The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1911-06-29
GOOD 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 to Lower Railway
Carrying Rates.

Indirectly Serve to Lower 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 fndicat-
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 q fact SO plain that
1t 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-
nuss or national development, we
must so to Europe.
Results In Bohemia.
During the fifteen years that I'M
provements were under way on the
Hibs river. in Bohemia, the river traf-
faA as natural result of the better
channel, increased fivefold. But traf
al on the competing railways in
c&eased still more largely and the div
blends on the main line. from Teplitz
to Aussig. rose to 10 per cent. per
asanum.
Similar results followed the canali-
xation Of the River Main. from May
ence. on the Rhine. to Frankfort,
which was finished In the latter part
Of 1885. The river traffic. which
amounted TO only $4,000 tons in that
year. began to grow and has kept on
growing, being 1.278.000 tons in 1902.
There are two railroads between
Frankfort and Mayence. one on each
side Of the river. What happened to
them? Did their business show a Sc
yious falling on? Or were they forced
into the hands of receiver? On the
contrary their traffic. which was Oil.
900 tons In 1886. also began to grow
and by 1909 had reached 100000
tons, or more than double what It was
when the railroads had q 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 thar
doubled in quantity, but great,
raised In grade, SO that 1t could pay
and did pay. a much higher rate pei
ton per mile.
Fine German Waterways.
Practically all the railways OF Ger
many are state owned and state oper
ated. Out of total of $4,000 miles
In round numbers. only about $500
miles are operated by private com
panies. Germany also has one of tn.
finest systems of waterways in thu
world, and a study of the balanc,
sheet of the German railway system
shows that the results which followed
tho improvement of the River MAR
are not an exception, a mere coinei
dence, but are the natural outworkinl
of q 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 tn
most careful bookkeeping required t
be charged up, the German railway
turned $164, 000,0 900 of absolutely ne
revenues into the treasures of tn
FHflDuE Btdtcc. HIS was $D,VDV pI
mile of line operated. while the CORE
spending figure on United States raj
ways for the fiscal year 1906-7 wa
only S1,967--a little over one-third a
much.
Much the greater part of the tota
revenue of the German states is d.
rived from their railways, II cents on
Of every dollar received by Prussia |
1907 being SO obtained. Yet Germa
statesmen keep on, year after yea
spending money earned by their raj
ways in building and improving waite
ways to compete with those same raj
ways, on which they depend as tn
principal source of national incom'
In the light OF the facts given aboy
ii viii not do to say that these Gel
l<. What a