The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-10-24
Mississippi River
Barge Lines

The proponents of river ~transporta-
tlon IN the central valley Of the United
states have had mores than sand bars
and snage, railroad jealousy, and tim
idity Of capital to contend with. They
have been compelled to meet public
skepticism and, worse than all else,
public indifference. Along the banks
Of the Missouri and Mississippi and
and small, which owed their origin,
and their start toward growth and
prosperity, to the steamboat, deserted
the waterways for the railways almost
at the first whistle Of the locomotive.
From the beginning Of the great rail-
valley, following the Civil war, steam
boating rapidly declined, and the once
oustling levees n water front bust
ness districts o o became neglected
n fell gradually into decay.
Thus normal, stimulating competi-
ton in transportation was destroyed,
For a third Of a century, so universally
accepted was the railroad as the sole
means Of moving merchandise in bulk
that neither confidence nor a hear
ing was extended to any movement, no
matter how plausible or promising,
looking to a revival Of western river
commerce. Where scores Of steamers
had Jostled each other for dock space
at st. Louis and New Orleans, the ar
rival OF a single river packet in the
| SOuIsO VI Llll6 DeCdIl6 an event. buSl-
ness moved away from the water
fronts OF st. Louis and New Orleans,
as well as Of st. Paul, Keokuk, Omaha,
ST. Joseph, Kansas City, Cincinnati,
Cairo, Memphis, Helena, Vicksburg
and Baton Rouge. First vanished the
the "sternwheeler." One might ira
verse the whole stretch of the Missouri,
the Mississippi and the Ohio, at periods
during the last 30 years, without meet
ing a steamboat, ave along a few To-
cal routes, as, for instance, on the up
per Mississippi, where the Diamond
Jo' line bravely held out, or on the
Tennessee and some OF the other feed
er" streams of the South.
Beset by skepticism, railroad opposi-
ton, the prejudice Of capital, and pub
lie indifference, groups Of energetic
men, confident in their judgment that
inland waterways must play an import
ant part In the nation's transportation
system, have, nevertheless, battled for
recognition during the last 20 years.
Kansas City, on the Missouri, and st.
Paul, on the Mississippi, never wholly
gave up the fight; the former city,
with its usual energy, has established
a steamboat line to st. Louis within
the last few years; and st. Paul has
been one Of the most persistent adher-
ents OF the barge enterprise upon which
New Orleans and St. Louis, after pro-
| NCLlbCI ullOh, lllldly hSu,
There were many obstacles to be over
come, and what has thus far been
accomplished is small compared with
the task in sight; vet the important
thing is that the United States steam
er Nokomis, with three barges in tow,
started from the levee of st. Louis for
the leTee Of New Orleans on the first
of the present month. This meant the
formal inauguration Of the Mississippi
barge lint system on a large scale.
The grain cargo taken by the Noko-
mis- and barges was equivalent to the
amount Of freight which a train Of so
railway cars is capable of carrying, and
much merchandise other than grain
was entered in the manifest. On the
return trip the steamer and barges
will bring to st. Louis, in addition to
products of the Gulf region, a consid
cradle quantity of imports from South
America and the islands OF the Carrib
bean, More than $50 merchants Of New
Orleans have promised to use the barge
line for the shipment of their goods to
Northern localities.
The great interest taken throughout
the Middle West in this enterprise will
probably be appreciated elsewhere
when 1t is known that this was the
first cargo of grain shipped out of St
Louis by boat in Is years. If this ex-
pertinent shall prove successful, almost
Unreasonable possibilities will thereby
w OPSh W AANVt lloliiS NO
velopment. A large part of the tire.
mendous volume of freight that is o
hauled by locomotive across the coun.
try, that access may be had to the
ocean, will be floated down the great
rivers of the central valley to the Gull
Of Mexico, because of the vast saving
in charges made possible by the use Of
these water routes.
1t is fortunate that the inland water.
way question Is forced upon the at
tention of the public at this time by
the launching of the Mississippi river
barge line, as 1t is fortunate that Other
than the. old system Of railway con
struction, equipment and operation /!
pressing forward for fair recognition
and intelligent discussion. Unquestion.
ably, the period which the United
States Is approaching is to be one IL
which marked changes will be made il
transportation and distribution, and 1
will be we'll If all the means, natura
and artificial that can be employed TO
bringing the producer and the consum
er together shall be thoroughly under
stood before the great work of rehabili
tation and reconstruction is begun
Christian Science Monitor.