much less to the gulf than
to the Atlantic sea-board, and if the
| volume of production is of sufficient
magnitude to amount to anything,
| then every consideration of personal
interest on the part of the great pro-
ducing sections west of the Mississippi
river should determine their efforts in
behalf of deep water on the gulf coast
of Texas, and the opening of inland
lines of communication from such
| deep water port or ports to the great
producing and commercial centers of
this west Mississippi region.
AS to the second, the volume of
production. The states and terrific
ries west of the Mississippi river pro-
! duce nearly one-half of all the corn,
a little over One-half of all the wheat
and considerably more than one half
of all the beef, pork and mutton. AS
the population west of the Mississippi
river is about one to three of the pop
ulation east of the river, it follows
that very large surplus of the pro-
ducts west of the river must find a
market east Of the river and in for
| eign ports. The corn and wheat sur
plus of the west is estimated for
the year 1888 at 20,250,000 tons
and the meat surplus at about
| 5,000,0 900 additional making a sur
| plus of at least 100000 to
be sent from the west to the east.
To transport this 2,000,000 cars would
be required, and difference of 100
miles in the haul would make diff
ference of 100000 miles in the dis
lance travelled by the trains in freight
ing this surplus, counting twenty cars
| to a train. This is certainly a dis
lance we'll worth considering, for the
cost of this 100000 miles of train
service is largely lost to the western
consumer.
AS to the actual difference and the
distance saved, it is in excess of 600
miles instead of 100 and the conse-
quent saving would be for 60, 900, 900
miles of train service instead of TO-
900, 900. A consideration of this ques-
| nf OF