Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-11
CANAL PROJECT
IS OPPOSED BY
BARGE OWNERS
Say They Fear Business Ruin II
Government Takes Over
the Waterways.
PROJECT STILL FAVORED
Special Dispatch From Every Evening
Washington Correspondent.

Special Dispatch From Every Evenings
Washington Correspondent.
Washington. July | Continuation of
hearings ON development of the thcsn-
pcake and Delaware Canal. as "A part oi
an Intra-coastal waterways system To
protect commerce against submarine
dcprcdations and To relieve railroad con-
gcstion, which were commenced Tuesday
morning before Judge Prouty, acting for
Director ,cneral of Railroads MoAdoo,
showed the opposition of lergo owners to
be the chief obstacle To the first step IN
the long contemplated PROJECT.
Efforts which they hope may he sue
ccssful were made 10 break down this
obstacle NJ this hearing before { he inland
waterways committee of the railroad
administration, by lumber merchants and
shippers from North Carolina, who wish
their facilities for commerce with ports
along the Delaware river to be increased
bv gnvcrnmcnt-ownc and operated barge
lines Thus stop, they believe, will
prove the commercial value ot further
opening up the inland water route from
Norfolk Va, and points further south.
through 10 baltimore, Wilmington, Phll-
adclpha and eventually 10 New York
and Boston
OPPOSITION DENOUNCED.
Present facilities on the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal and the modus
opcrandi Of the barge owners who ARE
irving to convince the railroad adInlnis-
tration that they can take care OF what
ever tonnage II to bc shipped over the
waterways were characterized by the ship
pers. and hv Congressman j. Hampton
Moore of Pennsylvania, John IL Srnal.
! Of North Carolina. and Senator L. NJ
Simmons Of North Carolina, as being of
| tho "crustaccan age.
Facts and figures were brought tor
ward which apparently went a long dis
! tanCc toward convincing the committee,
| which was represented hy Major- ,eneral
" NJ BLACK chief Of tho Army Engineer
| Corps ita chairman W : Dlckcy and
| Nj ] Sanders. that the favorable report
| on the use of the waterways which they
were on the point nf submitting when the
| barge owners made their representations,
| should stll hc submitted. Tho sub
mission az q favorable report by this
| committee. ~ was intimatcd hy Judge
| proutv, will determine probably the
| fuller use Of the canals by the railroad
| administration.
| This. m turn. is expected TO load uti-
/ matclv to development Of the waterways
| SO that they may bc used for ocean going
shipping and bring an unprecedented
| commercial boom to all the ports along
| the Delaware.
DEMANDED by PUBLIC INTEREST.
| MIR. Small told the committee that
| the shippers and public interest generally
/ demand additional facilities on the canals,
/ better management and more modern
/ operation, terminal facilities for trans
! p0rtlng goods from wharvcs and ware
/ houses to the hargcs. and vice versa,
! and connexions for interchange Of traf-
/ fic between the hargcs and the railways
! lie said that the facts do not Justify the
contention Of the present barge operators
/ that there are IN existence or building
enough barges 10 care for the traffic.
/ Eulhargocs on traffic from Norfolk which
would come to Delaware ports are now
/ in effect. because Of the insufficient trans
/ portation offered from that port, he
! declared.
General Black answered Mr. Small with
! the statement that barge transporta-
| ton between Philadelphia and Norfolk
/ is practical and can be carried out al
most Immediately. While the committee
| IS not committing itself, there Is an opln-
ION that the first step might be super
vision; getting what Is IN existence worked
/ IN to It's fullest possibility, and getting
(
prove. with the cooperation of the ship
| pers that barge transportation is a going
! concern and can le ludulged IN pro. tably
/ by Uncle sam.
MIR. Sanders al tie committee de
/ clared the chief difficulty the committee
/ feels is that with million OF more tons of
/ traffic annually now existing, whether
! harm would be done II the operators fear
! they will be ruined and as a consequence
! their enterprise Is discouraged by govern
ment action, so that the entire burden
may be thrown on the government.
FAVOR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE.
/ eve want to avoid discouraglng private
! enterprise. y he said Although this pri-
] vate enterprise Is about as inefficient an
, enterprise as you can find anywhere in
i the United States.
Our idea would be-" he continued,
/ "to spend three days In loading and un-
/ loading at each end Of the trip instead
/ OF from ] ; 70 20 days, as the barge owners
I declare is now the case We would In
( tend to spend thirty days IN making
/ the trip, instead of SIX weeks. We would
make two trips month, If the govern
ment puts on boats, instead of seven
/ trips year, as Is done now
We would want nothing but the very
/ best if We go into this, because We want
to improve conditions But the very
/ best barges, and therefore the most
( economical, are steel barges, and we've
/ found we can't get the steel We've
/ tried to for the Erie canal he said
Mr. Moore, made an eloquent plea to
the committee not to allow the quarrels
and quibbling Of barge owners to hold
up The project which, he said, will have
- far-reaching beneficial results for the