The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-24


cal year ending June 30:
Year River Rail
1881 ....................... SIS. 696 6631, s6C
1856 .........-.........1 II, s6l. 613 49, 95S. IA
1891 ....................25.7s l, 34s 2S.6es. %;
1892 .......................2s ,7S7.sSS SOs44,lot
no official record has been kept Of the
rail shipments since 1892. but a note from
the resident engineer states that they
have largely increased since that date.
The great cities Of the United States
are all situated on waterways, and the
greater cities are without exception on
the deep er waterways The New York
Central and its western connections. con
sidered as one system, is paralleled by q
waterway almost every mile Of the dis
lance from New York to Chicago; and
where else in the United States can be
| found such a succession of prosperous
towns and cities, almost within sight OF
one another all the way, as along the
railway system named?
Speaking of the German transportation
| system Consul General Mason. from whom
! quotation has already been made, says:
German craftsmanship was among
the first to foresee that the time would
come when, railways having reached
their maximum extension and efficiency,
there would remain a vast surplus of
/ course, raw materials-coal, ores, timber.
stone and crude metals-which would be
economically carried long distances only
| by water transportation, and that in a
| fully developed national system the prop
er role of railroads would be 10 carry
passengers, and the higher classes of
merchandise manufactured from the raw
staples which the waterways had brought
70 their doors.
"A study Of the statistics Of the st.
Mary's FAN Canal shows that fully nine
tenths of all the traffic to and from
Lake Superior consists of raw materials,
and the figures for the other waterways
show practically the same result.
The truth is that there are three
agencies Of transporta ton, each Of which
has a fundamentally different function to
perform in the commerce of the world
all Of which are as essential as are the
three sides of triangle, and none OF
which can reach It's highest possible ef1-
cheney unless accompanied by symmet-
rical development of the other two. This
trinity of transportation agencies is made
up OF the wagonway, the railway, and
the waterway
The wagonway is essentially local, the
railway continental and the waterway
world wide. in its sphere of action, while
the distinguished characteristic Of the
wagon-way may be called availability, as
speed is undoubtedly the distinguishing
characteristic of the railway and econo-
my Of waterway. And in the last analysis
these three Will be found to be not COM
petitors. but complements-not antago-
nists. but auxiliaries.
when traffic is carried by an expen-
sive method when an economical method
is available. it results in a loss not only
to the community, but to the agency
doing the carrying, the facilities Of
which ought rather to be employed in
the transportation Of the goods of high
er grade Some years ago the directors
of the Great Western Railway in Eng
land. being dissatisfied with the returns
arising from the operations of the road
made an investigation which showed
that the manager. who was trying to
drive a small canal out OF business, was
using IS per cent of the total equipment
in a traffic which produced only Il per
cent Of the total revenue.
.'One-sided views are always wrong
views. and the railway managers who
look only at the traffic which would be
taken away from their lines by waterway
and not at all at that which would be
brought to them by the waterway, are
as wrong and shOrt-sighted as the mobs
that destroyed powerful looms or har-
vesting- machinery with the idea that
fewer men would be employed. The ton
mage which goes around the Cape Of
Good Hope is as large now as before
the construction of the Suez canal, which
which means that the traffic of 100000
tens year passing through that water
way has been created thereby.
THE first locks Of St. Marys Falls
were opened in 1855. in which year the
registered tonnage was l06. 2S6 tons. Inc
half-minion mark was reached in 1853,
and the one million ton mark was passed
in 1873 In 1881 exactly coincident with
the opening Of a much larger lock. the
Northwest began TO grow by leaps and
bounds. and the tonnage of the canal
rose from 200 COCO tons in 1852 TO 100000
in 1890. and to 100000 in 1896. During the
FIRST FIVE years. two more enormous locks
have been in operation. one OF them on
the Canadian side OF the river. and in
this short time the tonnage Of the canal
has leaped up to nearly 2S,5ooooo tons.
This colossal tonnage Is simply q mani
festation OF the development which has
taken place in the northwest. along with
which has come the building OF thou
sands Of miles OF railroad. including two
lines from the head OF Lake Superior
TO the Pacific Coast. II by some cata-
clysm Of nature the Great Lakes should
be dried up. the enormous traffic now
divided among the railroads.&c. would
simply cease 20 exist.
The development of the northwest.
which has come chiefly in consequence
OF the building Of the locks at the out
let OF Lake Superior. marvellous though
it is. is but faint and sha6oNy image
OF the development. similar but multi
piled a thousand-fold. which VIII follow
last upon the completion OF an Isthnian
canal. Since it is not mileage but cost
OF transportation. that is the true com
merciaI measure of distance the CONT
nent viii shrink until its western and
eastern coasts are commercially but half
as FAR apart. while Yet nc single acre q
it wide expanse is lost
Mines VIII be opened. deserts made 10
blossom as the rose beneath the magic
tr,,,f, ~ irrigation towns ara cities viii