The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1910-09-03
CANALS FOR BENEFIT FREIGHT BY WATE
LESSON FROM EUROPE SHOWS
HOW WATERWAY IMPROVE
MENT HELPS RAILROADS.
HAS A CREATE EFFECT
Construction Of the Manc ,ster Ship
Canal Shown to Have -Resusoi.ated
Many Dying Towns-Many Give
Similar Experiences.

s -s'H 10y
Similar Experiences.
In previous articles It 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 a 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
% years, has found many instances
Of benefit. and not a single instance
Of harm. to railways from the i'm
provement Of waterways. It is now in
order to see If We can find a 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. Factoriess ~reopened,
new mes were built, the empty houses
we're reflled 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
the whole great Industrial region, con.
tanning over S,OOO,O 900 people, of which
Manchester is the center. 1t was not
only natural, but inevitable, that the
great increase in 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 13 years before the canal was
, opened the increase in the harbor re
, ceipts at Liverpool was only 1910, 600
o in the same length of time after /
was opened the increase was 1885,
! 600. The 5000 900 tons of traffic a
a Manchester have not been stolen from
Liverpool, they have been created b!
the canal.
Frankfort, Germany, before the
River Main was improved, was not &
| 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 the canal
ization Of the river was finished, which
was in 1885, the city began to grow
= and has kept on growing ever since
The population, which was 154, 900 II
1885, has increased to 229, 900 In 1895
to $4,000 in 1905, and is probably
more than 400, 900 now. Evidently the
people of Frankfort expect their city
to keep on growing, too. They spen.
over 81, 500, 900 on a harbor when tn,
= river was first improved and arr
y hard at work right now building {;
new and much larger harbor at a COS.
& Of $17, 500, 900. Just as in the case o
e Manchester, the benefit was not con
7 fined to the city Of Frankfort; the in
j dustrial and commercial life Of tn,
: whole region vas greatly stimulated
= Mines long closed we're reOpened, new
industries we're started, and TO-DAY
: there is an almost continuous success
sion Of factories lining the banks o
the river from Frankfort to th'
> Rhine.
= Everybody Resps Benefit.
! Hunt the world around and always
n and everywhere we find that the i'm
provement Of waterways sets cities t
Z growing, factory wheels 10 humming
and commerce to moving in a wide.
, and swifter stream. Railroads re
more business in big cities than IL
l. small towns, in a densely populated
. manufacturing region than In enc tina
. Is thinly settled. Waterways, there
fore, benefit rAilWays-and states AnC
i nations IS Well-by promoting an in
crsas in population, In manufacture
: and In commerce.. But for one whit
! likes to get clear down to the bot
/, tom Of things there still remains tn,
!, question: Why do waterways IN
! CREASE population and create cen
merce and Industry"
|. Consul General Mason, now In PSri.
o but for soma years at Frankfort, says
German statesmRnship was amonI
Q the Arst to foresse that the tim,
? would come whsn, railways having
- raachad tbair nawfnnm aVtanpgOn an,