Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-09-13
THE RESUSCgTATION OF
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
BY Richard Lloyd Jones, from Golfers or August. 1905.

season Il weekly trip is made between
st. Louis and St. Paul. But the rail-
road has robbed the river of its COM
snerce. and the mighty waterway. which
for q quarter OF a century has been the
pride of the west. is now almost aban-
doned and has rcceGed into an object
of ridicule. Men joke ABOUT The con-
tinental sewer and talk of the river
days" as a thing forever past.
But there are left those who still
love the old river-those who believe in
it. and those who, despite the advent
of the locomotive. still hold with Ma
poleon that a ountry is great as its
rivers are useful. Nine years ago the
commercial interests vested along the
banks OF the Ohio river crystallized in
Il river Improvement association which
set itself resolltely To the task OF ed
ucating congress and the people of the
river states To the vast commercial inn
portance of deepening the channel
from Pittsburg to Cairo. They took
the declaration of Andrew Carnegie
that the republic now has more than
10000 miles of connected river and lake
navigation, which supplies the cheap
est inland transportation for materials
in the world" and added: The inn
provement of the Ohio will make it still
cheaper
-Four years ago n committee of rep
reSentative citizens called upon the
mayor of Quincy. ILL.,, urging some To-
cal liver improvements. After Il pro-
tracted interview as to the value of
, purely local Improvements, h mayor
said: do you know of any attempt hav-
ing been made on the part of any con-
! gressimen who represent any of the five
states bordering on the ppe Missis-
Sippi to influence congress to make an
appropriation for liver improvement?
Has any effort been made by the COM
roeyria1 ~ DniZnfinnS or cities along
the river, to influence congress to this
end?"
No. was the answer. But" re-
sponded one citizen. quick to see the
opportunity. ut will be done at once"
This reply was the cornerstone of
the Upper Mississippi River Improve
ment association, which holds it's fourth
annual convention in Minneapolis this
coming October. and which will join
with the Ohio River Improvement as
ISOLATION and representatives of the
lower Mississippi states in holding a
great valley river improvement con-
vention in st. Louis this coming No
vember. This convention Will debate
the possibilities of, and make recon-
mendations for. the development Of a
heavy freight channel from the Twin
Cities to New Orleans and from Great
Falls, Mont. on the upper Missouri, to
Pittsburg on. the Ohio. The value to
| Une WHOle IdllOl vi NEST NCn
waterways. taken in conjunction with
the improvements now being made on
the Illinois river and the Chicago ca
nal, opening a ship passage from the
great lakes to the gulf. cannot be over
estimated. If Mr.. Carnegie is right in
his claim that u internal waterways
already offered the cheapest transport
tation in the world. these free arteries
of M will at once control the
traffic rates of the twenty-five states
that they drain. These states already
produce the bulk of our agricultural
wealth.; they already support more
than twice as many manufacturing
the value of their finished products is
estimated at oven ten billions of dol
lars IL year.
AS the market Nalue of any finished
product Is estimated upon the pro-
,lucer's price. plus the cost of tranSpoI-
tation. the opening of these great wa
terways to freight traffic will benefit
both the producer through & larger de-
mand for his goods. and the consumer
through Il leSSened cost for the same.
President Roosevelt has said that the
highways of commerce should be open
10 all on equal tcrms-a condition which
is not likely to maintain. even through
the enforcement of recent legislation
thu has been directed to that end.
When the railroads are brought direct
ly into competition with Independent
carriers on Il common highway. they
Will confront q controlling influence far
more effective han any rate bill can
ever hope to be. The policy of charg-
ing all the traffic Will bear is an OBJ
stacle to industrial expansion. A low
cost of conveyance is a necessity to all
the crider products. Moreover. the
productive capacity of our great in
terror is developing faster than our
facilities of transportation. There is
an ever increasing flood of products,
crude and manufactured. from farm,
mine. forest and factory sources which
overtaM u channels of commerce. eff
cient and magnificent as our railroads
have come to be.
Now that it has been clearly demon
strated h Il the coal from the mines of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia can
be hauled from Pittsourg to Minneap-
oils, New Orleans or Omaha. At IL cost
not exceeding seventy-five cents n ton:
and lumber from the mills of Mime
sofa and the northwest forests can be
tioated to southern and eastern river
ports for less than one-tenth of the rail
traffic. the that interna! wa
ter is obsolete is lame ludi-
crous and absurd The heaviest freights