The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-02-12
|ClllPll0J TOR RelIDS
Up TO THE FARMERS TO SOLVE
TIE PROBLEM or GOOD
THoRouoHFAREs.
Samuel Hill Would Apply the Railroad
Method. 70 Wagon haulase
Throughout Country. =

Throughout Country.
WASHINGTON, D. c. Feb. H.
Samuel Hill, Of Seattle has been in
Washington almost continuously since
the beginning Of the extra session OF
congress in November. urging good
roads legislation. He has argued for
this before the committees Of the
house and senate. and has only just
now taken a flying trip home to look
after some important business. He will
return about he first Of march to
continue the campaign. In discussing
the good roads movement, he said:
THE problem of transportation by
rail and water has been solved, and il
is up to the farmers to solve their
problem of getting their products from
the farms to their railroads. am try
ing to apply to wagon haulage the
same rule that has been applied to
railroad haul in the state of Washing
ton. James j. Hill was the first man
that found out what it cost to make
transportation. He laid down the rule
that a railroad company is a manu-
featuring corporation, making one
commodity which it offers for sale,
and that is transportation. He calcu-
lated what it costs to move a ton a
mile-what it costs to run for less than
cost. But at this time when a man
wiped an engine with piece of waste
he threw it on the ground. Now the
waste is placed in can and later in
a tank and the oil squeezed out and
used again. VI
Hill figures Closely.
Everything in Mr.. Hills calcula-
tons is carried to the fourth decimal
place, and from his Office in the last
five years have gone out fifteen pres
idents or managing officers Of import
ant railroad lines. Mr.. Hill set min
imum rate that an engine must haul.
and his trains cannot be started until
some responsible man has first deter
mined the fact hat the engine has It's
full rated lading capacity. am try
ing to apply the same principles to
some of the farm products on the wag-1
on roads that Mr.. Hill applied to rail-
road transportation. II have secured
statistics from the various elevators,
markets and the like. taking the
names of every farmer bringing in q
load, the distance travelled, the num-
Der of horses used and the kind Of
road over which the load has come.
This data has already been tabulat-
ed. 1t shows that in many places the
cost Of moving ton mile was one
dollar. Any one can see that far
.ner cannot haul hay sixteen miles to
the market that costs him SIG a ton
for haulage, and sell his product at a
profit. The prime necessity, therefore.
is that something should be done to1
tighten the burden on the back Of the
from the farm to the market"
Mr.. Hill pointed out that the United
States leads the world in railroad
transportation. In England Is costs
1895 to haul ton one hundred miles
on railroad; in France. 1925; in
Germany. 81; in Siberia, $40 and in
the United States 72 cents. Yet the
cost of moving a ton per mile on
wagon road in the United States is
from 25 cents upward, as compared
with an average Of 12k cents in Eu-
rope. In a most interesting resume
of the development of railroad bust
ness of the northwest, Mr. Him re-
marked that the growth OF Puget
Sound was directly attributable tol
Mr.. J. ]. Hill. He had found the lum-
Der industries of Washington lang
The states Of Indiana, Him
OILS, Iowa, Nebraska and others were
with view to ascertain.
ing how many shingles would be re-
quired to fiji all the orders in these
states, and it was found not enough.
Therefore, the eastern market must
be sought Mr.. Hin first devised a |
new method Of packing shingles by |
which he could get 100000 In car.
A system Of boats which Mr.. Hill de-
signed and installed on the Great
Lakes were to bring coal from Buffalo |
and Duluth, take back wheat from Du-
luth to Buffalo. Mr.. Hin noticed onel
Of these boats loaded and ready to SAIL !
and gave Instructions thar AeslkS5se1
Of shinsles should be, added To kfts !
cargo. - AZ the boat was loaded with
wheat there was no extra charge for
Carrying the shingles except, the steve