The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1910-10-13
CANALS FOR BENEFIT
LESSON FROM EUROPE SHOWS
HOW WATERWAY IMPROVE
MENr HELPS RAILROADS.
HAS A CREATIVE EFFECT
Construction Of the Manchester sS'7
Canal Shown to Have Resuscitated
Many Dyirg Towns--Many Give
Similar Experiences.

many lying toWHs-"~"y 49,
Similar Experiences.
In previous articles 1t was shown
that the waterways carry goods more
| cheaply than railways do or can aud
| compel the railways to carry for less
than they otherwise would, and then
| the claim was made that the improve
ment of waterways is benefit TO the
railways with which they compete.
Several instances were given to sup
port this cain and many more might
| be given Il space allowed, for the
writer, who has studied the subject TO-.
rs years, has found many instances
of benefit, and not single instaece
of harm, to railways from the i'm
| provement Of waterways. 1t is now in
order to see If we can find reason
for this rather surprising result.
Waterways, as has been said before,
produce benefits in three principal
ways--by erect saving in the cost OF
transportation ri 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 creative effect 1t
| Is this last named effect which we
are now 10 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 ones were built, the empty houses
were reiilled 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 100000 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 tho
business and the profits of the raiA
ways therein.
Liverpool Also Aided.
Liverpool fought desperately to pre-
vent the building OF the canal and the
establishment OF tbs 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 900;
in the same length of time after it
was opened the increase was $1,365,-
600. The 100000 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 STOW
Ing rapidly v hi1e Franz ort was groN-
ing very ,ltie. AS sCon - the canal
ization OF the river Was nnished, when
was In 1886, the city began to grow
| and has kept on growing ever since.
| The population, which was 154, 900 In
1885, has increased to 229, 900 In 1895,
| to $4,000 in 1905, and is probably
more than 10000 now Evidently the
people of Frankfort expect their city
| to keep on growing, too. They spent
over $1,500,000 on harbor when the
river was first improved and are
hard at work right now building a
| new and much larger harbor at cost
OF SIT 100000 Just as In the case of
Manchester, the benefit was not con.
fined to the city of Frankfort; the in.
dustrial and commercial life of the
whole region was greatly stimulated.
Mines long closed were reopened, new
industries were started, and today
! there is an almost continuous success
sion OF factories lining the banks OF
| the river from Frankfort to the
Rhine.
Everybody Reaps Benefit.
Hunt the world around and always
and everywhere we find that the i'm.
proyement of waterways sets cities to
| growing, factory wheels to humming
and commerce to moving in a wider
and swifter stream. Railroads get
more business in big cities than in
small towns, in a densely populated
manufacturing region than in one that
is thinly settled. Waterways, there.
tore, benefit raiiways-and states and
nations as well-by promoting an In.
crease in population, in manufactures
and in commerce. But for one who
likes to get clear down to the bot
tom of things there still remains the
question: Why DO waterways in
crease population and create COM
merce and industry
Consul General Mason. now in Paris.
but for some years at Frankfort, says:
German statesmanship was among
the first to foresee that the time
would come when, railways having
reached their maximum extension and
efficiency, there would remain a vast
surplus of coarse, raw materials-coal,
ores, timber. stone, and crude metals
which could be economically carried
long distances only by water trans
DOrtation and that in q P,,il. ID