The record-union., 1898-12-01

rate per ton in 1897 that they did in
| 1885. the railways would have in
creased their profits by more than
| $26S, 100000 This enormous reduction
In the charge of carrying freight was
made possible by the, great increase In
| the average freight train load Not
withstanding the fact that the railways
received on the average only three
fourths the money for carrying a ton
mile in 1897 that they did in 1885,
the average earnings per mile run by
/ freight trains We're actually greater in
1897. &s
| We are aware that the past is not
a sure guide to future It is certain
/ that SO rapid reduction in freight
rates as has gone on for the past thirty
years cannot take place in the future
On the other hand, there is no reason
| to believe that final limit has been
| reached in the cost of transporting
bulk freights by rail. Steel cars, and
still more powerful locomotives. econo-
mics in the methods of loading and un-
| loading cars, and better terminal facilf-
| ties are some of the means by which
further savings viii certainly be made
We do not look for any considerable
reduction in the rates on high-class
merchandise and less than carload
| shipments. On traffic of this sort the
railways are now charging probably
/ less than the total cost of transporta-
ton. De do believe, however. that
in the handling of bulk freights in
great quantities on through shipments,
by the use of special rolling stock and,
perhaps, Of specially built lines of rail-
way, opportunities exist for the move
ment of freights by rail at a cost much
/ lower than has yet been deemed pos
sible. Remembering that it is in the
coarsest and cheapest class of bulk
freights alone that the canal is claim
ed to be able to compete at all with the
railway, it is easy to see that in. the
near future the oid-time barge canal
which is already at the limit of its
usefulness. will be left far behind in the
| competition.
/ In the light of the plain and we'll
known facts, which are above enumer-
ated, what would be thought Of a COM
pany which should propose at the pres
lent day to build one of the old-time
barge canals as business venture? !?
It's promoters would be deemed fit can
didateS for a lunatic asylum. They
would be told by financiers that the day
OF canals is past. That they might as
we'll try to exploit anew the cable sys-
tenn for street railway traction, just
when the last of the cable machinery Is
going to the scrap heap. to be re-
placed by electric traction, as to pro-
pose the building of new barge canal
We do not know of any private COM
pany which proposes at the present day
TO build barge canal; but we do know
that the United States Government is
tnow actually engaged in constructing
such a canal between the Illinois and
the Mississippi Rivers, in calm disre-
gard of the fact that the day of use
fulness for such a waterway has passed
Upon this piece of monumental folly the
Government has already expended
about $2OOG,0OO and If 1t carries the
work to completion about $S,000,000
to $10OOO,0C0 additional will be thrown
away.
| 1t may be of interest td trace the his
tory of this work. During the '70's
large amount of agitation was carried
on in the States of Iowa, Illinois, Wis
consin and Minnesota to induce the
General, Government to undertake the
building of canal from the Mississippi
River at or near Rock Island, ILL.,, east
ward to the Illinois River where the ex-
isting Illinois and Michigan Central Ca
nal would continue the waterway to
Chicago. Various Boards of Trade and
lother commercial organizations, both in
the West and in the East, adopted res
olutions favoring the project; and fin
ally in the early SOS, Congress made
small appropriation for survey Of
the route. In the report of the Chief
of Engineers for 1883 we find record
of the survey, together with state
ment Of the commercial advantages
which the new route was to offer. The
tchief argument for the canal was that
lit would in effect extend the advantages
! of the cheap freight rates to and from
| the East, which Chicago enjoyed to the
whole territory covered by the upper
Mississippi. A large part of the argu
ment for the canal was based on the
fidea not that the canal itself would car
lry the traffic, but that it's competition
would compel the railways to reduce
the rates on the traffic which they car
RED. AS evidence Of the need of re-
duction in the railway freight rates, a
| table was given Of the average freight
rates per ton-mile on several Of the
| leading railways running west from
Chicago. We present these figures here
and have added to them the correspond
ling figures for the same companies for
the year 1897, as follows:
| Average freight
rate per ton
mile, cts.
Illinois Central. Al 0.67