The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-08-23
POWER OF 4 RIVER
WHAT THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
 PROPOSES TO DO.

In the Matter of Regulating Traffic
 Rates-The Resuscitation of the Mis-
 sissippi and Ohio Rivers to Have Great Effect on Twenty-TwO States.
 When the victim of Waterloo signed the Purchase Treaty, which ceded the Louisiana Territory to the United States, he said: T part with an En- pirc. The Mississippi river drains a valley that in one hundred years will be the greatest power on earth.
 Only two years ago, on the banks Of the continental thoroughfare, amid richly decorated palaces of staff and with much flying bunting, martial mu- sic and oratory, we proclaimed to the world the truth of this imperial pre- diction. The worlds greatest water course had, within the century, built the empire of which Napoleon dreamed. It was this broad, open ave- nue, penetrating the continents heart
 that lured the Pilgrims into the will derness and inspired Europe's eager emigrants to seek the spells of the riv- CTS soft loam the seeds of fame and fortune
 The endless train of home-seekers who followed the westward trail or the old national pike to Pittsburg and Wheeling and thence down the Ohio to the Mississippi states, together with those who pursued the Erie and Ohio canals in the quest of western wealth. have to-day both progeny and dlscl- pies every increasing in number, who seek the fortunes, yet unfound, along this sluggish rivers shore.
 Before railroads invaded the states the packets and catamarans played a
 most conspicuous part in the building of our nation. They animated every open waterway and drew to the banks of rivers all important inland towns. The growth of our national commerce was deepndent upon their service Lesser rivers lightered down to the i wharves of the great father of waters the raw produce of the worlds widest and richest valley. The intercourse between young and ambitious cities was conducted by boat There were no Hines" then, The articles of com merce were not dependent uon pa con- cert of capital. Nature built them and they were free. Let them use them who would. A right-of-way franchise was term which courts and legisla- tors knew little or nothing of. Every pacFet represented a private enter prise, and the owner of packet was q man ''well off" There were no ''com- pines, or syndicate agreements. It was the era of wholesome competltion-the days of square deal
 Packet owners vied with one anoth- CT for a Head" on the river trade. Establishment was added to comfort in the open bidding for patronage i The oilcloth table spreads gave way to red cotton prints, and the gaudy prints were superseded by spotless linen. Upholstery, Brussels carpets, mahoga- ny staircases and gilt-trimmed mirrors entered into the competitive decoration of the Mississippi packet saloon.
 Speed and freight traffic were covt- ted quite as much as the passenger patronage. To improve the former, while enlarging the latter, projecting decks were built, reaching far out over the shallow, 1at-bottomed hulls The keenest kind of competition drove all rates to the bottom notch, The river was the road of travel, and travel was encouraged and made inviting that the maximum business might multiply the minimum rate into an agreeable profit
 In the pursuit of this programme, packet proprietors loaded their boats beyond their safe capacity, and the sa- loon of every river steamer was made center of gaiety and social diversion. Dancing, card games, Reclamation and music made up the recreations of the long evening river rides. In those days of river romance, gambling crept into the cabin life as an indisputable part of the social etiquette of the time. The gentleman gambler established himself upon the river. and many a veteran captain, to oblge his genial patrons, fell a victim to their cunning played out his last dollar, and in a desperate struggle to recoup his heavy loss gambled away even the title of his ship. The deep willow woods along the Ohio, the Missouri and the Illinois; the muse-veiled edges of the Arkansas and the lower Mississippi and tho towering cliffs that cont1ne the upper river-the Wisconsin and the St. CroiX-have talk en into their deep night-shad the echo of many pistol shot that terminated gamblers impositions.
 But the liberties and license of the early packet life were the least among the abuses which drove the traffic of the great wide valley from water to rail as fast as the rails would come,
 In the early days there was stigma in being passed on the river which no proud pilot could ever afford to- wear. Boilers were innperfectly made and the insuppressi'ble craving for traffic coin forced even infiammable cargo close to the furnace doors. And, in the face of all this wicked risk of human fife, res In and pitch were added to the furnace fires and the safety valves weighed down, that 8 rival packet might be overtaken on it's course. Into this hys- terical craze for speed the passengers themselves not infrequently joined. They cheered every length of gain, and if the contestlng packet proved better, they themselves would ram cotton and tar into the furnace fires until the un- tanned flames, leaping out, set the ship aflre River history is filled with thrilling stories of burning packets, whose fatal need, when wrapped in flames, was Jim Bludso who would