The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-09-16
G00D FOR COUNTRY.
IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYS
WILL DEVELOP RESOURCES
OF EVERY SECTION.
FREIGHT CARRIED cHEAPLY
Make Direct Saving In Cost Of Trans
portation by the Water Routes, and
Indirectly Serve follower Railway
Carrying Rates.

The claim has been~made in previ-
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 cheaply than they other
wise would. making a saving OF hun
dreds of millions of dollars year, even
under present conditions, and indicat-
ing vast increase in that saving II 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 the
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 run from lake cities to
the interior, is. a fact so plain that
it needs no argument to support 1t.
There are no more prosperous and
profitable roads in the country than
those that serve the region tributary
to the lakes. But no one questions
the wisdom Of continuing the improve
ment Of the lakes, or Of our ocean
harbors. The real question Is as to
the improvement of our rivers, and II
we wish to study the effect Of river
Improvement, either on railway reve-
-nues or national development we
must go 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-
fic, as a natural result of the better
channel, increased fivefold. But traf-
fic on the competing railways in
creased still more largely and the div
idends on the main line, from Teplitz
to Aussig, rose to 16 per cent. per
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 1,273,0o0 tons in 1902.
There are tTo railroads between
Frankfort and Mayence, one on each
side of the river. What happened to
them? Did their business show Sc
rious falling of? Or we're they forced
into the hands of receiver? On the
contrary their traffic, which was 911.-
900 tons in 1886. also began to grow,
and by 1902 had reached 100000
tons, or more than double what it was
when the railroads haa 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 was not only more 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-
Iated. Out Of total Of $4,000 miles,
In mi Oh
miles are operated by private COM
panies. Germany also has one Of the
finest systems of waterways in the
world, and 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 outworking
of principle of general application.
In the calendar year 1907, after paying
for operation, maintenance, repairs,
renewals, new equipment, interest on
bonds, contribution to the sinking
fund, and every other item which the
most careful bookkeeping required to
be charged up, the German railways
turned $164,0o0,000 Of absolutely net
revenues into the treasures of the
various states. This was $500 per
mile of line operated, while tAn sorre-
spending figure on Unite4 States rail-
ways for the fiscal year 1867 was
only $780, little over, onethird> as
much.
Much the greater part Of the total
revenue of the German states Is de-
rived from their railways, II cents out
of every dollar received by Prussia in
1907 being SO obtained. Yet German
statesmen keep on. year after year,
spending money earned by their rail-
ways in building - improving water
ways to compete with those same rail-
ways, on which they depend as the
principal source off national income.
In the light Of the facts given above
1t will not do to say that these Ger
man statesmen do not know what they
are about. On the contrary, they an
acting, as has been well said, lin fur
therance Of a policy the wisdom Of
which time and experience have fully
lconfirmed"
| Always and everywhere the result
is the same-the improvement of
waterway is benefit to competing
railways. For this result, as for any
other, there is good and suficient
reason, but it must be left for another
time to tell what that reason Is.