River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-09-22
MEAN LOVER RATES
EFFECT OF WATERWAY COMPETE
TON ON THE RAILWAYS Or
THE COUNTRY.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SaW".i
Conservative Estimate Is That In
Single Year 1t Would Be More Than
Enough to Discharge the Entire Ma
tional Debt.

that waterways produce both direct
and indirect savings in the cost of
transportation and also exert what
may be called a creative effect. AS
an instance of the direct saving it
was shown that the 100 200, 600 tons of
freight handled on the great lakes
in 1907 were carried for $3.50, 100000
less than 1t would have cost by rail.
If 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 a number of rivers on which,
when properly improved. freight can
be carried for less than on the lakes
and many rivers on which 1t can be
carried for much less than by rail.
If, therefore, the plan advocated by
the National Rivers and Harbors
congress should be carried out-which
includes the Improvement of all our
rivers to such extent as shall be found
advisable after expert examination
the direct saving in cost of transporta-
ton would be vastly increased. 1t
would probably be increased tenfold,
hut If 1t were only doubled the direct
saving in a single year would be more
than enough to pay off the national
debt
But this is not the end of the bene-
fits which the general Improvement of
our waterways would bring, 1t Is only
the beginning. Beside the erect saw
ing there is an indirect saving which
results from the effect Of waterways
on railway freight rates, for rates
are always lower on railroads which
meet water competition than on those
which do not The amount of this saw
ing is not everywhere the same, owing
to difference in conditions, but we
can get a good general idea of it from
a study of some sample instances.
Freight Rates Affected.
Freight rates from New York to
Salt Lake or Spokane are much high
er than to San Francisco or Seattle,
although the distance Is much less, be-
cause goods can be carried to the Pa
cific coast by water, around Cape /
Horn while there is no waterway of
any kind to the inland cities named.
1t is not the ocean alone that affects
railroad rates. Compare the rates on
first class merchandise to river towns
and inland towns situated about ESQ
miles from St. Louis. Towns on the
upper Mississippi get q rate of 33
cents a hundred, inland towns pay GO
cents; towns on the Ohio pay Al cents.
inland towns in the same region
pay 81.
A still more striking instance, and
one showing the direct result OF wa
terway Improvement, is to be found
on the Columbia river. Before the
locks at the cascades were built
freight rates on nails, and that class
of goods, from Portland to The Dalles
were $6.40 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 the
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 $3.50
per ton to The Dalles, and 5000 per
ton to Umatilla-S1.5 per ton for the
SS miles with water competition and
$50 per ton for the next 100 miles
without. These rates have since been
reduced as the improvement has pro-
ceeded, and when the work is finished
and boats can run far up the Column
bia river and to Lewiston and other
point in Idaho on its principal tribu-
tary. the Snake river, the people in
all that region will benefit not only
by the 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
States.
Indirect Saving Larges
There is, 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-
haps, not at ALL But we can get some
idea of the amount of freight which
might be influenced. In the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1907, the total
amount of freight handled by the
railroads of the United States was
1,796, 936,659 tons. Some of this was
hauled short distance, some long
distance, and some was handled by
more than one road, but it was equal
to 36,601. 390,103 tons hauled one
mile. If the comprehensive improve
ment of our waterways should make
an average reduction of one mill per
ton-mile-the difference in the rates
on salt given above is 20 times as
much, or seven cents per ton mile--it
would make a saving of over 1926, $780,
600 on the value of business handled
in the fiscal year.
At first glance, 1t looks as If that
would mean disaster to the railways,
but that is the exact opposite of the
truth. Strange as it may seem, the
surest and speediest way to enlarge
the business and increase the profits
of the railways Of the United States
is to improve the waterways of the
United States.