The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-10-07
GOOD FOR COUNTRY
IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYS
WILL DEVELOP RESOURCES
OF EVERY SECTION.
FREIGHT CARRIED cHEAPLY
Make Direct Saving In Cost Of Trans
portatlon by the Water Routes, and
Indirectly Serve to Lower Railway
Carrying Rates.

portatlon by the Water Routes, and
Indirectly Serve to Lower Railway
Carrying Rates.
The claim has been made in previ-
Gus articles-and facts and figures
given to support the claim-that wa
terways carry freight more cheaply
than the railways do or can, and that
they compel the railways to carry
freight more cheaply than they other
wise would, making saving of hun
dreds of millions of dollars year, even
under present conditions, and indicat-
ing vast increase in that saving If all
waterways should be improved. And
then the surprising assertion was
made that the surest way to enlarge
the business and increase the profits
of the railroads of the United States
is to improve the waterways Of the
United States. The best guide to the
future is the experience of the past,
so let us see what has actually hap
pened to railways when waterways
have been improved.
That the improvements in the chan
nels and harbors of the lakes have
been. of great benefit. both to the rail.
ways which parallel their shores and
to those which run from lake cities to
the interior, Is fact so plain that
it needs no argument to support 1t
There are no more prosperous and
profitable roads in the country than
those that serve the region tributary
to the lakes. But no one questions
the wisdom of continuing the improve
ment of the lakes, or of our ocean
harbors. The real question is as tc
the improvement of our rivers, and If
we wish to study the effect of rive,
Improvement, either on railway reve
nues or national development. We
must go to Europe.
Results In Bohemia.
During the fifteen years that I'm
provements were under way on the
Elbe river, In Bohemia, the river traf
fic, as a natural result of the better
channel, increased fivefold. But traf
fic on the competing railways In
creased still more largely and the div
idends on the main line, from Teplits
to Aussig, rose to 16 per cent PEI
annum.
Similar results followed the canal
cation Of the River Main, from May
ence, on the Rhine, to Frankfort
which was finished in the latter par
Of 1886. The river traffic, whic
amounted to only 10000 tons in tina
year, began to grow and has kept OF
growing, being 1.273,OO0 tcAs in 1902
There are tSo railroads between
Frankf""t and Mayence, one on eacl
side OIL the river. What happened t.
them? Did their business show a Sc
rious falling off? Or were they force
into the hands of a receiver? On t.
contrary their traffic, which was Oil,
900 tons in 1886, also began to grow
and b. 1902 had reached 10000
tons, or more than double what it wa
when the railroads had a practica
monopoly of the business of Frank
fort.
The mere statement of the In
creased tonnage does not tell the
whole truth of the matter, for tn.
tonnage was not only more tha
doubled In quantity. but great.
raised in grade, so that it could pay
and did pay. much higher rate pei
ton per mile.
Fine German Waterways.
Practically all the railways Of Ger
many are state owned and state oper
ated. Out of total of $4,000 miles
N round numbers, only about 2,50C
miles are operated by private com
panies. Germany also has one of the
finest systems Of waterways in the
world, and a study of the balance
sheet CT the German railway system
shows that the results which followed
the improvement of the River Main
are not an exception, mere coinci
dence, but are the natural outworking
of a principle of general application
In the calendar year 1907, after paying
for operation, maintenance, repairs
renewals, new equipment, interest on
bonds, contribution to the sinking
fund, and every other item which the
most careful bookkeeping required to
be charged up, the German railways
turned $164,000,000 OF absolutely net
revenues into the treasures of the
various states. This was $5,050 per
mile of line operated, while the CORE
spending figure on United States rail-
ways for the fiscal year 1906-7 was
only $1,967-a little over one-third as
much
Much the greater part of the total
revenue of the German states Is de-
rived from their railways, II cents out
of every dollar received by Prussia in
1907 being so obtained. Yet German
statesmen keep on, year after year,
spending money earned by their rail-
ways in building and improving water
ways to compete with those same rail.
ways, on which they depend as the
principal source of> national income.
In the light of the facts given above
1t will not do to say that these Ger
man statesmen do not know what they
are about. On the contrary, they are
acting. as has been we'll said, ''in fur
therance of a policy the wisdom of
which time and experience have fully
confirmed"
Always and everywhere the result
Is the same-tbe improvement of
Is a benefit to competing
railways. For this result, as fer any
other, there is a good and sufficient
reason, but it must be left for another
lime to tell what that reason 10.