The Parker post., 1914-08-15

on the Rhine are many barges of 1900
tons or more.
Low Freight Costs.
The Importance Of this method of
transportation in affording low freight
rates can scarcely be over-emphasized.
Figures obtained from reports of
Major Kurs, leading authority on in
land navigation in Germany, J. Ellis
Barker, a careful British student of
the subject, and DR.. Fritz Hartmann,
distinguished journalist, Berlin cor
respondent of the Hanover Courier,
are significant. These show that,
with well-filled ship on a new and
perfectly equipped water course, the
cost of transportation Of freight, dur
ing ten months shipping season, Is,
in vessels from $50 to 1900 tons capa-
city, one-fifth to one-twelfth of a cent
per ton per mile. But as all German
waterways are not perfectly equipped
and all boats are not we'll fitted
and as the season Of navigation in
Germany, as in the United States, is
interferred with by ice, these figures
are exceptional
The actual business conditions pre-
vailing today may be better shown by
selecting representative German riv-
ers and quoting the actual average
cost Of transport therefrom, allowing
for the fact that during part Of the
year a large portion of the tonnage is
partly or wholly unemployed. These
figures show that the actual cost Of
transport per ton per mile on the Oder
river is about one-third of a cent; on
the Weichsel, one-ha1f a cent; on the
Elbe, one-fourth, and on the Rhine one
sixth Of cent. The rivers Oder and
Weichsel flow through agricultural
regions, corresponding to a degree
with the country through which the
Missouri river and it's tributaries flow,
while the Rhine drains a country cor
responding to that adjacent to the Up
per Ohio, where manufacturing Is
more largely engaged in. This cheap
ness Of transportation explains in
great measure the fact that the most
prosperous Industrial centers of Ger
many are situated close to the water
ways of which they make extensive
and increasing use.
The Governments View.
In an official publication of the Ger
man government we read:
ANY means whereby the distances
which separate the economic centers
of the country from one another can
be diminished must be welcomed and
be considered as a progress, for it in
creases our strength in our industrial
competition with foreign countries.
Every one who desires to send or to
receive goods wishes for cheap
freights. Hence the aim of healthy
transport policy should be to diminish
as far as possible the economically
unproductive costs of transport. A
country such as Germany, which is
happy enough to produce on her own
soil by far the larger part of the raw
material and food which it requires,
occupies the most Independent and the
most favorable position if, owing to
cheap, inland transportation, it's econ
omic centers are placed as near as
possible to one another. When this
has been achieved Germany will be
able to dispense with many foreign
products, and it will occupy a posi-
ton Of superiority in comparison with
all those states which do not possess
similarly perfect means of transport
Many circumstances which in for.
mer times gave superiority to certain
countries, such as the greater skill of
their workmen, superior machinery,
cheaper wages, greater natural fertil-
ity of the soil; all these advantages
are gradually being levelled down by
time and progress. But what will re-
main is the advantage of a we'll
planned system of transportation
which makes the best possible use of
local resources and local advantages. +"
The last sentence, in italic in the
German original, may well be read in
America in connection with Bis
marck's deliberate statement:
I'm discounting future events we
must take note Of the United States,
WHO Will become III ulaLIOrS 0COuOH1C
and perhaps in matters political as
we'll, a much greater danger than most
people imagine. The war Of the future
will be the economic war, the struggle
for existence on the largest scale.
May my successor always bear this in
mind and always take care that Ger
many will be prepared when this bat
tie has to be fought"
And Bismarck was dismissed by the
present emperor, not because of dis
agreement but because William H., a
twentieth century Frederick the Great,
would be his own chancellor and, car
ryirg on Bismarck's policy as his own,
make Germany foremost in all mill
tary and material things.
The New Germany Commercial.
The new Germany is not land of
philosophers, poets, and composers,
sleepy officials and dull peasants, day
dreaming, sentimentalizing over music
and philosophy and beer. The new
Germany Is q land of shrewd, calcu-
lating, hard-headed, matter-of-fact bus