The Minneapolis journal., 1903-11-05
DARK THREAT
OF RAILROADS
They Will Put the Erie Canal Out Of
Business Even if It's Re-
Suilt.
The All-Rail Rate to the Seaboard
Is Now, Beyond Question, Too
High.
Millers Doubt Whether the Canal
Would Not Hurt Rather Than
Help.
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal.
New York, Nov. 5.-"If the Erie
canal is ever rebuilt, the railroads Will
put it out of business in less than
year, making it as useless to the pro-
ducers as is the present waterway.
This statement was made to-day by
an executive traffic official OF one OF
the large railway systems, ana was
backed by the general sentiment eX-
pressed in railroad circles.
Another statement of sensauonal
character was to the effect that the
Erie canal improvement never Wouio
be accomplished, as the rallroaos
would find some way OF de1eat-
ing the undertaking. The boast that
the railroads would be able to COM
pete more than successfully win the
rebuilt canal, capable Of floating only
1000 ton barges, is not considered Dy
traffic and transportation experts an
idle one.
The problem, in any event, will not
have to be met by the railroads Tor at
least a generation, as it Will take tnat
length of time to complete the I'M
provements contemplated by the ex-
penditure of s1o1, 100000. BY that
time traffic conditions and the cen
ters of production may have changed
so materially, it is thought, that the
problems presented will be entireAV
different from what they would be to-
day if the canal improvements We're
now complete.
Back of the traffic experts bold as
sertion lies the fact that the rates now
charged for the transportation OF
grain and grain products. at least,
from Chicago to New York and other
seaboard ports are far in excess OF
those necessary to fair profit. Ihe
present rate on grain by lake and
canal from Chicago to New York is
10 cents per 100 pounds, and by rail
IA cents. That the railroads could
carry the grain at the 10 cent rate
and make good profit is we'll known
in traffic circles. The Lake Shore
and New York Central route, for e1-
ample, can easily haul a train load OF
grain containing 1000 tons. Such a
train load at a 10 cent rate would
produce a revenue Of $4,000. The
cost of transporting the grain 1nclud-
ing interest on the money invested is
at the outside not more than 81 200,
leaving a net profit of $4,000: At the
present rate Of increase in trainloads
and a corresponding smaller percent-
age of increase in operating expenses,
the railroads would be able to reduce
transportation charges still further,
long before the canal would be COM
p1eted and could maintain rates
which would make it impossible, it is
claimed, for the slow moving 1000
| ton barges to compete with them.
1t is generally recognized by rail-
| road men, however, that anything
| that reduces the cost Of the transpor-
| tation of food products to the chief
markets will greatly benefit the pro-
ducer. The real purpose of the canal
is taken by railroad men to be pri-
marily to assist New York in obtain
ing and maintaining a, supremacy OF
market as against the other Atlantic
and Canadian ports.
The revised vote on the canal prop
osition in greater New York was: For,
436,230; against, $500; plurality in
| favor of canal 382,967.