The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1903-04-17
ONE WAY TO DEVELOP
RESOURCES OF OHIO
Written for the News-Demoorat By W. A. TAYLOR

during nearly two years arises not
from lack of demand for raw materi-
al and finished product, but from the
excessive demand and limited termi-
nal facilities. The ordinary climatic
disturbances, uniting with this def
cheney, produce an acute stage of con-
gestion throughout an entire railway
! system, thus dangerously suspendiDg
transportation facilities at critical
periods.
The railway trackage of the staio
might be duplicated, and yet it is ques-
tionable whether more than 20 per
cent Of terminal facilities would be
added to the present, If, indeed, there
would be any actual addition.
The natural source of relief is the
canal. While it penetrates fewer dis
tricts than the railway, the system
is SO placed and distributed, that 1t
would not only afford relief direct, but,
If necessary, remove it wholly, by
short rail or traction cross-hauls, and
at the same time revive development
now largely dormant
Suppose, as a general proposition,
the canals were reconstructed along
their present lines capable of accom-
modating $50 or 300-ton boats instead
of SO or 65-tonners as the limit, and
open to all boat owners, whether as
| companies or individuals, on precisely
the same terms-terms that would in
| sure fair return to the state ucon
/ the investment, what would be the re-
! suit?
The railways would quickly feel re-
lief from the pressure now affecting
most of the systems, and their earn
| ings would increase rather than de-
| crease, and the attendant elimination
Of the freight congestions, would not
only rebound to the benefit of the pure
| ly railway districts, but the railways
I as we'll.
! No man who intelligently studies
the question will come to any other
! conclusion than that the enlargement
/ and complete modernization of the ca
| mails to the capacity suggested above,
including the slack-watering of the
Muskingum from GAINESVILLE to Dres-
den, or further north, and probably at
some future time, the Scioto from
| Portsmouth to Circleville, will very
largely meet the demands for trans
portation and put an end to the an
noying and costly freight congestion
in railway traffic.
! All this is a plain proportion,
which appeals to common sense, and
| Is within the best recognized rules Of
commercial law. In the light OF the
great and successful business enter
rrises of today, the investment would
be but mere bagatelle In comparison
! with the results that experience
| teaches would follow.
The already demonstrable increase
of the merely incidental revenue to the
state of $4,000 a year, by the special
canal commission, on a limited num-
ber Of water privileges. means that
with the suggested improvements,
along with the certain increase of di-
versified manufacturers, by hundreds
of small firms and individuals, along
the lines of the waterway, this subsi-
diary revenue would not only readily
be increased, but the benefits both di-
rect and indirect would be such that
! 1t would undoubtedly prove the wis
dom of the state to begin the improve
ment of the most available portion of
the Ohio canals at the earliest date
! practicable.