River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-09-22
CANALS FOR BENEFIT
AESsoN FROM EUROPE shows
HOW WATERWAY IMPROVE
MEkT HELPS RAILROADS.
HAS A CREATIVE EFFECT
Constructor of the Manchester Ship
Canal Shown to Have Resuscitated
Many Dying Towns-Many Give
Similar Experiences.

Many Dying Towns-Many Give
Similar Experiences.
Pa previous articles 1t was shown
that the waterways carry goods more
cheaply than railways do or can and
compel the railways to carry for less
than they otherwise would, and then
the claim was made that the improve
ment of waterways is benefit to the
railways with which they compete.
Several instances were given to sup
port this claim and many more might
be given if space allowed, for the
writer, who has studied the subject for
20 years, has found many instances
of benefit, and not single instance
Of harm, to railways from the i'm
provement of waterways. 1t is now IN
order to see if we can find reason
for this rather surprising result.
Waterways, as has been said before,
produce benefits In three principal
ways-by direct saving in the cost of
transportation of goods carried by
water, indirect saving, by the lower
ing of railway rates through the COM
petition of water routes, and by what
may be called a creative effect 1t
Is this last named effect which we
are now to consider.
Manchester, England, before the con.
struction of the ship canal, was a
dying town. Hundreds OF stores and
thousands of dwellings were empty,
factories were closed-some moved
away-and population was decreasing.
With the opening of the canal all this
was changed. Factories reopened,
new ones were built, the empty houses
were refilled and thousands OF new
ones built to accommodate the popula-
ton that came pouring in. And the
benefits were not confined to Manches-
ter alone, but were distributed over
che whole great Industrial region. con-
tanning over S,000,000 people, of which
Manchester is the center. 1t was not
@nly natural, but inevitable, that the
great increase III population and pros
perity in Manchester and the surround
ing region should be reflected In the
business and the profits of the rail
ways therein.
Liverpool Also Aided.
Liverpool fought desperately to pre-
vent the building of the canal and the
establishment of the new port of Man.
chester; but instead of being injured
by the canal, the business of Liverpool
has increased faster than before. Dur
ing the IL years before the canal was
opened the increase in the harbor re-
ceipts at Liverpool was only 1910, 1000;
In the same length of time after II
was opened the increase was 81 1885,
900. The 100000 tons of traffic at
Manchester have not been stolen from
Liverpool, they haye been created by
the canal.
Frankfort, Germany, before the
River Main was improved, was not q
dying city but was decidedly stagnant.
Mannheim and Mayence on the Rhine,
which had been improved, were grow.
ing rapidly, while Frankfort was grow
ing very little. As soon as th canal.
ization of the river was finished, which
and has kept on growing ever since.
The population, which was $4,000 In
1885, has increased to $4,000 in 1895,
10 $4,000 in 1905, and is probably
more than 100000 now. Evidently the
people of Frankfort expect their city
to keep on growing, too. They spent
over 81, 100000 on a harbor when the
river was first improved and ars
hard at work right now building q
new and much larger harbor at cost
of $17,600,000 Just as in the case Of
Manchester, the benefit was not con.
fined to the city of Frankfort: the in
dustrial and commercial life of the
whole region was greatly stimulated.
Mines long closed were reopened, new
industries were started, and today
there is an almost continuous success.
sion of factories lining the banks of
the river from Frankfort to the
Rhine.
Everybody Reaps Benefit.
Hunt the world around and always
and everywhere we find that the inn
proVement of waterways sets cities to
growing, factory wheels to humming,
and commerce to moving in a wider
and swifter stream. Railroads get
more business in big cities than In
small towns, in a densely populated
manufacturing region than in one that
is thinly settled. Waterways, there
fore, benefit railWays-and states and
nations as welI-by promoting an in
crease in population, in manufactures
and in commerce. But for one who
likes to get clear down tc the bot
tom of things there still remains the
question: Why do waterways in
crease population and create COM
merce and Industry"
Consul General Mason, now in Paris,
but for some years at Frankfort, says:
German Craftsmanship was among
the first to foresee that the time
would come when, railways having
reached their maximum extension and
efficiency, there would remain vast
surplus of coarse, raw materials-coal,
ores, timber, steAe, and crude metals
which could be economically carried
long distances only by water trans
portaion, and that in fully de-
veloped national system the proper
role of railroads would be to carry
passengers and the higher classes OF