Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-09-20

The smoker held IN The rooms O.
the Commercial club Monday eVeAlAt
for the purpose Of allowing ire peo
ulc of the city to meet .jOhH a. FOX
surcial director of III, National, INV
crs and Uarbors congress, while the
attendance was not as large as vas
cxpccted, was full of enthusiasm. "A
Is. Wclch, secretary OF me t'lo' III
| troduccd General Williams rs the
chairman of the meeting, and he II
turn introduced Mr.. FOX. who 6GEV
cred the following address:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen or
the Commercial Club of bismarck:
am not come among you as prephel
nor as one presuming to knO" more
about vOur wonderful country ana ltS
resources than yourselves, but rather
as one seeing from a point or van
,agc and Judging from a perspective
view. have come to call 10 your
attention the great possibilities OF
TRANSPORTATION that now lay dormant
in the mighty river that flows through
your state and silently and idly pass
cs by your doors, and to secure your
closer cooperation in great na'loh
wide movement that will soon lead u
it's Improvement and utilization.
If is the longest branch and, in
uoint of rich agricultural territory
traversed, the most important branch
of the great interior basin or TINS
continent, and as yet has received
from the nation the least help for It's
scrviceable navigation; but a new era
of internal improvement is daWnlne
upon this country and the future IS
pregnant with great possibilities for
this and the other great rivers or our
interior. We have neglected them as
a nation in the past, and this neglect
Is every day becoming more and more
apparent as we view with alarm our
increased agricultural output and a
seeming inability to regulate the ar
bitrary charges of transportation.
Had congress needed the words OF
Washington when he said, "lhe ex'
tensive inland navigation with which
this country abounds, and the easy
communications which many of the
rivers afford with the amazing terri
tory west of us, will certainly be pro-
ductive of infinite advantage. Would
to God we may have wisdom enough
to improve Them" we would not to-
day find ourselves entirely dependent
upon the railways or threatened with
freight congestion.
We now awaken to realization or
our neglect and to the vast economic
value of our magnificent waterway
system If made efficient for cheap
TRANSPORTATION, and must proceed &C.
lively and aggressively to put into
service these thousands of miles OF
unused arteries of commerce.
Pause for moment and consider
the effectiveness of this vast water
way system if improved for adequate
and serviceable navigation. There
are 10000 miles of rivers that can
be made to float barges Of 500 tons,
reaching all sections from FIT. Benton
in the west to Pittsburg in the east,
and from St. Paul in the north to New
Orleans in the south, each mile Of
which can be made the equivalent OF
a ten track railroad. That means we
can add 100000 miles to our 225,O 900
miles of railway to relieve conges-
ton.
Compare, then, the relative cost OF
by rail and by water,
and the regulating effect of the latter
upon the former, and note the saving
that can be made in our great trans
portation tax. The average cost per
ton mile on the railroads last year
was rs mills; on inland waterways
IL mills, or saving Of ga mills per
ton per mile in favor of water trans
portation. Nearly seven times as
great. Surprising, however, we only
save one mill per ton per mile by
and using these waterways;
that would mean on 23S,O00,0 100000
ton-miles of freight handled by the
railroads last year, 1898 200, 900. These
figures seem startling, my friends, but
they are based on facts, and are cas-
lily reconciled when you know that on
the Great Lakes alone we are now
saving $300,O00,OO0 annually because
water transportation is possible from
Duluth to Buffalo. Transportation is
one of the most important factors in
our national existence and requires
the greatest tax we pay. In fact, the
tax of this country was
not only greater than any any ma
tional taxes last year, but greater
han our national, state, county and
taxes combined, for while
We paid to the railroads for transpor-
alton 81 1922, 7O3,S96, we only paid
81, 796.S95,522 for all civic taxes. It
G OhviOuS then that whatsoever can
oe saved from this great tax by the
government for the people should be
saved, if improving these waterways
will do it.