The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1911-10-16
LESSON FROM EUROPE SHOWS
HOW WATERWAY IMPROVE
MENT HELPS RAILROADS.
HAS A CREATIVE EFFECT
Construction of the Manchester Ship
Canal Shown to Have Resusc]tated
Many Dying Towns-Many Give
Similar Experiences.

cheaply than railways do or can and
compel the railways to carry for less
than they otherwise would. and then
the claim was made that the improve
ment of waterways Is benefit to the
railways with which they compete.
| Several instances were given to sup
port this claim and many more might
be given if space allowed, for the
writer, who has studied the subject for
| Is years, has found many instances
Of benefit, and not single instance
of harm, to railways from the I'M
provement Of waterways. 1t Is now In
order to see If we can find a reason
for this rather surprising result.
Waterways, as has been said before,
produce benefits In three principal
ways-by direct saving In the cost Of
transportation of goods carried by
water, indirect saving, by the lower
Ing of railway rates through the COM
petition Of water routes, and by what
may be called creative effect. It
Is this last named effect which We
are now to consider.
Manchester, England, before the con
struction of the ship canal, was
dying town. Hundreds Of stores and
thousands of dwellings were empty,
factories were closed-some moved
away-and population was decreasing.
With the opening OF the canal all this
was changed. Factoriess reopened,
new ones were built, the empty houses
were ref1lled and thousands of new
ones built to accommodate the popula-
ton that came pouring In. And the
benefits were not confined to Manches-
ter alone, but were distributed over
the whole great industrial region, con-
tanning over 100000 people, Of which
Manchester is the center. 1t was not
only natural, but inevitable, that the
great increase in population and pros
perity in Manchester and the surround
ing region should be reflected In the
business and the profits of the rail-
ways therein.
Liverpool Also Aided.
Liverpool fought desperately to pro
vent the building of the canal and the
establishment OF the new port of Man.
chester; but instead of being injured
by the canal, the business of Liverpool
has increased faster than before. Dur
Ing the 13 years before the canal was
opened the increase In the harbor re-
ceipts at Liverpool was only $4,000;
In the same length of time after Il
was opened the increase was $685.
900. The 100000 tons OF traffic at
have not been stolen from
Liverpool, they have been created by
the canal.
Frankfort, Germany, before the
River Main was improved, was not
lying city but was decidedly stagnant.
Mannheim and Mayence on the Rhine,
which had been improved, were grow
ng rapidly, while Frankfort was grow
ng very little. AS soon as the canal
zat1on of the river was finished, which
vas In 1885, the city began to grow
Ind has kept on growing ever since.
The population, which was 154, 900 In
1856, has increased to 900 In 1895.
o $4,000 In 1905, and Is probably
more than 100000 now. Evidently the
'eople of Frankfort expect their city
0 keep on growing, too. They spent
yer $1,500,000 on a harbor when the
liver was first improved and are
ard at work right now building a
ew and much larger harbor at cost
+ $17,600,000. Just as in the case of
Manchester, the benefit was not con.
ned to the city of Frankfort; the In
ustrial and commercial life of the
hole region was greatly stimulated,
lines long closed were reopened, new
Industries were started, and today
here is an almost continuous success
ion OF factories lining the banks of
le river from Frankfort to the
hine
Everybody Reaps Benefit
Hunt the world around and always
nd everywhere we find that the i'm.
rovement of waterways sets cities to
rowing, factory wheels to humming,
nd commerce to moving in wider
nd swtfter stream. Railroads get
ore business in big cities than In
nall towns, in densely populated
anufacturins region than In one that
thinly settled. Waterways, there
re, benefit railways-and states and
atoms as well-by promoting an In
ease in population, in manufactures
Id In commerce. But for one who
kes to get clear down to the bot
m of things there still remains the
lestion: why do waterways In
ease population and create com.
cree and Industry"
Consul General Mason, now in Paris,
It for some years at Frankfort, says:
German craftsmanship was among
q first to foresee that the time
ould come when, railways having
ached their maximum extension and
iciency, there would remain q vast
rplus Of coarse, raw materials-coal,
es, timber, stone, and crude metals
which could be economically carried
1g distances only by water trans
rtation, and that in. fully de.
loped national system the proper
10 of railroads would be to carrb
and the higher classes Of
,rchandise manufactured from the