Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-31

in the matter of transportation what it took
S26 to do on the best managed railway The
| president of a railway who was interested
| in steamships had said to him not long ago;
\ hallway Presidents Opinion.
"The Government engineers are at work
on 20-foot waterway through the lakes.
| We will accept and use a 20-foot waterway
when it is given us, hut when guaranteed
| Is feet of water we will run 6,000-ton YES
sells instead OF 5000 tons, and cut the rate
in two" II
Who was that man? James J. Hill,
| President of the Great Northern Railway
| The total expenditures on improvements of
| the great lakes had been less than $50, 000-
| 000 The saving due to lake transportation
| was $50, 100000 more than the cost OF I'M
/ provement All that had been accomplished
in the past bv giving 16 feet Of water would
not only be duplicated but enhanced ten
| fold by the expenditure of something over
s., ,ooo, 600 to secure depth OF 20 feet, He
| thought very little need be added to secure
the appropriation desired.
Canada had spent almost 100000, 900 on
her waterways Inside of five years there
| would be clear waterway of Ia feet
through Canadian soil, from the head of
Lake Superior to the Atlantic. When
Canada hai 14-foot waterway and the
United States only six feet through the
Erie Canal we could no more compare with
her than wheelbarrow with freight train.
The farmers of the West would have to
compete with men of their own race, on soil
as fertile and with climate no more rigor-
Gus, and they needed as good transportation
facilities. There was not enough sentiment
IN trade, good American as he was, TO send
wheat to Europe by American vessels at
% cents when Canadian vessels would carry
il for TO-
Senator Frve said we would be no worse
off now than when there were 100 or more
foreign vessels in our Pacific ports.
Tho Best Place to Begin.
Mr. Thompson responded that was true,
but If there was going to be a revival of
American shipping, the great lakes was
the place to begin. Its vessel interests
were large, and would be enormous if they
could get it to the ocean and engage in
voyages during the five winter months they
were now idle. Firms on the lake had un-
derbid the coast firms for the construction
of American war vessels, and the bids were
rejected, not because they Were not respon-
sIble bidders, but solely because of our
treaty with Great Britain. The Clyde |
would be nowhere in comparison with the |
great lakes in shipbuilding with access to
the ocean. The tonnage OF the Detroit river !
was now /, 100000 tons more than the Suez
Canal sud 3, coo, 900 more than the clearances |
of London and Liverpool
Returning to the effect of waterways on J
freight rates, Mr.. Thompson said the Lake |
Erie Canal controlled New York Central |
rates, which road rates the Pennsylvania, |
$50 miles south, had to meet. This road, in |
turn, controlled the Baltimore and Ohio !
rates, and thus to greater or less extent, |
rate na1.r 70 ha Et,lT |
the Erie Canal was opened the railroads put |
wheat rates from Chicago to New York |
down below cost of transportation to 81 |
cents q bushel, and compelled many canal |
boats to tie up. The day that winter con- |
ditions set in the railroad rate jumped to
~ cents
New York Taxpayers Protesting.
Ex-State Senator George 3. Sloan, of |
New York, addressed himself to the resolu-
ticn of the Waterways Convention, urging
an appropriation OF S1G0, 900 for comnlete
survey from the lakes to the seabnard. New
York, he said, az a cost of 81 900, 600 year
to its cities furnished free transportation
through the Erie Canal to Eastern States.
The people not along the line OF the canal
were complaining OF this taxation, epecially
as they had to meet the Western competi-
ton themselves. He was not in sympathy
VII ludi 4tSlllE, bub 1t hdS d Iildl |
within the last two years the necessary
State appropriations had been barely
squeezed through. We were in position
where improvements to the canal would be
needed, he said, snd ne told the committee
that New York could not be relied upon TO
make them.
General o. NJ. Poe, in charge of engineer
works on the Great Lakes, said that he had
estimated So 394, 600 as the cost OF 21-foot
channel throughout the lakes. The Hay
lake channel and St Clair flats improve
ments, which were now in progress, he re-
garded as simply SO much in the direction
of the entire project
To Mr.. Blanchard, General Poe stated
that 500, 600, or, perhaps, 5000, 600, would
be needed the first wear ii the committee
authorized contracts to be made on the work
OF improving the Great Lakes.
H. w. Seymour, of Sault Ste. Marie,
then briefly addressed the committee in
support of the improvement.