DeLand news. [volume] (DeLand, Volusia County, Fla.) 190?-1921, 1909-11-26
The One Means of Relief.

The One Means of Relief.
On October a7th the car shortag,
amounted to 10000 cars, an increase il
the short space Of two weeks from q
shortage Of $4,000 reported on oct
obcr 9TH, with the certainty Of further
decrease in the number If freight cars
4 fact which shipper and receiver must
face and fer the added cost which the
entire country must pay, The fact
that the great railway systems are plac-
ing orders for more cars gives no sign
Of present relief, nor docs the fact argue
for relief in the future II is always to
be remembered that the growth Of trade
and commerce far outstrips the efforts Of
the railways TO keep pace with it. To
believe otherwise would be to deny the
patent facts of past growth, so enormous
and so continuous, as to call from
President Hill the statement that it
would cost the railways Of the country
the expenditure Of 81, ooo. 900 900 annu-
ally for five years to come up to the
demands of trade and commerce.
1t was frank confession But it
was a confession which carries its own
refutation with it. While the railways
were engaged in their expenditure Of
$1,000, ooo,o 900 annually, the country
would be developing at a rate even
greater, and the catching up Of the
railways could be accomplished only
on the impossible condition that the
trade and commerce Of all sections OF
the United Staese should remain at a
standstill
There is but one method through
which relief from car shortages can be
had That method is in the improve
ment of the inland waterways of the
country With the inland waterways
improved. the additional facilities de-
manded by shippers by rail could be
afforded The fac. Of enormous de-
vcopmcnt, and the fact that with each
year the car shortages grow more serious
and more costly and disastrous, are the
surcst guarantee that there are freight
offerings amply sufficient in volume to
tax the capacity Of both means Of
transportation. and that the relief
which shipper and receiver demand,
would cnure to the relief Of tn. railway,
There cannot, in the nature of things,
be hostility in competition between the
river and the rail. Last year the upper
Ohio held in leash for more than six
months IS 900 900 bushels of coal which
the manufacturing interests of the
middle and lower Ohio needed and
could not have, because Of the con-
tinued low water in the Ohio At
Odgcn, in Utah, there are now 1900
tons of sugar beets awaiting the time
when the railway can handle them.
Because Of low water in the Ohio the
$4,000, 900 bushels of coal were value
less SO are the $1,000 tons of sugar
beets with the lack of value extending
to the labor that would have been en-
ployed in the factories if the coal had
been received or if the sugar bcets could
be moved
Without means OF transportation
production is waste Of time and
money. With Improvement of the
waterways production would be sitimu-
lated because of the certainty Of reach
ing market. The proposition is self
evident, but it cannot be brought to
accomplishment without the adoption
of settled policy on the part of the
Federal Government, such as the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress
advances. and such as must, eventually,
be adopted by the Congress of the
United States. The coming session of
the Congress at Washington on Dec
ember s, and 10, will outstrip it's
predecessors in the fact that it will
assemble with the knowledge that it's
platform-"A Policy; not Project
meets with the cordial approval Of all
interests, with only persistence needed
to produce the desired result.