The Red Cloud chief., 1910-09-22
saving IF G..LLI3HS
WHAT COMPARTMENTS 6Y3T-M
OF WhTERWhY5 IMPROVE.
MENT MEANs TO FAgMEE3.
FIGURES TO SUPPORT FACTS
On Shipments Of Grain Alone the d.
rect Return Would Mean 100000
900, and Proportionately All other
Products Would Sc Affected.

~SNf N''~ SFS S''NN~
Products Would Sc Affected.
In a former article we gave facts and
figures to prove that, if the compre.
hcusive plan of waterway improve.
ment advocated by the National Riv-
crs and liarbors congress were car
ried out, the direct return to the farm
Crs of the country. on the single item
of grain, would certainly be 500, 000,-
900 a year-and probably would be
more than twice that sum
But grain is not the only item on
which the farmers would receive a
benefit. The fact Is that for the farm.
ers-and everybody else, for that mat.
ter-the cost OF transportation inhu-
ences practically everything he buys,
sells, eats, wears or uses In any way
whatever, except water. air and sun
shine. The average man Is inclined to
laugh when told that he pays out more
for transportation than he does for
taxes or because of the tariff-but his
laughter does not alter the fact in the
least.
There are three principal methods
Of transportation, the ~wagonway, the
railway and the waterway, and there
is so great a difference In the cost of
transportation by these different meth
DDS that It is worth while to study the
matter a little. The experts Of the
good roads bureau estimate the cost
of hauling a ton of freight one mile
by horse and wagon on the average
road In the United States at 25 cents.
The cost on a thoroughly good. smooth
road might be reduced to 10 cents.
Poor's Manual gives 1882 mills per ton
mile as the average price received by
the railways In 1907. while the oficial
records kept at the 500 show that the
average rate on the freight carried
into and out of Lake Superior In the
same year WAS only 8 OF n mill.
Facts In q Nutshell.
You can better understand what
these figures meal II they are stated
In another way. They mean hat IL
you have a dollar to spend in shipping
a ton OF freight you can send 1t 4
miles on an average road. 10 miles on
| a hISttidob IOduy lGt ~ liz oh u ioil-
road. and 1850 miles on a lake vessel.
II Is very easy to see that good
roads are a lot better han poor roads
but that transportation by horse and
wagon is too costly at the best to be
used except for small loads and short
distances. SO far as interstate traffic
is concerned the wagon road must be
4 la. H., --A - anys1A.-Nsz. IL
is just as easy TO see what a great
benefit would result from the building
OF a railway into a region where there
was none before, and that a still
greater benefit would result from so
improving a river that 1t Is made
dependably navigable when 1t vas not
so before.
Waterways increase prosperity ip
three principal, ways, viz; direct say
Ing, indirect saving. and by what may
be called a creative effect. The direct
saving Is that which occurs on goods
actually carried by water. and some
facts which indicate how great this di
rect saving Is. will also make more
plain the vast difference between the
cost OF transportation by rail and b,
water.
Through the 500 canal at the out
let OF Lake Superior there were car
ried In 1907, 49, 17 PA tons Of freight
This was carried an average distanc'
OF S2S.3 miles at an average cost o
s. of one mill per ton-mile. IL thi!
had been shipped by rail at the aver
age railway rate for that year as.
Mills, its transportation would hav'
cost $33S, G33,3G+ more than was pai'
for its carriage by water.
The total freight carried on al
! lakes that year was, in round mum
bers, 100, O0O, 900 tons. This vast ton
D mage was carried for $3.50, 900, 600 les.
T. than 1t would have cost to send 1t b,
rail, and the improvements, which pre-
4, duce a saving large enough to pay OF
> the national debt In less than tw'
years, cost only $S5, 000. 900.
Proof Of Good Results.
Wouldn't you call that a pretty fal
dividend on the Investment? And don
you think II would pay to improve a
our waterways as fast and as far a
we can?
But" says some one, what reaso
, Is there TO suppose that improved ri'
ers would give anything like as goo
> results as have been obtained on tn
r lakes?" That is a proper question an
is entitled to an answer.
The only waterway in this countr
which has been improved as a Who'll
, is composed of he o u lakes aboV
, Niagara Falls, but there are many In
proved rivers in Europe. From a car
. full study of the results obtained o
: these rivers the army engineers est
, mate that when the Improvement {
: the Ohio river is finished, freight ca
> be carried thereon for one-hal mi
; per ton-mile. That means that tn
o dollar which will carry a ton 1877
:. miles by rail and 1880 miles by lax