The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-10-09


 of power.
 Another thing of vital importance which will have a great bearing upon our industry. and commerce in peace is our transportation system. With in recent months we have seen 1t col lapse and rebirth. By the collapse I mean the period in the early part of 1918, when, with insufficient facili- ties and in time of storm. the whole nation was hampered in the move ment of it's goods. By rebirth I mean the recognition now becoming clear that our transportation system is a trinity. Not so very long ago il was thought to be a unity. The rail road was the transportation system. Some still think it is so, but they are adjusting their views or must adjust them before the march of fact.
 Transportation is a trinity; the railroad, the waterway, the highway. These three are one and none of them can reach it's full service to the coun- try without the help of the others.
 "I know quite well now certain railroad minds will view this state ment and how certain railroad faces will smile at it. They will say that whatever may be true under war con- ditions the waterway cannot compete with the railway when peace comes. They would be more accurate were they to say that the waterway did not compete, rather than cannot. But reasoning from this past, which is a dead past, is fatal because in that past the terms were not equal. One might as we'll say that an untrained laborer with his bare hands could not kcompete with the skilled carpenter with his fine tools. Or it would be quite as just to say that the railroad, deprived of it's modern machinery and terminals and mechanism or inter change could serve the public effec- lively. The comparison, however, in the coming days will not be with the ill-equipped and isolated waterway, but with waterway provided with the tools of it's trade, with the docks and terminals equivalent to those of the railroad, and with vessels made for their job as locomotives are. Un- der these conditions the railroad mind will have to take off its brakes and get into motion.
 To-day the Government is operat- ing in the East a great system of wa terways, some of them ill-placed and of small capacity, but all of them ca
 pable of largely increased service
 when the tools are provided; and ca
 pablo, also, when reconstructed, or en larged to meet the country's demands for a service which the country sore ly needs and which they alone car ; adequately supply. The Governmen is today operating the Delaware anC
 Raritan Canal and the New Yorl State Barge Canal; it has taken ove the operation of the Cape Cod Canal 1t has acquired the Chesapeake ant Albemarle Canal and has started pro
 ceedings to get into control of tn Chesap apeake and Delaware Canal. ? is known to be possible to make thes canals serve the public to a. far great j. CT extent than they have been per . rnitted to do. Heretofore they hay Il been suppressed. They have neve had the chance to show what the could do with modern equipment. '' That chance will now be give - them. Today every effort is being eX s pended to see that the waterway c @ the country shall be made adequat n as to location, size and type to mee y the needs of the country; that it sha
 be equipped with vessels designed eS IT pressly for that type of service, an e that coal and other coarse materie .e shall be required to be carried to tn fullest possible extent by water an 6 not by rail.
 le "In addition to the waterway, " " have the highway. The motor true 'e has come to stay. This means, ( ot course, that the roads suited to tt e motor truck have also come to sta, N- The locomotive had to have ne s road made for it of suitable kind an l. that locomotive road has had to IT reconstructed many times. We haN
 not, however, regarded that as a re; S- son why the locomotive should nt ie be used. The same will be true V the truck highway. Roads will m built for motor trucks and, probab V- constantly be rebuilt for them ar Id the trucks will use them inincreasiI te nurGbers Possibly there are limi k to tAe length of haul that will pro- l. economical with the motor truck, b It it Is certain that within these limi iAA the truck can be made highly ene le tive. It is a means of bringing u IT. transportation system of the count to to the farm and to the home. ne brings the railroad to the front doc as The future will, to my mind, see c ey nals fed at every important point 's- fan-like lines of motor trucks reac en ing to it. The canal, in its tur all will deliver certain portion of les goods to the railway or receive me chandise from the railroad. The ra he road will be made to disgorge ln, load at the various stations into t he motor trucks. These will carry t ~o freight into the rural districts. ' ny shall, as a. nation, not have reach of the transportation service to which by are entitled until all these three s! . tems work in conjunction with ca " other.
 IN "One of the greatest snags to
 met Is the mental inertia of the sh ,en pers Some years ago they were l