The Dickinson press., 1910-09-24
GOOD FOR COUNTRY
IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYo
WILL pEvELoP nEsovRcEs
Of EVERY sEcTloN,
FREIGHT CARRIED cHEAPLY

Make q Direct Saving In Cost Of frame
p~ortatIon by the Water Routes, and
Indirectly eerve to Lower Railway
Carrying Rates.
The claim has been made in prev1-
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 cheably than they other.
wise would, making a saving of hun
dreds of millions of dollars a year, even
under present conditions, and indicat-
Ing a 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 tho
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 u from lake cities to
the interior, is a fact so plain that
It needs no argument to support It.
There are no more prosperous and
l ~o~Q%ohIo -~nIo In thu oos,rfpu th0YS
those that serve the region tributary
to the lakes. But n n questions
the wisdom of continuing the improve.
ment of the lakes, or Of u ocean
harbors. The real question is as to
the improvement Of u rivers, and If
we wish to study the effect Of river
improvement, either on railway reve-
nues or national development, We
must 60 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-
fc, as a natural result of the better
channel, increased ivefold. But traf-
fc on the competing railways in.
creased still more largely and the div.
idends on the main line, from Teplit7
to Aussig, rose to 16 per cent. pei
annum
Similar results followed the canali'
cation of the River Main, from May.
ence, on the Rhine, to Frankfort,
which was finished in the latter part
Of 1886. The river traffic, which
amounted to only 10000 tons In that
year, began to grow and has kept on
growing, being 1,273,000 tons in 1902.
There are two railroads between
Frankfort and Mayence, M on each
them? Did their business show a &C.
rious falling of? Or were they forced
into the hands of a receiver? On the
contrary their traffic, which vas 911,-
900 tons in 1886, also began to grow,
and by 1902 had reached 1909, 900
tons, or more than double what It was
when the railroads had a practical
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 the
tonnage vas not only o than
doubled in quantity, but greatly
raised in grade, SO that it could pay,
and did pay, a much higher rate per
ton per mile.
Fine German Waterways.
Practically all the railways of Ger
many are state owned and state oper'
ated. Out of a total of $4,000 miles,
In round numbers, only about $500
miles are operated by private com
panies. Germany also has n of the
finest systems of waterways in the
world, and a study of the balance
sheet of the German railway system
shows that the results which followed
the improvement of the River Main
are not an exception, a mere coinci
dence, but are the natural %outworkine
of a principle of general application
In the calendar year 1907, after paying
for operation, maintenance, repairs
renewals, new equipment, interest OF
bonds, contribution to the sinking
fund, and every other item which thu
most careful bookkeeping required tt
be charged up, the German railways
i. turned $164, 100000 Of absolutely ne
: revenues into the treasures Of thu
: various states. This was 5000 PEI
mile of line operated, while the CORE
: spending figure on United States rail
ways for the fiscal year 1906-7 wa.
only $1.967-a little oyer one.third q
n much. II
Much the xreater part of the tota