The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1910-09-09
ALL ARE CONCERNED
IMPROVEMENT OF NATIONS WA
TERWAYS OF INTEREST TO
EVERY CITIZEN.
VITAL FACTS ARE PRESENTED
Cost of Getting Grain to Market Mate
rally Reduced Through Shipment
by Water-Benefits Distributed All
Over the Country.

YOU may not know it-you probably
don't-but it is a matter of importance
to you whether the waterways Of the
United States are improved or not
and this Is true no matter who you
are, what your business is, or what
part of the country you live in. 1t
may be that you are a farmer and you
tel. me that it is nonsense to say
that it can make any difference to
you whether the waterways of the
| country are improved or not, because
you live away out west, miles away
frrr1 any river which Is navigable now
o. ever will be.
Well, l admit that it is not as easy
t. see as the grain elevator down at
POUR railway station, but the benefit
rs there just the same-a real, sure
enough, dollars-and-cents benefit. Wa
terways have already been of tremen-
dous advantage to the farmers of the
country and their further improve
ment will put more money into your
pockets and those of you ~neighbors.
Take grain for an illustration. A
large part of the grain raised in the
country is shipped away from the
place where it is grown, some for use
in the eastern states and some for ex-
pert to Europe. Under these condi'
items the price of grain is not fixed
at the nearest railway station. Your
WI eat, for instance, is worth just what
it kill bring in Liverpool-less the
cos, of getting it there. You can see
at Gnce that it makes a whole lot of
difference to you htSy much it costs
to send your grain to New York or
Liverpool-and there's where the
water way comes in.
Where Economy Comes In.
In 1898 the average cost of carrying
wheat from Chicago to Buffalo by lake
YVES one cent a bushei, while the cost
by rail To New York was III cents
alnost twelve times as much, although
the distance is the same. But grain
which is to- go all the Way by water
must be transferred to canal boats at
Buffalo. Little canal boats drawn by
iAules cannot carry stuff as cheaply
as big ships driven by steam, SO the
through rate by water was six cents
u bushel, a little over half as much
Us by rail. For the twenty years end
iag with 1908 the water rate, on the
acreage, was lower than the rail rate
by 60 cents a bushel. On the ship
nlents from Lake Superior the differ
euce was greater still, since Duluth Is
less &han 100 miles farther from New
York han Chicago Is by water and
.u-a.lr enn vcsI>u g. khnr hu ro}1 hyYf
no com oarative rates are published.
The beneficial effects of the water
way, through lowered cost of transpor-
tation, are not confined to the grain
shipped from cities on the lakes, but
extend to practically all the grain
produced. The total production of
the five principal cereals-wheat,
corn, oats, barley and rye-during the
past 40 years, was over 120, 000, 000, 900
bushels. If the average addition to
| the value of this vast volume of grain
i, was FIVE cents a bushei, and that
seems a moderate figure in view OF
the facts stated above, the total Is
; more than S. 600, 000, 00O-nearly all OF
: which has gone into the pockets of tbs
: farmers.
I But while the beneficial effect Of the
waterways extends to a surprising dis
q lance, a waterway close by exerts a
t very much more direct and powerful
influence thar n a long way of. II
the Great Lakes and the Erie canal
nave increased the value of grain all
over the west, what do you suppose
/, would happen If the Mississippi, Mis-
souri,, Arkansas and Red rivers were
| SO improved that boats could run ev-
2 cry day in the year unless hindered
by ice?
! Money Needed for Work.
The National Rivers and Harbors
i congress is working for the improve
0 ment of the rivers. harbors and water
I ways in all parts of the United States.
Chairman Alexander Of the rivers and
harbors committee, says that 1898, 900,
900 will complete every project which
has been begun or has been econ
mended by the army engineers. Five
hundred million dollars would prob
+: ably finish up all of these and all the
new projects which will be surveyed
and adopted within the next few years
The average annual production o.
the five principal cereals, which dur
y ing the last ten years has been 4.l51.
l. OOO, 600 bushels, has been steadily in
creasing and will probably continue
to increase for some time to come.
The complete improvement of al
our waterways would Increase the
!, value of every bushel of grain pro
duced by at least five cents-my owl
opinion is that 1t would be more thar
= that.
But let us be on the safe side. Sup
pose we spend a billion dollars or
waterways instead OF a half-billion
-. SUP Sc that the production of grail
. remains as it Is instead of increasing
and suppose that h price of grain Is
increased only 21z cents a bushel In
stead of FIVE.