The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-12-03
ONE MEANS OF mH.

one MEANS Of RflH.
On October 9th the car shortage
amounted to 5000 cars, an increase
IN the short space of two weeks from
shortage CT $4,000 reported on Oc-
tober 18th, with the certainty of
further decrease in the number of
cars, a fact which shipper and re-
ceiver must face and for the added
cost of which the entire country
must pay. The fact that the great
railway systems are placing orders
fol. more n gives no sign of pres
ent relief, nor does the /. fact argue
for relief in the future. It is al
ways 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 pa.
tent facts of past growth, SO enor
nous and SO continuous, as to call
from President Hill the statement
that it would cost the railways of the
country the expenditure of $1,000
100000 annually for five years to
come up to the demands of trade
and oommarca
It was a frank confession. But it
was a confession which carries its
own refutation with it. While the
railways were engaged in their ex-
penditure of $1,000, 900, 900 annual
ly, the country would be developing
at a rate eve greater, and the catch
ing up of the railways could be ac-
complished only on the impossible
condition that the trade and COM
merce af all sections of the United
States should remain at a standstill.
There is but one method through
which relief from car shortages can
be had. With the inland waterways
improved, the additional facilities
demanded by shippers by rail could
be afforded. The fact of enormous
development, and the fact that with
each year the car shortages grow
more serious and more costly and
disastrous, are the surest guarantee
that there are freight offerings am
ply sufficient in volume to tax the
capacity of both means of transpor-
tation, and that the relief with ship
per and receiver demand, would en-
ure to the relief of the 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 l5,OOO,-
900 bushels of coal with the manu-
featuring interests of the middle and
lower Ohio needed and could not
have, because of the continued low
water in the Ohio. At Ogden, in
Utah, there are $4,000 tons of sugar
beets awaiting the time when the
railroads can handle them. Because
of the low water in the Ohio the
Is, 600, OOO, 900 bushels of coal were
valueless. So are the 5000 tons
of sugar beets, with the lack of value
extending to the labor that would
have been employed in the factories
if the coal had been received or il
the sugar beets could be moved.
Without means of transportation,
production is a waste of time and
money. With improvement of the
waterways production would be
stimulated because of the certainty
of reaching a market. The PROPOSE.
ton is self evident, but it cannot be
brought to accomplishment without
the adoption of settled policy OF
the part of the Federal Government
such as the National Rivers and Har'
bors Congress advances, and such a.
must, eventually, be adopted by the
Congress of the United States. Tht
coming session of the Congress a
Washington on December s, 9 ane
l will outstrip its predecessors il
the fact that it will assemble will
the knowledge that its platform
"a Policy; not a Project'-meet'
with the cordial approval of all in
t~erests, with only persistence need
ed to produce the desired result.
President Taft's Thanksgiving
turkey weighes 50 pounds. Will
turkey selling at thirty cents
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