Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-05-03
KILLING RIVER IRAFF|C
RAILROADS PLAY IMPORTANT
PART IN DECLINE OF BOAT
ING ON MISSISSIPPI.
COMPETITION AND CONTROL
PUT BOATS OUT OF BUSINESS
Railroad Ownership Terminals and
Cutting of Transportation Charges
Below Cost Aid in Sitting Water
way Competition = Commission
Makes Report.

Washington, May Stew people,
perhaps, realize that the traffic move
ment on the lower Mississippi river,
once so tremendous, has so materially
declined in recent years that the SUI
premacy once enjoyed by that great
stream has been transferred to the
Ohio river, and that, therefore, Pitts
burg, rather than either st. Louis or
New Orleans, is today the most inn
portant river point in America.
These and other interesting facts
are cleaned from the "Appendix" to
the preliminary report of the inland
waterways commission. The report it
self was made public recently, but the
Appendix" which has just come off
the government printing office presses,
was made public today. The greater
portion of the data contained in it was
prepared under the direction of Herb
ert Knox Smith, commissioner of the
bureau of corporations.
OcCiInG OF lTdtJlCs
1t is shown that the lower Missis-
sippi, which always has been recog
nized as of greater commercial impor
lance than the other part, still retains
this relative Importance. Among the
important factors in the decline of
traffic on the lower Mississippi may be
mentioned that formerly large quanti-
ties of wheat, corn and oats were sent
down the river from st. Louis and 9TH
er points to New Orleans, but the
building of railroads thru Nebraska,
Kansas and Oklahoma to the gulf, to-
gether with the lack Of attention to
river improvements, has operated
against the shipment of grain down
the Mississippi.
This has resulted in the gradual dis
appearance in the last fifteen years of
many finely equipped steamboats, on
the lower Mississippi, as result of
sharp railroad competition and other
causes.
Cotton Compress Plays Part.
Another important cause for this de-
cline in the traffic movement on that
great stream has been the introduce
ton of the cotton compress resulting
in the overturning of the old system
Of handling cotton by river. Formerly
the only cotton congresses We're To-
Gated at important centers, such as
Memphis, Vicksburg and New Orleans,
but now any town of slight Importance
has its own compress which have ex-
cellent facilities for receiving and
shipping bales Of cotton by rail-
The report declares that the develop
ment Of river traffic is hindered in
many ways by the railroads which at
some important points on the Ohio
river have gained control of much of
the land available for terminal facil-
tiles. One of the serious difficulties
for lines operating on the Ohio and its
tributaries is the matter of excessive
wharfage charges. The packet lines
charge that 1t is a common practice
for little towns along the river to levy
charges which in some instances run
from one-fourth to one third of the net
profits Of the boats. Boat lines as a
rule, make lower rates than those of
rail carriers. The loss Of pro-rating
arrangements with the railroads add
ed difficulty for the river lines, for in
stead Of being able to quote thru rates,
the packet lines must now quote their
own rate to the point where they con-
meet with the railroad, and then add
the local tariff rate of the railroad
from that point to destination. This
loss OF pro-rating arrangements has
seriously affected the packet lines, and
has practically ruined the traffic in
horse shoes, cotton ties, bar iron, wire
nails, staples, ETC., in shipments to the
south and west where formerly the
river freight was heavy
Railroad Control a Factor.
"A significant feature of the report
is that dealing with railroad control
OF river traaf1ic and private canals
A number Of packet lines engaged in
business on the Mississippi and its
tributaries are mentioned as showing
traces of railroad influences" Several
private canals are also mentioned as
being dominated by railroad influences.
In this connection the report strik-
fngly shows the extent to which state
and private canals have been aband-
oned, the total mileage abandoned to
date being 2.444,26 miles, representing
a cost Appropriated at $81,171 ,374
Among the more important causes for
this wholesale abandonment of canals
are the inability of some canals to
compete with modern railroads and the
mismanagement of other canals, to-
gether with a popular impression that
such systems of public works have
done more harm than good. and, an-
ally, belief that the chief means Of
internal communication was not to be
water, but rail.
In discussing the relation of water
transportation to railroad rates, the re-
port says: ct has been claimed that
water transportation is safeguard
against exorbitant charges by railroads
thru large sections Of the country II