Evening star., 1920-02-08

4
and oil wells"
Some one asked: "Who pays?"
They all laughed.
/ Cargo" was their answer in a
chorus.
! Cargo is the one thing that inter
os's freight ships.
| This is what We hear in Paris.
To take up cargo and put down
| cargo they go as willingly to one
port rs to another, provided naviga-
/ tion be safe.
Even navigation charges are a
secondary consideration.
Tney may be cheaper in a maritime e
canal than at port on the ocean.
! Never mind present rates.
Just before the war. when the
Liverpool rate was $1.01. Antwerp
was doing the same thing for 50
cents up fifty-five miles OF canal that
! cost s5O,0Oo.00O to dig. At that mo-
ment the Paris port promoters agreed
| with the French government on 30
cents maritime canal tax, 81 cents
navigation charges and cents pilot
age-total. 81 cents per ton of mer-
Cargo, cargo. At that same mo-
ment tjust before the war; ocean
! freight ships rushed to second class
potts like Puerto. Colombia. where
The rate WAS $50 per ton plus 81
consignment stamps, and TO Carta-
-r
tion Haiti or Caruparo, Venezuela,
because they wer" sure to lay down
and take UP cargo.
For the sake of cargo they as
willingly steamed UP the 600 miles
of artificial channel of the Uruguay
and along the 1000 miles of greater
| works of the Parana. Not for moth
ing did the Argentines spend $780,
600 900 to create the new port OF
Rosario. inland city situated 400 miles
from the ocean.
Ocean rates. just now so high. may
be deemed too rosy basis on winch
to plunge into digging.
Granted.
And with the American merchant
marine growing like giant and all
the shipyards of the other nations
building feverishly, who can tell (you
saw what ocean rates will be five
years hence
Let us hope so. Just before the
| war. already so cheap. they We're
growing cheaper Between New York
and Liverpool the average rates were
bout the same as between Havre and
Hamburg Think of such avidity
for cargo In 1904 Buenos Aires
wool paid $40 and that of Bahia
81 per cubic meter. and Bombay cot
tons $3.50 per cubic foot for Euro
pean ports. In 1913 the same mer-
chandise was paying $40, $3.50 and
$40. respectively. And tdo not
| worry) they were making money.
Yet, at that same moment. to get
the same woods and cottons over the
135 miles separating Paris and Rouen
cost $3.50 per cubic meter, even by
slow barges-half the price (then, in
around the world.
OBVIOUSLY. Paris is tired of not
snatching her chance to be sea
port. Obviously. an inland port in
direct communication with the ocean
enjoys all the advantages of world
conditions: but a locality served only
by railroads and old-fashioned canal
boats remains subject to the exigen-
cies and fancies of a few transpor-
tation monopolieS.
Cargo will pay for it.
But who Will advance the money? ?
would have cost $55.0oo,0O0 to trans
form the River Seine into a ship
canal twenty-one and one-half feet
deep all the way up to Paris. Now
will cost more than double. The
great waterway improvements Of
were paid half by the French gov
ernment and half by the chambers
of commerce of those cities. issuing
bonds Naturally, they turned out
to be excellent affairs. Similar works
at Havre. for the general good. were
paid entirely by the French govern
ment.
But the French governments imme-
diate plans are elsewhere. In addi-
tion TO reconstruction of boche dew
canal and railroad (tunnels, etc.) link
ing up. of Alsace and Lorraine, on the
principle of Paris, Lyon and Stras-
bourg as the three great interior
ports. In this (according to Dedouce,
parliamentary reporter of the public
'''a,nelioration between Bougival
means aid and comfort-say s2.5OO, 900
annual contribution in acknowledge
ment of relief. This will, doubtless,
be considerably increased for insur-
ance. of the Paris region against
floods.
1t will be double what the govern
ment promised a private Paris ship
| canal Immediately before the war.
when the thing had gone SO far that
the e15.ooo.oOo guarantee which the
demanded was privately subscribed
in three days. The promoters were
all ready. They had bought up
choice stretches of river front. here
and there, all the way down to Rouen.
They still hold them, selah.
And Rouen no longer obstructs.
In the tremendous investment move
ment which is to break open next
spring. advantages in this order of
ideas are liable to leak out to the
general public and considerable
speculation in river frontage, any
result from it. All of which. Of
| course, will boom the long-delayed.
long enterprise.
An idea of the coming movement
! may be illustrated by the ''Marche du
Monde" or rendezvous Of producers
all transactions in one place." whose
details were recently given to the
/ London public by Sir Charles Dun
das. secretary of the Association of
Great Britain and France. 1t is to be
set up in Paris in two years time.
The building will be nine times the
size of Trafalgar Square, will con-
sist of 5000 shops. the most luxurious
| club in the world for buyers and
producers, swimming and Turkish
| baths, restaurant and grillroom, roof
garden. industrial cinemas. and the
| Briefly, "a veritable city. in which 1t
may reasonably be estimated there
| will be a floating population of manu-
! facturers, producers, merchants. buy
| ers and the necessary employees, ex-
ceeding 10000 people" 1t will cost
| ling.
X X X +
| Which is why say this subject in
terests the pocket of every woman
who reads these lines-not to men,
| tion men and children; the general
prosperity of our country.
What is true of Paris is equally true
of Chicago. Detroit. Pittsburgh, Cleve-
land. Montreal. Milwaukee. Cincinnati,
Louisville, Indianapolis, New Orleans,
Memphis, St. Louis Kansas CITY, st.