The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-06-30
Seaports Of
the h
continued from Yesterday

has q great water rVuse
viii obtain the supremacy. This Is no
because the water route will secure al
the tonnage, but because the port has
two things assured for It, cheapness on
law grade tonnage freights, and more
than this, certainty Of rates. Certainty
~ rates is a leading cause Of CONNER
ciaI growth. No city left to the mereiea
Of one or two lines Of railway. VIII lone
invite capital against a competitor nav
mo a water route. on the water route
IN indefinite number Of competitors Is
nossibIe. each with small capital, when
ever rates become high Yet the
cheapness Of rates which q water route
compels is the ultimate cause of pros
nerity even TO the railways competing
10 the same port. This is being clearly
proved in all the great basins OF the
large rivers. The fact is very fully
brought out in the papers Of the re-
cent international congress on inland
navigation, in the reports of the United
states bureau Of statistics of internal
commerce, and by such writer's as
North, Ely and others. Some quota
lions will show this;
..The waterways and railroads, while
antagonistic and In competition with
each other, have been, on the whole
mutually helpful" THE sS42,522'2 So
worth Of freight raw MATERIAL carried
on the lakes in 1890 for 1.S mills per
ton mile, o. Oh per cent Of its values,
could not have been carried such dis
tances by rail-, and would not have been
produced; the railroad feeders for the
lake feeders must have had less busi-
ness, less manufactured freight, and
fewer passengers"
"Ninety per cent Of the sault Ste.
Marie tonnage was Of primary pro-
ducts; If required to go by rail, they
would have been prohibited, and the
ore could not have gone to meet the
return tonnage Of coal"
"The number Of river ports on the
Elbe entirely without junction with the
railway is very small, and those which
have none are quite Of secondary I'M
portance."
Neither Of the two modes Of devel
opment has prevented the development
Of the other. Transient retrogresslons
take place in the traffic by waterway,
undoubtedly partly colncident with the
opening Of new railways. Each i'm
provement introduced in the modes OF
transport favors the ensemble of the
economical prosperity and creates new
objects intended for transport"
"No proof is found anywhere that
railway competition has entailed a last
ing decrease In water traffic. II is still
less seen that river navigation has ex-
a %prejudiclal influence on rail-
road traffic. The railways serve numer-
GUS regions beyond the course of the
river, which the navigable ways can
never obtain"
ION the Rhine, coal forwardlngs had
increased In 1890 over those OF 1874 by
1884 per cent; the advance. in railway
forwardlngs was still more rapid. Traf-
nc on both ways has therefore Develop
I'd parallelly,"
Railways alone do not succeed In
satisfying the needs OF the commercial
activity Of the Rhine region. There is
less reason to doubt that the fuvial
way alone Is sufficient, The most ac,lvc
announcement of nuvlal traffic would
not stop the development of railway
rattle. The cooperation OF both ways
md their reciprocal assistance, instead
hostile competition, seems to rep
resent the exact principle for the policy
" the transport service"
Undoubtedly the river feeders, by in
'reasing the development of any region,
Increase the high brade tonnage and
he business OF the railways. The local
onnage developed In any region by
heap raw materials, gives the railways
source OF income.''
The fact that the railways can branch
n all directions and reach not merely
'carer the producers, but actually to
hem, transfers the advantage at once
rom Q city on a river that Is merely
inland, nearer the producer, to the
ALWAYS that branch out indefinitely,
nd reach the producers In innumera-
lie places and almost at their doors.
'hrs the railways transfer to Incl
port the advantages OF contact
iith the producer which the river y
outes and inland ports on rivers mere h
, reach after and get only partially. t
ne power Of the railways to sabdiyIde q
'nnage and afcilities. furnish sid- v
TO individuals and small commu-
tiles and generally to save expensive a
saming both "a the producers and II
the port, make any head of nayl- c
Auon advantage a crude and obsolete h
OF the past. In England such 2
costs from 50 to So cents per i
N Or fraction thereof per mile or frac- Il
on thereof. In America. the cost ls q
9 20 cents for the same. In the I,
aoinc Northwest It Is from 40 TO so n
nus according to the class OF goods a.
New York Central road. followlns
9 Hudson River for 40 miles. and Il
l'h 4 remarkable lack Of lateral feed. Ii
; from any back country inaccessible h
boats Is 50 overcrowded with bust. D
- 'hat i Is constantly increasing K,
local Yards and sidings. and extend
: its third and foursa tracks. The Ii
lnols Central road competes success. II