Hermanner Volksblatt. [volume] (Hermann, Mo.) 1875-1928, 1910-10-28
mean [OWER HATES
EFFECT OF WATERWAY COMPETE
TON ON THE RAILWAYS OF
THE COUNTRY.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SAVING

Conservative Estimate Is That In a
Single Year It Would Be Moro Than
Enough to Discharge the Entire Ma
tlonal Debt.
It was stated in a previous article
that waterways produce both direct
and indirect savings in the cost OF
transportation and also exert what
may be called a creative effect. An
an instance of the direct saving 1t
was shown that the 1oO,0 oo, 900 tons Of
freight handled on the great lakes
in 1907 were carried for 5000, 600, 900
less than 1t would have cost by rail.
II the opinion Of the United States
army engineers is >correct-and this
opinion Is based upon results actually
achieved on the rivers Of Europe
we have q number of rivers on which,
when properly improved, freight q
be carried for less than on the lakes
and many rivers on which It a be
carried for much less than by rail.
II, therefore, the plan advocated by
the National Rivers and Harbors
congress should be carried out-which
includes the improvement OF all u
rivers to such extent as shall be found
advisable after expert examination
the direct saving in cost of t~ransporta-
tion would be vastly increased. 1t
would probably be increased tenfold,
but II 1t we're only doubled h direct
saving In a Single year would be more
than enough to pay on the nationai
debt.
But this is not the end Of the bcne-
fits which the general Improvement Oh
u waterways would bring. 1t Is only
the beginning. Beside the direct saw
| ing there Is IN indirect saving which
results from the effect OF waterways
on railway freight rates. for rates
are always lower on railroads VIII J
meet water competition than on those
which do not. The amount of this say
irg is not everywhere the same, owing
TO difference in conditions, but we
can get a good general idea OF 1t from
q study Of some sample instances.
Freight Rates Affected.
Freight rates from New York u
Salt Lake or Spokane are much high
er tina to San Francisco or Seattle
although the distance Is much less, be
cause goods can be carried to the ia
cifc coast by water, around Cap
Horn, while there is NO waterway 0
any kind to the inland cities named
II is not the ocean alone that AFFECT
railroad rates. Compare the rates o.
frst class merchandise to river town
and inland towns situated about 20
miles from St. Louis. Towns on tn
upper Mississippi get a rate OF y
cents q hundred, inland towns pay 9
cents; towns on the Ohio pay Al cent
inland towns In the same regio
, pay 81.
A still more striking instance. Al
, n showing the direct result OF w
' ,terway Improvement, Is to be four
, on the Columbia river. Before Il
, locks at the cascades were bull
| freight rates on nails, and that cla'
I of goods, from Portland to The Dale
we're $6.4o per ton. AS soon as Il
locks were finished and the steaI
boats could get through, the railros
, rate dropped to two dollars perto
less than one-third what 1t was befor
That the difference was due to Il
river Improvement is shown by Il
fact that rates were not reduced D
4 yond the point to which the steal
Z boats could run, For instance, "a
q ratio on salt In car load lots was ST.
. per ton to The Dalles, and 5000 p
: ton to Umatilla--s1.50 per ton for II
y ss miles with water competition al
$3.50 per ton for the next 100 mil
e without. These rates have since bee
reduced as the improvement has pI
/ ceeded, and when the work is finisht
and boats can run far up the Colul
y bia river and to Lewiston and 9th
s point In Idaho on its principal trlb
: tary. the Snake river, the people
I" all that region will benefit not on
i by the direct saving on goods carrii
n by water, but also by the indirect So
te ing through the reduced rate on goe
/. carried by rail. Exactly similar
suits would follow the radical !
proyement of rivers all over the Unit
- States.
l. Indirect Saving Large.
l. There Is, however, no possible W
of finding out Just how much this
/. direct saving would be. Rates on sol
nj freight would be reduced greatly,
G. some freight slightly, on some, p
n haps, not at all. But we can get sol
q idea Of the amount Of freight viii
:. might be influenced. In the fs'
= yea ending June 80, 1907 the to-
Y amount Of freight handled by t
IL railroads OF the United States "
G. 1895, 336,659 tons. Some OF this W
Is hauled a short distance. some a 10
distance, and some was handled
more than one road. but 1t was eQt