The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-08-12
IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYS COUNT What Uncle Sam Gains in This
 Respect PROCUDERS SAVE MONEY A Consignment of Pottery Was Car ried 675o Miles by Water More cheapIy Than 14s Miles
 by Land.

Washington, August 11.-An investment yielding a return of six dollars for every one invested seems business proposi- ton that if guaranteed beyond perad- venture of failure would find ready talk CTS Yet Uncle Sam, astute business man though he is on occasion, is accused of persistently refusing 10 take full advant- age of just this proposition. To a degree he has enjoyed its benefits. His experience in a limited fashion, indeed, it is argued has itself proved the accuracy of claims made in it's behalf
 After careful study of the subject, l am convinced that water rates under favorable conditions are only one-sixth as high as those by rail, and that every dollar prudently expended in improving and perfeoting the navigation of our wa ters will save six dollars per annum to the people in reduced rates.' says an au- thorlty Representative Joseph D. Rans- dell of Louisiana member of the Hous committee on rivers and harbors, and chairman of the executive committee of the National Rivers and Harbors Con gress Mir Ransdell and the members of his organzatio which includes conner cial associations in some thirtyfour states of the union, hold that our government has failed sgnally to profit as 1t might from this situation, and they are endeav- bring 10 awaken the nation to the value of it's neglected treasure in water trans portation, to the end that a realization of the great returns to be secured from waterway improvement will induce the people to demand of Congress an annual river and harbor bill of at least $5o,OO0OOO
 An Axiom.
 of tran portatlon is a dollar in the pocket of the producer has become an axiom in the economies of trade Here are a few of the cases cited by the advocates of in- creased appropriations for rivers and har- bors in which stupendous sums are shown to be thus annually put out into the pockets of the American farmer, in spite of an imperfect development of the country's resources in this direction
 Some thirty-hve years ago the cost or transporting a bushel of wheat from Chi cago to New York was 29.61 cents by wa ter. by way of the lakes and the Erie canal and 4610 cents by rail. Today 1t Is 625 cents by water and 1060 cents by rail. The present water rate, in other words. is only about one-sxth and the rail rate less than one-fourth of that which pre- vailed in the sixties. before the great 1m- provement of lake navigation, notably the
 
 feet deep at its shallowest part, from Du- luth and Chicago to Buffalo. There Is thus saved to the farmer of the west, who, 1t may be, is not even situated close to any nayigable body of water, but who sull shins his grain via New York, from 9 to 90 cents per bushel over the cost Of trans portatlon of the era before the develop ment of this one means of water trans, nortation. The advocates of rivers and harbors improvement will tell you that in the case of both rail and water rates this great reduction in cost of transpor- tation and the consequent saving are direct result of the bettering of the Ia cilities for lake traffic, as water trans nortation by competing with rail traffic regulates the cost of the latter
 Railroads and Water.
 While it is recognized that water com petition always serves to equalize rates, the railroad is unable to compete success fully in transportation cost with lm- proved routes of water transportation. The figures cited show. a saving to the farmer of more than five cents per bushel at the present day by means of water +ransportation over the cost by railroad. Figuring on the basis of the cereal pro duction of only seven states adJaceht 10 the lakes-Illinois. Indiana, Ohio, Wlseoh- sin Iowa. Minnesota and Michlgan-at the last census, 2,20i 0O0,OOO busheis, ihls saN ing of over five cents per bushel m freight rates to the seaboard means the addition of S11 100000 per annum on the grain crop alone. to the income of tho farmers of these states.
 This immense sum would have gone into the hands of the railroads and a much greater sum annually from traffic of other kinds were 1t not for water transporta- ton: but that Is not all. Railroad men admit that the Erie canal, in conjunction with perfected channels in the Detroit st Clair and St Mary's rivers, regulates and controls freights from the Mississippi river to the Atlantic and from the lakes to the gulf,
 The Mississippi river itself plays part of much significance as money-saVer. Grain routed for Liverpool from St Louis via New Orleans cost at an average from the five years from 1899 to 1905. inclusive, 1o.s9 cents per bushel whereas 1t cost l6.S5 cents per bushel via New York This IS q saving of 5.34 cents per bushel Tor the Mississippi route-an addition, it is estl- mated, to the income of the farmers Of the valley states of more than SlOO,OOO00O year. or s5oO,0OO 900 in the five years. And yet this is but portion of the