Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-12-10
WATER TRANSPORTATION,


The South should give attention 80 It's
water routes, aud lot the railway interest
take onro of itsplG which II will do be-.
You'd doubt Tie utilization Of our
streams and The supplcmening OF them
with canals. viii mot hurt hut will help
railway tmnc q ls Notorious that
while tho water route brtwpen Chicago
und New YORK has eat ratios Of freight
] down in Che lowest figure inr such lis
| TANGO, known iu lhu world the railroads
connecting The great inland aud splhQnd
citius, have mot only expanded lhrlr htiH'
invss under this condition, hut have made
more uuury lhhu ever. The water route
| that parallels railroads increases thc pu-
/ uluymont ut llo latter hy Increasing the
activities of trade aud manufacture, IL
does thie by making possible the delivery.
ut low cost ni one, zeal aud timber ne
| great ccutuu Of population who're hey
/ can be best worked ip u the carriage
uf these heavy materials. that arc ot low
| value fcll entirely On The railroads ihc
| industries Of The country would be greatly
runiilod ghr N,ln0OOn tons Of iron ORE
produced IN The Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota dislrcta cnnld not he delivered
at Chugn, Cleveland and Piitahurg by
an an rail- route at cnst 10 Justify N,
! manufacture In competition with other
rOn-nhldng districts. Tho water fOuiu
| has made that enormous development
possible The railroads don't need that
| traffic THEY Hro not adapted 10 W. hut
| the wealth liz development hrngH makes
business Tor the roads. 1hc improvement
of the river Main, from Maynnro 70
| Frankfort, twice doubled The water tons
mage aud added 81 per cent ~ che rMl-
way business hctwocn the same points ~
.lx wears On this point tho Now Or
lcaus 'nmoa-D Democrat well says
'"rhe truth nl the mnltcr 10 mat VIZ
| American fnilrnnd' in . desire ~ contfol
aii he trnilir. arc burdrnng themselves
MINI bulky freight which furnishes ihnm
! tltIr AZ amy nriit Coke, coal, Stone hhl
lam ono are frequently hauled OF d dead
| inas. The consequence n that mo npel-
| uting eaprnars of Ampreah rohlH arc
yory high 81 per cent Of rho earnings
low rates on bulky articles, which are
lrft m Germany To- he carried by water,
| compI the American roads ~ charge
much higher local freight rates, and not
only they hnt The public are injured
thereby.
"The rosi N moving freight by water
Is less than by rail, A horse eau draw.
pounds on good wagon rDnd 10000
pounds on rail track aud 10000 10
300. 900 pounds By wainr If2nHpOrlu-
lion by rail, therefore, 4 nine times
cheaper th1u by earl even over ~ good
road aud Transportation bV Wuior at
least four times cheaper than bg rail-
other things being equal The cDst Of
water transportation between Duluth aud
Buffalo IL .0lj cents por ton milo, ~
against seventeen cents by The pennsyl.
ynnin Central ullrond for q similar dis.
tnnre. a vessel pan carry four limos H.
weight, q car only ono mud half tines
'ln die matter NJ Tho cost mud mninto.
nance NJ equipment for moving freight
ilie waterway has Hn1iher decided hd.
vantage over The railroad, A ship cosls
about onc.hfib aa much a. d train Of
cars Of o1nal carrying capacity, whereas
the liie Of q slip " longer nul expenses
Of maintenance loss, a long canal barge
Of 50O IONS burden has three fines die
capacity Of an average train.
"Ilir cost Of moving % l0u Of freight
mile on ibe railroads Of tho United
states texeiualYn 81 iho cost Of mninie-
nance 0f way and hrucluresl was w
cents N 1890. Compare DIS with tho
average freight rate Of 1ii c0nta pcr
ton nile On The traffic carried on ffon
natural waterway Ike the great lakes
on d canal The cOst u naturally higher
yet even Thorn u less than ihc railroad
route, or about 2;i3 cents nile"
Our Southern aintcsmansbip has q great
field for the exploitation Of ia ability Ia
improving The magnificent system Of
natural water courses ilp South NJ
irayenod bJ.