The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1911-10-16
- s.s4h AZ ls.Al14k2
SAVING OF MILLIONS
WHAT COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM
OF WATERWAYS IMPROVE
MENT MEANS TO FARMERS.
FIGURES TO SUPPORT FACTS
On Shipments of Grain Alone the d.
rect Return Would Mean 100000
900, and ProportionateIy All Other
Products Would Be Affected.

WV diiN TiORSi '.''
Products Would Be Affected.
In former article we gave facts and
figures to prove that, If the compre
hensive plan OF waterway improve.
ment advocated by the National R1v-
ers and Harbors congress were car
ried out, the direct return to the farm
ers of the country, on the single item
of grain, would certainly be 100000
900 year-and probably would be
more than twice that sum.
+, But grain is not the only item on
I which the farmers would receive a
benefit. The fact is that for the farm
ers-and everybody else, for that mat
ter-the cost of transportation influ-
ences practically everything he buys,
sells, eats, wears or uses in any way
whatever, except water, air and sun
shine The average man is inclined to
laugh when told that he pays out more
for transportation than he does for
taxes or because of the tariff-but his
laughter does not alter the fact in the
least
There are three principal methods
Of transportation, the wagonway, the
railway and the waterway, and there
Is so great a difference In the cost OF
transportation by these different meth
DDS that it is worth while to study the
matter a little. The experts Of the
good roads bureau estimate the cost
of hauling a ton of freight one mile
by horse and wagon on the average
road In the United States at Is cents.
The cost on a thoroughly good. smooth
road might be reduced to 10 cents.
Poor's Manual gives 1882 mills per ton
mile as the average price received by
the railways in 1907, while the official
records kept at the 500 show that the
average rate on the freight carried
into and out of Lake Superior In the
same year was only g of one mill.
Facts In a Nutshell.
You can better understand what
these figures mean If they are stated
In another way They mean that II
you have dollar to spend in shipping
q ton Of freight you can send 1t
miles on an average road, 10 miles on
g first-class road, 1275k miles on rail
road, and 1880 miles on lake vessel.
1t Is very easy to see that good
roads are lot better than poor roads |
but that transportation by horse and
wagon Is too costly at the best to be
used except for small loads and short
distances. So far as interstate traffic
Is concerned the wagon road must be
left entirely out Of consideration. 1t
Is just as easy to see what great
benefit would result from the building
Of railway into region where there
was none before, and that still
greater benefit would result from so
improving a river that it is made
navigable when it was not
80 before.
Waterways increase prosperity In
three principal ways, viz: direct saw
Ing, indirect saving, and by what may
be called creative effect The direct
saving is that which occurs on goods
carried by water and some
'acts which indicate how great this d.
-ect saving is, will also make more
plain the vast difference between the
cost Of transportation by rail and by
water.
Through the 500 canal at the out
ct Of Lake Superior there were car
led In 1907, ,214 tons of freight.
This was carried an average distance
# 1888 miles at an average cost of
8 of one mill per ton-mile. If this
lad been shipped by rail at the aver
ge railway rate for that year (7.S2
nills), its transportation would have
ost s338,633,364 more than was paid
or its carriage by water.
The total freight carried on all {
axes that year was, in round num-
ers, 100 100000 TONS This vast ton !
age was carried for s550,000,000 less |
han 1t would have cost to send 1t by t
all, and the improvements, which pro- s
uce a saving large enough to pay off t
ne national debt In less than two T
ears. cost only sS5,ooo,ooo.
Proof Of Good Results.
Wouldn't you call that pretty fair q
Ividend on the investment? And don't 2
ou think 1t would pay to improve all E
lr waterways as fast and as far as a
Q can? a
But" says some one, what reason 4
there to suppose that improved riv- 8
g would give anything like as good q
'sults as have been obtained on the Il
kes?" That is a proper question and Il
entitled to an answer. q
The only waterway In this country c.
hich has been improved as a whole a
composed Of the four lakes above Ii
lagara Falls, but there are many i'm t
owed rivers In Europe. From care q
study of the results obtained on c.
ese rivers the army engineers esti- n
ate that when the improvement OF
9 Ohio river is finished freight can h,
carried thereon for one-half mill
r ton-mile. That means that the II
liar which will carry ton 1271a W
lies by rail and 1850 miles by lake, re-
Ii carry it 1900 miles by river. Of
Cost OF transportation will vary on AZ
ferent rivers with depth, width, OF
fitness Of current, ETC., but the es- -
mated cost on completely improved 10
10 river can be increased by 60 per pe