The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-08-30


i aChicseo Il noee-<nan twice - Tar from
Now Ydfk>as It was - years ago. More than
that-every place in the United States is now
shout twice Is far ffsm every other place as
twas in 1914"
These rather startling assertions are made
by Secretary Thompson Of the National Rivers
ard Harbors congress- The statement OF Mr..
Thompson goes on TO say:
~Of course, the number Of miles between
New York and Chicago, or any other two places
that might be named. 10 Just the same now
a. It always was-but miles are not the only
things 70 measure BY. We might use time, for
instance. and it has been well said BY an Eng
lish writer that 1t is not mileage, but cost OF
transportation which contributes the true COM
mercial measure Of distance. Geographically.
Chicago is still 1000 miles from New York.
but, because OF the increases made in freight
rates during the past six years, the city on
Lake Michigan ii now, commercially. 2,10O
miles from tidewater, and every community In
the country has been pushed back until 1t is
twice a. far away, from the markets in which
il either buys its supplies or sells its products
Is it was In 1914. The whole increase was not
made at once-the country never would have
stood for it if it had BEEN First it was five
per cent in 1914; then Is per cent in 1917;
then IS per cent. by Mr.. McAdoos order. in
1918, and now an advance varying from rs per
cebt for the southern and >mountain-Pa
groups to 40 per cent for the eastern group,
and averaging, according to an estimate made
by the bureau OF railway economics, 34.5S per
cent for the whole country.
Stated in another way. this means that
for every dollar paid to the railroads for freight
in 1914 We must now pay two dollars or more
Now it is Just as certain as fate itself that
every increase in cost of transportation in
creases both the cost o. living and of doing
business and decreases the territory in which
our products, whether Of farm or factory, can
De sold. But the most vital question today is
related in these columns. Let us hope there
Will be, Of wholesome and permanent nature
not whether we shall pay one price or another
fer the transportation of our goods but wheth-
er we can get them carried at ALL In Europe
they use waterways as we'll as railways.
France, Belgium, Holland and Germany las It
was before the war). whose combined area is
only one-seventh that Of the United States.
have $4,000 miles Of waterways, Of which they
make . continually increasing use. The ton
mage Of goods transported on the waterways
Of Germany in 1905 was five times as much ss
was carried in 1S75-and It is more than a CO.
incidence that, in every one OF the 20 years,
ending in 1918, the foreign commerce of Ger
many, which is $1,000 square miles smaller
than the state OF Texas, exceeded that of the
| United States by hundreds Of millions Of dol
| lars. why should not the $4,000 miles Of in
land waterways in the United States be made
| available for user
| All Of which goes to show that the people
| from commercial as we'll as a standpoint OF
1 convenience, are losing through the neglect OF
their waterways, the natural arteries of trans
portation.
l. Here on the upper Mississippi there has
been more or less talk OF the revival Of packe
business which has been steadily on the de
cline for some years. Indeed. there has beer
q noticeable increase between St. Louis ant
points as far north as Quincy and Keokuk a!
has heretofore been related in these columns
1t is to be hoped that another season will Sc,
return Of the packet and resumption O
river traffic familiar to bygone days.