East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-07-20
COMMISSIONER OF CORPORATIONS
ANALYZES OUR WATERWAY TRAFFIC

Washington.-Herbert Knox Smith.
commissioner OF corporations Of the
bureau Of commerce and labor. in the
second lnstallment OF his Report on
Transportation by Water in the Uni
ted States" made public today. pre-
sents an analysis OF the freight car
rying situation and suggests methods
TO be employed in apportioning to the
rivers and canals of the country their
natural and just share of traffic. Mr.,
/ Smith finds that the deplorable state
of river traffic is due to physical diff
ficuties met in waterways themselves,
especially to sedimentary deposits and
| Quotations Of level at terminals. and
I to a system of practical difficulties
met in waterways themselves, espe-
cially to sedimentary deposits and
Quotations Of level at terminals, and
TO system of practical boycott
placed by the railways Of the country
upon water-borne freight
Report on Waterways.
Commissioner smiths report in full
| follows:
Department of Commerce and La
Dor. Bureau Of Corporations, Wash
/ ington, July 19.-Sir: have the
| honor TO submit herewith part two
of the report on transportation by wa
ter in the United States. This part
discusses the freight carried by wa
ter. Part one, already published,
Additional parts, dealing with ter
minals, rates, railway relations and
control, are in course of preparation.
There are two main classes Of
| freight-GD bulk freight, usually raw
materials and of comparatively low
value; CD merchandise freight, so
called, usually in packages, Of higher
value and mainly the product Of fac
/ tories. Official statistics of water
traffic are very incomplete.
"Over 75 per cent Of our total wa
ter borne domestic traffic (eXcludng
harbor and raft traffic. consists Of
raw materials and low grade products
such as coal, iron ore, stone, sand,
Fine. phosphate, oil, cement, brick,
ice. pig iron and steel rails, lumber
lumber and naval stores, agricultural
products and bulk freight.
Bulk freight is better fitted for
water transportation because neither
swiftness nor especial care is usually
required and its points of delivery
lane usually more concent ate1. Con-
verseIy. water carriers ofte1 thus fail
TO get their corresponding share Of
hack load fom the merchandise pro-
ducts of the raw materials brought
| b. them to the factories.
"a comparison Of different trans
portation methods is enlightenng. We
have roughly, three great transpor-
tation systems-(D rail; 90 deep
water (coastwise and great lakesl;
| g. rivers and harbors.
From 1889 to 1906 there has been
| % enormous increase in rail traffic
| (2) a great increase Of great lakes
end coastwise traffic; (3) 4 decrease
on the Mississippi river system and
the inland canals, which practically
represent the third class.
Deep Water.
atlantic and Gulf Coasts Here
The through freight is very largely
bulk: chiefly coal, lumber, phosphate,
stores cotton, refined ~, sugar, rice
end fruit. The grea .ei volume moves
northward. Little coal goes south
by water. There is also an important
movement of general merchandise.
There is some use Of gulf rivers as
feeders. bringing bulk freight to CEN
tral ports.
Pacific Coast-On the Pacific
coast the principal bulk freight con-
sists of lumber moving south and oil
north; there is also considerable mer-
chandise freight. There Is q large
ira de with Alaska. The river traffic
Is relatively of much less importance.
"The Great Lakes-More than 80
per cent of this trade is bulk, with
very advanced terminal development
and very low transportation costs
This Is due to an extraordinary COM
bination OF concentrated supplies of
raw material at each ead ami cor
responding demand at IT," opposite
end Eighty per cen Of The ship
rents ard receipts Of ore, coal and
grain and grain are handled at doz-
en- ports Three fourths of the total
lake movement is eastward and south
ward-iron ore (45,000,O00 net tons
shipped in 1907, grain ad flour (5,-
coo, 900 tons), and lumber (2,700,00o
tons, of which almost 100000 tons
vas COAL almost the only item of hack
lead for the ore freighter.. Not over
s per cent of tn traffic OF the lakes
moves out of them by water into
United States territory. Domestic
shipments OF lumber and grain are
declining (although the Canadian
grain traffic is increasingly. General
merchandise freight Is about 10 per
cent of the lake traffic.
Rivers and Canals.
"Thls is the third branch Of our
transportation system. Its traffic, In
general, Is declining, especially on the
Mississippi river system and inland
canals. Up to 1856 traffic on the New
York canals, including the Erie, was
| hat Of .