Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1910-09-22
CANALS SHOW
Up BENEFITS
LESSON MAY 49, LEARNED FROM
EUROPE
has A CREATIVE EFFECT
Construction Of the Manchester Nhii
canal shown "a Have hr~nsci-
tatcd Many Dying Towns

lntcd Many Dying Towns
II has been shown thar the water
WAYS carry goods moro chouply than
rnilwaya do or can ana compel the
rnllwuys tu carry for less than they
Otherwise would uud thon the claim
Was made that the improvement of
waterways Us q benefit 10 the rail-
ways with which they compete. SrN-
tral Instances were given Iu support
This claim ana many more might Dee
rivou If space allowed Tor the writer
who has studied the subject for 20
Nears. has found many Instances ul
bpueht. ANA not "a single Instance ul
harm. ~ railways from the improve
ment Of waterways 10 is now ln
order to see II we can hnd reason
for this rather urprsInp result
waterways. us has been said be
fore. produce benefits I'm three prln.
clpal ways by direct saving ln the
cost Of transportation of goods ear
ried by water, indirect saving 10y The
lowering of railways rates through the
competition Of water routes, ana by
what may be- called creative effect
II Is this last named effect which we
are now lo consider
Manchester. England, before the
construction Of the ship canal was
"A diving town Hundreds Of stores
and thousands of dwellings We're
empty factories were closed d--sOmc
moved nway-and population was de-
creasing with the opening Of the
canal an this was changed Fac
tories reopcnod, new ones were built
the empty houses We're relillcd ana
thousands Of new ones built 10 ac-.
commodate the population that came
pouring in And the benefits were
not confined To- Manchester alone
but were distributed over he whole
great industrial region, cOntaiung
over 100000 people, Of which Man
chester Is the center. II was not
only natural but inevitable, that The
great increase In population and pros
perity in Manchester and the sur
rounding region should bee reflected
In the business and the profits Of
the railways therein,
Liverpool fought desperately To pre-
vent the building of the canal and
the establishment of the new port of
injured by the canal the business of
Liverpool has increased faster than
before. During the - years before
the canal was opened the increase
In the harbor receipts at Liverpool
was only $4,000; in the same length
of time after II was opened the in
crease was $l,3G5,000, The G.O0O,-
GOO tons of traffic at Manchester have
not been stolen from Liverpool they
have been created by the canal
Frankfort Germany before the
River Main was improved, was not "a
dying city but was decidedly stagnant
Mannheim and Mayence on the Rhine
which had been improved, were grow
ing rapidly while Frankfort was
growing very little As soon as the
canalization of the river was finished
which was In 1866, the city began to
grow and has kept on growing ever
since. The population, which was
l5i,000 In 1885, has Increased To
229, coo In 1895, to $4,000 In l9Oh
and Is probably more than 100000
now. Evidently the people of Frank
fort expect their city To Keep ON grow
ing, too They spent over Sl5O0,O 600
on harbor when the river was first
improved and are hard at work ght
now and much larger at "a cost of
$4,000, 600 Just MS In the case OF
Manchester, the benefit was not con
fined to the city of Frankfort; the in
dustrlal and commercial life of the
whole region was greatly stimulated,
Mines long closed were reopencd, new
industries were started, and today
there il an almost continuous success
sion of factories lining the banks Of
the river from Frankfort tu the
Rhine.
Hunt the world around and always
and everywhere we find that the i'm
provemeut of waterways sets cities
to growing, factory wheels To hum
ming, and commerce q moving In
a wider and swifter stream, Rail
roads get more business in big cities
than In small towns, In a dousclN pop
ulated manufacturing region than In
one that is thinly settled. Waterways.
therefore, benefit railWays-and
states and nations as Well-by pro-
noting an increase In population In
manufactures and in commerce But
for one who likes to get clear down 10
the bottom of things there still re
mains the question: "Why do water
ways increase population and create
commerce ana industry
Consul General Mason, now In
Paris, but FOR some years at Frank
tort. says,
German statesmanship was among
the first 10 toresee that the time
would come when. railways having
reached the maximum extension and
efficiency, there would remain vast
surplus of coarse, raw materials
coal ores timber stone, and crude
which could bc economically
carried long distances only 10y water
la
developed national system the proper
role of railroads would hc to carry
passengers and the higher classes of
merchandise manufactured from the
raw staples that the WATERWAYS had
brought TO their doors