The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-07-26
RIVER TERMINALS
SHOULDBE OWNED
BY MUNICIP ALITIES
Ohio River Should BE a Test Of Wat
err Ways for Railroad Relief-City
Should Own Terminals.

Recent announcement from WASH
ington of the, allotment by the Rail-
road Administration of SS,0OO000 for
barges and other equipment for the
proposed Mississippi and Warrior Riv-
ers waterways routes, and that Sen
ator Watson, of Indiana, had been adj
vised that nothing had been done to-
ward a like use of the Ohio, has stir
red representatives of Ohio Valley in
terests to action.
Chairman II. b. Wyllie, of Hunting
ton, w. Va, says that he has writ
ten Senator Watson, Senator Harry
s. Woodward, of West Virginia, and
Congressman from Ohio, Indiana,
West Virginia and Kentucky urging
them to make a concerted effort for
an appropriation of at least $2,OOO,-
600 to provide barges and other float
ing equipment to facilitate transpor-
tation on the Ohio River.
He urges that 1t should be obvious
to the Railroad Administration and
the Inland Waterways Committee that
inasmuch as the Government already
has expended over S4O,OOO,OOO for
locks and dams for the Ohio, it would
not be out of line for it to provide
that amount to make the river of
more practical use in the present
emergency.
Mr.. Wylie also has made report
to the Waterways Committee on river
transportation and terminals that is
apropos. In this report he says:
Terminal facilities have never
been provided on the Ohio River, with
the exception of wharfboat located
at the largo shipping points, which
was privately owned and which had
no connection whatever with the own
ership of the steamboats,. As rule,
the wharfboat owners have not had
much idea as to what is expected in
the way of transportation and ser
vice. Their attitude has been to
charge the shipper for wharfage just
as much as they thought he would
stand, with no regard for system or
schedule or uniform rates.
with the decline of river traffic,
caused by inefIiciently managed boats
and poor service on the part of the
wharfboat men, the charges for
wharfage increased. Within my own
experience we have had wharfage
charged amounting in some instances
to at least 25 cents per hundredweight
! st a great many points along the riv-
or the wharfbat owners make an eX-
cessive charge against each boat that
lands at their wharfboat, and they
frequently refused to allow certain
boats to land at their wharf.
"This attitude was recently demon
strated in Cincinnati when the newly
organized Liberty Transit Company
wished to secure wharfage facilities.
The wharfboat at that point could
have taken care of the tonnage, but
some of the boat owners did not wish
to admit the competition of the Lib
erty Transit Company, but wished to
monopolize the wharfage facilities.
This wharf frontage, | understand, Is
owned by the city, but leased to the
whnrfboat company for a very small
charge. Thus antagonism between the
boat owners and wharfboat owners
and the lack of consideration for the
shippers and the lack of cooperation
has had a great deal to do with the de-
cline in river traffic.
Each municipality should own and
operate its own river terminal Of
course, under the present conditions
it would require some time to build a
suitable terminal, but plans of financ-
ing should be taken up and plans of
terminals secured that are adapted to
the Ohio River. | want to especial
ly commend the type of terminal plah-
ned by Colonel Lansing II, Beach.
Various municipalities should provide
for these terminals, either through an
issue of bonds or otherwise, as a good
terminal will prove to be valuable
occat IN aonh community