The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-09-13
MEAN LOWER RATES
EFFECT OF WATERWAY CCHSETi-
Ton Or TrE railways OF
T-E COUNTRY.
DIRECT AID INDIRECT SAVING
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II va ,,z,sl !E E rreT.o1s article
TIA, Ts,sr~sys pTotEcs ol<E cirect
snd ,Ec!-sc, savings 81 1s cot. Q:
usnspcrtz..O1 sLt slso sIsrt what
r,zy te cz.lst = creative s@sc, As
az irE,zEcs Q. TIE tiFsc, saving Il
wa skown that the 10 bll llt tolk Q,
frs!g1t handed cn re gez. lzkes
Il lsl7 were carried ;o- ~ lLt.g III
.sas thzr Il rc1!t have ccs, ~ rsiL
7. TIE cD.lion q. t1s United E,z-es
Army srgiLsers is cCrrsc,-zc1 tLis
oy,n!cn IL bsss1 g;DI yes Ia actually
sc1isye1 u rs F1TsrE q. E1TcD@-
We have l.mtsg o. rys-s q which.
when properly improved. .rs.gh, can
Be carried fcT less ,kzr n he !2kes
and many ri7sTs On -kica 4, cza oe
carried for much !sGs t1zn D. rail
r. therefore. the pan sfTocz.ad by
The National Rivers and HsEbors
congress sho1ld bs carried oGt-~h!ca
includes The improvement; O; al our
rivers u such sIteLt a. shell bs found
advisable after eIIeTt eLzm!nzton-
the direct Esyirg iI cos, {: transDorta-
tion would bs vastly !ncyeassd. II
would probably be incfessec ten'old,
but H Il were oniy doubled the direct
saving IN e single year would te more
than enough 70 rsy OF ne national
cebt
Bu, this 10 not The end o. The bene-
sx which the general Improvement OF
our waterways would bring. Il Ia only
the beginning Beside the direct cav
Ing there 10 an indirec, saving which
rssults from the effect Of waterways
On railway 'reigh; rates. for rates
are always lower on railroads which
meet water competition than on those
which DO not. The amount of this saw
ing IL not everywhere the same. owing
70 difference in conditions. but ws
can ge. q good general idea Of Il from
q study Of some sample Instances.
Freight Rs.es Affected.
Freight rates from New York 70
salt Lake or Spokane are much high
er than 10 San Francisco or Seattle.
although the distance Is much less. be-
cause goods can be carried 70 the Pa
! cifc coast by water. around Cape
Horn, while there Ia no waterway OF
any kind 70 the inland cities named.
| II ia not the ocean alone that sfects
/ railroad rates Compare the rates on
| first class merchandise 10 river towns
and inland towns situsted about $50
miles from St Louis. Towns on the
upper Mlssissippi get a rate OF 80
| cents q hundred, inland towns pay SO
cents. towns on the Ohio pay Al cents.
inland towns In the same region
pay g.
A still more striking instance, and
one showing the direct result OF wa
terway improvement. Is 70 be found
on the Columbia river. Before the
locAs at the cascades were built
freight rates on nails, and that class
OF goods. from Portland 10 The Dalles
were s6i0 per ton. AS soon as the
locks were finished and the steam
| boats could get through. the railroad
rate dropped TO two dollars per ton
/ less than one-third what It was before.
That the difference was due TO the
river Improvement Is shown by tho
fact that rates were not reduced be-
yond the point TO which the steam
boats could run. For instance, the
rate on salt in car load lots was Sl.50
per ton 70 The Dalles. and 5000 per
ton TO Umatilla-Sl.60 per ton for the
SO miles with water competition and
1870 per ton for the next 100 miles
without These rates have since been
reduced as the improvement has pro
ceeded. and when the work IL finished
and boats can run far up the Colum-
bia river and 20 Lewiston and other
point In Idaho on It's principal tribu-
tary, the Snake river. the people In
all that region will benefit not only
by tho direct saving on goods carried
by water. but also by the indirect saw.
Ing through the reduced rate on goods
carried by rail Exactly similar re-
suits would follow the radical i'm
provement OF rivers all over the United
Btates
Indirect Saving Large.
There IL. however. no possible way
OF finding out Just how much this in.
direct saving would be. Rates on some
freight would be reduced greatly. on
some freight slightly. on some. per
hsps, not at all. But We can get some
idea Of the amount OF freight which
might be Influenced In the fiscal
year ending June 30. 1907. the total
amount OF freight handled by the
railroads OF the United States was
1.7s6. .336.659 tons. Some OF this was
hauled a short distance. some a long
distance. and some was handled by
more than one road. but II was equal
10 236. sol .390.l03 tons hauled one
mile II the comprehensive improve
ment OF our waterways should mako
an average reduction OF one mill per
ton.mile-the difference In the rates
on salt given above IL 10 times ss
much. or seven cents per ton mile-it
would make a saving of over f136 400