Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-12
WANT GOVERNMENT To
CONTROL WATERWAYS
Interesting Outcome of Hearing
Before Railway Administra
tion Committee.
speciai Dispatch From Every Evening
Washington Correspondent

Washington. Oct y II is wide
chasm which the Railroad Admtnis-
tration must bridge il Il would bring
harmony between the owners of vessels
operating on the inland waterways
from Trenton 10 Beaufort. \. &. and
the shippers IN the cltics along this route
This fact was brought ont strongly IN
the hearing held yesterday afternoon
at the offices of G. Tonhnson. chair
man Of the committee of inland water
WAYS nf the United states Raiir0ad
administration, and attended by rep.
rcsentatIves uf the vessel owners and
commercial bodies rs we'll rs by many
actual shippers These men came from
AT least five States and n score or more
Of cities nj the invitation ot hartman
Tomlinson. 10 discuss means of lnprov-
ing water transportation methods along
the Atlantic Coast, IN order that the
oyrrtaNcd railroads may he relieved
and the public benefited The one city
unrcprcscntetl was Philadelphia. for
One mysterious reason the Chamber
Of Commerce nf that city paving at
tcntion To the invitation
The Wilmington harnber was rep
resented by its secretary, Clarence
killcn, who expressed the desire of the
merchants and manufactures to avail
themselves ot the benefits improved
water transportation conditions. as well
Il. the .esirc Of the municipality To co.
operate IL the matter oi improved water
terminal facilities
Wilford II Schof oi Philadelphia.
secretary and treasurer Of he Atlantic
Deeper Waterways Association, made
an interesting and cnlightcning state
s a btG al
the present and future possibilities Of
water transportation III the solution
Of the problems which the business Of
the country must face.
Mayor Donnellv of Trenton, who repre-
sented the interests OF that clty, furnished
the feature Of the afternoon discussions
when he delivered hlisterlng arralgn-
Inent OF the railroads for Their activities
in the suppression Of all attempts to estab-
lish water routes for the carnage OF the
nation heavy products. even II tune
when the railroads tn Sc iNeS alc Totally
inadequate 10 handle the immense volume
of freight lie was especially causttc about
the methods Of the PENNSYLVANIA railroad
in DESTROYING The usefulness Of the Della
ware and Raritall canal .ie pointed out
that more than POO canal boats, more
than enough 10 carry all the coal needed
for Philadelphia ard the other critics on
the Delaware are lying Idle on the Lehlgh
Coal Navigation Co 5 canal. through the
refusal Of the railroad which controls It
to use them
The Philadelphia Ve>sel men present
explained the high rates by water from
points south by the war conditions winch
have driven the costs to tnbelievably high
figures They insisted that the lumber
rate OF 8 from Beaufort TO points north
was not excessive in spite OF the 50 oo
rate of the railroads for the same haul.
The railroads in order to squeeze the
vessel men, they ntimated were actually
operating in this traffc al a loss.
All the shippers present agreed that
nothing short of government control or
supervision OF the inland water trans
portation would solve the problem. view
from which the vessel owners unanimously
disscnted
Among the revelations OF the afternoon
was the fact that the railroad admins
tration has about completed and will an
Iounce in few days its plan for segre-
CATION 0t the Delaware Y Rarltan Canal
from It's railroad connections and pro
sINion for It's separate operation