The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-01-03
BARGE TERMINAL
TO HELP WHOLE STATE

! n ~ w "A Il
Secretary Howard Says All Vernon
Will be Benefited
Editor Caledonian:
"A few of the newspapers located il
the southern part of the state, Will,
commenting favorably on the repor
of the State Terminal Commission
that advocated the construction of F;
modern permanent pier adequatel.
equipped with up to date freigh
handling machinery, nevertheless!
seem to consider that it would be O.
advantage only to Burlington ant
vicinity or to only the northern par
the state interested as one of the
Of Vermont; and therefore as one oil
the editors put it, only that part Of
the state interested should bear Tho
expense of its construction, sug-
costing that the central counties bono
themselves to raise the money fol
this purpose To any one at all IA
niliar with the subject this sugges-
ton is unfair, as it would leave the
balance of the state securing the adj
vantages Of public terminal without
bearing any of its cost.
It is now considered that the state
itself is the best agency in these days
to foster the two most important
public utilities that are to come be-
fore the Vermont Legislature fol-
decision, that of Good Roads and In
land Water Transportation. The
disadvantage of our 245 towns sepa-
ratcly looking after these big buei-
ness enterprises is very apparent
As the construction of improved
roads and bridges have come under
state supervision, so the construction
Of Water Terminal st Burlington
would be more equitably and econo-
mically administered by the state
through Commission, than for any
one city or town to have the exclu-
sive control of what appears on care
ful inquiry to be Of statewide adj
vantage.
The. erroneous impression that low
81 freight rates and shipping facilities
will come only to those who arc adj
jacent and near to a transportation
distributing point like public ter
iminal, is because people are unfami-
liar with methods used in fixing same
freight rates and thereby prices Of
goods for large areas or districts.
remember nearly 20 years ago selling
in Vermont and New Hampshire car
load lots of cedar shingles from the
state of Washington and the rate and
price was. the same whether they
went to st. Johnsbury, Burlington,
Bennington or Brattleboro. It was
like the round trip tickets we had a
few years ago to the west for pas
senger traffic In certain areas or
territory the price was the same and
it did not matter whether we went
to California, Washington or to Orc
gon, X
Therefore, as water transportation
charges are always lower than rail-
road rates in normal times, the en-
tire state of Vermont would by water
transport, reap a pro rata lowering
of the cost of its required commodi-
ties, such as food stuffs, grain and
feed, and other merchandise. Coal
transported in much larger boats
or barges and quickly handled by
modern machinery from boat to cars
over public terminal, would natun-
ally lower the cost of coal to the
consumer anywhere in the same ter
ritory
1t has been stated that barges
could easily bring coal for Vermont
to Burlington but that they would
have nothing for their return trips.
This is overlooking the increasing
southern shipment of iron orc from
Port Henry, SO that new and larger
boats are being built and a private
ore terminal under construction at
that port. Thus boats coming up with
coal and unloaded quickly can return
with iron, as well as Vermont pro-
ducts such as granite, stone, wooden
ware,a cotton and wooden goods,
chocolate, etc. Mr.. r. NJ. McCaulev,
Traffic Manager for the Porter
Screen company, at Winooski, has
very ably gathered together rates and
other statistics showing the advan-
tage by the way of lower Transports
ton cost, that shipments by water
have over rail carriage.
La speaking of the suggestion that
the five central counties should builo
the. state terminal at their own ex.
pense, MI. McCauley says that wher
the subject was voted upon in the
last legislature these counties voted
80 in favor Of a terminal and The
rest of the State voted SO, which
would indicate that the one part Of
the state was as much interested il
the project as the other. He furthel
very clearly points out that if a ter
n1inal at Burlington is designed t.
take care of state traffic on reason
able pro rata basis, Burlington pos
sibly would not handle more than II
! per cent of the amount of goods pass
ing over the terminal, while tn,
balance or 80 per cent would be .traf
fic designed to and from. points be