Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1911-05-05
Q
LESSON FROM EUROPE sHoMfot
HOW WATERWAY lMPRoVE
MENT HELPS RAILROADS.
HAS; 4 CREATIVE EFFECT

,:r%- - 4 - T.
CONSTRUCTION ofsthe Manchester Strip
Canal Shown % Have Resuselt2tD1i
Many Dying. Town-Many7 Give
Similar Experiences.
In previous articles It Wa shoN1
that the waterways carry goods more
cheaply than railways do or can and
compel the railways to carry for lssa
than they otherwise would. and thea
the claim was made that the improve
ment of waterways is a benefit to the
railways with which they compe4a
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 a single instance
Of harm, to railways from the i'm
provement of waterways. 1t Is now II
order to see If we can find a reaso
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 tho oon-
petition Of water routes, and by what
may be called a creative effect. It
Is this last named effect which w
are to consider.
Manchester, England. before the IN
struction of the ship canal, was q
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
vas changed. Factoriess reopeneA.
new ones were built, the empty houses
were -rehlled and thousands Of new
ones built to accommodate tho popula-
ton that came pouring in. And the
benefits were not confined to Manches-
ter alone, but were distributed ever
the whole great industrial region, Gen.
tanning over 10000 0 people, of which
Manchester is the center. It vas not
only natural, but inevitable, that the
great increase in population and pros
Derity,t in Manchester and the surround
business and tho profits OF The rail
ways therein. i:
Liverpool Also Aided. :
Liverpool fought desperately TO prU-
vent the building of the canal and the
establishment Of the new port Of Mar
chester; but instead of being injured
by the canal, the business OF Liverpool
has increased faster than before. Dur.
ing the IL years before the canal was
opened the increase in the harbor re-
ceipts at Liverpool was only $780, oo;
in the same length of time after it
was opened the increase was $1.3ek,-
900. Tho 5000, 900 tons Of traffic 1T
Manchester have not been stolen from
Liverpool. they have been created BY,
the canal.
Frankfort, Germany, before the.
River Main was improved, was not .
dying city but was decidedly stagna1t
Mannheim and Mayence on the Rhine,
which had been improved, were grow
ing rapidly, while Frankfort was grow
ing very little. As soon as til canal
ization Of tho river was finished. which
was in 1856, tho city began to grow
and has kept On growing ever since.
The population, which was 164, 900 in
1885, has increased to 22s,oeo In 1896,
to $4,000 in 1906, and is probably:
more than 400, 1000 now. Evidently the
people Of Frankfort expect their city
to keep on growing. too. They spent
over $1,50o,o0e on q harbor when the
river was first improved and are
hard at work right now building .
new and much larger harbor at Z .eest
Of / 1900. ooo. Just a. in the case a
Manchester, tho benefit VA net cen-
fined to the city Of Frankfort; The q.
dustrial and commercial life Il The
whole region was greatly stimulated.
Mines long closed were reopeasd. new
Industries were started, and to&s1:
there is an almost continuous success
sion Of factories lining the baa1D az
the river from Frankfort to tho
Rhine.
Everybody Reaps BENEFIT.
4AuAS tAO WOxxN oAOOAN NuO AWAy8
and everywhere we find that the i'm
provement OF waterways sets cities to
growing, factory wheels to hummi1G.
and M to moving in q wider
and swifter stream. Railroads e1tx
more business in big cities than: In
small towns, in q densely populated
manufacturing region than in one. that
is thinly settled. Waterway, there
fore. benefit railways-and states and
nations as well-by promoting an in
crease In population, in manufactures
and in commerce., But for one who
likes to get clear down to the bot
tom of things there still remains tho
question: why do waterways in
crease population and create com
MERGE and Industry" 1
Consul General Mason, now In Paris,
but for some years at Frankfort, says:
!; German statesmaaship was among