Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-07-16
A Merchant Marine First.

Now there comes voice out of the
South declaring that the treasury Of
the United States must not be opened
to the inland waterways promoters I'M
less an equally large stream flows for
goods roads If that principal proves
| the check on national expenditures
that it does on household disbursements
when the housewife informs the head OF
the family that everytime he buys
cigar he must put aside an equal
amount for candy, Uncle Sam will
never have another deficit and national
roadways as we'll as national water
ways will be as scarce as Havanas
and bon bons in the hOuseholder's
family
In the early history of our country,
before freight cars supplanted canal
boats and stage coaches, the United
States, as nation gave some time
and money to the building of high
ways. The railroad killed the demand
for that sort of expenditure. 1t is as
dead today as it has ever been. States
are graphing with the road problem
intelligently and in concert. No state
has perfect roads. Few states have
as good roads as Massachusetts. Maine
hasn't the worst roads to be found in
the East, either, though her population
| is spread over much greater terri
| tory than is that of Massachusetts.
Maine is giving attention to her high
ways and within few years, under
the intelligent direction of her state
highway department, will have sys-
TEN of continuous highways second to
none in America. The highway prob
lem has been assigned, by public
opinion and common consent, to the
States.
The canal and river channel ques-
ton is another proposition Uniformi-
ty of depth and width is necessary
if they are to be useful for long hauls.
Just at that point there enters into the
situation an element that has not been
satisfactorily taken care Of 1t is the
element of time. Few products moved
in bulk retain high value indefinitely.
The consumers demand for product
is qualified almost invariably by the
time in which the product can be de-
In ntrx, 10
United States this is doubly impor-
tant factor If the canals in every
state in the United States were of
uniform width and depth and if they
were joined together in a continuous
system whenever feasible and if the
channels of the inland rivers were also
made of standard" depth and width,
it is still doubtful whether they would
be a paying investment for thorough
transportation, owing to the length OF
time consumed in moving the freight
to the seaboard. 1t is the street rail-
way problem over again. In that case
it is the way traffic that pays the bills
and if the way traffic doesn't pay, the
road as a whole never will. That has
been accepted as an axiom among
investors in street railroads. The
element compared with the steam
railroads is a vital factor in both
cases.
The United States finds itself with
a fairly efficient system of steam rail-
roads built and operated by private
capital in the market for the trans
portation Of it's products from the
interior to the seaboard. To be sure
the country has grown faster than the
railroads and there have been times
when the railroads could not move all
the crops promptly, but the residue
would not support a five billion dollar
canal or waterways system, to say
nothing of returning the original in
vestment.
We cannot agree with the Atlanta
Constitution when it says:
ndiiroduS Snoulu at least, then, snare
dollar for dollar with waterways in
future federal expenditures The
practicability of the proposition is not
open to question
We must take the ground that
neither has just claim upon the
people, in national expenditures, until
some provision is made for the res
toration of an American merchant
marine.