The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-02-13
|OLD FATHER .KhlCKERbOCKER IS .
LOSING SUPREMACY IN TRADE

their creators to take any steps
necessary, to spend any money 4eo.
essary and to employ. any counsel
needed to give New York tr1fih
the best Of it over her more ZEN.
terprising rivals on the Atlantic
seaboard. f2F
Summed up here is the attthlhe
of the Chamber Of Commerce hi He-
wailing the business enterprise bf
other committees:
Everything is made to count
against New York. Because the
haul from Chicago and the differen.
tial territory to New York is long
er than to Baltimore and to Phil.
adelphia, it is argued and stolidly
insisted that the same should be
counted to New York's disadvan-
tage and a differential by reason
thereof established. Because New
York had better steamship lines,
more regular connections, quicker
and more reliable service, more fire.
quent sailings, the ability to reach
greater number of ports and
hence generally cheaper ocean
rates, because she has a greater
storage capacity and superior bank
ing facilities, because she has. a
greater trade which her merchants
and manufacturers have worked up
at a great labor and expense, she
must concede something to less
favored committees in order to
place them on a par.
"Her disadvantages count against
New York; her advantages are
made to equally count against her
in the judgement of the people who
determine these differentials. It
would seem to be a question of
longitude as well. The facts re-
lied upon. and successfully, to give
Philadelphia and Baltimore on the
west, differentials as competitors
with New York, do not avail to give
New York a relative advantage
over Boston on the east.
And this despite the provision OF
the Constitution of the United
States which provides that no pre-
ference shall be given by any reg
ulation of commerce revenue to the
ports of one state over those OF
another.
THE Interstate Commerce Com
| mission is body created by the
United States law, and in view OF
the provision of the United States
Constitution, just quoted, it is i'm
possible to see how they can sane
| ton determinations against the
ports of New York by Pennsyl
vania, Delaware, Maryland and Vir
ginia."
NEW CANAL WILL HELP
NV York City has been depend
ing on the completion of the new
barge canal from Buffalo to the
Hudson river to get back much lost
trade. This canal will! not be fin
ished until 1914 and the committee
which is considering the matter has
just discovered that the trade. Of
the Erie canal has been diverted to
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Nor
folk to such an extent that 1t Is
unlikely that the new canal will re.
suit in the recovery of one tenth
of it. 10
In 1880 the Erie canal between
Buffalo and the Hudson river car
ried 4,60S.361 tons, or eighteen per
cent of the total traffic eastw9itl
from that city at the end or THE
Great Lakes. In 1908 1t carried
only 2.3S5,491 tons, or less than
per cent. Commercial statistics OF
the army engineers Of the upper
Hudson river, into which all of the
Erie canal traffic is diverted, shows
a falling off in traffic of nearly rs
per cent. And this loss is all cred
tied to New York City.
The New York port facilities, as
they exist today, according to a
member of the committee that is
now investigating the matter, are
far from being equal to the present
demands. They are the outgrowth
of conditions as they existed from
thirty to fifty years ago and the
committee has already discovered,
1t is admitted, that they must be
radically revised and undermined
The New York Central Railway
has threatened that, If it is com
PEELED to remove it's tracks into
the heart of the city by way of
Eleventh avenue, it will divert
much trade from New York This
threat has stirred the city as new
er before. With total Of exceed
ing 100.0O0,000 tons of freight car
cied and with it's road so arrang-
ed that much of this traffic could
be easily diverted to Boston, Phil
adelphia or Baltimore, this threat
of the railroad company is not an
idle one and the committee Is con-