The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-15
REVIVAL OF STRAMBOATING
PLAN TO AGAIN PLACE FLOAT
 ING PALACES

Proposes to Build Immense steam
 boats Capable of Carrying n Thou
 sand Passengers-NOw soliciting
 stock for the Enterprise.
 Old steamboat men and people who have had occasion to travel on the Mis- sissippi river in the old days, when the fine steamboats were as plentiful as ca nal barges are these days, says the New Orleans Picayune, are wont to voice their regret at the fact that the river traffic is no longer what it was, and uncertain something like a hopeless view of the future, Such people should take heart when they real of the magnificent scheme of the promoter who proposes to build immeuse steanboats capable of lcarrying a thousand passengers and thousands of tons of freight, and who is said actually to be soliciting stock for such an enterprise.
 The bland confidence of this anbi- tious individual is certainly refreshing. and although it is to be feared he will not find oyer many to share his conf dence, the yastness of his project should set sensible people to thinking that their may, at any rate, be bright future ahead for the river and It's com- merce Granting that q return of the golden days may not be imminent, still there is no reason why they should not return in time.
 Of course, we all understand that the growth of rail transportation, parallel ling the river at every reach, has been Irresponsible for the change in the river traffic and its decline from the halcyo1l days of twenty-fiye years or more ago, lbut then the Great Lakes are surround ed by railroads and so are the great waterways of Europe, and yet the vol- ume of their water borne commerce is simply enormous. The trouble with the flower reaches of the Mississippi river is that there is not a sufficiently numerous population and not a sufficiency of Itowns and villages to make local traffic. The time will come, however, when ev- lery mile along the great river and It's Tributaries will have it's hamlets, and lgreat cities will grow up in hunddeds Iwthin reach of its waters. Then there
 will be a return to the floating palaces lof the old days grander, probably, and lswifter than before.
 There will be fast boats catering Emainly to the passenger trade, like the boats on the Hudson. There will be
 great tourist steamers carrying passen- lgers for pleasure trips to St Louis. I lMemphis and other up-river points. There is vast tourist trade on the Great Lakes, between New York and lthe New England coast resorts on the
 River Rhine, in Europe, as well as else- lWhere throughout the world, where slthere are sights to be seen that are IWorth seeing. Why should not the lgreatest navigable waterway in the Iworld have similar traffic?
 Let our steamboat friends, therefore, mot despair that the good days will ever Ireturn. The best and cheapest trans iportation is water transportation, and lalthough through artificial means this lgreat fact may be obscnred for time, lit must eventually prevail, as truth all 8i WayS dOeSt III lIle HE Htf TFdCiles8 855 " the river, about Memphis and St. Louis land along the Ohio river the traffic is lnot only great, but conditions must in ltime reach the lower river, where nayi- Igation is easier and therefore cheaper lThe local river traffic should be eneour- laged In every way by the merchants, as
 lit is the best possible regulator ot lfreight rates and the surest safeguard
 of the shipper against the exaetions ot lthe railroads. steamboats cannot be maintained without traffic, however
 hence the necessity of local boats re.
 ceiving their proper share of local pat lronage