Grand Rapids herald., 1893-04-30
REPLY TO Mr.. WHITE.
Charles r. Sigh Defends the
River improvement Plan.
stHfFlls OF WATER TRAFFIC
Ase oAoUn - . Psocetral AAnaes--
bdsss 1sesslstsss yroa Fosr Hears-
OsuAy g sAe ataunstDa.



EpIros GRASp RArirS HEKsIp-- T.
Stewart white. IN three articles in I'sk
haxALn. attacked the position of the
hoard q tsnds river committee on the
river improvement. and asked seine
! questions which the committee enieav-
ored to answer in IN article given 60 the
press April n This does not satisfy
him, and he returns Ia the attack in an
article IN The Democrat of lxst Friday
lie rather begs the question by in
sinusting that the committee is re~yon.
I sible Tor IN editorial article appearing
in THs HERALD recently. The commit
tee 10 responsible only for what has ap-
pesred or will appear over its own zig
nature. We tTesied Mr.. Whites and
other citissns' questions with the utmost
courtesy and will continue to 10 -.
The business and professional n,en
comprising this committee have con
sidered carefully every phase Of this
question. and have rcccmmendcd this
improvement, knowing ito consumma-
tion will confer vast benefits on this city
and western Michigan. We invite q
full. fair and respectful discussion of the
subject through the prcss or otherwise.
We have made nO statement and will
make mono We cannot fully substantiatc.
Let us go il Mr.. White can substantiate
all he has said against tho improvement.
Proposed width or Channel.
In his second and third article he as
serts that Colonel Ludlow's report calls
for = ffty foot channel There, is no
reference In any Of Colonel Lud-
lows reports 10 . fifty foot chan
mel: but. on the contrary, ne
recommended q channel 10 10
ldO feet vide. and his estimate u cost 10
based on this sise; and this, il must Be
borne in mind. is only where il IL ns~,es-
sary TO cut through bars. In many
parts Of the river the width would be
much greater.
In the second place. he asserts that
mo coal carrier on the lake can come up
. ten. or even twelve foot channel"
Saginaw received In 1892 26llO tons Of
coal on nine and one half feet Of water,
at . cost Of - cents . ton. and could
have received IN unlimited quantity IL
there had been Q demand for il. Sagi.
nav u twenty three miles from tho
mouth of tho river.
Mr.. White assssts that the 'ssheue."
i. e.. improvement of the river, 10 with
out merit" but he dces not Offer any
evidence 10 substantiate this assertion.
Colonel Ludlow. who 10 one Of the most
thorough and competent engineer in
the United States service haa after IN
exhaustive investigation, reported that
tho project has merit; that the improve
ment 10 practicable. and ought 10 be
made. Gen. q. N. Poe, United States
division engineer. who has charge Of the
very most important district in
the United States (the 500
canaD has. after personal
inspection Of the river. indorsed Colonel
Ludlow's recommendation. The United
States board II engineers, comprised Of
five OF the most eminent officers in the
United Ststes service sitting in New
York. have. after thoroughly investi.
eating the surveys Of the river. reported
that il is worthy Of improvement" The
board OF trade committee has been
largely influenced in its action by the
above reports. although they do not
SEEM to have had much weight with Mr..
White. Citizens must judge. eacn for
himself. which opinion 10 the most re-
fessional engineer officers above men.
to projects Of this kind.
Th~se ship by River.
Mr.. White asserts "a through line Of
seaworthy boats cannot navigate ten
foot channel and afford lower rates. II
they could. would the furniture manu-
facturers contract To ship their product
by watcr!" This il sufficiently answered
by the fact that boats are navigating tho
Saginaw river on nine and one half feet
Of water. and the Mabel Bradshaw has
run for Q couple of years between Hol-
land and Chicago or nine feet Of water.
in both instances carrying freight at
greatly reduced rates. rs
The second part of his question is an
swered by the Pact that last year the fol
lowing firms shipped largely TO Chicago
and Milwaukee BY the steamers Valley
City and barrett, and this otwithstsnd.
ing trsnsfers hah 70 b. made at Grand
Haven.
Nelson. Mates, h Co. William A. Ber.
key Furniture company. Grand Rspids
School Furniture company. Grand Rap
ids Furniture company. Ph9ni1 Furni.
ture company. kcut Furniture company,
Oriel Cabinet company. Grand Rapids
Chair company. Bisscil Carpet Sweeper
company. B-rkey 4 Gay Furniture com.
pany. Wddicomb Furniture company,
Folding Chair 4 Table company, STOW
&Dsvi.. Gum Folding Bed company.
New England Furniture company
Stickley Broe. company. Grand Rap
ids Refrigerator company. Sigh
Furniture company. and others. Re
sides this. every furnifur. mara.
facturer In this city is shipping
goods today "a Chicago and Milwaukee
by rail 90 Mu.keeon and thence hy
boat. and thi. h~cause : and g cents PER
hundred pounds can 10 saved by % do
ing Do you suppose they would neglect
to avail Themselves of . through water
route when not le<s than II cents per
hundred pounds could 10 ssveds Mr.
White also states his belief that com.
re,ing lines n railroads will SECURE bot
ter result. than deep water lie evi
IDENTIFY forxefe the fact that the actual
cost ~ railroad Transportation i- SIT
times the cc-t ~ water trsnsprrts.ion.
and 70 10 simply among tho imr--sihili
ties for railroads to meet the rates y.
sh,eh ve->els can prchtahiy carry
freight.
The R.srvS ~ Cnsptwsooa
He also state. HE belief that Q ma
ior,ty - tho husri - trade arc opya~ed
tc the proirrt Wha, r-s~en. haa he
for making such q reckless statement
Thi. suhisr, has h~en before the l,rsri
L. N-.s