The Cairo bulletin., 1909-11-23
PLAN OF BIG CORPORATION TO
RE.ESTABLiSH RIVER TRAF-
FIG OUTLINED.
PRESIDENT TAFT'S HINT
Followed in Plan Proposed to be Car
ried Out--Wm. E.. Curtis Gives
Important Facts Concern
ing Great Project.
(Chicago Record.Herald)


his speeches during the recent voy
age down the Mississippi river. What
impressed him and the 1T members
of Congress who accompanied him
on that memorable ODYSSEY was the
lack of boats, the lack of landings and
the absence of conveniences for load
ing and unloading even at st. Louis
Memphis, Vicksburg and other large
cities upon the banks of the father
of waters. Mr.. Dickinson proposed
that the federal government, having
expended $20S, 100000 to make the
Mississippi navigable, might go a lit
tie farther and provide all of these
things, but the suggestion did not re
ceiye much favor, and the president
in his speech at New Orleans said:
1.-THE Secretary of War yesterday
ggested-although he is as far from
being government ownership man
as possible--that perhaps it would be
well to let the government expert
ment little bit in risking some CAPT
tai to put a few lines on the river to
see whether something cannot be
done with that business. In Kansas
City they are investing money today
to try it ON the Missouri river. And
the question whether We can mee-
the point that you have got to have
some means of gathering the freight
and getting it onto the boats in or
der to compete with the railroads
may give rise to the suggestion that
the government might establish sta
tions along the river for the purpose
of housing the merchandise TO be
sent by river boats. All these sug-
gestions will have to be worked out
be fore we can reach satisfactory
conclusion.
The deep waterway men have TAX
en- the hint and w. X. Kavanaugh,
president. OF the Lakes-to-the-Gulf
Deep Waterway Association has or
ganized the Mississippi River Trans
portation Company with headquarters
in the Bank of Commerce Building,
st. Louis, where subscriptions for
stock in the new enterprise are being
received.
Whenever President Taft was ask
ed for an explanation of the decay of
commerce on the Mississippi it was
explained that the chief reasons
were:
|. There are no facilities for hand
ling freight at the river landings such
as are provided by the railroads,
which more than offsets the differ
ence xn the cost of transportation, At
every railroad station is platform
as high as wagon, so that q bale OF
cotton can be rolled off in an instant
with twist of the wrist. The plat.
form opens into a warehouse, where
there is a compressor, which will re-
duce the bulk of the bale and the size
of the freight bill by the turning of a
screw. and on the other side of the
warehouse is another platform over
which the cotton can be tumhled into
the door of a freight car with very
little effort and no expense. On the
other hand, when cotton is taken te
a river landing it has to be dumped
on the ground, often muddy, without
shelter, and exposed to the weather,
to await the arrival OF boat. There
is no compress, no platform, no ware
house and when the boat comes along
the bale has to be 'toted" up the
gang plank and slowed away on the
deck.
2. All cotton sent by boat must be
insured. and the rates are high
g. The uncertainty as to the time
the cargo will reach its destination
places the owners at disadvantage
over those who ship by rail when
prices are fluetuating in the cotton
market
4. A planter who ships by rail can
get his money on his bill of lading,
while man who ships by boat is I'M
able to do so.
These are some of the reasons the
President and the congressman heard
in explanation of the lack of traffic
on the Mississippi But they were as.
sured everywhere that If boats and
there would be no difficulty in get.
ting freight in competition with the
railroads.
Hence the Mississippi Valley Trans.
portation Company has been organ.
lied, and w. j. McGee, who was sec
rotary of the Water Ways Associa.
ton, tells me that the chief points In
the enterprise are these:
Il. The capital is s10000,000, or
enough to protect the company from
that cheerful piracy under which 9TH
er boat companies have gone down.
"2. The vessels are to be of three
classes "a steel barges of modern
type and construction, adapted to box
ing in lows and TO loading down to
drafts adjusted to variable stages Of
water; ca modern steel steamers
adapted to propulsion. designed to
move the tows which at good stages
in the Ohio and Mississippi may cas-.
lily reach $4,000 to 100000 tons Ii. e..
the equivalent Of some 200 freight
trainsl and tS9 weIl-built and speedy
passenger boats designed to afford
passengers all the comforts of mod
ern hotel at rates adjusted to modern
conditions, !. e., in other words. tC
revive that luxurious and refined
travel which marked the advent oil
the river packets on the Mississippi
three-quarters of a century ago. The
boat types are already designed. and
contracts for building barges and pro
pRllers have been negotiated.
urbtla the invaefpnaut II, hos .