The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1911-10-11
GOOD FOR COUNTRY
IMPROVEMENT OF WATERWAYS
WILL DEVELOP RESOURCES
OF EVERY SECTION.
FREIGHT CARRIED CHEAPLY

Make Direct Saving IN Cost OF trans
portaton by the Water Routes. ane
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 saving OF hun
dreds of millions of dollars year, even
under present conditions, and indlcat-
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 pronts
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 nap
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 fact 80 plain that
It needs no argument to support It,
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 f1vefold. But tTaf-
fic on the competing railways In
tdends on the main line, from Teplitz
10 Aussig, rose to 16 per cent. per
annum.
Similar results followed the canali-
.ation 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 Oh
growing, being 1,273,O00 tons "a 1902.
There are two railroads between
Frankfort and Mayence, one on each
side of the river. What happened to
them. Did their business show Sc
stous falling off? Or were they forced
into the hands OF receiver? On the
contrary their traffic, which was Gill;
900 tons in 1886, also began to grow,
and by 1902 had reached 100000
tons, or more than double what 1t was
when the railroads had a practical
monopoly of the business of Frank
tort.
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 1t 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-
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 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 a principle of general application.
In the calendar year 1907, after paying
Tor 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
De charged up, the German railways
,urned $164,O0O,0O of absolutely net
'evenues into the treasures of the
various states. This was 5000 per
nile of line operated, while the CORE
spending figure on United States rail
ways for the fiscal year 1867 was
,n1y $1,967-a little over one-third as
much.
Much the greater part Of the total
evenue of the German states is de-
lived from their railways, II cents out
# every dollar received by Prussia in
907 being SO obtained. Yet German
tatesmen keep on, year after year,
pending money earned by their rail
Ways in building and improving water
yays to compete with those same rail
rays, on which they depend as the
source of national income
n the light Of the facts given above
will not do to say that these Ger.
ian statesmen do not know what they
re about. On the contrary, they are