Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-04-09
VALUE OF RIVERS
IS POINTED OUT
Maj. c. Med. Townsend Shows
Advantages of Waterway
Commerce.
AN ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN
- 49,
Ti-Cities Backward in Getting
Share of River and Harbor
Appropriations. 80 q
AN ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN

delivered an address before the DaV-
EXPORT Business Mems association
last evening. A feature of the paper
was defense of this years river and
harbor bill, while the showing of the
volume of Mississippi river commerce
and comparison of railroad and water
freight rates was quite remarkable.
Among other things Maj. Townsend
said:
fW While you are all aware of the
vast domain which is drained by the
Mississippi river and its tributaries,
and of The number of states that line
its banks, few of you are conversant
with the amount IF commerce that is
carried on its waters, and it's influ-
ence on the prosperity of this nation
''Iu fact, the prevailing opinion ap-
pears 10 he that, although the i'm
provement of our harbors and of the
navigation of the great lakes is CT
vital importance to the country, the
days of river navigation are being
rapidly NUN beTed, and that funds ex-
pended upon the Improvement of our
rivers is simply money thrown away.
The river and harbor appropriation
bill is becoming generally known as
the river and harbor steal whose
defeat is justified even by question
able methods of legislation.
In the annual reports of the chief
of engineers, u. s. army, is stated the
amount of commerce on the various
rivers and harbors whose improve
ment has been undertaken by the
general government. From the re-
ports for 1900 have obtained the
amounts reported for the Mississippi
river and its principal tributaries and
| added them together. The total ex-
ceeds 80 900. 00O TINS. In compari-
son with the S79, 000.0 tons carried
| annually by our railways, this may
appear q small amount, but it is to
be remembered that we are mighty
nation and especially great in our
means of transportation. If compari-
son be made with other civilized
countries we find that the Mississippi
river and its tributaries carry more
freight than any river system in the
world except two, which are situated
in our own land. i. e., the Hudson
river 0ncluding the great port of
New York; and the great lakes.
River Rates Lowest.
but not only does the Mississippi
river transport large amount of
! freight. but at rates for which the
great mass Of tonnage are extremely
low. Coal is shipped from Pittsburg
to New Orleans at four-tenths of II
mill per ton-mile; lumber from St.
Croix river to st Louis at six-tenths
of mill; wheat from st. Louis to
New Orleans at 4 cents per bushel
Cor about l Ito mills per ton-mile)
The cheapest railroad rate l have
been able to discover is that on coal
to the Atlantic se&board on the Ches-
apeake & Ohio railway mills per
ton-mile, while the average rate on all
the railroads of the United States is
$40 mills.
1.-The length of the Mississippi river
from St. Paul to New Orleans is about
300 miles; the mileage of the Santa
Fe system about 1000 miles. The
tons of freight carried on the 1,S00
miles of river is about . 400, 900, on
the 1000 miles of railway 9, 500 600.
the mile-tonnage of the river 6OO.-
900. 900; of the railroad 3 $50 900, 600.
The average freight rate on the river
is considerably under l mill per ton
mile; on the railroad 81 mills per
ton-mile.
Builds Up Cities.
Commerce, like the star of en-
pire, appears to prefer parallels of
latitude to lines of longitude, and the
Mississippi river crosses the natural
routes of commerce instead of flowing
parallel to them; but nevertheless l
am of the opinion that the citizens of
the tri-cities. as we'll as of the other
flourishing places between St. Paul
and st. Louis will resent the state
ment of the senator who talked the
river and harbor bill to death, that
the towns along the banks of the
Mississippi are going into decay On
the contrary, wherever a railroad
crosses the river there has been a
tendency for thriving city to de-
velop. Cheap transportation of crude
products on the river, with a means
of distribution into the interior, has
been prime factor in the develop
ment of your state, as is shown by
the growing towns of Davenport. Du
buque. Clinton, Muscatine. Burling-
ton. Fort Madison and Keokuk. which
have sprung up along its banks.
Planned Improvement.
The present project for the i'm
proyement of the Mississippi is to OBJ
tain a navigable channel of depth of
forr-and-a- half feet at the extreme
low water of 1864 between St. Paul
and the Des Moines rapids. and of six
feet from the Des Moines rapids TO the
mouth of the Missouri. AS the ex-
treme low water of 1864 has occurred
only at rare intervals. except when
the river was frozen over, and as the
ordinary low water is from one-and-
one-half feet to two feet above that