Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-19
MArHR VERSUS RAIL TRAFFIC

The presidents latest undertaking
parallels in Importance and magnitude
the Panama canal project It involves
the greater utilization Of the interior
waterways Of the United States for
transportation purposes.
1t is not a new project that the
president now discloses. The idea Of
making the countrys greater rivers
more serviceable has often been
broached in late years. particularly
since the failure of the railways to
keep pace with the growing demands
upon them. The utter helplessness Of
many railways during the past winter,
extending until the present time, has
presented a situation calling for such
relief as the president indicates.
Sufficient ground for the project is
found in the single statement by the
president that "the products of the
northern interior states have doubled
in ten years. while the railroad facil-
tiles have increased but one-eighth."
To meet this rapidly growing disparity,
says the president, "there appears to
be but one complete remedy-the de-
velopment of a complementary system
of transportation by water"
The situation as thus presented
brings to mind a singular phase in the
evolution of transportation in the
United States and to some extent in
all other enlightened countries. Before
the decade of the "forties," in the
last century, the interior waterways
of the United States, natural and ar
tificial, were depended upon largely
The early railways, prior
to that period. were so crude in con-
struction and equipment that they gave
but little promise of their later
achievements.
In those early days the canal sys-
tenn was regarded as the solution of
the problem of transportation. The
construction of the great Erie canal
in 1S17-1S25, connecting the Hudson
river with Lake Erie, started move
ment that led to many canal enter
prises in the older states. And that
undoubtedly would have re-
suited in network of canals but for
the demonstrated success of the i'm
proved railways.
Within the last few years, after a
lapse of more than half a century,
the canal idea has begun to "turn the
tables" on the railway idea. AS be-
tween the two methods of transpor-
tation the water method seems to be
a formidable rival to that of the rail
for first place in the traffic of the
future.
Instead of the bitches of the former
period, however, accommodating canal
boats of from fifty to seventy-five tons
capacity, the present era demands
waterways that will admit compara-
lively large craft. With that object
the Erie canal has been enlarged at
cost of many millions of dollars.
The chief purpose in the presidents
mind in this respect is the deepening
of rivers that may be made navigable,
the connection of natural waterways
by ship canals and the general utili-
zation of the natural water resources of
the country.
This proposition will strike the pub
lie mind as a fitting companion OF
the national good roads movement that
is finding universal favor in the
United States. And the two PROPOSE
tions tend to convince the American
people of the wisdom of pushing these
grand problems of national develop
ment rather than of expending scores
of millions of dollars annually in such
appropriations as many of those that
made the total for the last session
of congress approximate two billion
dollars.