The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-07-27

Tree llSl On scneuuie Vi tiahSpSi-
tation rates is shorter than the fam
GUS chapter on snakes in Iceland.
Congress has the power, II 1t
should so elect, to abolish the tariff
entirely and admit all imports free
but no decree could make trans
portation free. In common speech
we say that supplies for sufferers
from some great disaster are trans
ported free, just as We say the sun
rises. Relief supplies may be car
ried free of charge, but not free of
cost. What reallyL, happens when
such supplies are carried free" is
that some railway or steamboat COM
pany denotes the cost of their trans
portation, is as inevitable as is the
natural law of grayitation in the
physical world.
Transportation IS the essential
factor in both industry and COM
merce, for unless transportation is
available, production in excess of the
most elementary personal needs is
useless. and commerce is Impossible.
But the cost of transportation, al
though in the United States II is
neither levied by governmental au-
thority nor collected by government
al agency, is nevertheless a tax,
which must be paid either by the
producer or the consumer, or, as is
most commonly the case, divided be-
tween the two. II is, therefore, to
the interest of both producer and
consumer that this transportation
tax be kept as low as possible. And
since every man, woman. and child
is either a producer or a consumer,
or both, this question of cost OF
transportation sustains a direct and
vital relation to the prosperity OF
every individual citizen-and to the
progress of communities, states, and
nations. all of which are organized
aggregations of individuals. This
brings us naturally to a considera-
tion of the cost of transportation by
various methods"
Then he establishes by authentic
data that having a ton of freight
to ship and a dollar with which tC
pay for its shipment" the dollar will
carry the freight by horse and Wagon
four miles; by English steam truck
20 miles; by U. S. railways 127 Il
miles; by Erie canal 1913 miles; Eu
ropean canals 500 miles; by lake
ESQ miles;on the Ohio river, were il
so long, 5000 miles.
He adds that:
"Basing their opinion upon Z
study of the rates in effect upoI
European rivers, the United States
army engineers estimate that wheI
the Ohio river has been improved
according to the present plans trans
portation can be profitably conducted
thereon at an average rate of one
half mill per ton-mile. And the ares
of the circle which can be covered
where this rate is available is 22'
times as great as that which can b
Preached at the average rate oil
american railways.
Cost of transportation limits an'
determines the distance from whicl
raw materials for manufacture car
be drawn and to which finish prod
ucts can be shipped
Every decrease in transportation
rates, therefore, produces CORES
bonding increase of the TERRITORY
within which business can be profit
ably conducted, increased rates o
course producing the opposite result
IF the changed rate operates il
all directionst from any given point
the area affected varies inversell
and in geometrical ratio. For In
stance, if the rate is cut in half, th'
area thereby brought within reacl
land, If density of population b.
uniform, the number of possible Gus
toners also) is increased to fourfolC
what it was before.
Not mileage, but cost of trans
portation is the true commercial
measure of distance
"Of two or more competitors
equal in other respects. that one will
reach the wider market, win th'
larger trade, and gain the greater
profit, who has at his command the
cheaper transportation. And it mat
ters not at all whether these compel
itors are individuals, cities, states
or nations.
| He who can most cheaply reacl
the markets of the world can eontro
the commerce of the world
Cheap transportation does no
merely facilitate commerce, Il abso
lutely creates both commerce and
manufactures, for every decrease IL
cost of carriage permits the utiliza
ton Of raw materials of lower
grade. A difference of a dollar {
pound on a shipment of diamonds
would be relatively less important
than a difference of a dollar a tor
on a shipment of coal. Natural re
sources, however rich and varied
remain merely potential resources
until the magic touch of transporta
ton transforms them into ayailabl,
resources. No direct, region, or ma
ton can reach the highest possible
development of its resources unless
! IL be supplied with the cheapest DOS