New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-24
Railroads Inadequate to Handle
Promptly the Vast Volume
of the Country's Business.

sid them IN the commercial development of this
country. Although the railroad has proved ire
nendously valuable in The upbuiIding Of the ma
lions industries although the United States has
constructed as many miles Of track as Europe
and Asia combined. although the freight trains
OF this country carry one-half the railway tom
mage Of the whole world, yet this method Of
transportation has at the present time become
inadequate. There are not enough cars nor suf-
hcent trackage for the country's business Rail-
road builders cannot keep pace with manufact-
urers Train dispatchers are unable TO accom-
Taodate shippers.
The food and coal famine" which has caused
such suffering in the Northwest is only one in
dieation Of the way the railroads are failing 10
meet the countrys needs. According TO the In
terstate Commerce Commission nearly all the
big lines Of the United States. North, South. East
and west, are becoming more and more congest-
ed with traffic.
And the outlook for the future offers little
promise Of immediate relief The era of railroad
building IN this country has. many say, reached
its height, and is now on the decline
From 1870 10 1881 railroad trackage in the
United States increased at the average rate of
1000 miles year; from 1881 TO 1894. 1000 miles
q year; from 1894 10 1904 5000 miles year;
while since 1904 the rate of building has dropped
70 S.l25 miles year. According to James J.
HILL president Of the Great Northern the rail-
roads Of this country should build rs 600 miles
Of track each year for the next five years IN
order TO catch UP with the growth of business
For while the building of trackage has decreased
the volume of traffic has greatly increased. In
the last ten years the increase of mileage was
about per cent. while the growth of business
was II per cent.
Meanwhile the canal has been brought 10 pub
lie attention as a solution Of the transportation
problem with which the railroad has failed to
cope New artificial waterways are being pro-
jected in great numbers. and not a few of them
involving vast expenditures Of capital are al
ready under construction. Old canals. further
more are being enlarged. and the beds of shall
low rivers are being made navigable. Indeed, it
would seem as if the United States had just en-
tered upon great canal building era which will
practically roYolutoniZe present systems of trade
and transportation which viii open up new
routeE for the shipments Of freight which will
build up new cities and bring added wealth to
existing ones which will quicken industry and
which at the same time is expected TO cheaper
the price of a great number of commodities
such as coal, steel, grain and lumber, thus work
ing far reaching benefits for city populations,
such as the four million people living in New
York
REvULSION OF FEELING.
The attitude OF leading fnanciers. merchants,
manufacturers and railroad men toward the
canal at the present time exhibits a remarkable
revulsion Of feeling. For the last generation
the railway was commonly regarded the only
up-to-date method of transportation. The canal
was called antiquated and its clumsy boats and
weed bordered tow paths were spoken of as relics
Of z slow moving, slow thinking age, which had
been outIved. Railroad men especially made
fun OF the canal.
When leading commercial bodies Of this stale
began an agitation some years ago for the en-
largement of the Erie Canal, their spokesman.
on going 10 Albany to plead for the necessary
legislation, found themselves confronted with
Representatives OF railroads who chiefly fought
their arguments with ridicuIe. IF the state in
tends to spend S1O00O0OO0 for lettering its
transportation facilities said one anti-canal
before the Senate Canal Committee. 1T
might well the money for camels as for
canals. II would be almost sensible TO open
UP a caravan route between Buffalo and AL
bany and employ ships Of the desert TO carry
your freight, as 10 enlarge this antiquated ditch
for the use of still more cumbTOus canalboats.
Instead, you should build more railroads. The
only way TO utilize the old Erie Canal is to drain
81 and lay in its bed a four-track railroad"
Indeed, this last proposition was considered so
seriously that one Senator introduced bill six
years ago providing for the TRANSFORMATION OF
the old Erie Canal into state railroad
At the present time many of the leading rail-
road OF the country have come 10 take an
entirely opposite view Of the canal They are
no longer so fearful that the development Of
water routes will impair the value OF rail routes
They realize that the railroad has become over
taxed They that the building Of more
canals will indeed help the railroads, for the rea
son that the railroads may then carry, TO a
greater extent than ct the present time, the
tighter and more valuable freight, on which
there is e bigger profit for the transporter leaY-
ing to the canals the heavy and less profitable
shipments, such COAL grain. machinery. cot
ton and timber.
An Illustration Of what railroad men think Of
canals at the present time is furnished by the
letter written recently by Mr.. Hill to Governor
johnson Of Minnesota. in which he recon-
mended the deepening Of the Mississippi from
St Louis to New Orleans Were this river
properly csnalized. he said, IL could carry q
great volume Of heavy freight which now Is
handled by the railroads. thus releasing thou
sands Of cars for the transportation OF other
commodities which demand quick movement
SIX BIG PROJECTS.
No city In the United States is expected to be
benefited TO greater decree by the great canals
which are either projected or under construction
than this metropolis. There are six distinct
undertakings, all OF which will contribute. it is
said 20 the prosperity Of this port. Of chief i'm
portance IS the enlargement of the old Erie
Canal, which will bring hither in still greater
volume the traffic Of the Great Lakes. and which
ls expected 10 lessen the price Of many kinds Of
food by permitting their shipment TO this port at
Dne-fourth the price that the railroads now
charge. For example. bakers will be able to buy
-four cheaper after the Erie Canal is enlarged,
IL is said, which should result IN New Workers
getting larger loaVes for the same money than
at the present time. At the end Of last year
work on the Erie Canal had advanced to such a
stage that contracts involving S20OO0OOO, or
one-ffth of its entire estimated cost had been
let, and plans for the letting Of additional con-
tracts to the amount OF S1S0O0OO0 were ready
FOR advertisement OF the 40 miles of canal in
eluded in the 1OO0-ton barge plan. seventy miles
karv @s<ae m agfn