The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1910-09-23
mean LOWER RATES
EFFECT OF WATERWAY COMPETE
TON ON THE RAILWAYS OF
THE COUNTRY.
DIRECT AND INDIRECT SAVING
Conservative Estimate Is That in
Single Year 1t Would Be More Than
Enough to Discharge the Entire Ma
tfonal Debt.

Single Year 1t Would Be More Than
Enough to Discharge the Entire Ma.
tfonal Debt.
1t was stated in a previous article
that waterways produce both direct
and indirect savings in the cost of
transportation and also exert what
may be called a creative effect. As
an instance of the direct saving 1t
was shown that the 100000 tons Of
freight handled on the great lakes
in 1907 were carried for $550000,000
less than it would have cost by rail.
If the opinion of the United States
army engineers is correct-and this
opinion is based upon results actually
achieved on the rivers of Europe
we have number of rivers on which.
when properly improved, freight can
be carried for less than on the lakes
and many rivers on which 1t can be
carried for much less than by rail.
If, therefore, the plan advocated by
the National Rivers and Harbors
congress should be carried out-which
includes the improvement Of all our
rivers to such extent as shall be found
advisable after expert examination
the direct saving in cost of transporta-
ton would be vastly increased. 1t
would probably be increased tenfold,
but if it were only doubled the direct
saving in a single year would be more
than enough to pay off the national
debt.
MT Is iC ~ n a.
fits which the general Improvement Of
our waterways would bring, 1t is only
| the beginning. Beside the direct saw
| ing there is an indirect saving which
results from the effect of waterways
/ on railway freight rates, for rates
are always lower on railroads which
meet water competition than on those
which do not. The amount of this saw
ing is not everywhere the same, owing
to difference in conditions, but we
can get a good general idea OF it from
a study of some sample instances.
Freight Rates Affected.
Freight rates from New York to
Salt Lake or Spokane are much high
er than to San Francisco or Seattle.
although the distance is much less, be-
cause goods can be carried to the Pa
cific coast by water, around Cape
Horn, while there is no waterway OF
any kind to the inland cities named
1t is not the ocean alone that affects
railroad rates. Compare the rates on
first class merchandise to river towns
and inland towns situated about 25(
miles from st. Louis. Towns on the
upper Mississippi get rate of 3;
cents a hundred, inland towns pay 6;
: cents; towns on the Ohio pay Al cents
inland towns In the same regioI
pay 81. -=.;
A still more striking instance, and
one showing the direct result of wa
terway improvement, Is to be fount
on the Columbia river. Before The
locks at the cascades were bull
freight rates on nails, and that class
! of goods, from Portland to The Dalle'
were $640 per ton. AS soon as thu
locks were finished and the steam
boats could get through, the railroad
rate dropped to two dollars per ton
less than one-third what it was before
!, That the difference was due to thu
river Improvement Is shown by tn
fact that rates were not reduced be
yond the point to which the steam
boats could run. For instance, tn
: rate on salt in car load lots was 81 s.
: per ton to The Dalles, and 5000 pc
e ton to Umatilla--s1.5O per ton for tn
v So miles with water competition an
). $50 per ton for the next 100 mile
without. These rates have since bee
reduced as the Improvement has pro
ceeded, and when the work is finishe
and boats can run far up the Colun
ba river and to Lewiston and othe
point in Idaho on it's principal tribJ
). tary, the Snake river, the people 1
o all that region will benefit not onl
by the direct saving on goods carrie
by water, but also by the indirect sa,
ing through the reduced rate on good
d carried by rail. Exactly similar RI
S suits would follow the radical in
S provement of rivers all over the Unite
n States.
. Indirect Saving Large.
n There is, however, no possible wa
y. of finding out just how much this IL
: direct saving would be. Rates on som
freight would be reduced greatly, o
some freight slightly, on some, pc
haps, not at all. But we can get som
!. idea of the amount of freight whic
> might be Influenced. In the fscs
;, year ending June 80, 1907, the tots
- amount of freight handled by tn
railroads of the United States wa
g 1,796,336,659 tons. Some of this wa
:, hauled short distance, some a Ion
distance, and some was handled
II more than one road, but it was equs
e to 236,601 ,390,103 tons hauled ON
mile. If the comprehensive improv,
. ment of our waterways should max
an average reduction of one mill pc