The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-08-30
PAUL, MIMI. WEDNESDAY AUGUST go 1898
Seeking Relief.

Seeking Relief.
Secretary Samuel w. Thompson of
the Duluth Chamber of Commerce
talked to the water commerce con-
gress, at the Worlds Fair, yesterday.
He took for his theme "The Econo-
mic Value Of Ship Canal from the
Great Lakes to the Seas" Secre-
tary ThOmpson's ideas briefly sum-
married. are as follows:
The extOrtion practiced by the
railroads will bring about the rene
dy in the building of ship canals.
The cost of moving freight by rail
has been reduced from .236 cents in
1882 to 9.27 mills in 1890, decrease
of 25 per cent, which increased in 1892
to 9.67 mills, while the average cost
per ton per mile for moving the
freight passing through the 500 Ca
nal last year was 1.31 mills. The
ocean steamer Manola in 1891 moved
freight for an average of .46 of a mill
per ton per mile. The cost of move
ing freight on the canals of Belgium
by steam towage is from .46 of mill
to 1.5 mills. The average earnings
of the steamers on the great lakes is
rs OF mill per ton per mile. Coal
costs 80 cents a ton from Buffalo to
Duluth, equal to rs of a mill per ton
per mile. The cost of running
steamer of 2,7OO tons is Is of mill
per mile and the coal consumption is
one ounce of coal per ton per mile.
BY the system of towing on the lakes
a single steambarge and it's consorts
now move 10000 tons of freight in a
single tow. In five years more I ex-
pect to see $4,000 tons moved in one
tow. The time will come when the
towing will be operated as a railroad
is now operated. Steambarges will
be notified by wire that a loaded
barge is waiting at this port and an
empty is wanted at that one. A
twenty-foot canal to the seaboard
will bring about the construction of
steamers of 5000 and 5000 tons and
will cut the peSent cost of moving
freight in two parts. The average
speed OF the new steamers is 1914
miles an hour. Freight trains move
at about that rate when under way,
but stops were so frequent that the
actual net rate of progress was eight
miles an hour, so that there was an
actual increase of speed in freight
delivered by water.
From the best information at
hand | favor a route by canal
around Niagara Falls, down Lake On
tario to Oswego, up Oswego River to
Oneida Lake, thence to and down
the Mohawk and Hudson to New
York. This route would be one mile
shorter that the Erie Canal, would
not cross single waterway, would
be quick route owing to most of
the distance being in deep water,
and according to the best obtainable
estimates would cost about $780,
600, 900. A tax of one-tenth of mill
on the property in the commercial
territory directly tributary to the
great lakes would pay for the canal
in ten years.
We are great people and we will
not remain forever imbedded in the
mud of wretchedness in which we
are now struggling. Secretary
Thompson is an able man, and his
ideas are good. Then there is pro-
ject for the different western states
to unite in building a railroad from
Duluth to the Gulf of Mexico. If
the people of the Mississippi Valley
States would stand by the populists,
at the ballot box, we would soon con-
troll the machinery of government,
and give the people efficient relief;
but as long as they follow the two
old parties, or, strictly speaking,
the one-old-party, the demo-repub-
combination, SO long will they suffer,
utterly powerless to defend them
selves. We are not enemies of the
railroads; but we perceive that while
the price CT all productions, and of
labor itself, has shrunk about one
half, during the last few years, there
has been no substantial decrease in
the charges for railroad transporta-
tion. "Where combination is pos
sible competition is impossible. ="
We want to make combination i'm
possible by peOple-Owned railway
from Duluth to the Gulf. We are
now simply tributary provinces of
the Atlantic coast states, which in
suit us while they plunder us. Let
us have access to the ocean at both
ends-at the Gulf and the St. Law
renee river. 1t will be a declaration
of independence for us.
Let us all move together. I. D.
The Horrible Pressure.
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