The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1906-07-16
Will Receive More Attention
In Future
Austria Has Spent As Much On Her
Streams As the United
States Has.
SAVES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

Washington, July 16.-0f particu-
lar interest to the south. both be-
cause of its local application and the
fact that IL is from the pen of a
southerner, Is the article in the cur
rent number of the Information by
Congressman Humphreys, of Mis-
sissippl, setting forth In large way
the necessity, both economic and
financial, of national scheme Of i'm
provements for our waterways as
means of transportation-an object
which is being earnestly sought by
the organization known as the ma
tional rivers and harbors congress.
That such development OF our
waterways has been sadly neglected
in the past. to the loss Of the ship
per, and that II is a subject whose
magnitude makes II worthy of all in
terest, is the inevitable conclusion
to be gained from Mr.. Humphreys
article.
Even the third rate country of
Austria has in the last sixty years
spent as much in the Improvement of
her 500 miles OF rivers as has our
government spent on the Mississippi
with its $1,000 miles OF tributary
streams. While in 1904, the total
International commerce of the world
amounted to twenty-five billions of
dollars, the inland commerce OF the
United States equalled that stipend
Gus sum. These facts seem to prove
the foregoing assertion. That the
shipper has been the loser, and to
the tune of hundreds of millions, Is
evident from our neglect of our
natural means OF transportation.
Congressman Humphreys cites the
instance of recent freight of $4,000
tons of coal from Plttsburg to New
Orleans at cost of $4,000, as COM
pared to s1s0.0OO. a sum ten times
as great. which would have been the
cost by rail-surely strong evidence
that it is time for the shipper to act,
and assist the national rivers and
harbors congress in its campaign for
such increased appropriations which
lie at his very door.
The deepening Of the New Orleans
harbor has resulted in the saving of
millions to the southern shipper. says
Mr.. Humphreys.
"The deep water over the jetties."
says he (which permits the great |
freighters to come up the river and |
go out with twenty-four thousand |
bales of cotton instead of six or
eight thousand bales. as formerly,
has reduced the ocean freight by |
one dollar and half a bale. VOL
export about seven or eight million
bales a year, thus saving some ten
or twelve million dollars annually to
the cotton farmers of the south.
think we can all agree that the great
harbors along our seacoast deserve
and should receive our very gener-
GUS aid Every farmer in the land
is interested in them. as we have
seen. because what we export is very |
largely the product of the farm"
Just as Mr.. Humphreys argument
applies to harbor Improvement, so
does II apply to the Improvement of
rivers and no community is so far
inland that 1t would not participate
in the gains of the national scheme |
of improvements which he advocates |
in behalf of the national rivers and |
harbors congress.
Certainly, in this, the age OF trans
portation as II has been called, two
facts stand out clearly in the light
OF Congressman Humphreys article;
First, that natural regulation OF the |
price of transportation by means of
waterway improvements will prove
superior to artificial regulation. and |
second, that the shippers of the |
United States cannot longer AFFORD
to neglect the opportunities for
cheap transportation to be gained
from the plan of national waterways |
improvements for which the rivers
and harbors congress is laborlng.